A Fantasy Author's Journey from Indie Press to Kickstarter Success

My first books were published in 2010 by an Indie Press. It was a fantasy series. Back then the world wasn’t swamped with self-published books. Most people who weren’t making it past the big press gate keepers were going to small presses to get their books out.

Breaking Through as a Bestseller

I was thrilled that someone had confidence in my stories, and they did well. In fact, when book 3 came out the series was ranking on Amazon between Harry Potter and Percy Jackson. I even got a gold seal from Amazon as a best seller. And then the bottom dropped out. Life happened and the small press folded. All my books had to come down off the retailers. The series lost momentum. I hopped from one small press to another after that until I realized I needed to pick up the baton and publish myself.

Never since then had my book launches been as successful as my debut book. I needed a new business plan.

Discovering Kickstarter: A New Chapter

In the past, I did a few crowdfunding campaigns for my short films, and one was successful enough that we earned enough to make a 15-minute concept film. And then something new happened with Kickstarter. They started a department for crowdfunding published works. Books! So I tried my hand at crowdfunding my new series. I was awed at the response and I’ve been releasing books on Kickstarter ever since.

The platform began as a gaming and filmmaking platform, so there are fantasy super-backers scrolling campaigns and grabbing collector items like leather bound, gold foil, stamped edged books—pretty books with illustrations and excellent literary value. I am convinced that there are fantasy fans who only shop on Kickstarter. Among these are super backers who have backed thousands of campaigns. This was my audience, and I don’t think I will ever launch another book without first reaching out to those people who have faithfully followed my campaigns.

Kickstarter lets you post unlimited content about your book with text and images. They give you a platform to pour your heart out. Why you wrote the book, who your characters are, the plot, what you’re offering your readers. You get a story page to make your book shine. And what’s wonderful too is that when the campaign ends, that story page remains, and you can link it to wherever you want. Even while the campaign is running, you can link to first chapters on your website, audio, and video and buy-links on Amazon if you choose. Only your own website offers that kind of exposure, but with Kickstarter you get their audience browsing your information. I think Brandon Sanderson’s historic 40-million-dollar Kickstarter was a wake-up call for all of us.

Crafting a Successful Kickstarter Campaign

Theoretically, to have a campaign you are creating a project, so what you put up must be something new you’re working on. That can include new covers, new edits, a special edition, or limited edition, or a new compilation such as an omnibus of books you’ve already written.

There are some great workshops on how to create a successful Kickstarter campaign and of course, as with everything, there are some tricks to get it going and I suggest to anyone who wants to try their hand, to look at Dean Wessly’s Smith’s free Kickstarter workshop. It’s a series of 20-minute videos that cover everything you need to know for beginners.

https://wmg-publishing-workshops-and-lectures.teachable.com/p/kickstarter
I also suggest the Kickstarter for Authors group on Facebook

Most importantly, I suggest looking at the campaigns that are on there. It’s really a fun place to shop, too and I found myself getting awarded the ‘super-backer’ badge for all the purchases I made.