In January, I launched my first Kickstarter project. Kickstarter is a website specifically aimed at helping creatives bring projects to life. I’m a creative and I had a dream project I wanted to bring to life. Namely, an audiobook of my novel Memory Lane. So, after lots of thought and research, I published my project, which ran for ten days. At the end of that time, I met my goal!

Here’s what I learned:

1) I highly recommend reading through Kickstarter’s Creator Handbook. It’s very thorough and very informative. Now that I’m at the fulfillment stage of my project, I’m realizing more and more that all of their advice was spot-on. For example, they encourage transparency and they discourage a creator from “guaranteeing” that their backers will have their rewards by a certain day. Kickstarter knows that the unexpected happens — as it did for me last week when an ice storm shut down Dallas right when my local printer was scheduled to print my books.

2) Ensure that your community is large enough to pull off your project. My Kickstarter funded because I’d spent years gathering a base of very loyal readers. I reached my goal not because a few people spent a huge amount but because 167 dedicated supporters of my books participated, some for as little as $1. Every purchase added up and every one mattered. I don’t think I would have been able to come anywhere near my goal if my readership, e-newsletter subscriber numbers, and social media numbers had been smaller.

3) It’s key to offer rewards readers want and that you can realistically fulfill. I spent a lot of time thinking about what might appeal to my readers. A lot of time shopping. A lot of time working out the costs involved, the fulfillment timeline, and the profit margin for each reward I offered. One of the best things I did was recruit the help of friends. Joy and Crissy vetted my plans. Their objective opinions, suggestions, and insights were a huge help.

Don’t get so focused on setting up and marketing the project that you forget to consider how you’re going to keep your end of the bargain and mail out all your rewards. You’ll need a strategy for that and you’ll need to reserve a large chunk of time and energy for that task. In my case, Crissy crafted a packing checklist spreadsheet (so I’d know which items each person had ordered) and a shipping label spreadsheet for every reward tier. Had I been left to my own devices with the giant backer report Kickstarter generated, I’d have been in trouble.

4) Prepare to explain Kickstarter to readers. Most of my readers had never A) heard of Kickstarter or B) bought books and swag there before. Understand that using a new platform is a hurdle for people and you’ll need to address that. I tried to keep the project as simple and straight-forward as possible. I offered several different rewards that started at $15 and went up from there. I did a lot of explaining — on the Kickstarter project page, over email, via social media.

5) Some people will donate without receiving anything in return. I hadn’t anticipated this! I was planning only on raising funds toward my goal by selling rewards. But around 10% of what I raised came from people who simply gave. Amazing generosity, astonishing support. Again, that was due to my community.

6) Expect some anxiety! I hadn’t anticipated this either. Turns out that it’s nerve-wracking to tell the world that you’re doing a Kickstarter project that shows in real time exactly how much has (or hasn’t) been raised toward your goal amount. It feels vulnerable. Everyone can see your number! But that very fact works in your favor, too. Everyone can, indeed, see your number which ends up inspiring people to buy-in because they’re rooting for you and wanting you to succeed.

Memory Lane releases on Tuesday, Valentine’s Day! Between now and then I have lots of books to sign, boxes to pack, shipping labels to print. And it was all worth it. A few weeks after my project ended, the money raised landed in my bank account. My narrators are busily recording their sections of Memory Lane as we speak. I’ve heard samples from them both and they sound PHENOMENAL. A dream come true, thanks to my readers!

Comments and questions welcome!

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Becky Wade

Author at Bethany House

Becky makes her home in Dallas, Texas with her husband and three children. She absolutely loves writing funny, heartwarming, and inspirational contemporary Christian romance.

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