Since it’s launch in 2009, Kickstarter has become one of the largest crowdfunding platforms in the world. According to their own statistics over 565,000 projects have been launched raising just under 6.8 billion U.S. dollars as of July 2022. Approximately 40% of projects have reached their funding goals. Kickstarter focuses mainly on creative projects from board games to documentaries to music albums, and yes, books. If a project fails to meet its funding goal in the time it runs, backers are never charged and the project is dropped.
As the platform continues to grow and authors bring more readers to the site, using Kickstarter to launch books, especially a series of books, becomes more and more viable. We used the platform to launch our newest Hundred Halls series, The Order of Merlin, to great success. Not only did we fund the project in less than 4 hours, but we brought in new fans to our family, and were able to offer all kinds of new things (like having a map of Invictus created or hardback versions of the books) that would not have been possible if we had to cover the upfront costs.
Because of feedback from our first campaign, we are excited to launch our next one this fall focusing on creating hardback editions of the first Hundred Halls series. The books will include illustrations and other fun things that we’ve never done before. If that’s something you’re interested in owning, be sure to click the “notify me on launch” button on our pre-launch page so you’ll be sent an email as soon as we launch.
Have you backed a Kickstarter campaign? What was your experience? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
