tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321339472666778123.post8293970472022313349..comments2024-02-03T13:09:38.313+00:00Comments on Mirabilis - Year of Wonders: Reality kickLeo Hartashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417174942647091006noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321339472666778123.post-25377065887086387712013-08-02T17:53:53.575+01:002013-08-02T17:53:53.575+01:00Hi, Dave. I'm a fan of the aforementioned game...Hi, Dave. I'm a fan of the aforementioned gamebooks :). Blood Sword was one of my favourites series. <br /><br />So I've been thinking about Kickstarter as well as other alternatives for publishing, steadily working on my own graphical novel at the same time. The thing I wanted to add is not my own idea (I'm publishing newbie), it is the insight of Seth Godin. He says Kickstarter on itself is not so much a "community" as it is a software tool. You have to bring in your own community. And of course it is hard work to build a community. It takes time, energy, marketing experience. Most writers/artists don't have the necessary skills ( neither do they have the time ).<br /><br />I think that ( in a perfect world where publishers love and care for their writers ), it would be their responsibility to do the marketing. But this is not how it works in the real world, it seems.Laskovhttp://www.laskov.co.uknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321339472666778123.post-81535052890638002352013-06-08T16:37:04.998+01:002013-06-08T16:37:04.998+01:00Addendum: that's not the only crowdfunding I a...Addendum: that's not the only crowdfunding I attempted. I also backed Howard Phillips' Know-It-All app:<br />http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1358562997/gamemaster-howards-know-it-all?ref=live<br />but it didn't reach its target. I can sure pick 'em.Dave Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14468228790874490693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321339472666778123.post-69423561636294831692013-06-08T16:36:05.744+01:002013-06-08T16:36:05.744+01:00In effect, then, charging an extra $10 for a thank...In effect, then, charging an extra $10 for a thank you note is really just a way of increasing the profit margin.<br /><br />At the risk of repeating myself, the point I am making here about Kickstarter is not about doubts, but rather a clarification of what it does well. Too many people say, "His book campaign raised $100,000!" without realizing that you could say that about a traditional book that sells ten thousand copies - which is respectable, but no bestseller.<br /><br />My very good friend James Wallis ran a successful campaign for his project Alas Vegas<br />http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jameswallis/alas-vegas-an-rpg-of-bad-memories-bad-luck-and-bad<br />and raised an average of $40 per backer. Which is great, but he has to ship a whole lot of books and Tarot card decks for that. It's a brilliant marketing exercise that will cover its costs and (as the name suggests) it is a great kick-start to the Alas Vegas IP. James will go on to turn Alas Vegas into a viable business, I'm sure. But as a vehicle for funding a publisher, with all the development costs a publisher has, Kickstarter is not viable - unless you're massively famous.<br /><br />I guess I am now just repeating exactly what I already explained in the post, actually, so I'll leave it there.Dave Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14468228790874490693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321339472666778123.post-8951848683136180052013-06-07T20:18:27.580+01:002013-06-07T20:18:27.580+01:00Factor in Kickstarter and Amazon taking approximat...Factor in Kickstarter and Amazon taking approximately 10% of the total funding. For shipping factor that into your domestic funding levels. For international make separate funding levels that includes the extra shipping costs<br /><br />You can also create funding levels that are significantly higher than a basic book pre-order, such as a hand written thank you note, art sketch, book signing, the sky is the limit! If people are interested and truly love your work, they will fund above and beyond the minimum to get exclusive swag. Limited signed hardcovers at $50+ US plus shipping? Not an uncommon price and those usually fund and disappear first.<br /><br />Yes it may cost more for people to get a book but that's the whole point of crowd funding, to get you started with a print run of books and let the backers get something extra special in return. The most difficult part is getting all the production quotes prior to starting a project, and engaging the backers DAILY. If you don't have time for that, well then this is probably the wrong business for you.<br /><br />Hope you get over your doubts and really make this happen. You already have my money coins, just let me know when and where to toss them.<br />Kevinhttp://www.kahunakevin.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321339472666778123.post-92072562351004586932013-06-07T19:33:57.344+01:002013-06-07T19:33:57.344+01:00So far the only crowdfunding I've done is for ...So far the only crowdfunding I've done is for Andrew Wildman's Horizon comic on Indiegogo:<br />http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/horizon-a-long-way-to-fall<br /><br />Likewise, $50 didn't seem too much because I wanted to see the project succeed. <br /><br />Subscription-based publishing is a good (and venerable) model, but I don't think we'll see anything interesting as long as it's all on a per-project basis. That just encourages a "Dinosaurs vs Aliens" mentality of creating noisy high concepts. What would be better would be a system where you subscribe say $100 and for that will get your pick of 5 novels from a tranche of new books by a pool of maybe twenty authors. You'd be backing them because you believe they'll do something interesting, not because you have glommed onto a specific project.Dave Morrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14468228790874490693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7321339472666778123.post-41065821263578061912013-06-07T17:09:29.648+01:002013-06-07T17:09:29.648+01:00I’m even less of an expert, having never attempted...I’m even less of an expert, having never attempted to publish anything myself either by the crowdsourced or the conventional route, although I know a bit about what goes into publishing books in general from working for various academic publishers over the years. Nevertheless, pretty much everything you’ve suggested here accords with my assumptions. Out of the gamebook projects that I’ve backed on Kickstarter, only two have been published so far, both of them being delayed and (to judge from the authors’ comments) going over budget despite having already been written at the start of their campaigns. So, yes, realistically, unless you already have a large fanbase (e.g. Zach Weiner), or unless your project turns into one of those freakish campaigns that ends up being funded 1000% for no immediately obvious reason, a gamebook Kickstarter will be paying for production and distribution only. It will not fund a lifestyle, or any of your other bills.<br /><br />Another thing that would deter me from going to Kickstarter would be the pressure of meeting backer expectations with suitably enticing “Reward Tiers” and “Add Ons”. I notice that some projects have taken to attaching “Reward Matrices”, so complex has this industry now become.<br /><br />Having said all of that, I’ll admit that my average gamebook pledge on Kickstarter is well over $50, which I don’t regret. I want to see these books published, including those of a more unashamedly traditional variety, and I am therefore willing to support them to the limited extent that I can.Graham Harthttps://twitter.com/editoriusnoreply@blogger.com