Kickstarter Friday
Some Campaigns I Think Are Worth Backing Or Studying Or Both!
I do this every Friday when I have a few campaigns I think are worth putting here.
I will not say much negative about a campaign. If there is too much or it is going to fail, I won’t post it here.
And for those wondering where I get off judging Kickstarter Campaigns by fiction writers, I have now done 60 of them, every one funded and made money. My first campaign was in the very early days of Kickstarter. But if yoy are going to study campaigns that I have done, study the last year or so. I am continuing to learn.
And like some people browse and waste time on Facebook, I browse and waste time looking at campaigns on Kickstarter.
New This Week…
THIS TIME AUTUMN: Cozy Contemporary Romance Novel by Kathryn Kaleigh
Second Chances • Small town romance • Heartwarming • Suspenseful • Romantic • First in a series
Kathy has done over 40 campaigns and they are always really, really well done. If you love romance of all types, Kathy might be one of the great undiscovered talents, so jump on board on this one. Great reading and a campaign to study on how small campaigns are done right.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kathrynkaleigh/this-time-autumn
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Something Kringle This Way Comes: Urban Fantasy Mystery Book by Rebecca M. Senese
Magic & mystery stalk Noel Kringle, Santa’s son, as he races to solve a series of murders and save the suspect: his mother!
Rebecca is a great writer and this is a fantastically fun series of stand-alone mysteries smashed into Santa’s son and that world. This is a good one by a great writer and worth backing and also study how she kept the tone of the campaign consistent which is sometimes very hard to do. A good one.
The Portal Wars Saga – The Pirate Hunt – Book Nine by James E. Wisher
A dark epic fantasy novel filled with magic, pirates, and political intrigue for fans of action-packed fantasy adventure series…
This is a small Kickstarter that has funded at far too high an ask, especially for a book nine in a series. He does it right, however by offering all the previous books.
And unlike many campaigns these days, he keeps it simple and doesn’t toss in the kitchen sink and everything else he can think of.
The only mistake I see is that he brands himself and his covers as a new writer and even tells us he is a new writer, so really undercuts buyer confidence when he should be doing the opposite. So this one is worth taking a look at and backing it if you like that kind of fiction.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jamesewisher/the-pirate-hunt
Unbroken: New Tales By Masters of Fantasy by Peter Orullian
An anthology of SF&F stories from Brandon Sanderson & Peter Orullian, Christopher Paolini, Seanan McGuire, Matt Dinniman and many more.
Wow, this is a big one. Gone past a million, almost 7,000 backers, and still got 32 days left. And this is Peter’s first campaign, but that is very deceptive. He has the great help with a lot of stuff by Kickstarter vets Shawn Speakman and also Michael J. Sullivan who has done a ton of great campaigns through his own company.
On something this big, there are about a billion details to deal with. And this will get bigger. My guess is that it will level around 1.4 million.
And the authors in this huge anthology are top notch, so it should be some great reading. Back it, folks, and study this one, not because you ever want to do one this size, but at some of the details.
And then as an exercise, think of the costs. This had a $50,000 goal I am sure was flashed past in minutes. But think about that number. More than likely a base number for authors and a bunch of great artists costs. Base number.
And almost all of this campaign is physical products. All with costs. All with slight profit margins (I hope they all have profit margins).
Now the shipping costs seem to be done right, which is great. And the promise on how they are packaging each book is great (expensive off that profit margin). So there are going to be (when this is done) close to 10,000 backers, most wanting physical products.
Pause here… Just think about that. You got a place to store that many multiple books all arriving by the truck loads or semi-tracker loads and how many people is it going to take to carefully pack and ship them? And what will be the cost of all that?
With Sullivan and Speakman, I assume most of this was worked out already, but for those of you who think it would be cool to do this kind of monster project, think of the details.
And Kickstarter takes about 8% with credit card fees right off the top, and there will be another 2% in other costs, so before anything can even get started if this goes to 1.4 million, there will be $140,000.00 just gone. And don’t even think about the taxes. Feds and State…
So this will be an an anthology of the year in sf and fantasy, I have no doubt, and should win a few rewards. And I am betting knowing some of the authors either personally or by reputation, this will be a fantastic read. I highly suggest anyone with a love of fantasy back this project. It’s a big one, but it has a good crew, so it should all work out and you will have some great reading and from the looks of it from the art, a beautiful book.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/unbroken/unbroken-new-tales-by-masters-of-fantasy
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UPCOMING CAMPAIGNS I THINK ARE WORTH FOLLOWING…
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FIVE SCIENCE FICTION COLLECTIONS by Dean Wesley Smith
Fifty Science Fiction Short Stories in Five Brand New Collections by New York Times Bestselling Writer Dean Wesley Smith!
This is my 60th Kickstarter campaign and it just got approved and we already have a “Project We Love” from Kickstarter. Really cool. This the start of me getting out a bunch of my short stories finally. The base of this campaign is five science fiction 10-story collection. But there is a featured reward that you can get five more science fiction collections. And then in this, all the stretch goals will be brand new science fiction collections.
So if you take the featured reward and the project does all right, you could end up with 150 science fiction short stories from me in 15 original collections.
So follow the link and click the watch button to be informed when this baby launches. And read my introduction on how this all came about. So much fun to see so many of my short stories finally see the light of publishing day after all these years.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/a26/five-science-fiction-collections?ref=5tysz4
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Crown of Sea and Storm: Fantasy Romance Luxe Edition by Fiddlehead Press
A brand-new standalone epic romantasy with Little Mermaid vibes, a dash of Norse folktales, & just the right amount of swoony spice~
This campaign got a “Project We Love” by Kickstarter before it launched and it has a lot of followers already, so it will do stunning. And the covers and art are great. This will be a great one to get behind now, and then back it and study it.
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The Trouble With Nutcrackers: A Cozy Fantasy Mystery by E. R. Paskey
Once Upon a Time meets small town living in this whimsical cozy romantasy Christmas mystery featuring fairy tale characters & knitting!
Worth jumping on this one even though it won’t be out until July. One you don’t want to miss. Looks like fun.
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Fantastic Sisterhood: Five Contemporary Fantasy Novelettes by Kari Kilgore
Ordinary women venture into the extraordinary with a brand-new collection of fantastic escapes from award-winning author Kari Kilgore.
Five great fantasy novelettes by professional writer Kari Kilgore, all in one book. Plus a bunch of other fun stuff in this campaign. Worth taking a look and getting yourself onto the reminder list for when this launches. Going to be a really good campaign.
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Flame & Dagger: Epic Romantasy Limited Edition Early Release by Lisa Silverthorne
Enemies to Lovers, Prophecy, Apocalyptic Stakes, Brooding Hero, Elemental Magic, Secret Identity, Forced Marriage, Book 3 Curse & Crown.
Lisa is not only one of the best fantasy writers working today, but also one of the best artists and cover designers there is. Bookvault uses her covers with her permission on their web site to show how wonderful special books can be done. You really, really want to check this promotion page out and get on the list of backers. This will be a campaign to not miss when it launches.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lisasilverthorne/flame-and-dagger-epic-romantasy