Crowdfunding tips, tricks and advice?

I am building my Kickstarter campaign this week. After finding the thread "If I had only known.." so very useful, I thought I would start one on fund raising. One thing I have found useful is using Prefundia as a sandbox. I have not bought any of their services. By building the page twice, it has given me a chance to think about changes I wanted to make in a different way than just editing the page (I did edits on the Prefundia page). I found I liked the layout, but did have some changes to the text that I wanted to do that I did not see by just reading.

Although I didn't go through all of it, Kickstarter looked like it has a really good help section with regards to setting up one's page/campaign to make it successful.

A friend was using it and I didn't know anything about Kickstarter which was why I was checking it out. His campaign didn't go so well on the first round so they will try again. I think part of the issue with his was that his target audience is more businesses than individuals. One has to make sure the audience for one's idea is one that matches the audience for the funding platform. There are multiple funding platforms available.

Fundraising is not the same as finding money to start a personal project.
Asking people to give you money so you can realize a personal project is not the same as asking people for donations.
This is marketing. And, if you look objectively at the tens of thousands of crowdsource appeals, these efforts often balance on the edge of cons, delusion, or theft.
There are many sites available to research failed crowdsourced projects. Invest your time there, not on sites that promise to tell you how to get postive results.

Just bumping this thread to ask a few questions of deck creators about using a crowdfunding site.

1. Did crowdfunding work to enable you to complete and sell your deck?
   
   
2. How much of your deck had you already completed when you started the crowdfunding process?
   
   
3. Were there challenges or problems in the process?
   
   
4. Which crowdfunding site did you use and would you use it again?
   
   
5. What methods did you use to let people know about your project and where they could go to contribute to the crowdfunding?
   
   
6. What advice would you give to someone about to start the crowdfunding process for their deck?

Thanks, in advance, for any tips and info you can share!

I'm not quite done yet, but I figured I'd answer what questions I could.

1) Did crowdfunding work to enable you to complete and sell your deck?

Yep--more specifically, it enabled the deck to be (nearly) finished in a year-and-a-half, rather than another 5-10 years through self-funding.

2) How much of your deck had you already completed when you started the crowdfunding process?

17 of 42 cards (majors, Court, and Aces).

3) Were there challenges or problems in the process?

Getting the word out, and having regular updates to keep momentum going.

4) Which crowdfunding site did you use and would you use it again?

Kickstarter and yes--lots of name recognition, and the "all or nothing" model engenders a bit more trust from backers, IMO.

5) What methods did you use to let people know about your project and where they could go to contribute to the crowdfunding?

I bought a paid account and posted here, for one. I'd also been attending a couple local conventions and showing finished pieces in their art shows. I also looked for other tarot and steampunk venues to help spread the word. I even experimented with Facebook ads. Over a few years I built up a small audience, so when the project launched I had some help getting the word out.

6) What advice would you give to someone about to start the crowdfunding process for their deck?

First, don't rush--try and build up some buzz about your deck before you ask for money. Second, and related, get some of the deck done before you ask for money--unless you're working with a famous IP, or have some reason for people to know who you are, you're essentially a stranger asking for money--the more you can show folks exactly what they're backing (and that you're serious enough to put your own time and money into it before asking for theirs), the better your chances are, IMO.

Good luck!

I found a great video by Jake Parker the other day that I thought could be very helpful for anyone trying to fund a creative kickstarter. He talks about funding a graphic novel, but there's a lot of useful applicable information for deck creators here as well, and I'll definitely be applying his framework if I decide to go the kickstarter route when my deck is complete.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zh7Ykrtpzc&list=PLapRL_OYIDZq2jAZtIWzzQr3BlP2k6-_9

This is the first of 5 videos he has on the subject. He's very thorough and incredibly good at what he does! I listen to his videos while I'm creating and he has a lot of good thoughts on creativity and illustration in general that are definitely worth a listen if you liked his kickstarter series!