Crowdfunding can be a great strategy for authors, artists, and other small businesses. Beyond just raising money for a new project, it can also be used to validate a concept too. Is your idea good enough that people will pay for it?
But there are a lot of myths about crowdfunding, which is why most crowdfunding campaigns fail. Kickstarter is not magic. It’s a business instrument. And like anything in business, it requires a strategy if you are to be successful.
That’s why I invited Bruce Myren to the show. Bruce is a professional photographer—and he conducted a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund his project, The Fortieth Parallel.
Bruce shared what made his Kickstarter campaign successful:
- What kind of planning is required in advance, including the extremely important pitch video.
- Having an audience before you get started—though it doesn’t have to be as big as you might think.
- How to determine how much money to ask for, and the right reward structure.
- How to go beyond social media and e-mail in promoting the campaign.
- How long to run the campaign, and the pace of donations at the beginning, middle, and end.
- How to support the campaign in an ongoing way, including finding outside sponsorship.
- How to keep up the momentum after your hit your goal.
- How to interact with your supporters.
Show Notes:
For more about Bruce’s project, The Fortieth Parallel:
Project statement: http://brucemyren.com/the-fortieth-parallel
All 52 images: http://brucemyren.com/projects/the-fortieth-parallel
Here’s the Kickstarter page for the project, so you can see Bruce’s strategy in action. His next Kickstarter campaign will be to fund a book project for The Fortieth Parallel.
To stay in touch with Bruce and all of his projects: Web / Twitter / Facebook.
Bruce also referenced David Karp in the show—here’s David’s info: http://solutions.limeduck.com.
More about Bruce:
Bruce Myren is a photographer and educator based in Cambridge, MA. Myren’s research centers on issues of place, history, and memory; projects include The Fortieth Parallel, and Fort Juniper, in his hometown of Amherst. Exhibited nationally, his photographs have been published in PDNedu, Fraction Magazine, View Camera Magazine, Huffington Post, Petapixel, and Slate. In 2014, he received a Cambridge Arts Council grant to photograph the Washington Elm on Cambridge Common. He is represented in Boston by Gallery Kayafas. He can be found on the Web at brucemyren.com.
As I am listening to the audio, I realized that there was an important part of the cost equation that we did not discuss. The cost of producing and shipping the rewards to your supporters. This is very important and many people I have spoken to failed to consider these costs.
Remember too, that any money you receive is counted as income by the IRS. Try to time your campaign so that the money is received and expensed in the same tax year. This will make your accountant very happy and you will not have to pay your reward to the IRS.