Musing On Perks and other Considerations for an IndieGoGo Campaign

[becka_sutton]

Introduction

IndieGoGo, for those of you who don't know, is a crowdfunding platform similar to Kickstarter but with two massive advantages from my point of view.

1. Unlike Kickstarter it's not all or nothing - so even if you don't fund fully you get whatever you raise minus fees.
2. It's open to UK peeps whereas Kickstarter is US only. I am, of course, a UK peep so this is kind of an important consideration.

So, I'm thinking of starting an IndieGoGo campaign in April (the new tax year for the sake of my sanity). However I suspect success requires planning, so here's the first of what is likely to become a series of planning posts. Signal boosts and comments are welcome (and indeed requested) as raising awareness before the campaign is also important.


Background

The project I am planning to do a campaign for is "Haventon Born" which is the first book of my Paranormal Fantasy weblit series "The Haventon Chronicles" which is posted on my website every Tuesday (I'm currently in the middle of chapter 8). The version on the site is not a first draft by any stretch (4th or 5th I think) and it's already gather quite a few readers who I see in my stats every week. I would eventually like to release it as an ebook and possibly even a print book. To make the release attractive to those who've already read it for free on my website it will also contain an exclusive short story - Moonlight and Memories - which is set in the same continuity. Before that I'd like to get both a professional story edit followed by a professional copy edit. A book release would also need cover art and layout work. These things cost money which I do not have. having watched the recent success of Meilin Miranda's Kickstarter Campaign it seems like a reasonable thing to try. It costs nothing, so I have little to lose. However I cartainly have less readers than she does so I'm not sure what my chances of success are (better than if I don't try I guess).


Potential Perks

So if I'm to do this I need to come up with some cool perks for various levels. I don't want to steal Meilin's wholesale. It would be rude and I doubt anyone would pay £1000 for a Skype chat with me anyway. However I do like the manuscript idea  - hopefully she won't mind if I borrow that. So here's what I'm thinking so far:

$1     My perpetual gratitude and regular updates.
$5     A code to get the ebook half price when it is released.
$10   An ebook copy in the format of your choice available one week before the official launch. (You still get the code for the half price one as well).
$25   As above plus a signed copy of the paperback version posted two weeks before the official book launch (I've set this at $25 in consideration of international shipping costs). Mention in the credits.
$40   As above plus the raw manuscript as soon as the editing is finalized.

This is as far as I've got so far and I really need some higher level ones. Once again suggestions are welcome.

Other Considerations

Publicity - I need a plan of attack to bring people to the campaign - any campaign will languish if no one is aware of it. I also need a campaign video - something I have no idea how to go about.

Target - I'm thinking $1500 much like Meilin's Kickstarter target. It seems like a good start towards costs.


What I Need To Know

If you are reading this could you take a moment to comment and answer the following questions.

1. Will you contribute to the campaign once I start it? (If yes, no need to say how much this is just about yays and nays)
2. Even if the answer to 1 is nay will you signal boost the campaign? (If so I would like to know where if you don't mind saying).

Wrapping Up

As I said above please signal boost this post if you're willing. More eyeballs will help build awareness before the campaign and that's very important. More eyeballs should also mean more feedback and that will help me create a better campaign and thus increase my chances of success.

Comments

[inventrix]

Hmmmm. I don't know if I would contribute (most likely, but you know me, I'm lazy and I might just... forget...) but I'll definitely help signal boost. My twitter feed is most of where I'd do that as quite frankly no one reads any of my other sites etc. who doesn't follow me there.

If I end up with anywhere else that I think promoting it would be effective, I'd be happy to do that for you as well.

For some incentive ideas:

- Name a relatively minor character in the book after the donator (or whatever name the donator chooses, within reasonable limits)
- STICKERS!
- Discount code for the print book

[becka_sutton]

Thanks for the input, Trix. :-D

The naming a character and the discount for the print book are an excellent idea. :-D

Stickers... hmmm.... what sort of stickers would you suggest?

[inventrix]

Title logo is the easiest/most obvious thing that comes to mind. Character art, maybe, or quotes from the book.

[clare_dragonfly]

Hmm... I don't know if I would support it. I'll have to read what you have so far and see if I like it! ::bookmarks::

I would definitely signal boost, though; probably just on my DW.

[becka_sutton]

Thanks for the comment, Clare!

Hope you enjoy Haventon when you get a chance to take a look.

[anke]

I'm not sure if I'd donate, not having read the series. (There is so much to read and look at everywhere, aaargh @_@)
I can spread the word on Twitter and deviantArt. Well, and my blog, mirrored to LJ and DW. (I don't think anyone follows my blog itself. XD)

I like when it looks like the person running the campaign knows what they're doing - a project that has a list of how much of the money raised will go to what ("development editing costs X, copy editing costs Y, ebook layout costs Z" and so on) shows that the creator has done their homework, rather than just going "yeah, that sounds about right".

Depending on what those numbers look like, maybe it would make sense to have an in-between goal. ("If we raise $1000 there'll be only an ebook version for now, if we raise $1500 there'll be a print version, too", or however the numbers fall out.)

Things I'd like to know about a project like that:

Is the manuscript finished or are you writing as you go? (Finished is better, no worrying about it NOT getting finished, like the first "help fund the production of this with pre-orders!" thing I contributed to ended up.)

For people who don't know your serial already: What is the book about? Maybe not a lot of content right there, but something like a backcover blurb. And a prominent link to the website where the serial can be read. (I really noticed the lack of such in a recent book-printing fundraiser.)

High level perks...

Would you be willing to write a short story in the same continuity to a request/question of a donator? I figure fans would have some secondary character they'd like to hear more about, or something like that.

[becka_sutton]

Wow! Big useful comment!

One of the reasons I'm delaying the start until April is so I can cost things up for the pitch. I'll consider if to do a halfway house kind of thing, but more likely I'll do more of the layout work myself if I have to. I'm quite capable of it I'd just rather delegate it because it's tedious and time-consuming and I only have a few spare hours in the day.

Currently the manuscript is pretty much finished (I need to sort out two or three scenes at the end). By the time I launch the campaign it will be ready to go.

Haventon Born does have a blurb (it's on the landing page) and it also has a couple of reviews at the WFG ( http://webfictionguide.com/listings/the-haventon-chronicles/ ) which - to me anyway - show why I want to get it professionally edited. At least reasonable story which needs polishing and a tension tune up is what I get from them. I know I've taken it as far as I can on my own, so I need professional help to make it fulfil the potential readers see in it.

Writing a short story for a sponsor? It's possible I could do that. I probably need to get better at writing to prompts though.

[gom-jabbar.org]

I'd definitely contribute! I really like Haventon chronicles (more than Dragon Wars) and if I'm reading a serial, I'll always buy the ebook when it comes out (even if it's exactly the same as what was posted online).

Now for the perks, I'm one of those people that don't like physical books (I move too much, so it's more convenient to use ebooks), so I'd rather pay something like 25$ and have access to the raw manuscript as soon as editing is finalized.

Good luck! I really enjoy reading your work.

[becka_sutton]

Thanks for the comment! :-D I'm so glad you're enjoying it.

That's a good point about some people not being much for print books. Perhaps I'll make the $25 Perk the donator's choice of either the manuscript or the print book and the $40 one both. I'd need to make it simple for people to choose which one though. I'll look in to that.

Thanks again for your input,
Becka