Adam’s Kickstarter Experience: Week 2 Update
This is the second update from my #Kickstarter fund raising experience for my novel #RipplesintheChalice. You can see the project (and donate if you like) at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1953310134/ripples-in-the-chalice
There were fewer backers this week, but those who did tended to donate larger sums. I found a cool feature in my project page that I hadn’t noticed earlier: The Dashboard. It makes it easier to see your progress with statistics and charts.
Summary:
* After two weeks I have 21 backers donating $773 for 11% of funding, averaging $36.21 per backer.
* I’ve found that the breakdown of backers and funding as reported on the front public page does not correspond to the dashboard data. Not sure why this is. The overall funding amount is correct on the public page, but there are discrepancies in the individual reward tiers. For example, I noticed the public page only showed 1 x $50.00, when I knew for certain there are several more. Same with the $100 tier. The dashboard is accurate though.
* According to the dashboard, a surprising number of backers came directly from Kickstarter, having found my project by browsing their site.
* The video has been played 152 times (though if I’m reading the data correctly, only 26.32% of viewers have watched it to completion). Most video plays (131) were played directly on Kickstarter and not some other location (Facebook, YouTube, Google+, website, etc).
* The majority of funds (41%) were donated by people who requested NOT to receive a reward.
* I implemented several of the changes suggested by those giving feedback. For example, my posts on Facebook and Twitter now include hashtags. Also, in my last project update to backers, I’ve asked for a “call to action” to share the project on their social medias.
* My project has been shared another 5 times by supporters that I know of.
* I’ve learned if you post directly to Twitter from Kickstarter the video will post with it. If you just include a link in your Tweet it won’t show the video.
Some things I forgot to mention in earlier posts:
* Not hours after my project went live I already had people contacting me for Kickstarter related services. One guy offered to provide three $5 backers for a fee (how much, I don’t know because I didn’t look into it). Another person contacted me to offer their promotion services for spreading the word of my project. Again for a fee, but again I did not look too much into it.
* Kickstarter tells you that you’re chances of success are greater if you yourself have a history of backing projects (which shows in your profile). That makes sense, plus my research showed that to be the case. Many of the failed projects were by people who hadn’t backed others and didn’t put a lot effort into connecting with the larger artist community.
What’s up next? I just gave a Toastmaster’s speech to a captive audience of 15 people about my book and Kickstarter. People looked at the video afterwards, but no backers and no shares that I’m aware of. I’ll be giving the speech again to a bigger audience, 50+, tomorrow so we’ll see how that goes.
For now, it’s time to share my update and hope somebody somewhere is finding all this useful, otherwise it’s a lot of hot air going into the ether. 
Regards,
Adam.
