Anatomy of a successful Kickstarter

A while back I mentioned Michael J. Sullivan’s Kickstarter campaign to finance the printing of a third book in his Riyria Chronicles series. He wanted to come out with one more book before the publisher begins releasing his new series next year, and in order to meet his contract obligations he has to get it out this year. The only way to do that is self-publishing.

So he set up a Kickstarter with a goal of $26,000–enough to cover the printing and shipping, while he would cover another $7000 of costs on his own. As of yesterday morning the project was at $53,577, making it the 8th most successful fiction project of all time. He’s had to scramble a little bit to come up with some additional incentives. The Kickstarter response has surprised him greatly. But I can’t say I’m that surprised. Sullivan, consciously or otherwise, knows how to market.

Just going in he had several things in his favor. He’s got a solid following of readers. His first three novels were self-published to begin with, so he knows how to do that. He’s already had a previous Kickstarter success with another of his stand-alone novels, and he delivered the goods, so to speak. He’s also good at engaging with his readers on multiple platforms, including his own website, Goodreads, and Reddit. He’s got a reputation for being open about the industry and his experiences, and for wanting to help new writers. He comes across as a genuine and generous man.

Then there’s the Kickstarter itself. The initial structure left a lot of different levels for supporters to get in on, ranging from a $5 “buy me coffee” level up to a $150 rare edition hardcover that includes a paperback copy as well, and an eBook. He also offered levels that would allow supporters to get full feedback on a manuscript, and completely separate from pledges, he’s giving a new writer a chance to get their short story published as part of the book.

His stretch goals have been interesting and varied. He began with only one. At $31,000 he would also send backers printed bookmarks. But once he hit the initial funding goal things began to get interesting. The next incentive was a chance to buy a full-sized poster of the new book’s or another’s cover (both are quite striking and something I would feel great hanging on my wall). The next goal after that would allow him to upgrade the printing quality.

At $43,000 he offered to hire an artist to redo the series’ map, making it available free as an electronic copy or a full size poster for an added amount. The next goal would allow the paperback edition to be printed to match the size and look of the previous two books in that series so they’ll all look good together on anyone’s shelf. at $48,000 he agreed to hire an artist to turn one of his short stories into a graphic novel, with backers getting a free e-copy or a print edition for a certain amount more.

The latest goal to fall made e-copies of his novel “Hollow World” and four of his short stories. With another $1500 of pledges he’ll commit to producing a weekly video diary. If the total hits $58,000 he’ll produce an e-book of “The Making of ‘The Death of Dulgath'” (the book he’s running the Kickstarter for) with behind-the-scenes information, etc. I’m fairly confident, with a week left, he’ll at least hit the $55,000 goal, and it’s possible the project will hit that last goal before it ends.

The campaign runs for 40 days. He would have stopped after 30, but that would have been the July 4th weekend, and he thought that might be bad timing, so he ran it longer. In hindsight he would have ended it sooner, but he clearly didn’t anticipate the response he got. Had he done so the project would have funded sooner and he’d be set to speed up the schedule a little.

I find the whole process interesting to watch. In my opinion this couldn’t be happening to a nicer guy. I’ve never met the man, but I hope to. If there had been a “I’ll come to your house, stay the night, eat your food, and talk your ear off” level I’d have been sorely tempted to pony up the cash. As it is, it’s going to be a long wait until November.