KVR Audio

zircon · Post by **zircon** » Mon Sep 09, 2013 5:05 pm

I've run or been directly involved with four successful Kickstarter campaigns for various projects, including three album proejcts, and have advised other people on their campaigns. It was suggested to me that I should put my experiences and advice into a book, which I've just finished and published. I'm quite proud of this and I hope that it can help other musicians and creative folks.

"The Ultimate Kickstarter Guidebook: A Proven Formula For Crowdfunding Success"
Available in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats!

Website: http://ultimatekickstarterguidebook.com/

The book includes topics such as:

Pros and cons of crowdfunding vs. self-funding
When you should and shouldn't run a Kickstarter
Building a fan base and leveraging it for initial momentum
Projects ideal for crowdfunding
Picking a funding level
Picking rewards and dealing with fulfillment
Managing expenses and scope
Writing and organizing compelling descriptions / backstory
General copywriting
Creating a great video
Managing and promoting the campaign
Communicating with backers
Following through with your project + distribution
Taxes & legal

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FE03D1Y

I'm also happy to answer any questions you might have about what Kickstarter is, what it does, and who it's for. Let me know!

Sequent · Post by **Sequent** » Mon Sep 09, 2013 5:18 pm

Sounds interesting. The legal ramifications and taxes are certainly an important thing to consider, so I'm glad you have an entry for that.

What happens if your funding falls short of the goal and the project doesn't come to fruition. I've seen this happen twice to a person who was trying to fund a printing of his book. What happens to the money in that kind of situation?

zircon · Post by **zircon** » Tue Sep 10, 2013 5:05 pm

The short answer: If your project is not funded on Kickstarter.com, you get 0% of the money, pay no fees, and backers are not charged. In other words, nothing happens.

Sequent · Post by **Sequent** » Tue Sep 10, 2013 5:13 pm

zircon wrote:The short answer: If your project is not funded on Kickstarter.com, you get 0% of the money, pay no fees, and backers are not charged. In other words, nothing happens.

Thanks for this. I was wondering mainly because of that book example I had mentioned, but also for my own purposes down the line. Good luck with the e-book. I'm signing up to your notification list.

zircon · Post by **zircon** » Tue Sep 24, 2013 3:34 am

Bump! The book is now complete and available for purchase in multiple formats. As always I'm happy to answer any questions about crowdfunding here as well.

http://ultimatekickstarterguidebook.com/

irvg · Post by **irvg** » Tue Sep 24, 2013 7:51 am

I thought when you sell on Kindle, you're not allowed to sell the same book independently as an e-book. Please let me know if I'm wrong.

zircon · Post by **zircon** » Tue Sep 24, 2013 8:09 am

As far as I can tell this is only true if you are enrolled in the "Select" program, which I am not (by choice). I like to give people options

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Tue Sep 24, 2013 11:41 am

Slow the feck down with off-projects, man!
I can't keep up anymore.

Though there is one critism that I'd like to add.
Your projects were successful, since you already had a suitable fanbase. Those projects that don't have a fanbase, and might they be as interesting as it can get, don't have such a huge chance to be successful.

Just look at the projects (including the ones with your wife):
- Album projects - drastically exceeded expectations
- OC Remix - fanbase from the remix community (both remixers and listeners)
- Game Soundtrack - you brought your excellent known name into it

Now, if I'd start a kickstarter project to, let's say, further fund my studio...
People do know me, but they barely know my work aside from helping out at OCR and KVR. Which is one criteria for not succeeding. Then they'd ask "why should we fund you, if all we get is maybe a CD in return? We don't know your productions!".

On top are the TAX in from the Kickstarter companies, the exchange rates (if you're outside of the country where the Kickstarter resides), etc. If there is even a chance to get your project kick-started (certain pages here in Germany ask for a "project vote" first until it goes into the "campaign" list - that is a stepping stone already).

All these are problems in my opinion.

I definitely appreciate the efforts, but there are also a lot of pitfalls.

zircon · Post by **zircon** » Tue Sep 24, 2013 5:20 pm

You're absolutely right that a fanbase is important. There is actually a whole chapter of the book devoted to that. Having an existing audience makes it possible to get initial momentum; once all is said and done, you WILL get a sizable # of pledges from external sources and new fans, but you need the initial momentum from your own fanbase first.

That being said, I think it is possible for anyone to build an audience, it just takes some time and preparation. Simply put: the more you can connect yourself to popular things, the better. So many people recently have achieved great success by making fan projects, covers, arrangements, videos, tributes, etc. and these things earn them a great following.

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Wed Sep 25, 2013 11:17 am

I do not doubt that, but let's take a look at the two most recent keyboard related projects. One was TouchKeys (which was successful!), and another one was on similar levels (which nobody seemed to have cared for).

Both ideas were great, and if I had the funds, I would have supported it. But even though both did their thing in terms of presentation, a good pledge drive (heck, I'd be lost if I'd do something similar), decent goals. Yet one of these projects failed.

I've also seen video game remakes and sequels through Kickstarter that failed. Even if it had a fanbase. But missing was the fact that certain users don't have credit cards, or it simply wasn't known that there is a kickstarter project existing.

So even if you make a ton of posts about it, send the message out ot the masses, it is not guaranteed to succeed. Even with a certain fanbase.

As prime example I could give the "Giana Sisters" reboot. That thing was initially only handled through Kickstarter. Then in the last third of the funding, they set up PayPal. It constantly looked as if they couldn't make it (they did actually, with a plus of about 100k or so). But what pissed me off was the communication - it was nonexistent!

I had one question regarding shipping, and it was answered AFTER the Kickstarter timespan was over. So yeah.

WIth unknown people or projects, it's like GroupBuys... people sit on the fence until the very last day to see if it goes through (see the European alternative to the GEMA, the C3S).

But if you have something that people can connect to (like a remix project), or they know you for a couple of years now (since you're a famous musician), then it's actually easy to pull off a Kickstarter project.

Then again, as I was saying earlier, German Kickstarter pages even raise the bar, with a voting system. If you don't get a certain ammounts of votes, your project can not be funded. I think two or three pages over here do this by now.

And the other issue I'm still having: you need a credit card.

Else, I might have started a certain project already.
(you know what it is - but I need sparetime for that)

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Wed Sep 25, 2013 11:22 am

So the response to 'how to help your crowdfunding succeed' is 'crowdfunding sometimes fails'. erm...

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Wed Sep 25, 2013 12:45 pm

The thing that doesn't swing with me (the title of the book, and some of the advertising actually), is the positive way it's predicted.

I do not critisize Andrew Aversa, I know him for a couple of years now, and his projects are most of the time thought through, successful, he has a huge fanbase from OCRemix days and was lucky in a lot of ways (being among one of the leaders of OCR, he was asked to provide a demo track for FLStudio, just to name two).

Of course he can write overly positive about this kind of stuff, and tell people how it works. But I kind of miss the negative side to that as well. Even if he covers it in a chapter in his book (which I don't have btw - on my desk are like 5 books staring at me, saying "read me, dammit!").

Two sides of the medal, whyte.

It is just not guaranteed that even though you did a ton of promo, your R&D and created an interesting pledge drive, that your Kickstarter project succeeds.

In the last couple of years, I've read so many articles on web stuff, how to be successful, how to do things right, how to earn big money. And you know what - just because it worked for them (the writers) doesn't mean that it can work for you as well.

Not being pessimistic, just realistic.

zircon · Post by **zircon** » Wed Sep 25, 2013 5:26 pm

Well, you're right that there are no guarantees for success in life, even with good advice. The best I can do is offer ways to maximize your chances. For example, like you mention, you can properly communicate with backers, do meaningful updates, and answer questions. You can create a great video. You can make rewards that people really want. You can write a thoughtful description with lots of screenshots, previews, videos, backstory, etc. Or you can NOT do these things and give yourself more opportunity to fail.

Ultimately, my goal is just to provide the tools for people to avoid mistakes and make their project as good as it can be. No more, no less

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Wed Sep 25, 2013 5:48 pm

Fair enough. Just threw in another viewpoint.

tweetor_eator · Post by **tweetor_eator** » Thu Sep 26, 2013 4:25 am

sounds interesting, im doing one of those things right now as it goes
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392555

Ebook on how to run a successful Kickstarter campaign!