My literary agent asked me today to write a short biography and notes about my blogging platform so we can share that information with potential publishers for my Kickstarter book. When I finished the list, I thought it might be neat to share it with all of you.
Now, I don’t think this list necessarily contains the best or most important Kickstarter blog posts–that would be a more subjective list. This is a strictly data-driven list. But it might be helpful for other creators to see this, not just for the information on the posts, but also to help other creators figure out what readers like to read. My biggest takeaway is that people like to read about results and mistakes–they like humility and hard data.
- How to Provide “Free” Shipping Worldwide on Kickstarter: A Comprehensive Guide (11,680 views)
- Kickstarter Lesson #1: Starting and Submitting Your Project Page (4,846 views)
- 5 Kickstarter Mistakes We Made on Euphoria That You Can Avoid (and 1 Regret) (3,312 views)
- Kickstarter Lesson #12: Shipping (3,093 views)
- 5 Kickstarter Mistakes We Made That You Can Avoid (2,887 views)
- Kickstarter Lesson #8: Reward Levels (2,677)
- How to Overfund Your Kickstarter Campaign: Part 1 (2,642 views)
- Kickstarter Lesson #39: Anatomy of a Great Kickstarter Page (2,396 views)
- The Results of Euphoria’s Money-Back Guarantee (2,368 views)
- Kickstarter Lesson #4: Accounting and Finances (2,200 views)
In the spirit of gathering data, if you could take 2 seconds to answer the following survey, I would greatly appreciate it. We think publishers might be interested in the answer to this question. Keep in mind that the main reason I’m pursuing traditional publishing for my Kickstarter book is that I would like to reach a much broader audience than I currently have. I cherish all of you who read and comment on this blog, and I’m thankful that you found it, but there are tons of people with Kickstarter dreams who haven’t discovered this blog yet. My hope is that the book will help reach them too.
The book won’t follow the same format of these lessons–rather, it’s more anecdotal, like me telling you my Kickstarter story over dinner, subtly sprinkling in lessons, data, and fine wine along the way.
14 Comments on “Top 10 All-Time Kickstarter Lessons and Blog Posts (by page views)”
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Hey Jamey,
Coming from a background in backend development and systems/application architecture, I have to say I vastly appreciate those who are aware of the power of planning AND execution. I’ve gone through a trove of information on Kickstarter, read several different versions of “the BEST way” to start a campaign and the like, and I have to say your advice and insights seems to be the most progressively helpful. Cheers for providing an actual trove worthy of being called treasure. I’ll be looking forward to the book and future posts.
Hi Brendan: Thanks so much for taking the time to write. As you’ve discovered, there really is no “best” way to run a Kickstarter campaign, but in my search to find it, I think having a core philosophy (in my case, “backers come first”) can help steer you in the direction that’s best for you in all the decisions you make.
I will buy your book Jamey. Kind of a no-brainer ;)
Thanks Jason! :)
Just wanted to comment that I will buy your book as a way of thanking you for these blog posts. I never take for granted when people volunteer their time to do something beneficial for others, it is an awesome thing. Consider it karma :)
Thanks Shai! That’s very kind of you to say. My agent just sent out the proposal to publishers yesterday, so we’re crossing our fingers for a positive response. :)
In addition to the book, which is a great idea, you should also host a few live, paid events each year. I’d pay decent money to get some 1:1 time with you, and I know others would too. Live seminars and mastermind groups can be very lucrative.
I fully agree with Board Game Authority on that one. It would be great to see you speak live on some of these topics and follow up with a Q&A.
That’s an interesting concept to consider. I haven’t done consultations in a while because of time constraints and they typically only help one person, while I prefer to produce content that could potentially help a lot of people. Although, Richard, you host a podcast, correct? We could just chat there sometime. :)
I wasn’t thinking of literal 1:1 individual sessions, but a weekend workshop seminar type setting. Kind of like an extended panel at a convention, but it would be more personal because of the very limited attendance, say 8 – 12 people (or 30 – 50 depending on how you want to structure it). Since you are now writing a book, this sort of thing could tie in very well with that, i.e. authors travel to different cities doing book signings/readings, you could do the same but instead of just a meet the author type setting it would be an open lecture forum.
Jamey, let me know what date/time works for you and I’ll gladly hop on Skype for a chat. Weekends are usually wide open for me and weeknights starting around 8pm Eastern also work for me. My Skype ID is: digiemp
Cool, that would be awesome. In fact, the idea of doing a Kickstarter retreat would be really cool. People get together and work on their project pages together, brainstorming reward levels, budgets, stretch goals, wording, etc. It’s the type of thing that could be done virtually, but doing it in person would be very cool too.
Yeah, I really love the idea of setting up a “Workshop” style conference. Instead of just showing someone you page and getting feedback, you have multiple people engaged into a project, discussing and even a little bit of arguing, over what would be best. Really get people deeply engaged in the details that could be overlooked, or forgotten about. Love this idea and I would love help with a workshop anytime! Could even pull in a couple other heavy hitters, Richard Bliss for example. Great stuff!
Jamey, I don’t think most of us really need much justification for purchasing your book. Those of us that have gained invaluable insight from your many hours of devotion to the blog, also want someone to give back. Yes, we can support your future Kickstarter projects but a book is another perfect way. I am very excited to give it a read and hope it comes out in the paper form. Any chance you are allowed to give us an idea of the writing and printing timeline for the book looking forward?
Thanks for saying that, John. I don’t want any of you to feel like I expect you to buy the book–I only want people to buy it if they’re going to gain value from it, which I hope they will. :)
I’ve written about half the book, and my literary agent is working through the chapters I’ve written. She’ll be pitching the book to publishers in April. Beyond that it’s just a matter of finding a publisher!