Page 44 - Elite Spring Catalog 2023
P. 44
Kickstarter / Indiegogo
A family member or friend asks you to support their Kickstarter/Indiegogo
campaign. Your eyes widen, and you start searching for an escape route,
wondering how much will this cost you, and feeling like a deer caught in the
headlights of a car. What do you do?
First of all, what on earth does supporting a Kickstarter even mean?
In simple terms, you are supporting a project that you believe in and are
helping to bring the project to life. It's a platform used to collect funds to help
pay for the high cost to produce something.
In the publishing space the most expensive costs in creating a fully
illustrated children's book are the illustrations, covers, and printing (let's face
it paper shortages and increased printing costs are making it harder for
authors to profit) Some illustrations for a single children's book can run
anywhere from a few thousand dollars upwards of $10k- Yup! you read
right, thousands. Hence the reason authors turn to Kickstarter.
Well, that's easy enough right?
Not quite. There is a lot of 'behind-the-scenes' work and months of
preparation that goes into the creation and execution of a campaign. But, let
me try to simplify things.
Let's start with terminology.
Project/Campaign: This is the item or service that the creator wants to
bring to life, like a book.
Creator: Also referred to as the inventor, designer, author, artist,
Funding Goal: The amount of money it will take to bring the project to life.
Campaigns are usually All-or-nothing: If the amount is not achieved by the
set timeframe then nobody will be charged and the creator will not receive
any funds.
Backer/Supporter: Kickstarter is not a store, as a backer you are
supporting a creative process, helping to bring a project to life.
Rewards: Some call these pre-orders. Creators want backers to be part of
this journey and offer 'levels/tiers' of rewards. Some are limited and only
available in the campaign while others may offer extra products in the form
of a bundle deal.
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