Things I've learned about Kickstarter

Get ready to read me thinking out loud...

I set up and launched my first Kickstarter project last Thursday. Before I hit launch, I thought I was ready. The pledge levels were set up. I'd contacted the editor and received prices for services. I accounted for the cost of the books I would be giving away for rewards and so forth. There's even a video of me talking about the project.

Do you have any idea how uncomfortable I am in front of a camera? It took an hour and a half to make the 3 minute clip! Luckily, I think it turned out fairly well. Except when I hold up my books the words are backwards since I don't have 'mirror flip'. At least I don't think I do. (The video at the very bottom is my attempt at said video.)

*sigh*

Anyway. Although the process of setting up the project was easy, I'm not sure I thought it through completely. If you're planning on doing a kickstarter, here are some questions I suggest you think about, along with some of my false ideas.

1. What is the purpose of this project?

My first thought was--raise money to publish my book without any out of pocket expense. This would ensure continued marital bliss. Because this was my goal, I very carefully thought out the prices and then rounded up, up, up to cover any costs I hadn't thought of yet.

What I've learned--don't do that!

Once I stepped back and looked at what I needed, really needed, I tweaked the pledge amounts and rewards. What is the value of a signed copy of the book? I plan on selling it for $12 when it's released. That means the pledge for $12 is a good deal. You get exactly what you would pay if you stumbled upon the book on Amazon. Except I'll get it first and sign it for you.

There's still a slight mark up in some of the levels, but its minimal now.

2. Do you think FUNDRAISER or just raising funds?

I think that was also part of my problem from above. As a mother of four kids in school, I'm well acquainted with the FUNDRAISER. Companies double prices so they can make money and have some left over to give to the school.

Kickstarter is NOT a fundraiser. Just try to remember that. Preferably faster than I did. Your goal is to raise the money you need to publish the book. Not make extra to put in the bank. I need money to pay the editor/typesetter, renew my domain name, buy bookmarks and other swag as well as the print copies to mail as rewards.

3. Writer's brains aren't always the most mathematical

I'm still not sure I'm looking at the amount I need correctly. :) Since the pledge pays for the cost of the book, plus I added $2 for shipping, will I have enough extra to pay for the editor and the books? That twisted sentence matches my muddled brain! My guess is yes! The e-copies of books won't cost me anything (except I still need to pay for FADE INTO ME to be put in all e formats). *sigh* There should be enough. Until I have the final page count there is no way of knowing the cost of the print edition.

Suggestion? Have someone NOT a writer help you plan and carry out your project. Preferably someone logical and business minded. :)

Can you help me spread the word? The Project--FADE INTO ME an Urban Fantasy Novel

Blurb:

Aliens live among us. Their purpose: to protect and nurture their greatest mistake—mankind.

Caedan Frey’s family has fulfilled this duty for thousands of years, but it doesn’t free him from his obligation as prince of the Reparation. Although he doesn't believe humans will evolve to see the magic, much less control it, he has two months to marry one or face the wrath of the High Council. Bitter about a responsibility he thinks prevents him from marrying for love, he figures any human girl will do. He's ready to propose when his soul mate stumbles into—and right out—of his arms.

Human, Ryanne Killian might be his one shot at happiness while still fulfilling his duty. Unfortunately, she guards a dark secret within her co-dependent personality, and she thinks the only way to protect Caedan is to push him away.

Caedan must convince her she’s worthy of his love before the men who hurt her before steal more than her virtue. If she can see her own worth, she just might save herself and his people.

  Trailer:
 

Question for you: What are your honest thoughts on programs like Kickstarter and those who use it? 

Book trailers: where to begin?

Thank you to Huntress and my fellow UBs for letting me kick of my mini blog tour here at Unicorn Bell!

I just launched my first Kickstarter project last night. One of the most important parts of a Kickstarter project is the video. Projects without one have poor success rates. It does not have to be anything fancy -- the website has a cheesy how-to video of their own to assure you of that -- but it does need to be interesting, informative, and "you," as they say.

What you're doing is, essentially, query-pitching the whole world. Like a query, a book trailer needs to lay out the conflict, the main character, and what's at stake. It needs to show the viewer what to expect in terms of tone and style, too.

Use your query
One of the most famous texts in a movie, the opening crawl in Star Wars, is only 88 words long. Bear that in mind. Images are far more efficient, so save those words for what you can't get a picture of.

That query that you put so much work into is a good place to start. You've already distilled your story down to a conflict, a character, and the stakes. Those are what you want to communicate in your book trailer. Which parts are words and which are images, that's for you to work out.

Storyboard
This is how you work it out. A storyboard, in the movie industry, is like a comic book of the movie. Its purpose is to succinctly describe the camera shots and the movement of people and things inside those shots.

Write out your storyboard, from beginning to end. Use text, or use stick figures and arrows to indicate movement. This will force you to work out the entire sequence. It may help to jaunt over to YouTube to watch some trailers and try sketching out the storyboards for them as practice.

Finding photos and fonts
If you have drawing skills, if you have photography skills, if you have a video camera and a handful of brave friends, GO FOR IT. For the rest of us, there's stock photography, fancy fonts and compromise. The chances you're going to find the perfect image of your hero or heroine on a stock photography site is slim. (But hey, you never know.) So be ready to settle for general accuracy rather than specifics.

On stock photography: get an account, buy some credits, read the license agreement. You're making a video presentation, which on all the sites I've seen means you can use the basic agreement and pay only the listed price of the photo. The extended license is for photos you are going to put on something you sell, or other specific situations.

Out of the pay sites, I use istockphoto.com because while it's more expensive than some, the pictures are better quality. Out of the free sites, I use sxc.hu because it's been around for a long time and has a good selection. Though its search function could be better.

Fonts: there are a million free font sites out there. I use abstractfonts.com because I like their ability to sort by multiple style tags -- "handwriting" and "horror" for example.

Then what?
I'm going to need a second post if you want details about video editing software and basic animation techniques (do you want details?)

But here's the most important part: don't think that you can't. You are a writer. You already have an eye for detail and the ability to clearly picture what you want to communicate. To be honest, those are the two skills no book can teach you. The rest is just learning how to use the tools.

DISCIPLE, PART I: For Want of a Piglet, is a gritty fantasy romance. There will be six parts total. See the book trailer, the back cover copy, and a sample at  my Kickstarter project! Backers' gifts include e-books, promotional bookmarks, and paperback editions of the final novel.

This miniature blog tour is to promote the fundraising project. You can also stop by my blog for a full index of all the stops.