KickstarterForum.org

If you like Fantasy, or just want to read my book and see what this crazy guy is talking about, follow this link!

https://thepocketnovel.wordpress.com/

If you want a good chuckle, head over to Youtube and view my unedited Kickstarter video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mym711G ... e=youtu.be

Hi there!

I'm Evan, and I'm here today to introduce myself and talk about my novel. I'm writing a fantasy novel called The Pocket. I'm trying to go against the grain by writing a novel that isn't your average fantasy. There's no great evil trying to conquer the world, and my protagonist is far from being a hero, even though he'd like to be one someday.

Anyways, that barely scratches the surface of it, and I'm releasing the first 15,000 words of my book when I start my kickstarter project. At least, that's the plan anyways. Anyone have any pointers for authors about to begin a campaign?

Any advice (about rewards, stretch goals, etc) would be appreciated. I'm a bit nervous to post my video because it is hilariously, laughably bad, but at the same time I know it has to be done!

I much prefer to allow my writing to speak for itself, and I don't go into much detail in my video about it--is that a bad idea? The video itself is almost finished, and in the next couple days it will be ready for viewing (in case any of you were interested).

I've taken the liberty to view a few other successful author's campaigns, and I feel like I'm on the right track, but I'm also very new to the idea of promoting myself.

In any event, I'm having a tonne of fun getting into the idea of promoting a Kickstarter campaign, and hearing feedback about my book.

Anyways, thanks for reading my post!

Hey Evan,

I'm not very familiar with crowdfunding for novels (but as an avid reader I am very interested), but I think the idea of providing a preview for the completed project/thing is always the way to go. Same analogy for it being better to have a tangible prototype than simply a concept when pitching to any type of potential investor.

Rewards: For starters, what do you have in mind currently?

Video: I COMPLETELY understand the hesitance in sharing your video for the first time, but you are also right in saying that "I know it has to be done!". Let's see it! Something I try to explain to project creators is that while your video is enormously important, producing a video that has extreme production value might yield unintended results and unreasonable expectations for you as the project creator. While I wish my video could have been better (and we went with what we had because there was a firm launch date that we refused to postpone), I think an amateurish video really sets you up for appearing genuine and human. Determining the fine line between the two efforts is something you have to gauge within the context of what your project is what you think it will achieve. I can't comment too much more without seeing it, but I am definitely interested in giving it a view. If you would like to get some private feedback, feel free to message me.

Other similar campaigns: Excellent thing to do for the process of doing your homework in preparation of launching a crowdfunding campaign. You can see the styles for a project like yours and determine what worked really well for them, and what you would like to do better for your own campaign.

Promoting yourself: It's definitely uncomfortable, but it's entirely required. People will commend you for it as you're starting and down the road as well.

Always great to see someone's excitement as they begin a campaign.

- Tom

Thanks so much for the reply Tom, and thank you for the offer for personal feedback. The second I have a rough draft of my video I will send it your way. I'm also opening up my novel for viewing. Anyone here is welcome to read the first 15,000 words!

And congrats on your own personal success!

Tom, as for the rewards I don't rightly know! I have a few ideas that I've "borrowed" from other kickstarter campaigns. Such as acknowledgments for some backers, a personalized skype reading of the backer's favorite chapter/chapters, a face-to-face hang out...

But I want more. I want physical rewards such as t-shirts or posters or artwork, I'm just not there yet and I wouldn't even know how to start making those a reality.

I'm really relying on stretch goals for this, because physical rewards sound time consuming and difficult to process. That's partly where I came to this site. I feel very overwhelmed by this whole thing.

I definitely think you're on the right track.
Whenever I look at a campaign - no matter if it's a game, physical product, music (or anything really), I primarily look at whether I like the idea, and whether I think there's potential, so a preview of some sorts is vital to whether I decide to back a project. So releasing the first 15,000 words would be enough for me to figure out if I would back the project For me that's actually more important than the video in this case, even though it's also great to see who you are backing and hearing about the project in a more personal way...

Are you planning on doing physical versions of the book or PDF/E-book?