For those of you who have never backed a campaign on Kickstarter, here's a brief description of how is works:
1) The customers are called backers.
2) A project creator (like me) puts something new they've created into a campaign on Kickstarter. The created object can be just about anything. Mainly, I support books, comics, and Tarot cards, but I've also supported low-flow shower heads and wearable flash drives shaped like Star Trek comm badges. The point of the campaign is to solicit funds to bring their product to wider markets.
3) In return for supporting the campaign, the backers get some really cool merchandise!
4) The campaign is open for a set number of days (in my case,
from July 21st through midnight PDT July 30th).
5) During the time the campaign is live, the backer can
pledge for a certain reward package. For example, the backer can get all e-books or all paperbacks. In my current campaign, I set up a ‘Make Your Own’ package
option where you can mix and match the items in a campaign via the 'Add-ons' feature.
6) A lot of creators also have 'Add-on' merchandise where backers can get extras of campaign items or special merchandise that's not part of the main campaign. You can select ‘Add-ons’ in my campaign if you want an extra paperback for your
favorite niece, for example.
7) Yes, backers will need a credit or debit card to make their pledge. However, Kickstarter WILL NOT charge you yet.
8) The creator's have a funding goal. If there's enough pledges to meet or exceed that goal when the campaign's time is up, then the campaign is successfully funded!
9) If the campaign fails to fund when its time is up, The backers won’t be charged at
all, but they also won’t get any merchandise.
10) If the campaign successfully funds, the backer's credit/debit card will be charged shortly after the
end of the campaign.
11) If there is a problem with the backer's credit/debit card (hey, life happens), Kickstarter will contact the backer and give them a chance to rectify the problem. If they cannot fix the issue within 7 days, Kickstarter will cancel the backer's pledge.
12) Approximately, two weeks after the end of the campaign, Kickstarter deposits the funds from the campaign (minus Kickstarter's fees and any card processing fees) to the creator.
13) The creator then arranges for the merchandise to be made (if they haven't done so already) and delivers/ships the merchandise to the backers. In my case, physical books will be drop-shipped from the printer/distributor Ingram. The e-books will be downloaded via Book Funnel. And the extra merch will be mailed from me to you!
14) There's a very low incidence of scamming on Kickstarter. The company runs a pretty tight ship. However, once in a while someone slips through. So screen any creators! Hopefully, after writing and publishing for the last 15 years, you find me trustworthy!
I've successfully run two campaigns so far. The Books of Apep series is my third one, but my first under my company name, Angry Sheep Publishing LLC. I'm truly excited about this campaign because I had a ton of fun writing the books!
If everything goes smoothly, my backers will have their books a minimum of six weeks before the first book in the series launches at the regular retail sites.
If you have any additional questions about Kickstarter, take a look at their FAQ section.
Hopefully, you'll check out my campaign when it launches tomorrow! Thanks!
