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

Find Your Why

Before you start working on a crowdfunding campaign the most important thing is that you need to have a strong foundation and belief in the why behind your work. Being rooted in the reason that you’re bringing this project to life makes it so much easier to fundraise.

You are not asking for money for yourself.

You are asking for collaborators to help bring an important project to life. Framing it like this makes it so much easier to do the work that you need to do to have a successful crowdfunding campaign.

I talk more about finding your why in my self-publishing course that is specifically about books but it’s probably applicable to other projects so if you want to take a peek at the why module replace “book” with whatever you are crowdfunding.

Self Pub 101 (Reflection)

Crowdfunding Platforms

Indiegogo (flexible goal)

Kickstarter (all of nothing)

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Curious about how I did it?

You can watch my crowdfunding videos here or click through to see the full campaign pages on Indiegogo.

Discover Your Creative Ecosystem Indiegogo Campaign

Crowdfunding Platforms

Indiegogo (flexible goal)

Kickstarter (all of nothing)

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Curious about how I did it?

You can watch my crowdfunding videos here or click through to see the full campaign pages on Indiegogo.

Discover Your Creative Ecosystem Indiegogo Campaign

How it Feels to Me Indiegogo Campaign

Entwined: an Anthology of Creativity & Motherhood

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And, for educational purposes, here is the failed Project STIR Kickstarter.

I can see now that the goal was too high, but I could have completed one of the films I had planned with the amount I raised (and didn’t get.)