For Kickstarter.
Hello!
As we move into the last twelve days of our Kickstarter campaign, I wanted to write you a note to explain where we stand right now, what opportunities are available, and how your pledge will be put to work.
First, there are now forty of you receiving this message — that’s an extraordinary number of people supporting an independent artistic venture in an uncertain economy — and it is difficult for me to find words to express my gratitude. When Hungry Rats is printed up for circulation this summer, it will be in large part due to your efforts and generosity. Thank you.
Second, we are currently at $3750, which is well over our minimal goal of $3200. I think it is very likely that we will be able to at least break $4000, but even if we don’t, we are well-positioned to move forward with a quality publication, available for order worldwide, and with modest but inventive marketing, I think we can do a lot with this number.
Assuming we do break $4000, some of that amount will be immediately absorbed by Kickstarter’s hosting fees (5% or $200) and the cost of creating and distributing the rewards (I estimate $240, based on today’s outlay). $4000 – $440 = $3560. My projected budget at the start of this campaign was $4300, but there’s good news in that some of the expenses will be considerably less than I had anticipated.
For example, it used to be that POD printers all sold packages that came with certain editing- and design- requirements. Today, the industry has matured to the point where it can offer more a la carte services. Since I contracted with my own designer and editor from the start, I have been able to avoid the substantial markup that would come with a package deal. As of now I am committed to an reasonable advance for editing and for design, with further compensation as a commission on each sale. While I had before budgeted a combined total of $2400 for design and printing, today it looks like that number will be more along the lines of $900. Given these adjustments, we arrive at the following tentative budget:
LEGAL / ADMINISTRATIVE: $300
DESIGN: $600
PRINTING: $300
MARKETING/PROMOTION: $2340
TOTAL: $3560
The net effect is that even though the overall budget is $700 less than the initial projection, the marketing/promotional budget has increased by almost 50% with no compromise in terms of print quality. This is important, because I’ve since learned that marketing/promotion will probably absorb more funds (and more quickly) than I had initially thought.
In particular, there are two areas of concentration that I think will benefit from the added promotional oomph.
First, guerrilla and viral marketing via the internet has benefit of low overhead, and is ideal for niche projects like an avant-garde novel. I’ll be exploring both straightforward tactics (eg. online advertising) and buzz marketing through sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Second, nothing quite substitutes for touring a book for exposing a project to a new audience and generating word-of-mouth… also, because of the collaborative development of Hungry Rats, I think we can plan a very special and memorable tour, taking in both bookstores as well as less conventional venues. Most likely, I will be doing this with Richard Whaling and Elisabeth Blair, and we’ll be saving every nickel and dime we can by staying with friends and packing brown bag lunches. There will still be expenses along the way, of course, but given careful planning, I certainly think we have enough budgeted to take in most major midwestern cities that will have us (and that is within a day’s drive of Chicago). I already have leads on launch events for both Flint and Chicago, and I’d like each of those cities to have a full-blown event, featuring the musical and artistic collaborators who have made such a difference in this project already.
Depending on how we do in the next 12 days (or an unexpected glut of sales out of the gate, but you never want to budget based on that), we could very easily add a few sites on the East Coast to that list, possibly for early in 2011. We’ve already been offered opportunities in New York City and in Philadelphia, and I’m pursuing leads in other cities. I don’t yet have a clear enough sense of expenses to say what the threshold would be for the Left Coast, but I am confident we could find venues in some combination of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and/or Seattle. This is, at the moment, the ambitious and less-likely option, but it’s worth keeping on the table.
I have to stress that even if we don’t raise another dime, this project will launch, on schedule, this summer, to some grassroots hype in the Midwest, and that is something I am very happy with and proud of. If you do have friends, relatives, coworkers, or allies that you feel comfortable sharing this with, I promise I will continue to make the very best use of any pledges that I can. In particular, there are several “big ticket” rewards that haven’t been claimed yet… if several people would like to go in on this together, we can certainly find a way to accommodate that. Likewise, if someone wanted such a reward, but was more interested in visiting Milwaukee or Muskegon than Chicago, I’m sure we could find a way to work that out as well.
It’s 12 days to go and all of the stops are out! Please let me know if you have any ideas as this campaign starts to wrap up, and once again, thanks for all you have done. It will be nice to finally set the fundraising aside and concentrate fully on the final design and execution of the book; I’m looking forward to sharing that with you.
Connor
PS. One last note; some of you haven’t claimed rewards. That’s fine, and it’s your right, but I do encourage you to claim one! They were designed to make this project more fun and meaningful for you — the backers — and are definitely considered in the calibration of the budget. In particular, if you have donated over $50 already and haven’t chosen a reward, take a look at Sam’s gorgeous T-shirt, featuring “the mainstream” as a view of the afterlife through the warped eyes of the Malady family.