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Should I send the story updates to all backers?

Posted: Thu Jun 26, 2014 1:45 pm
by DeenaLarsen
Hi,

BACKGROUND
I am trying to use Kickstarter as a literary platform, and I am going to run a series of Kickstarters (all for separate projects--revolving around Rose, a special symbolic language that infuses new meaning into words.) The first one (now until July 16) is to print a greeting card with the word love on it--(with the added meanings of love, wonderful, valued, now and in the future).

Now, I am starting a fictional thread woven around the Kickstarter as wel--to use Kickstarter more as a performance and literary platform. I’m weaving in an entirely new story thread to the Rose Project within the public updates. To see this story, please go to http://www.tinyurl.com/share-rose for the updates: Thorn of the Rose, Issue 1 and Thorn of the Rose Issue 2.

I intend to have story installments every few days--so maybe 10 over the course of a Kickstarter.

QUESTION:
Should I send these updates to all my backers--or should I have a separate reward that provides these updates?

I don't want to keep peppering backers (as a backer, I resented too-frequent updates). Yet, I think this is a value of the backing? Your ideas? Thanks!!!

Re: Should I send the story updates to all backers?

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 5:37 pm
by sbriggman
I might just be tired, but this is very confusing to me haha. So are you asking if you should notify your current Kickstarter backers via update of a new fiction project that also uses the Rose language?

Re: Should I send the story updates to all backers?

Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 11:39 pm
by DeenaLarsen
Yes, the entire Rose Project is a bit confusing. Sorry about that.

I am actually using Kickstarter itself as a literary platform. After all, it says to tell a story. Any story. Your story.

At first, I was just using the Kickstarter to tell a very simple story--here is one way to say "Love" in the Rose language (with overtones of love, good, valued, and now and forever.) Then I went to my electronic literature conference last week (with a bunch of other people using odd computer platforms for literature) and they said, nope, you need to use Kickstarter *to* tell a fictional story--otherwise it is not a true literary platform. So now, I am using the Kickstarter updates and comments to create a fictional story as well.

Since I hope to do about 6 - 10 more Kickstarters over the next few years, the fictional story (Thorn of the Rose) will only be told via updates on an active Kickstarter. So I am "giving away" the story via public updates (I now have Thorn of the Rose issue 1 and issue 2 up on the project at http://www.tinyurl.com/share-rose.) I have some friends who are helping me write comments (just started this bit today so give me a bit of time...)

The great thing about this is instant publication and instant serialization of a novel. I get readers. Then (I Hope!!) I get more people interested in the Rose Language.

Right now, I have a $2 reward level (subscribe to the Thorn of the Rose). These backers get the issues in their email (I do a public update and only select the $2 reward level as the backers). That way, other backers (who are interested in the greeting cards rather than the fictional story) do not have to be bombarded with this story.

But I wonder, should I just send it to everyone? The advantage would be that it would be new content every few days--so people might not get so upset at the frequent updates (for I have regular actual Kickstarter updates as well as the issues of Thorn of the Rose)? Would backers quickly get turned off? Hmmmm....