The unfortunate truth about student kickstarters
Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2020 3:25 pm
Hi guys, so, I launched my kickstarter about a week ago for my new Time Travel based Sci-Fi Thriller, which I realise is already quite a niche market, but it didn’t gain the audience I’d initially thought it would have at launch. So, over the last week I've dived headfirst into understanding how successful kickstarters work, and I've learnt a couple things.
Firstly, I was under the very stupid impression that just because a project is good, doesn't mean that it will gain traction.
Getting your project to as many people within your target market is absolutely fundamental to a good launch.
The concept always comes first, as no one will want to fund something they wouldn't want to use or watch, but it's also about explaining the concept in a clear and succinct way, so as not to confuse and alienate anyone.
After this you should look at how much money you're asking for. You should have a pretty clear vision already about how much it would cost to create your product, but it goes a long way for backers to know that nothing they spend on you will go to waste, so try to be specific about every aspect of the budget.
My problem was looking too much into the other successful kickstarters, at least from some of my friends. I’m in film-school at the moment, and a lot of the other people there have quite well-off families, who pretty much just fund their projects for them.
I don’t have this luxury, so I'm trying to post on Sci-Fi movie forums, and trying to find backers elsewhere, or getting support from third-party marketing companies, other than posting to my mainly student friends list on facebook.
It’s still a slow slow process, and I’m starting to get worried that I won’t be able to find enough backers within the time frame I need before we start shooting, but… I think the way forward is just to keep pushing for a bigger audience, and assess how to advertise for the wider market. Maybe it’s something on my actual page as well, If you have any tips for me on how to get my project funded, please let me know!
Here it is.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mi ... t-in-seven
Thanks for reading.
Firstly, I was under the very stupid impression that just because a project is good, doesn't mean that it will gain traction.
Getting your project to as many people within your target market is absolutely fundamental to a good launch.
The concept always comes first, as no one will want to fund something they wouldn't want to use or watch, but it's also about explaining the concept in a clear and succinct way, so as not to confuse and alienate anyone.
After this you should look at how much money you're asking for. You should have a pretty clear vision already about how much it would cost to create your product, but it goes a long way for backers to know that nothing they spend on you will go to waste, so try to be specific about every aspect of the budget.
My problem was looking too much into the other successful kickstarters, at least from some of my friends. I’m in film-school at the moment, and a lot of the other people there have quite well-off families, who pretty much just fund their projects for them.
I don’t have this luxury, so I'm trying to post on Sci-Fi movie forums, and trying to find backers elsewhere, or getting support from third-party marketing companies, other than posting to my mainly student friends list on facebook.
It’s still a slow slow process, and I’m starting to get worried that I won’t be able to find enough backers within the time frame I need before we start shooting, but… I think the way forward is just to keep pushing for a bigger audience, and assess how to advertise for the wider market. Maybe it’s something on my actual page as well, If you have any tips for me on how to get my project funded, please let me know!
Here it is.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mi ... t-in-seven
Thanks for reading.