crowdfunding

How to Plan a Successful Kickstarter Part 1of 2

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So what is Kickstarter?

Kickstarter is a reward based crowdfunding platform that helps you obtain the funds needed to bring your creative project to life. You present your project with a set time and goal, and backers can pledge money for one of your reward tiers. Kickstarter is all-or-nothing funding which means that if you don’t reach your goal in the set time, you will get nothing and the backers don’t lose anything.

When I first decided to use Kickstarter for one of my projects, I knew that I would have to do my homework if I wanted to be successful. My project hasn’t launched yet, but I feel I’ve done my best to help the Kickstarter succeed.

So what do you do if you feel that you have a project which might benefit from crowdfunding? Three Ps: Passion, patience, and a ton of planning.

I’m just going to assume if you’re interested in creating your own crowdfunding project that the passion is already there. Let’s hope so because the planning portion can be stressful and time consuming.

I haven’t discouraged you yet? Good!

The hardest part of this entire experience has been my lack of patience. I’ve never been a patient person, but this anxious need to launch the project NOW has really been a test of my willpower. So many times I’ve wanted to hurry and just launch my campaign. Bad idea. Hasty decisions and rushed work will only work against you. A sloppy job on your Kickstarter proposal just discredits everything that you’ve worked so hard on, so take your time and only launch the project once everything is in place. Accept now that there may be delays and bumps in the road.

My original launch date for my Sacrifice Kickstarter was sometime in May, and then delays pushed me back to June. It’s now July and I still don’t have a date. If I had said forget the extra work and just launched using what I had on hand, I’m pretty sure that my project would have failed already. The wait will be worth it.

Remember these are people coming to your page as potential backers. It’s your job to convince them why they should.

Like what you’ve read so far?

Subscribe to my blog so you don’t miss part two where I give an in depth explanation of all the planning details.

Meet the Muscle of Sacrifice

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Here’s the character reveal for this week that was also created by Jerry Buckholt! Today I am introducing another member of the Alpha team, Reggie, who acts as Kat’s second in command.

Reggie is the oldest member of the Alpha team at just twenty-eight years old. He provides the muscle for the team with both super strength and weapon knowledge. His most useful meta-human ability is that he is literally bullet proof, but he’s not completely invulnerable since he’s not resistant to poison or magic.

Don't waste your ammo!

Don’t waste your ammo!

Stay tuned for more character reveals and details on this upcoming Kickstarter project! And thank you for your support!

Sacrifice Illustration Full Color Reveal

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I’m finally revealing the full-color art print created by P.R. Dedelis. This beautiful art print will be one of the many rewards in various tiers of my Kickstarter project. This piece showcases our humble protagonist, Kat Reese, as she defends her girlfriend from werewolves.

Sacrifice_A_jpg

Tomorrow I will begin releasing the concept art created by Jerry Buckholt. I’ll do a character reveal that will include a bio so that you can get introduced to the characters of the Sacrifice novel.

SACRIFICE Kickstarter Reward Tiers

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Looking for some people to read over my reward tier to see if this a reasonable list. Please remember that the money for backing the reward has to go towards the physical reward items, shipping, and most importantly the project’s goals. The money from my Kickstarter that doesn’t go to the rewards, goes toward the professional editing, professional cover design, formatting for paperback, formatting for ebook, and more. I’d also like to pay my friends for their time in helping me create concept art and banners. Let me know your thoughts of the reward tiers, and which you feel holds the most value.

TIER ONE $1 – website shout out/thank you

TIER TWO $15 – PDF of the final product. Plus tier one

TIER THREE $30 – Paperback copy of the book signed. Plus tiers one and two.

TIER FOUR $50 – Paperback copy of the book signed, art print, plus tiers one and two.

TIER FIVE $75 – Paperback copy of book signed, choice of two art prints, plus tiers one and two.

TIER SIX $100 – (limited to five backers) Everything in tier four plus an acknowledgment in my book.

TIER SEVEN $500 – (limited to two backers) The backers name will be used as a minor character in the book- most likely a werewolf or mage that will be killed off in a fun and brutal fashion.Will also receive everything in tier four.

If stretch goals are reached (meaning I exceed my goal of $3,000) then I will add extra rewards. If I completely blow away my initial goal, then I will try for a mini comic and extra prints. I’d even like to do a hardcover version with some illustrations. Maybe even some bookmarks and postcards?

Sacrifice Kickstarter Illustration Pt1

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I know I promised an art reveal a few days ago, but the Kickstarter has been delayed again. I’m waiting on character concept art to be completed for my video. I don’t want to record myself on webcam just talking about the project when I can introduce you to the characters instead. I’m really frustrated with all the delays, but I would rather postpone to make sure everything launches successfully.

Here’s the pencil sketch of the Sacrifice illustration done by artist P.R. Dedelis. He is also the artist for my Extinction comic. You can find more of his work on his FB page or you can email him directly at arucardpl@gmail.com

I’ll reveal the finished color piece in a few days, but I hope this will suffice for now. Here we see the protagonist, Kat Reese, defending her girlfriend from some pretty grumpy werewolves. She’s a badass meta-human, but she’s still at risk of infection without the proper armor! There’s absolutely no cure for the Were virus.

Sacrifice_Pencils

 

Thanks for your patience and stay turned for more updates! And please message me if you are a blogger that would like to do an author interview, a Sacrifice preview, or just discuss diversity in literature.