Business plans

[MaggieLeann]

Any thoughts and ideas on using Kickstarter?

 

[Devor]

It's tough to go that route for a book unless you have an established audience. The content of a novel is difficult to present first-hand in a video, and posting excerpts on the kickstarter page won't get much attention. So you're not going to get random browsers to jump in. Unless you have a way of bringing interested eyeballs to your kickstarter project, you won't get any traction.

 

[MaggieLeann]

Thank you Devor. My partner and I are looking for ways to raise money for a illustrated novel and comic books. I'm the writer and he's the artist but we will have to bring in others on projects and expenses add up. From what I can tell the kickstarter projects that are raising the most money already have a audience and followers.. which we do not yet have. We also thought about doing a local fundraiser, which might be our better option.

 

[Miskatonic]

It's tough to go that route for a book unless you have an established audience. The content of a novel is difficult to present first-hand in a video, and posting excerpts on the kickstarter page won't get much attention. So you're not going to get random browsers to jump in. Unless you have a way of bringing interested eyeballs to your kickstarter project, you won't get any traction.

Yeah if nobody knows who you are they would probably want to read some of your work before they ever considered giving you donations.

Kickstarter would be more likely if you have had books published and for some reason you were dropped by the publisher and needed a way to fund a new book.

 

[Nimue]

I'm not sure if this is the route you're looking for, but consider turning the project into a web comic/ serial web novel and using Patreon. If your work is good, this can be a tremendous way to create a following and get people to read your stuff. It wouldn't be incredibly profitable, but it's hard to think of any situation where self-publishing comics is incredibly profitable... (save for a few outliers)

 

[Devor]

Thank you Devor. My partner and I are looking for ways to raise money for a illustrated novel and comic books. I'm the writer and he's the artist but we will have to bring in others on projects and expenses add up. From what I can tell the kickstarter projects that are raising the most money already have a audience and followers.. which we do not yet have. We also thought about doing a local fundraiser, which might be our better option.

If you're willing to consider a long-term strategy, figure out how much you can reliably do in a monthly installment, put together a backlog of 3 or 4 of them, and pitch it to a website that already has the right audience. Once you are up and running somewhere, building an audience, you can look at a kickstarter (or patreon or idiegogo or...) for the funding to push yourself further. Eventually, you'd start looking for sponsorships, selling copies, and creating merchandise.

The thing is, for that first monthly installment, you probably have to pitch it for free to find a host. And the kickstarter might keep you going but not for long. But that's your risk. It's a business, and even most successful businesses take two or three years just to break even. And 80% of businesses fail - more than that, if you just look at websites.

If you're looking for the fast cash you're not going to find it. But if you're dedicated to your project and willing to invest and slug it out, you might be able to make it work down the line.

 

[MaggieLeann]

Thank you guys! I like the web comic idea and I'm probably going to end up going that route. I will definitely check out those websites.