KICKSTARTER FAQ
Here's a little background on Kickstarter, how it works, and why I’m launching Lulu this way.
THE QUICK HIGH-LEVEL
Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform that helps people bring their creative projects to life. I'm super excited to say that we already hit our initial goal through Kickstarter to cover costs of printing and shipping a small run of Lulu's books! This means Lulu's story is officially going to print! You can pre-order a copy of Lulu's Book Bundle as well as pledge for any additional rewards on the Kickstarter page right now, but you won't pay until the end of the campaign. Because this project is past the initial funding goal, the range of possibilities can grow (through Stretch Goals) based on the number of backers we have and the amount of funds we raise. Our current stretch goal is to add four pages of drawing prompts to the activity book to help kids immerse themselves in the story and embrace their creativity. Thanks in advance for sharing!
Also, A HUGE THANK YOU to those of you who pledged your support during the first 48 hours of the campaign — Lulu is officially going to print now because of YOU!
1 WHAT IS KICKSTARTER?
As mentioned above, Kickstarter is an online crowdfunding platform. Basically, as a “creator”, I can post a project that I’d like to see become a reality (i.e. have Lulu go to print and start to be distributed!) and share it with amazing people like you (backers) who want to help (and get in early on the goods)!
2 WHY KICKSTARTER?
Book printing is incredibly expensive, and even if I managed to print a few, I'd still need help getting those copies to kiddos!
This Kickstarter campaign will hopefully provide three things:
FUNDS — to get a print run in motion
CONNECTIONS — this platform can help Lulu reach more kids by getting more exposure with others who love creative projects — who I'd have no other way of reaching on my own
FUN — instead of creating a static pre-order site for Lulu, Kickstarter provides a scalable, interactive campaign where the range of possibilities can grow (through Stretch Goals) based on the number of backers we have and the amount of funds we raise.
3 HOW CAN I HELP LULU GO TO PRINT?
Lulu’s project is set up with “rewards” at various monetary levels that allow you to choose how much you want to give to support Lulu, and what you’d like to receive in return. Lulu’s support options range from eBooks, to book bundles for yourself and/or a friend, all the way up to donating books to a classroom. Whichever reward tier you choose, that dollar amount will be counted toward the total pledged funding goal. Now that the initial funding goal is reached, I’m now responsible (and thrilled!) to send Lulu’s story and activity book to print and deliver them to you! Even though the printing ball is set in motion, I still need your help to spread the word about pre-ordering Lulu's story — I'd love to see as many kids as possible enjoy (and grow from!) her story.
4 WHAT'S THE RISK?
Kickstarter is an all-or-nothing funding model, but, now, because we've hit the initial funding goal there is no risk. Lulu’s story is 100% ready to roll — the book is already written, proofread, edited, proofed for art, etc — if you pledge, you will absolutely receive your book!
5 ARE MY FUNDS TAKEN WHEN I PLEDGE?
Not yet. You'll be charged one time at the end of the campaign.
6 HOW DID YOU DETERMINE YOUR FUNDING GOAL?
Kickstarters begin with an initial funding goal. This is the minimum amount the creator is committed to producing the project for. My first goal didn't have wiggle room, and obviously didn’t cover any of my time writing and illustrating, costs with editing, proofreading, getting an ISBN, getting print samples, etc. It was simply my cost to create the first small print run of books and deliver it to you. That goal was super important though because now Lulu is a pre-order — she is officially going to print. Yay!
7 WHAT HAPPENS NOW THAT WE'VE HIT THE FIRST GOAL?
We're moving into Stretch Goals. These are the funding goals beyond the initial goal that push a project into becoming a more incredible version of itself. Hopefully, these goals will make it even more fun to share Lulu with your friends and family. And the more Lulu’s backed, the more the rewards scale up with the project. I have ideas for enhancing the activity book, a sticker pack, including digital copies with physical rewards, maybe even being able to flip the story book into hardcover, donating copies, etc. We'll see what happens ;).
8 WHAT HAPPENED TO MAKING A HARDCOVER?
For those of you who followed my first campaign, you know I was really excited to do a hardcover book. My husband and I are big fans of the feel and experience that comes with reading hardcover books with our kids, and it’s admittedly something that makes me super excited as a designer (and they’re way more durable too!). Anyway, it was overly ambitious! I couldn’t economically produce a hardcover book at less than 1000 copies with a stateside, local printer, and therefore had a high funding goal of $20K. I still would LOVE to do a hardcover version, but hardcover needs to take a backseat to the big-picture goal of getting Lulu to print. Getting the printing ball rolling in softcover allows us to do that AND to bundle Lulu’s story with an amazing activity book — which will be double-amazing for kids. A win-win!
9 WHEN DOES LULU’S CAMPAIGN END?
The campaign went live Tuesday, October 5th and runs until midnight EST Friday, November 5th. Click here to view the Kickstarter and support the project: tinyurl.com/meetlulu