Musings about crowdfunding

from the self-appointed Dutch Crowdfunding Queen

Yesterday I hit the crowdfunding goal for my new book, with still four days to go! Which means I can continue using my self-induced title of Crowdfunding Queen, whew! This is what a successful campaign looks like on the Dutch crowdfunding platform VoorDeKunst (“ForTheArt”):

This campaign has really followed the book - I learned from Brad Guigar and Dave Kellett, who host the ComicLab Podcast and have done dozens of Kickstarters between them (Take a listen! They’re really inspiring!), that you make one third of your goal in the first week of your campaign and then another third in the last, when urgency is high and people will be reminded to back your project. When you lay this out as a statistic, you get the “bath tub model”:

I love baths.

This is exactly how my campaign went: with a long stretch in the middle where things were slow, and a peak at the end. A huge one!

This was my FIFTH crowdfunding, so by now I fancy myself an expert. Here are some things I learned along the way:

1. You can’t crowdfund without a crowd. Don’t start if you do not already have a fanbase that you know how to reach, through social media or (preferably) a newsletter.

2. A crowd of 100 will get you there. If you have a goal of somewhere between 5000 and 10,000 euro/dollars, your hundred fans will make sure you reach it. They want you to succeed, and people turn out to be more generous than you think!

3. Have good rewards. I always make sure that the most rewarding reward is priced at 1/100th of my goal - so for a goal of 5000 euros I set a good reward of 50 euros. I usually make this the actual book PLUS something special extra, like original drawings.

4. Crowdfunding is a journey. You don’t have to know everything in advance. I usually start out promising “a fun little extra, to be announced later”. This way, I let the momentum of the crowdfunding inspire me, I have something fun to announce halfway through and create interaction with my backers.

5. Don’t go too crazy though. Be careful with adding on T-shirts, posters, buttons - anything that won’t fit in a normal mailbox and will cost you a lot of hassle to produce. I advice booklets with special content - easy to produce and send, a wonderful exclusive treat and a nice physical reminder of the campaign. In this case, I’m making a booklet with all of my drawings of inventions - the originals will go out to the 50 euro backers, but everyone above the 20 euro level receives the book!

6. Don’t fret. Many artists get really nervous during the slow period between the first and last week of their campaign. Rest assured: this is normal! In the meantime, keep posting fun updates and engaging your existing backers, so future backers will want to jump in earlier next time and not miss out on all the fun.

7. Don’t be afraid to repeat your message. You will want to repeat that you have a crowdfunding going on and yes, this will feel awkward, like you’re bombarding people with ads - but you can make this easier by a) planning a bit ahead, b) making sure you have something new to show/tell in every social media post. Remember that people get bombarded on the net anyways and you have to repeat your message to be heard. At least you have something nice to say!

8. Grow that crowd! The thing that pushed my campaign over its goal yesterday, and that surprised even me, was a mailing to ALL the people that backed my earlier projects. I had mailed them in the first week already, so doing it again felt funny, but it proved really effective to gently remind them: hey, if you liked my stuff in the past, here’s something new I made and that you might still want to order. With every campaign that you do, this group of people grows. They are your most loyal backers!

9. DON’T BE AFRAID. I’m repeating this because it’s so important. Some artists are afraid their campaign will fail and it will be forever a blemish on their career. I assure you it won’t. As Brad&Dave say: crowdfunding is free market research. If a campaign fails, there was something wrong with the timing, pricing or maybe even the product itself. Be glad you’re not stuck with a warehouse full of books that won’t sell, and go back to the drawing board!

10. HAVE FUN! That’s the most important tip I can give. It’s extremely rewarding to have people tell you why they love your work and to be able to interact with them directly. This is your crowd! You’re taking them on a fun adventure! Even if you’re an introvert (which I essentially am): this is something you can do from behind your screen, you choose the time and manner to interact - so dive in there and go crowdsurfin’!

The bathtub again, because I love it so much