What is Kickstarter?
It’s been a minute since I ran my last Kickstarter, so I figured it would be a good time to revisit what exactly Kickstarter IS.
TL;DR: Crowdfunding means you become an investor in a creative project both you and the author are passionate about
Since I ran my campaign for A Hunt Bound in Blood last spring, the Kickstarter movement has continued, so it’s very possible you’ve already heard of it or encountered one or even backed one! But if you haven’t, here’s how it works:
Think of it like a super fancy pre-order campaign, but one where you get to invest in what you’re getting.
I’m going to stick with explaining how book Kickstarters work, but this information applies to any project imaginable. There are computer programs/apps being created, board games, tech, all kinds of incredibly things from creative people who want to put something into the world that wouldn’t be possibly with you.
So let’s take a book as an example.
Author has book. Maybe the book has already been released, or maybe this is a new launch, but the book is there, and Author wants to do something amazing with it.
Like add pretty foiling. Or get character art. Or make stickers. Or level the book up from the standard paperback you’d find at the store to something BEAUTIFUL.
So Author creates a campaign and says, “This is my vision. Are you interested in helping me making this happen?”
And you, as reader, can choose to invest in this vision.
Author comes up with a series of tiers that Reader can pledge towards, ranging from, say, just the ebook, to physical swag, or the full fancy edition with the foiling and sprayed edges and character art.
So let’s say Reader is interested in the whole kit’n’caboodle. They’ll pledge for the $150 tier, which will be marked towards the project being funded. You have now invested. You get backer updates about how the project is coming along with any changes or tweaks to timeline. Often you get to have a say in certain decisions that have yet to be made.
If the project doesn’t fund, you owe nothing to Author.
If the project does fund, you get everything that was promised to you in the tier you pledged towards.
It’s as simple as that!
Interested in checking out the Kickstarter campaign for A Relic Cloaked in Thorns? (And get an early look at the STUNNING new cover?). Follow this link and hit “Notify Me On Launch.” Following the campaign is NOT a commitment to back it! It just means you’ll get an email when I go live so you can check out what’s being offered. It also helps give me social proof so that more people are willing to check it out ^.^