In Which I Plan A Kickstarter Campaign

[dr_pretentious]

When I self-publish the Big Book, I'm going to do it right: hire an A-list team of professionals to do all the same tasks a major imprint would do (developmental editing, copyediting, book design), commission kickass cover art from the same short list of people all the big sf/f imprints use for their covers, engage a PR firm to assist with the book launch.

For this self-publishing project, I have to be prepared to go big or go home. A book unedited, undesigned, and unpromoted is, for most practical purposes, unpublished even after you've published it, and might as well be buried in the backyard.

Fortunately, I have some options about how to go big.

And since you guys are my core reading constituency, your input is very welcome.

The big publishing houses are trying a new model for really long books. Fantasy readers love long books and buy long books, especially in a series, but they don’t like waiting between volumes, sometimes for years, while the author finishes the next one. Readers want something more like the experience of binge-watching an entire series on Netflix, so some publishers are experimenting with breaking long books down into serials. The wave of books that will, theoretically, be released in this way has not hit yet. Nobody knows how it will go.

It’s an obvious fit for the manuscript I happen to have. I’m going to strike while the iron’s hot. With luck, Spires of Beltresa will start coming out around when that wave of books does.

Right now, Spires of Beltresa has four sections. I’ll roll my sleeves up with my developmental editor basically the second I have money to pay that person — probably late summer or fall. As soon as I can get the first movement of the book through editing and production, I’ll start releasing one section every three months in e-book format (and print-on-demand trade paperback if the funding comes together for that), and then an omnibus edition at the end of the year (definitely in print-on-demand paperback and possibly also in limited-edition hardcover with maps and stuff if the crowdfunding goes overwhelmingly well).

(And now most of my relatives are wondering what Kickstarter is and what crowdfunding is. Kickstarter allows people to raise money for creative projects sort of the way PBS raises funds to keep broadcasting: by asking for support, mostly in small amounts, from viewers like you. Like PBS, people who are trying to crowdfund their projects offer thank-you gifts of their products, their time, their public recognition of your support, and so on. Here‘s more information about it.)

If I’m very lucky, I’ll get to start out with some seed money, which would allow me to go big faster. The college I went to has an annual alumni grant that allows one person to take a year off from her day job and pursue a much desired project. If my proposal wins the grant, I’ll find out in late April, pay my pros for the first part of the book, and send that part out into the world to show what I can do. In the lucky-like-a-lottery-winner scenario, that’s the point at which I’d turn to crowdfunding, to get the other three sections of the book out.

If my luck takes quieter forms, I’ll find out in April that somebody else with an awesome project deserves my congratulations on the grant, and I’ll run a smaller preliminary Kickstarter campaign to get the first part of the book out. Universe willing, the first part will do well enough to allow me to come back with a bigger campaign to get subsequent parts of the book out there, too.

It’s a little intimidating to think that I could be taking a Kickstarter campaign live around, say, mid-July. Considering that one of the early questions that went into the Big Book was what an epic fantasy would look like if it was set in a time period like 1789, a Bastille Day launch seems potentially auspicious.

Some of you are Kickstarter veterans — what would you urge me to do or not do? If you’ve never really known what Kickstarter is, what questions would you want answered? If you’ve supported other Kickstarter campaigns, what should a first time crowdfunder know about the backer’s-eye view? What makes an awesome pitch video, or an awesome backer reward?

What do you guys think?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Hi, it's Karen Junker --

I'd use Indiegogo if you can -- if you use Kickstarter and don't make your goal, you don't get any of the money. Indiegogo does not have that rule. There's also Patreon.

I love Mark Ferrari's work if you need a cover artist - he has taught for Cascade Writers (the new name for Writer's Weekend) and will teach again this year. He's amazing. Let me know if you would like me to introduce you.

Best wishes and I can't wait!

Karen

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

What's your take on this advice I got from a longtime mid-lister who now makes his entire (and okay) living by self-publishing, doing production with Kickstarter money: People like to have a single source, and the one they like is the most common one. When they decide to click on a link on your website to buy your book, nearly all of them want that link to lead to Amazon. When they decide to click on your link to put a little something in your tip jar, they nearly all want the tip jar to be at PayPal. When they choose to back your crowdfunding campaign, they nearly all, nearly always, want it to be a Kickstarter.

This author used to spend a lot of time and energy making sure his fans had a lot of options for where to buy his books and how to support his work. Basically, in five years, there were fewer than ten transactions that came from any but the brand leader in bookselling, money transfers, or crowdfunding. When he just quietly stopped experimenting with offering all those other options, not one person complained.

Allowing for the possibility that this guy is right, I've figured that I want to make this as easy as possible for people who want to support me. Since my fan base is still very small, nearly everyone who wants to support me knows me personally, and I would guess that fewer than half of them have any clear understanding how crowdfunding works (lots and lots of relatives who are not otherwise spec fic readers). I want to make it as easy for them as possible, so going with the first model they'll find when they google what I'm doing seems like a good idea.

Another major source of the advice I'm running on is actually a couple of guys who got good enough at running KS campaigns for their rock band that other musicians started asking them for help with crowdfunding. Not everything transfers from rock and roll to epic fantasy, but a surprisingly large amount of stuff looks like it will. Anyhow, the strategy they urge is to set the preliminary goal as low as you can possibly stand it, for the minimum viable project that you would actually find satisfying to do, so that you actually make the goal. They you bust your butt to surpass the minimum viable project goal so you can add more layers of the cool stuff that make the project exciting.

I'll definitely check out Mark Ferrari. I've had a list of artists I thought might be good fits percolating in my head for a while. It's good to be able to add one.

Thanks so much for your insight!

[radiotelescope.livejournal.com]

"People like to have a single source, and the one they like is the most common one."

That is a factor, but I'm not sure how dominant it is. By and large you are trying to attract fans of your writing to crowdfunding, rather than trying to attract "Kickstarter fans" to your writing.

"Anyhow, the strategy they urge is to set the preliminary goal as low as you can possibly stand it, for the minimum viable project that you would actually find satisfying to do, so that you actually make the goal. They you bust your butt to surpass the minimum viable project goal so you can add more layers of the cool stuff that make the project exciting."

That is my advice.

The problem with the "flexible funding" option on Indiegogo is that, as a contributor, it increases my risk. "What," I ask, "I might wind up paying out for a project that only reaches half its goal? Does that mean you take my money and give me half a book? What if the project only reaches 10% of its goal?" You have to have convincing answers to these questions. If the answers look like "Well, I can make this work on 50% or 10% of the money," then I wonder why I'm contributing in the first place.

This is why the goal-or-nothing Kickstarter model is attractive. (Indiegogo can be used in that model too, mind you.)

[annathepiper]

Oh awesome! Well, you've got MY pledge whenever your campaign goes live. ^_^

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Can I pick your brain sometime about the KS campaigns you ran for Faerie Blood and its sequel?

[annathepiper]

Well, there was just the one campaign to cover both Faerie Blood and Bone Walker. :) But yes, by all means, I'll be happy to talk to you about that!

[radiotelescope.livejournal.com]

Hm. So.

Is this wave of serials expected to be scheduled like one part per three months, one part per month, or what? As a reader I think of "once a month" as serialization. One hit per three months isn't a binge -- it's just a book series that comes out unusually often.

(I am currently bingeing, in that sense, through the last half of Adrian Tchaikovsky's series. Four books in four months is about right.)

I realize that producing the whole thing before it sees print is the opposite of your plan. But I think that that is what would give it the zoom factor for readers. Plus, of course, it nullifies the danger of coming back after reading part 2 to find that the author is bogged down on part 3, please wait an extra year.

Kickstarter planning: The whole scene has developed several generations past where it was when I did my thing (late 2010). There is now such a thing as a "professional-looking Kickstarter project", and it's pretty stylized. Chart of rewards, chart of stretch goals. This is not to say that you have to have that. But if not, that's what you're reacting against.

Beyond that, I have only the obvious advice. Write up what makes your book different from all the other books, and throw in a sample chapter. Video should be you talking about the book, not reading from it, I think.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

The whole Big Book exists now in polished draft. (The Big Book's sequel is about three quarters of the way into working draft, too -- when I put it aside for other projects, it was just over 200K words in three movements.) If I started publishing installments today and wrote nothing in all that time, it would be nearly two years before I had to produce a chapter in first draft. So that's some assurance. But not perfect assurance.

All of the Big Book has undergone some amount of beta reading, some of it by very astute readers, but it has not yet had a structural edit from a person with a track record of seeing books all the way to market. The feedback I get from everyone I've sold a manuscript to is that I produce uncommonly clean manuscripts that are fast to copyedit, so I expect that phase of production won't produce big delays. When I sold the Rugosa novellas, there basically wasn't a structural editing pass, because structurally they were already nice and tight, taken separately. (I do wish I'd sequenced them in the collection in order of composition, not in order of events. It's like starting Narnia with The Magician's Nephew. Someday I'll get the chance to fix that.) The Big Book is less so. I can say the book exists in full, but I can't say for sure how long it will take to revise it to the standard I want. Right now I'm in discussions with the editor who used to edit the Temeraire series before she retired, so I think I'm talking to people who can help me get the book there.

If the grant happens, I'll have finished all the developmental editing for the whole book before I turn to crowdfunding to do production on parts 2-4. If not, I'm not sure I can raise enough money on the first campaign to pay for developmental editing on the whole ms before I produce the first section. That big edit is by far the biggest item on my budget. It's actually more than everything else combined. Worth it, but oof.

I think I've got the right mentors in place for the current version of a "professional-looking Kickstarter project." The stylized charts sound like some of what they talk about. If they're the wrong mentors, I guess I'll find out one way or another. As long as I keep casting the net wide for feedback -- I'm going to blame that dreadful mixed metaphor on the concussion -- I think I can get it all shiny before launching anything.

I agree about the video, absolutely. If people want a sense of the book's voice, there'll be free sample chapters.

[selki.livejournal.com]

I've contributed to 3 projects and been satisfied so far. I've read differing accounts of how successful KS is for authors but I think it's possible. I'd contribute to your project regardless, having read your books and knowing you're ethical and would work on delivering. But for other folks, I think pledge levels that entice rather than guilt the contributors (e.g. help me eat burgers instead of oatmeal = guilt) are more successful. E.g., low pledge level pick a character's name/looks (like the contributor or the person of hir choice); higher level that character gets a dramatic makeover? death? something; bonus paragraphs to be emailed to contributors; extra readings on Vimeo and you'll send contributors the vid password, etc.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

There are people who use guilt overtly in describing their pledge levels? That sounds like a self-evidently bad idea. The thank-yous should be fun. Out and out fun.

[selki.livejournal.com]

I agree. There've been a few blog posts here and there lately about KS drives with pledge levels that seem to be more about guilt than fun for the pledgers, which is why it came to mind for me. http://www.pretty-terrible.com/2015/01/09/kickstart-this-asking-for-money/ has some about the issue, and also has links to other good KS info for authors.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

That was a very helpful piece, and the link to Tobias Buckell's KS experience was even more better. Thanks for the links!

[onyxtwilight.livejournal.com]

The only book I have contributed to on KS so far has been a cookbook, and I'm not sure how well that translates to this.

That said, remember that at least some percentage of your supporters will basically be saying "I'm convinced enough that you'll do a good job that I'm willing to buy the product in advance." So, obviously, just "a copy of the book" needs to be one of the low-level options. And maybe a signed copy for ten bucks more?

I'm not a good judge of what would make people go for higher levels, because I rarely/never do.

That said, bring on the link; as soon as it's ready, I'm all over it.

(And we should talk about the design portion of the equation. >:-)

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

There are two ways to think about KS: as a preorder system, or as a fundraiser. The advice I'm getting is to approach it as a fundraiser, because someone just starting out doesn't have the capital in place to ask only normal market value for the product -- I need to ask for normal market value plus a bit, or the product can't come into being.

Yes, let's talk about design!

[kistha.livejournal.com]

Good luck! I'd love to see the book make it out in the world. And then get the rest of the damn story!

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

I really want to get the rest of the damn story, too! The last I saw my characters, about 200,000 words into Big Book: The Sequel, one was in jail, two were fleeing the country, and the rest were limping home from a five-day riot that involved an inexpertly deployed miniature catapult and an accidentally burnt embassy. Oh, and there was a massive violation of funeral customs, which is always a big deal in Beltresa. I really want to get back there and see how everybody wriggles out of this round of mess.

[laradionne.livejournal.com]

Well, the few Kickstarters I've pledged to have mostly been in the video game category, so I'm not sure how well that will translate, but I think that radiotelescope's commentary re: how long is each wave expected to take is a very important one to consider.

Frankly, if your plan is to break it into four sections, then I'd shoot for quarterly/seasonal distribution. Bastille Day as a starter might be fantastic, especially if you can come up with equally intriguing (and relatively evenly spaced) anniversaries/holidays that resonate with the related section. This may cause you a few preparatory calendrical headaches, but would probably give prospective backers greater confidence that you not only have a timeline for the completed project, but that you are dedicated to meeting said timeline. One of the biggest issues with crowdfunded projects (from my limited experience as a backer) is time-line creep. I recently backed a project from a solid company with previously published games that was originally supposed to be done in November 2014, but which just announced that the final release date (out of Beta, out of Early Access, etc.) will be in mid-February of this year. While such time-line creep is so common that many game developers and book publishers would rather not even admit to release dates until the final product is ready to be boxed up, it's also a bit of a turn-off to make a pledge for a project and then have to wait an extra 4-6 months (or longer) because of something that wasn't in the original plan (even if that something will make for a better product in the long-run). Feature creep is another pitfall, but I don't think that applies to books as much.

Keep your donor rewards simple and sensible. Naturally everyone who donates is going to want a copy of the book. Tiers for e-book only, print-only, e-book plus print version, hardcover vs. softcover, autographed, and the like make sense. However, for physical rewards remember to take into consideration who is going to package them up and ship them out because that does take time and people. I don't know if you have slush-room for character naming, tuckerizations, or such as donor options but it's something to consider (and I highly suggest limiting this to your top tiers). Most people are going to back a project for what they might have paid for it on the shelf, or perhaps a bit more, so expect to get far more small donations than large ones.

You already know that I'm going to back this book like the dickens when you launch, but I want the Big Book goodness to be spread to as many readers as possible! I'd honestly prefer to just get the Big Book rather than a serialized version, but I can also understand why you might be intrigued by the new publishing model. As a potential backer who didn't know you and was basing my decision on the presented info only, I would feel nervous about backing a project that has a funding level lower than what it will take to complete the project. Going out there with "fund the first part of the book and hope that makes enough money to do the next part" will probably not do as well as "fund the whole book, which will be released in installments that are clearly planned for".

I'm sending out lots of positive "win the grant" vibes!

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

I just got an estimate for a structural edit from someone who, before she retired from a Major Imprint, I would have done almost anything to get my manuscript in front of. Now that she's retired and freelancing, she only has to take projects she likes, and she's excited about mine. She says if the whole ms is in as good shape as the partial is, this should be doable pretty quickly, despite the length. If I understand her estimate and what it covers correctly, it looks like I might be able to swing the developmental edit for a lot less than I thought. The prospect of getting everything out in a year just got way closer to reality.

One thing the grant would allow me to do that KS might not raise enough money for is to release the ebook version of Part I for free. Baen Books finds that a permanently free ebook offer for a first volume or section increases sales of the entire rest of a series, pretty much regardless of what the series is. Offering free samples of addictive materials works as well for books as any other kind.

[rednikki.livejournal.com]

It's funny that I saw this just now, as the thing I read immediately before your post was an article about the risks for authors of doing Kickstarters.

I donated to a mutual friend's project to put out a video game and it seems to have worked out pretty well. You might want to tap him for some ideas.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

That was an interesting article. My current notion is to ask for help funding the editing and production processes only, not living expenses, since I can't plead poverty. I can plead nearly-exhausted spousal patience with my professional life, but that's not the same thing. I believe the Big Book will sell just fine if I can get it to market, so I'm happy to take my cut there.

The article seems to reinforce advice I'm getting elsewhere about being very upfront: KS is a fundraiser, not an investment. Clarity protects relationships. Promise only what you're sure you can go far beyond when you deliver.

I'd love to pick your friend's brain about his experience. Thank you!

[rednikki.livejournal.com]

That friend is your friend too - someone from high school, who you introduced me to way back when?

[radiotelescope.livejournal.com]

If you mean me, I'm already commenting. :)

[citabria]

First, this is awesome and I look forward to contributing!

Second, my impression, after reading this, is that you're planning to start rolling on this before the end of the summer, with a release on Bastille Day of 2016. Am I reading that correctly?

And third -- and perhaps most importantly -- how close are you to finishing the entire thing? I ask because I think that, especially for a kickstarter, knowing that The End Of The Book does actually exist and is ready for editing would be a *big* bonus. I perceive there as big a huge psychological difference between, "cool project, I hope she gets to finish it someday" and "this incredibly cool project is all done -- now we need to make it available to everyone!!!" Given the number of people who start books that they never finish, I think you'd find a lot more potential backers -- and backers willing to spend significant money -- if you're able to release the Kickstarter in that latter category.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

First, thank you!

Second, I'll be rolling on something this summer. I just posted this evening about some sobering arithmetic. If I get the grant, I'll start rolling with the developmental edit around the end of the summer. Don't know how long that would take to finish. In the grant scenario, I'd get part 1 all the way through production as far as a free ebook version and a normal-market-value POD trade paperback version, and then parlay the launch for that into momentum right into a Kickstarter for production on part 2 (and, as stretch goals, parts 3 and 4, and possibly the omnibus--some KSs raise enough to do wild things with their stretch goals).

If there's no grant, I'm not sure how to proceed. I've got a novella that I sold to Black Gate long ago, but BG is getting out of publishing fiction, so it's reverted to me. I know it's in publishable shape, since it was in the publishing queue in its current form, so I wouldn't need to pay for editing. I could do a very small Kickstarter for cover art (on the DeviantArt semipro scale of expense) and ebook design, and self-pub it. It's 17,000 words, modest and manageable. That's a KS I could launch on Bastille Day, no sweat.