Should you run a Kickstarter Campaign?

When I first decided that I wanted to self publish, I went back and forth on if I wanted to try to run a Kickstarter campaign to be able to order physical books to sell, or to simply publish on Amazon KDP and have them print on demand. On the one hand, I knew that I wanted to have copies on hand to be able to sell at events or schools. On the other hand, I really did not have the almost $5,000 it would take to print and ship 1,000 copies to my home.

After much thought, I decided to join a Kickstarter for authors page on Facebook to try to learn the ropes. And let me tell you, I was in WAY over my head! There is so much more to campaign than simply putting your idea out to the world and then expecting strangers to fund it. In fact, most Kickstarters fail because they lack the support needed to meet their goal. That being said, I was determined to learn and to try my hand at something new. After all, the worst that could happen is that I would fail, and be no worse off that I already was!

Over the next few weeks, I studied Kickstarter campaigns that other authors were running. I studied the visuals, the videos, the reward tiers and the wordage used. I made sure to study the campaigns that were within my genre and I noted which were more successful than others and why I thought that was. I noticed that the most successful campaigns had beautiful artwork, illustrations, themed banners and headers, and compelling videos that described why they thought their book was something of value to their target audience.

My sister is a filmmaker, so of course I called her over to make sure that my video was of professional quality since that was the first thing that anyone saw when they clicked on my campaign. I wrote a script and described why I wanted to become an author, what my book was about and exactly what I would use the funds I raised towards. I then looked up tutorials on Canva and purchased a Canva Pro account so that I could make beautiful banners and headers. I made sure to ask the Facebook group the exact sizing that everything needed to be so that it would look neat and professional.

Finally, I had my book formatter make some mock ups of my rewards. She created mock covers of my book, a mock sticker sheet and mock bookmarks for my audience to be able to visualize what they would be receiving. I used those mock ups to create the visuals on my page as well as promotional social media content. Once I had everything completed, I went back to the Facebook group and asked them to look over it to see what they would change, and they had a lot to say!

Because I was not able to pay for a professional to do the graphic designing, I did my best to make changes myself by asking a lot of questions to online groups and by watching tutorials on YouTube. Once I was happy with my results, it was time to publish the campaign, right? WRONG! It turns out that I had overlooked something called followers. Most successful campaigns start out with a number of followers before launching their actual campaign. They take time to build momentum, advertise their campaign and get people excited about their project. Since I was new to everything, I did not have that kind of time. I needed to order books like yesterday. With few options, I posted a link to gain followers on a Friday afternoon, and I launched on a Tuesday with a measly 13 followers. Needless to say, I did not have high hopes.

The first few days of my campaign were AMAZING! I had raised about $2,000 of the $5,000 needed, but I knew that this was mostly due to the support of my family and friends. About a week after launch, panic began to set in. The pledges had all but stopped and I was only halfway to my goal. I reached out to other authors who had run campaigns before, and they gave me advice that I did not want to hear. It was time for me to get uncomfortable. I have never been one who felt comfortable with self promotion. The last thing I wanted to do was to spam people with messages and advertise myself non stop, but everyone told me that this was the key to success! I was not about to start something and not finish it. After all, I was already half way to my goal! So, I went to work…spamming everyone I had ever known.

I texted, emailed and private messaged everyone in my contacts and asked them to spread the word. It was uncomfortable, and I did not have high hopes, but then, my alerts started to ping! The pledges began to flood in, and not only from people I knew! Strangers names popped up on my phone as the alerts popped up in quick succession. I checked on Facebook and dozens of people had shared my campaign with their followers. Messages of support flowed in and I became overwhelmed with the amount of people who wanted to see me succeed! So overwhelmed that I had to turn off my phone to prevent myself from having a full blown panic attack. What if I was not good enough to receive this kind of support? What if they hated my book enough to write me a one star review?

I quickly reeled myself back in by reminding myself that this is what I had worked so hard for. This is what I had always dreamed of! I wrote a book! I hired an editor and an illustrator and a book formatter! I spent hours preparing visuals and writing up my Kickstarter campaign. Why would I give up when I was this close? I knew could not succeed if I continued to stand in my own way. So, I pressed forward.

Two weeks into my four week campaign, and with the help of 143 backers, I met my goal of $5,000! I almost could not believe it, but it was true! My dream of becoming an author was going to become a reality! I should have pushed for the next two weeks to get as many pledges as possible, but to be honest, running a Kickstarter is mentally exhausting. Would I recommend someone run a Kickstarter to publish their book? Absolutely! Would I do it again? That is still to be determined.