Cebulski - Kickstarter For Dummies

Kickstarter For Dummies

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John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Copyright 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2013935671

ISBN 978-1-118-50543-4 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-50541-0 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-50545-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-50546-5 (ebk)

Manufactured in the United States of America

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About the Author

Aimee Cebulski is a lifelong traveler and recently used Kickstarter to fund her own book, The Finding 40 Project ( www.finding40.net ). She has worked as a freelance travel writer and blogger for the last 15 years. The Finding 40 Project combined Cebulski's passion for telling stories through photos and sharing lessons learned from those she has met around the world.

She has had pieces featured in publications such as Travelhoppers, Scuba Diving Magazine, AdWeek, The Riverside Press-Enterprise, The Arizona Daily Star, Ranch & Coast Magazine, San Diego News Network, The Orange County Register, The Minnesota Star Tribune, and Los Angeles Family Magazine, among others.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to all the Kickstarters out there pursue your passions, dreams, and ideas, and make them happen!

Authors Acknowledgments

This book would not be possible without the support of my friends and family who helped make my Kickstarter campaign a reality. Thank you to Margot for encouraging me to do this book and everyone I have worked with to gather this content, especially the For Dummies team for their patience and assistance!

Publishers Acknowledgments

Acquisitions Editor: Amy Fandrei

Senior Project Editor: Rebecca Huehls

Senior Copy Editor: Barry Childs-Helton

Technical Editor: Leah Jones

Editorial Assistant: Annie Sullivan

Senior Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case

Senior Project Coordinator: Kristie Rees

Cover Image: mbbirdy / iStockphoto

Introduction

Kickstarter has gone from a small startup Internet company in 2009 to one of the leading tools used to fund tens of thousands of creative projects. The company uses a concept called crowdfunding , or bringing together many people to support a concept, product, or idea. Crowdfunding works by allowing individuals to provide financial backing to a project they want to see come to fruition.

However, Kickstarter is different from other types of fundraising-oriented platforms. The people posting campaigns are not asking for donations for a favorite charity or cause; they are asking backers to believe in their idea. Kickstarter has quickly become a mainstream way to get a creative project made, whether its backing for a feature or documentary film or preselling copies of a book. According to a July 2012 report in Publishers Weekly, Kickstarter has already revolutionized the graphic novel industry, quickly becoming the second-largest publisher for this type of work.

Everyone from Academy Awardwinning writers to long-established musical acts are using Kickstarter to get their latest projects off the ground without waiting for a studio or publisher to come along. Thanks to the nature of digital giving (using a credit card over the Internet), backers can come from anywhere and support projects at any level, from $1 to $10,000 and beyond.

About This Book

This book is mostly for anyone considering or in the process of raising money for a project via a Kickstarter campaign. You find a little bit of information about backing projects and an introduction to what Kickstarter is all about, too, but the books focus is squarely on raising funds through Kickstarter.

Whether your project is just a spark of an idea or a fully conceived one for which you simply need the funds, this book can help you with your Kickstarter campaign. This book will give you a step-by-step guide to conceptualizing your Kickstarter campaign, gathering the pieces needed and tools available to maximize your push, as well as deciding what to do after your project is funded.

I offer tips to help you accomplish your goals at every stage in the process: determining how much to ask for, managing your campaign throughout the fundraising timeframe, and more. Throughout the book, you also find case studies about successful campaigns and how they applied concepts I explain in a chapter.

Kickstarter is a powerful tool not only to raise funds for your idea or project, but also to create a community. The Kickstarter website has tools for backer updates, links to Facebook, and opportunities to be seen by other enthusiasts in your neighborhood or category. I help you identify ways to use these tools for sharing your idea with a large, previously untapped audience.