Navigating the pitfalls of my next Kickstarter.

Here are the problems, more or less in order.

  • I have enough cash on hand to pay for GHOSTS ON AN ALIEN WIND. No map, cover’s already paid for, have just confirmed the editing costs, I can cover it all, no worries.
  • After that, the cupboard is bare. As in, it’ll be over a year before I can pay for BANSHEE BEACH, which is by the way not finished yet (I can finish it, I just need to).
  • It’s been my experience that my novels sell a whole lot better when they’re part of a Kickstarter.
  • I don’t need a Kickstarter to fund GoaAW.
  • I don’t have BANSHEE BEACH ready for a Kickstarter.
  • I could do a Kickstarter for a second volume of TALES FROM THE FERMI RESOLUTION – most of the stories are written – but, realistically, the only way that I could get it to fund in a meaningful way is if people were really backing it to get GoaAW. (This is based on me looking very hard at my previous Kickstarters.)
  • Again, I don’t need a Kickstarter to fund GoaAW.
  • Also: Kickstarter Is Not A Store.
  • I should just accept the fact that BANSHEE BEACH should get its own Kickstarter in January, to get the book out earlier. The problem there is, by the time I get to that point, will I really need to Kickstart it?
  • I hate liquidity issues.
  • I’m also whining (Poor Moe! Can’t publish whenever he feels like it! Sometimes has to wait a year!), and I know it, and I still want to whine anyway.

That’s pretty much it. Oh, except for the usual exhortation to get your friends to buy my books. I need to work on my marketing strategies, too.

Moe Lane

#commissionearned

13 thoughts on “Navigating the pitfalls of my next Kickstarter.”

  1. 1) While it’s great to quickly build a large back-catalog, you don’t want to build Steven King-esque expectations for your audience about the pace of material to expect.

    2) Knowing nothing of the costs, the main advantage in my eyes to KS is the cross-promotion of it – you’re essentially buying the recommendations and links that they show to everyone else backing similar efforts.

    3) Infamy is great for short-term marketing – have you considered debasing yourself on reality television or committing a very public crime?

    1. Fair, but there’s no real reason why I can’t write a book a year. It’s not like I work in an office. Also: I *can’t* commit crimes; I’m supposed to be at home in case there’s a problem at school.

  2. On GoaAW – Serious question – “your books do better”. Are we talking total number of sales, or are we talking actual income walking in the door? If going kickstarter leads to more real income for the book, then go Kickstarter. If they they sell more books but give less real income, then don’t.

    On Banshee Beach – So it sounds like “If I kickstart it, i can publish in January. If I want to do it myself, I have to wait until next May.” The distance from January to May is… not but so huge?

    Kickstarter is not a store – or at least it’s not a good one. Sure. Let’s talk about what Kickstarter *is*. Kickstarter is a bundle of features. It’s a store plus advertising campaign plus loan. It’s not worth it as a store alone, because for those services, the cost is *brutal*. You’re starting to get to the point where you don’t need it as a loan as much as you used to… and generally, you shouldn’t take loans unless you need to. Now you’re looking at the benefits of the advertising campaign and trying to figure out how much that’s worth to you, and where and how to try to apply said advertising campaign.

    I’m not at all in a position where I can tell you what the answers are, but hopefully looking at it in that way will help you figure things out a bit better. How much *is* Kickstarter worth to you as an advertising campaign?

    1. Let me put it this way: I moved more copies of TINSEL RAIN, and more print copies of MORGAN BAROD, in one Kickstarter than I have on Amazon total. Don’t get me wrong: I also move books when I’m selling them in person, so it’s not horrible or anything. And I’m making a bit more on Kickstarter books per unit than I do selling them on Amazon. Mostly I want them out in the wild, because I’ve noticed that my sales pick up a couple of days after I sell a bunch of books at a con or book fair.

      1. If you make more per book sold on kickstarter than on Amazon, then why *wouldn’t* you kickstart? What are you losing there?

        If you’re worried about the moral implications of asking for people to hit a make-or-break line that doesn’t actually matter then… set it really low, maybe?

        Also, “selling in person” is deceptive, given the whole “table fees” thing. It involves more effort on your part for each book, and to my understanding, your objective on those is usually “break even”. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t do it, but if you’re just breaking even on the table fees, then your take-home pay per book is actually 0.

  3. I agree with the point KS is largely Network Marketing in this case. How does it compate ot other Networks at hand? Can it help build those networks and new ones? Are we just scheduling an annual Kickstarter out of habbit because the audience are fickle creatures of habbit?

    1. Put another way:

      Just becasue you CAN pay for Ghosts out of pocket, does that mean you SHOULD?

      1. I dunno. It does feel a little personally uncomfortable to say, “I just need your help getting this book over the finish line!” when I, in fact, do not. I’ve always legitimately needed the money before.

        The good news on all of this is: my wife pointed out to me that I have a perfectly good cover already for the second Fermi Resolution book — and it’s one that I own, so no worries there. If I’m ruthless on my word count, I can also cut down editing costs there, which makes a realistic Kickstarter goal also a helpful one.

        1. I get the change in perspective. This is where you could try to justify more money = “better” book insteadof just getting it out. More custom illustrations perhaps?

  4. ” If I’m ruthless on my word count, I can also cut down editing costs ”

    Be very careful Moe, that path leads to the dark side, where all artistic decisions are dictate by bean counts and focus groups.

      1. Somewhere between the bright austerity of Hemingway and the dank purple prose of Anne Rice lies the path.

        Another vote for KS is that how else am I to continue collecting personally vandalized volumes? Interstate travel to literary fairs and conventions like some Carnegie or Rockefeller?

  5. GoaAW being unrelated to FR universe.. kickstarter may be a Good Idea for building a Space Opera fanbase….

    … and maybe set up a pre-sales rewards post here with paypal links?

    Mew

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