Doing Something New…

Late Pledges on a Kickstarter Campaign…

This is only new for us. Many large campaigns do this to one level or another. We have done 14 campaigns before this one and never tried this.

One of the reasons we wanted to do this is because it makes the surveys much nicer. Now granted, the standard Kickstarter surveys are just fine, but with an after-sale company, the surveys look better and allows for a clean ability to get the person’s add-ons.

Also, it would have made fulfillment quicker, except for the fact that WMG Publishing had to evacuate our offices last week, and I was slow putting the entire thing together because I wanted to make sure I learned it all. Next one, barring natural disasters, will be much faster in getting out rewards and stretch rewards.

Plus it allows supporters to get the rewards that were on the campaign for a time after the campaign ends at the Kickstarter campaign special prices. More than likely we’ll leave it up for a month total before taking it down.

And another side bit, by the time we pull it, we will have made an extra 10% or maybe more. Nothing to sneeze at.

Now usually these kinds of things are for bigger campaigns than our last one. But Kris and I and Allyson, with Loren’s help, wanted to do this experiment on a medium-sized campaign just to see.

I will report all the results here and in some videos on the Best Practices class on Teachable (which is free) when we are done.

Always trying something new. Keeps things fun, that’s for sure.

Check it out at Late Pledges on the Return of Boss Kickstarter page, or just follow this link.

6 Comments

Britt Malka

September 16, 2020 at 5:25 am

Thanks for sharing. It shall be interesting to see how it works out.

But won’t it give you lots of more manual work when some people buy after the end of the pledge? Won’t it be harder to keep track of who has received what?

dwsmith

September 16, 2020 at 8:45 pm

Britt, nope, they have a really easy way of keeping only the new ones separate. No real extra work, anymore than shipping something from our web store.

Kate Pavelle

September 16, 2020 at 1:32 pm

I noticed it right away, and loved the a la carte opportunity this provides for people who might have to buy a bit more. I’d like to do that someday. Between the pleasing appearance and the opportunity to “get more,” what’s not to like?

Teri Babcock

September 16, 2020 at 10:14 pm

“Next one, barring natural disasters, will be much faster in getting out rewards and stretch rewards.”

I had a physics prof who always said “I’ll have your exams back on Monday, God willing and the creek don’t rise.”
I thought it was just a folksy saying that she liked, until the Monday she said: “I don’t have your exams done. The creek rose, and I spent the weekend sandbagging my property.”

I liked the late-pledges offer a lot. I wish Jeshonek was doing one, I meant to upgrade on some books and missed the deadline.

Eduard Meinema

September 17, 2020 at 2:14 am

I love the idea of the ‘after-kicker’. But … (as if there should always be a ‘but’ …) I didn’t choose anything extra because I couldn’t make a choice due to the large selection (*). Isn’t it wiser to limit the choice?
For example, by relisting only the best-seller pledges.
Or just make 1 or 2 new offers in the ‘after-kicker’?

I also wonder whether the costs of the aftersale party compensate for the extra turnover? I understand that the rate for handling is 5% and a fixed fee. That makes the margin small. Interesting, but small.

(*) At last. Yep, I would have chosen the hard copies. Alas, hard copies are only shipped in the US. (With most kickstarters, by the way). If I look at the rates of POD in combination with ‘worldwide’ shipping (for example Lulu), there also seem to be cost-effective options for sending hard copies to Europe etc. What’s your opinion Mr. Spock, sorry… Smith?

dwsmith

September 17, 2020 at 9:24 am

That’s the Kickstarter rate, Edmuard, not the CrowdOx, which is the company we used. Margin works great. We print through Ingram and at the moment the only way we can get a book to Europe is first have it in our office, then pack it and ship it for far more than the book is worth. And then there is no way to track it. The cheaper methods are all a matter of scale and we don’t have the scale I’m afraid. Most writers don’t. And tracking is impossible.

Britt Malka

September 16, 2020 at 5:25 am

Thanks for sharing. It shall be interesting to see how it works out.

But won’t it give you lots of more manual work when some people buy after the end of the pledge? Won’t it be harder to keep track of who has received what?
- dwsmith
  
  September 16, 2020 at 8:45 pm
  
  Britt, nope, they have a really easy way of keeping only the new ones separate. No real extra work, anymore than shipping something from our web store.
Kate Pavelle

September 16, 2020 at 1:32 pm

I noticed it right away, and loved the a la carte opportunity this provides for people who might have to buy a bit more. I’d like to do that someday. Between the pleasing appearance and the opportunity to “get more,” what’s not to like?
Teri Babcock

September 16, 2020 at 10:14 pm

“Next one, barring natural disasters, will be much faster in getting out rewards and stretch rewards.”

I had a physics prof who always said “I’ll have your exams back on Monday, God willing and the creek don’t rise.”
I thought it was just a folksy saying that she liked, until the Monday she said: “I don’t have your exams done. The creek rose, and I spent the weekend sandbagging my property.”

I liked the late-pledges offer a lot. I wish Jeshonek was doing one, I meant to upgrade on some books and missed the deadline.
Eduard Meinema

September 17, 2020 at 2:14 am

I love the idea of the ‘after-kicker’. But … (as if there should always be a ‘but’ …) I didn’t choose anything extra because I couldn’t make a choice due to the large selection (*). Isn’t it wiser to limit the choice?
For example, by relisting only the best-seller pledges.
Or just make 1 or 2 new offers in the ‘after-kicker’?

I also wonder whether the costs of the aftersale party compensate for the extra turnover? I understand that the rate for handling is 5% and a fixed fee. That makes the margin small. Interesting, but small.

(*) At last. Yep, I would have chosen the hard copies. Alas, hard copies are only shipped in the US. (With most kickstarters, by the way). If I look at the rates of POD in combination with ‘worldwide’ shipping (for example Lulu), there also seem to be cost-effective options for sending hard copies to Europe etc. What’s your opinion Mr. Spock, sorry… Smith?
- dwsmith
  
  September 17, 2020 at 9:24 am
  
  That’s the Kickstarter rate, Edmuard, not the CrowdOx, which is the company we used. Margin works great. We print through Ingram and at the moment the only way we can get a book to Europe is first have it in our office, then pack it and ship it for far more than the book is worth. And then there is no way to track it. The cheaper methods are all a matter of scale and we don’t have the scale I’m afraid. Most writers don’t. And tracking is impossible.