Costs of a kickstarter project (transparency)

[Umbran]

I get that, but I also get the other side. I, as a customer, don't want to feel like my choices are negatively impacting someone else.

Ah, I take it this way: In the US, we live alongside 300 million other people, on a planet with seven billion others. There's no way our choices don't impact others. I take that as a given, and that puts some onus on me to be responsible.

And the only way to be an ethical consumer is to be an informed consumer.

However, I'm expecting my daughter in April. I'm in the US, and that's going to cost upwards of $10,000.

Well, congrats! And heck, she's going to cost a darned sight more than that!

Hearing about @Sacrosanct 's razor-thin margins, though... It gives me a feeling that I have let the OP down. I'm exactly the target market, and I didn't bite. I have a feeling of guilt.

Having a kid to care for beats the business decisions of others hands down. You've got your priorities straight on that.

I take this on the other side of the scale. When I am flush, knowing the margins of thin is an incentive to be a customer - I did quite a bit of that at the start of the pandemic. I knew my job was secure, so I was a little more free with my disposable income to businesses that were going to be getting the short end of the stick.

When I don't know where the next mortgage payment is coming from, though, no amount of discussion of how thin the margins are is going to loosen my purse strings.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Well, congrats! And heck, she's going to cost a darned sight more than that!

Well, sure, eventually. I meant >$10,000 just for the birth. My German relatives were shocked and appalled when I told them, and questioned me why anybody in the US actually has kids...

 

[phuong]

I feel so sad you didn't take home more profit with all that effort but selling $60k worth of books is great.

If you don't mind sharing, where did you advertise? You list your cost but not where you placed the ads. I largely lack any kind of online following, so I will need to be able to reach complete strangers; I think advertising will be a necessity for me.

Better start all your social media now. I think youtube influencers is the best bang for the buck assuming their audience is the people you need. It is a shame that the promotions forum on enworld is now flooded by one person posting 50 threads per day. I used to watch it but not worth it anymore.

 

[Ath-kethin]

I feel so sad you didn't take home more profit with all that effort but selling $60k worth of books is great.


Better start all your social media now. I think youtube influencers is the best bang for the buck assuming their audience is the people you need. It is a shame that the promotions forum on enworld is now flooded by one person posting 50 threads per day. I used to watch it but not worth it anymore.

I never used the promotion forum here. It didn't really seem to be all that advantageous, since it's not going to catch many random eyes. But maybe I'm wrong.

Sounds like I might've been once.

 

[MGibster]

I think, as a customer, having some understanding of how much it all costs, and how much (or little) the publisher makes on it, is important.

Why? I don't typically have this information when making a purchase, and I suspect such knowlede would have a negligible impact on the majority of purchasing decisions I make. Don't get me wrong, I find this thread interesting just because it's neat to see how the sausage is made. But as a customer this information isn't of limited use.

 

[Committed Hero]

I never used the promotion forum here. It didn't really seem to be all that advantageous, since it's not going to catch many random eyes. But maybe I'm wrong.

Sounds like I might've been once.

If I may be so bold, rpg.net has a promotion forum too. It's worth a post there, here, and possibly rpggeek. Not to mention the relevant groups at reddit, facebook, and discord. That's why creators should be done with writing by the time a Kickstarter campaign is ongoing - they should be marketing the f out of it.

 

[Umbran]

Why?

See previous note about how being an ethical consumer requires being an informed consumer.

 

[Ath-kethin]

If I may be so bold, rpg.net has a promotion forum too. It's worth a post there, here, and possibly rpggeek. Not to mention the relevant groups at reddit, facebook, and discord. That's why creators should be done with writing by the time a Kickstarter campaign is ongoing - they should be marketing the f out of it.

We aren't launching the Kickstarter until after the product is 100% done. I've backed enough Kickstarters to understand both the frustrations of waiting for a product (along with the all-too-common delays), and how nice it is to just get the stuff fast. I'd like our first Kickstarter to have as positive a reaction as possible.

Gods willing the only wait will be for backers of the physical product, which will need to be printed (I'm using a local printer here where I live, which costs a bit more but is super reliable) and mailed.

 

[aia_2]

It’s interesting to other publishers or potential publishers.

If it’s not interesting to you, there are thousands of other threads here which might be more to your tastes.

I remember this one... for the simple reason i kicked it off...

 

[aia_2]

Of course. This whole thread is about informing other creators about the process. It's not to inform the backers of the particular book used as the example (as the term "transparency" might mistakenly imply.)

The logic goes as follows:

• Creating a book and advertising it costs me $10,000.
• Printing and shipping one book to one customer costs me $10.
• I get 1,000 backers with a total funding of $20,000.
• Printing and shipping a book for every backer will take $10,000 of the funds. The other $10,000 of the funds cover my initial investments to create the book. I'm now breaking even.

• Now if I get another 500 backers who bring in another $10,000 of funding, my printing and shipping costs go up by another $5,000. The remaining $5,000 go straight into my pocket. (Assuming a world with no taxes and cut for KS.)
• I can try luring in more backers by saying "If we reach $30,000 in funding, I throw in an extra that costs me $100 in initial investment cost and $1 per book printed and shipped. That means $10,100 in investment costs and $16,500 for printing and shipping. That's a total cost of $26,600 and I can pocket the remaining $3,700.
• If instead of luring in 500 additional backers with the extras, I actually have the 1,000 original backers pledge $30 each on average, the cost for printing and shipping only increases to $11,000 for a total cost of $21,100 and I can pocket $8,900.

Thanks, your explanation is crisp! I had these economics still in mind, what i miss is that the critical point is referred to the fixed costs (arkworks, editing and so on...): you likely need to bear them before going to ks (in order to avoid delays and long waiting time). The variable costs (i.e. print) will simply stick to the number of sold units... this doesn't change compared to a POD process...
What i lean from you is a confirmation that KS doesn't help to raise money to finance a project, it is only a marketing platform to reach a good number of sales... and i am back to my question about the model of KS...