Journal Prompts

How can I support my energetic capacity during the campaign?

What days would I like to take off to recharge?

How can I ask for support from my community, family, and friends?

Update Your Profile

• Add link to your campaign
• Call to action (“Check out my Kickstarter!” or “Preorder my book!”)
• Update your link tree or landing page

Comment to DM

Something I’ve discovered recently is Comment to DM. It’s a service that will automatically DM a message if someone comments on your post or comments a specific phrase. You might say,

“Leave your favorite emoji in comments if you want me the campaign URL via DM.”

Or you can specify a specific phrase that triggers the DM. I’ve seen a few people using this and it may help people who get lost trying to find the link in the bio. The service I’ve seen is called Many Chat. They also offer other automation features.

Here’s an in depth post about how it works.

It looks like there is a free tier and it’s paid after 1000 user interactions (as of December 2023).

Use technology to help you out.

Set up autocomplete on your phone for…

• Crowdfunding Short URL (set up with https://bitly.com)
• Summary of Project
• Answers to FAQ

The Magic 30%

Reaching 30% is the threshold where you’ll start to see friends of friends support your project. You’ll need your biggest supporters to pledge early and help reach that 30% to show “social proof” that your project is worth backing.

What do you want to call your team?

• Launch Team
• Hype Team
• Street Squad (my 4 year old favors this one)
• etc.

Example Launch Team email.

Here are some screenshots of the email we sent our Launch Team for How it Feels to Me. They were really instrumental in our success in reaching our goal in a short whirlwind campaign.

(Tap the photo on desktop or zoom in on mobile to load full size.)

Full transparency – we had lots of support, but nobody participated in BINGO.

Case Studies

If you’re not familiar with crowdfunding it can help to look at some examples.

Here are some successful projects you may want to study.

Surprise! Four Secret Novels by Brandon Sanderson

Don’t miss his click bait announcement video.

PlayPauseBe

Yoga Card Deck

Mika & the Witch’s Mountain

Video Game

The After Death

Comic Book

The School of Making Thinking

Nonprofit (offering exclusive workshops for donors)

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You can also review my campaigns. Linked below.

Welcome to Crowdfunding 101 🌱

Questions to Answer

What are you making?

Why is it important to you?

What inspired you?

Why is it important to the world?

Why support the project?

What exactly will the money go toward? (Transparency in the cost and funding goals can be key.)

What are the funding tiers & perks?

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Want to see some examples? Review this module for links to all of my crowdfunding videos.

Welcome to Crowdfunding 101 🌱

Tiers for Every Level

You’ll want to have pricing tiers at every level.

For example (here’s what I used):

$15 Ebook (or Digital Bundle)

$29 Limited Edition Signed Hardcover (+ Digital Bundle)

$58 Buy a Book + Donate a Book

$125 Book + Original Art

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Journaling Prompts

• What do you need to make your project?
• What is the bootstrap number?
• What is the number you need to make it the best it can be?
• How many sales would you need to make to reach that number?
• What is the cost of packaging materials and shipping?
• What is the cost of any physical perks?

Easy to Mail Perks

• Bookmarks
• Postcards
• Art
• Book Plates
• Stickers
• Temporary Tattoos
• Zines, etc.

Virtual Perks

• Ebook
• Coloring Page
• Workshop
• Coaching or Mentoring
• Zoom Event

Journal Prompts

• What seasons do you have the most energy?
• What months do you have big commitments (work, family, etc.)?
• When are important holidays or birthdays?
• Who are you making your project for? When might they be available?
• How long do you want your campaign to last?

Publishing Timelines

It’s worth considering a traditional publisher will take 2-3 years to publish a book.1

My first book was completely written when I crowdfunded. I had proof editions of both Discover Your Creative Ecosystem and Your Creative Ecosystem the Companion. I fulfilled orders 6 months later so they would arrive before Christmas. In retrospect I wish I’d given myself more time to refine some minor issues in the printing and proofing process. There’s always a delay before proofs arrive and everything felt a bit rushed at the end.

It’s so important to give time and space to the publishing process itself. For authors we can feel like the book is “done” once we’ve written it, but there are so many little steps that need to be taken care of to bring a book to life.

Moving forward I will always give myself at least one year between crowdfunding and the projected date to fulfill orders.

Why do we expect ourselves to publish faster with fewer resources, collaborators, and experience?

Journaling Prompts

• What do you need to make your project?
• What is the bootstrap number?
• What is the number you need to make it the best it can be?
• How many sales would you need to make to reach that number?
• What is the cost of packaging materials and shipping?
• What is the cost of any physical perks?

Easy to Mail Perks

• Bookmarks
• Postcards
• Art
• Book Plates
• Stickers
• Temporary Tattoos
• Signed Galley Page (uncorrected proof)
• Zines, etc.

Virtual Perks

• Ebook
• Coloring Page
• Workshop
• Coaching or Mentoring
• Zoom Event