The End of the Beginning

With the Kickstarter over, what’s next?

So we successfully made it to 875000 SEK, (or 87500 USD aprox)

This will assure that the book will be a real luxury product. Double ribbon, embossed cover and everything. It also represents over a years worth of work finally paying off, I don't have to tell you how amazing that is. 

So what did I learn during this campaign?

Youtube

I put the trailer up on YouTube mostly for archiving purposes and to add to the search algorithm, but I was legitimately surprised how many people clicked the link and backed from YouTube. The wisdom is that Facebook and Instagram ads are the best because people actually trust to click them, tumblr ads are useless because nobody wants to click them and none of the users have money, and twitter ads are extra useless because X is a feted hive of scum and villainy. 

So for the next campaign I’m definitely making more videos. 

Ask and ye shall receive

There were a few people, including the fantastic folks at Alchemy RPG that i reached out to late in the campaign that I should have contacted way earlier in terms of getting more promotion and support for the project. This one is on me either because I didn’t consider reaching out, or was too English and humble to think that people outside my immediate circle would be interested in the game. Being a bit more cheeky would definitely have helped but lessons learnt. 

It’s not for you

Some of the comments and messages I received about the free QuickStart were comments about its design and the readability of gothic script. Now the first thought is “mate, its just not for you.” But I can kind of see why people would feel entitled to everything looking like its been through several meetings, art directors, marketing meetings ect before all the edges are sanded off and you have something that should be enjoyed by everyone. Because frankly thats what most media looks like these days. 

The whole point of the book was to make it for me, and my wife and my friends. The fact that other people want in is an added bonus. But it's the same with nobody knowing how to haggle any more. You can't work out a personal deal with amazon or the supermarket, so why would you know to work out something with a trader or craftsman? It’s why selling on Facebook marketplace can be a real pain in the arse. 

Deal Deals Deals!

I didn’t want to do too much dicking about with the prices or offering mid campaign deals that would only piss off the early backers. But I think next time I will have more on offer for early backers like limited edition pledge tiers that won't have exclusive items, but will have a better price. 

Sound off in the comments what you would be cool with in terms of pledges or incentives to increase your pledge mid campaign?

Road Map

I didn’t want to show off the road map until the campaign was over because nothing screams feature creep like a roadmap of future media before a project has even launched. But in case you missed it here it is in all its glory. 

Anyone who missed out, there will be a post campaign period, i just need to sort that out with Free League.

cheers

Ben