3 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Launching My Kickstarter Campaign

cover with pyramidKickstarter has been very, very good to me, and not only because I was successful at getting my memoir funded. The platform itself is easy to use, and the staff is very responsive.

There’s even a virtual college for potential Kickstarteristas to attend before they take the plunge, a forum on which to share experiences. One of the questions posed on this Kickstarter “campus” is: “What three things do you know now that you wish you knew before you launched your project?”

Almost a year later, I’m providing my answers. Better late than never, right?

#1. Consult a Calendar

I launched my project on May 19th, although I’d read that April was a recommended month: people get their tax refunds and have a little extra cash to invest. As I discovered, by mid-May, potential backers have other things on their minds: Graduation (whether as the graduate or the parent of one), summer vacation planning, June weddings… That’s just my subjective experience, based on activities that my friends posted on Facebook (where I did a LOT of my promotion; I’ll get to that in another post).  Genius Games.com uses additional data to analyze the question of when best to launch a Kickstarter and concludes that the best months are January, February, and April; the worst are July and August. Caveat: The post is two years old and spells “success” wrong in one of the charts.

#2. Stop Fussing

The reason that I launched my project in May rather than April as planned was that I futzed around trying to getting my Kickstarter video, rewards, and text perfect instead of launching when I’d planned. My mantra should be: “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” I rarely have time to chant this, however. I’m too busy revising everything I write.

#3. Keep it Simple — and Short

The corollary to reason #2: People have limited attention spans. I spent a lot of time working on a Kickstarter video that was originally nearly six minutes long. I cut it — or I should say the talented film students who created it did — to less than five minutes, but according to the Kickstarter viewing stats–another handy feature–fewer than 1/3 of the people who clicked on the video watched it to the end.

You should watch it now. It really is very funny. And you don’t have to worry about sending me money anymore.

Did I mention that my dog is in it, at the end as well as the beginning? You’ll miss the best part if you don’t watch the whole thing.

I'm Madeleine and I approve this message

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About the Author

Edie Jarolim is a writer and editor living in Tucson, Arizona. Sign up on this blog to get updates about her humorous tell-all/memoir, GETTING NAKED FOR MONEY: An Accidental Travel Writer Reveals All.

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  1. Kate Kaemerle says:

    The video makes me laugh every time! Especially the sign on the kennel 🙂

    • Edie says:

      Thank you, Kate! You were one of the people who made it better by suggesting it was too long and putting Madeleine up front. It was still too long, but you helped improve it immensely.

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