I had the opportunity to moderate the Crowdfunding Success Stories panel at San Diego Comic-Con. Luckily ComicBlitz, who put the panel together, live streamed it. So, if you missed it you can catch the rather interesting panel with some great advice.
Now that you’ve done your research and brainstormed rewards, you’re ready to create the campaign page, considering all of these attributes: clarity, concise writing, transparency, and an engaging video.
If you’re a potential backer, looking for a project to support, you have a lot of options to sift through, which is why clarity and being concise is so important. After all, why should you expect a backer to spend extra time trying to understand a project or read unnecessary details when they can easily click on one of the hundreds, maybe even thousands, of other options? The only people who would spend time trying to understand a project that is unclear and overly lengthy in its description are friends and family. But they’re not the ones you want to design this page for, since they’ll probably support you anyway.
Next, to avoid seeming like you’re trying to con people out of their hard-earned money, strive to be as transparent as possible, both in the initial page and any subsequent updates. You need to be honest about costs, both financial and time (to produce content, ship it, etc..), so that backers know you’re not asking for more money than you need. Kickstarters aren’t designed to pocket the money after all; they’re supposed to funnel the money into a product and experience for passionate supporters.
This is also true of updates: if you’re running behind or if you got an unexpected discount/rebate, let your backers know and pass those savings onto them or give them the new timetable. Chances are, if you’re running a Kickstarter, you need audience support for later projects (on Kickstarter or just further issues/books/etc…), and an audience is more likely to return to a project that continually shines a light into all the corners instead of a project that pushes imperfect things into the corner shadows. Those shadows won’t cover them up for ever, so you might as well beat some investigative internet troller to the punch. And don’t just take it from me; look at this advice from a writer for Backer Kit:
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, you need to design an engaging video to sell your project to potential backers. If you’re like me, you’re probably thinking: But I just described it in the campaign details, so why should I do that again? It’s a reasonable and understandable question, and the simple answer is that most people–because of time, possible entertainment value, and ease of effort–prefer to get their information from a video source rather than a text-based one (I know, the English teacher and writer in me rebels at this idea, but ideals sometimes have to be set aside to deal with reality).
With that in mind, I looked at what a lot of other Kickstarters had done, and then pretty much preceded to ignore most of what I found, simply because I didn’t want to learn how to use video editing software on more than the most basic level. I knew a little–because I had to create some really bare bones videos for my students, especially the ones who had been absent and missed a lesson. But creating a video that delivers information clearly and creating a video that does that and does so engagingly are two different things. (Yeah, I probably should’ve tried to make them engaging for my students too, but time was an issue). After a few takes and some minor editing, this is the video I created:
Yeah, really impressive right? With a video like this I’m surprised I still raised enough funds. If I hadn’t had so much support from family and friends, I probably wouldn’t have. And this isn’t just something I subjectively feel: my video was played 118 times, but only 11% of people completed watching the whole video. (I found this out from yet another handy graphic/report available on Kickstarter after a project’s completion–see it below):
I have no other campaigns to compare this to, so I don’t know for sure, but that seems like a very low number. Even if it’s not that low (relatively speaking, compared to other campaigns), there’s clearly a lot of room to improve. So take it from me, don’t learn the lesson the hard way, and instead, devote more time to actually making a creative, engaging video. Because, ultimately, this is your audience’s first chance to see what products you’re capable of making, and if you get off on your worst foot, how will you expect others to finish that journey with you?
You can also take advantage of something I completely ignored–well…actually didn’t know about, so it looks like I ignored it. Kickstarter Live is a way to interact–wait for it–live in video chats with backers.
But, since we’ve got quite the journey ahead of us, it’s time for another break. I’ll see you on the trail shortly, for our next stage in that journey: promoting the Kickstarter for maximum return.
DC Entertainment last year launched a new initiative to combat the hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa. Their effort, We Can Be Heroes uses their popular properties to raise awareness, and money, to help with relief efforts. The comic publisher has launched a fundraising effort on the crowd funding platform IndieGoGo as part of this effort.
Their initial goal of $50,000 has been passed and since then they’ve upped their effort with a target of raising $100,000 that will be given to their non-profit partners.
Each fundraising effort will take on a different theme focusing on a character, the first one up is Batman. For donating, you’re able to get various items like comic books, t-shirts, posters, or even a trip to San Diego Comic Con.
This stuff is only available until May 7, 2013, so check out the latest perks.
The funds raised go to:
Save the Children—Tirelessly committed to improving the lives of children and families whose lives have been changed by the hunger crisis.
International Rescue Committee—delivering life-changing aid to the world’s most vulnerable people.
Mercy Corps—Unfailingly dedicated to making life more livable in the world’s toughest places.
Kickstarter is the juggernaut crowdfunding site that allows creative types to make a run around and go directly to consumers to make their projects a reality. Increasingly popular, pledge options were being geared towards retailers as well, offering bulk discounts as well as other deals. Well Kickstarter has brought down the banhammer on that, forcing projects, some already running when the policy went into place, to remove that pledge status.
The first project that this seems to be an issue is for Playroom Entertainment’s Killer Bunnies Quest Deluxe, a project that started it’s fundraising effort about a week ago. Shortly after launching its Kickstarter, Playroom removed the retailer reward, saying:
Playroom loves our retailers and we know that the success of Killer Bunnies wouldn’t be possible without them. Unfortunately, we were forced to remove the Retailer Level by Kickstarter (at approx. 9 a.m. on 7/26) because it violates their newly implemented rule of not allowing “discounted bulk pricing” at a wholesale level for retailers. We are very upset about this, but we have to play by the rules. If you are upset too, please take it up directly with Kickstarter.
Talking to ICv2, Playroom president Dan Rowen said:
We got a message in our Kickstarter Message Inbox stating that were reported as having bulk prices… We inquired further because we weren’t sure what ‘bulk’ actually meant. Did that mean that no price breaks were allowed for buying multiple copies? Almost every Kickstarter has that. Their response was, ‘You’ll find on our guidelines that we prohibit bulk rewards as well as rewards geared towards retailers in general.’
We didn’t find any mention of rewards geared toward retailers in Kickstarter’s Guidelines (although we may have missed it), but we did find a prohibition of “rewards in bulk quantities.
That makes Kickstarter a direct to consumer funding site, potentially cutting out a large revenue stream for the growing website. They do list “rewards in bulk quantities” as something you can’t do, so maybe that’s it and this isn’t specifically targeted at retailers.
As a whole the entire Kickstarter website is in question with ever more questionable projects being set up. One well known website offered nothing other than removing ads from their site if their goal was reached. How that qualifies for the below is beyond me.
A project has a clear goal, like making an album, a book, or a work of art. A project will eventually be completed, and something will be produced by it. A project is not open-ended. Starting a business, for example, does not qualify as a project.
Instead, I expect these same offers to be done in other ways, circumventing the platform entirely and thus their losing some potentially sizable income.
As a whole, while I’m still bullish on crowdfunding as a whole, especially in it’s ability to disrupt the status-quo when it comes to creating products, I’m starting to see Kickstarter as another tech bubble waiting for a few high profile disasters before it collapses.
Star studded heavy metal series from IDW Publishing puts music and comics in motion
(San Diego, March 29) –The Eternal Descent comic series from IDW Publishing has bridged the worlds of music and comics like no other, with an army of chart topping heavy metal stars including Joe Satriani, Wayne Static, Gus G, Arch Enemy, Periphery, Shadows Fall, and many more appearing throughout the saga.
In Eternal Descent’s continued effort to explore the unholy alliance between heavy metal and high fantasy, they have teamed up with Calabash Animation, the acclaimed animation studio led by Sean Henry and Wayne Brejcha, to bring an animated reimagining of Eternal Descent!
Having tested their mettle with a 2 minute animated preview, they are now in pre-production for a 22 minute pilot episode, which would realize Eternal Descent as a fully animated TV show. Eternal Descent is pleased to announce that Mike Sizemore is handling the script, and if you love animation, fantasy, and heavy guitars, then this could be the show you’ve been waiting for! See the preview and find out how you can get involved at: www.indiegogo.com/eternaldescent
While Eternal Descent aims to have a complete series commissioned by a network, the pilot will be released online, to be enjoyed for free. The pilot will be launched as an episodic web series with 5 action packed installments!
Eternal Descent remains entirely creator owned and they want to include the fans as much as possible. Sharing this message will be a huge help to their cause, but if you would like to contribute directly, the have created an awesome array of rewards, perks and experiences to show their appreciation. From signed comics to custom ESP Guitars, Eternal Descent has got you covered!
Bringing this project to life will be a creative challenge, and they want you to be a part of the production every step of the way. Eternal Descent will be shooting exclusive behind-the-scenes footage to release alongside the animated series, so you’ll get to see how the animators work their magic and follow studio sessions with the incredible guest guitarists who have always been a part of this world. The pieces are in place, the descent begins!
To learn more about Eternal Descent visit www.EternalDescent.com
About IDW Publishing
IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. Renowned for its diverse catalog of licensed and independent titles, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including: Hasbro’s The TRANSFORMERS and G.I. JOE, Paramount’s Star Trek; HBO’s True Blood; the BBC’s DOCTOR WHO; Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; Toho’s Godzilla; Wizards of the Coasts Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons; and the Eisner-Award winning Locke & Key series, created by best-selling author Joe Hill and artist Gabriel Rodriguez. IDW is also home to the Library of American Comics imprint, which publishes classic comic reprints, and Yoe! Books, a partnership with Yoe! Studio.
IDW’s critically- and fan-acclaimed series are continually moving into new mediums. Currently, Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Disney are creating a feature film based on World War Robot, while Michael Bay‘sPlatinum Dunes and Sony are bringing Zombies vs. Robots to film.
