Great post. Thanks for sharing! It is especially interesting about the “95% done before launch” advice as I’ve seen the opposite from established creators, saying you should aim to do as little development as possible before putting your idea to the market and making sure it gathers interest. I guess this is down to the different optimum approaches for newer creators vs those who have a larger operation and following behind them 🤔
Definitely good tips! I’ve done three now, and I think doing as much as you can beforehand* and not getting sucked into stretch goals are very important.
*I think art and editing is the exception. When I had art in my zines I bought one or two pieces of art upfront for promotions, and had the test done when the funds came through. I shared some pieces as they were made as updates. Does add a bit of risk though!
Thank you for the very helpful article. I gathered up a similar collection of tips when I was doing research for launching my Critical Hit Parader zine. I also ended up choosing Kickstarter (during ZineQuest 5 back in February). I will refer back to your suggestions for my second issue. Looking forward to your Kickstarter launch!
> What does failure look like? One of the reasons I decided to go with Kickstarter is that for most of these smaller Kickstarters that failed to fund, I can see why – the art looks sloppy, it’s over-promising, etc. This wasn’t the case for some Crowdfundrs and Indiegogos that failed to fund, which anecdotally backed up the advice I got to stick with Kickstarter.
I'd love to hear more about why you think this might be the case.
Makes total sense and thanks for sharing Pidj! I'm doing a somewhat similar thing - I paid for cover art but anything else will come after the kickstarter.
Great post. Thanks for sharing! It is especially interesting about the “95% done before launch” advice as I’ve seen the opposite from established creators, saying you should aim to do as little development as possible before putting your idea to the market and making sure it gathers interest. I guess this is down to the different optimum approaches for newer creators vs those who have a larger operation and following behind them 🤔
Definitely good tips! I’ve done three now, and I think doing as much as you can beforehand* and not getting sucked into stretch goals are very important.
*I think art and editing is the exception. When I had art in my zines I bought one or two pieces of art upfront for promotions, and had the test done when the funds came through. I shared some pieces as they were made as updates. Does add a bit of risk though!
Never having attempted to crowdfund anything, this was a useful primer. Thank you.
Thank you for the very helpful article. I gathered up a similar collection of tips when I was doing research for launching my Critical Hit Parader zine. I also ended up choosing Kickstarter (during ZineQuest 5 back in February). I will refer back to your suggestions for my second issue. Looking forward to your Kickstarter launch!
> What does failure look like? One of the reasons I decided to go with Kickstarter is that for most of these smaller Kickstarters that failed to fund, I can see why – the art looks sloppy, it’s over-promising, etc. This wasn’t the case for some Crowdfundrs and Indiegogos that failed to fund, which anecdotally backed up the advice I got to stick with Kickstarter.
I'd love to hear more about why you think this might be the case.
Thank you for sharing your crowdfunding findings!
Makes total sense and thanks for sharing Pidj! I'm doing a somewhat similar thing - I paid for cover art but anything else will come after the kickstarter.