Crowdfunding Publishers/Creators, what barriers stop you from offering your product after completion?

[Lalato]

As a person who follows a lot of crowdfunding campaigns, one question has been bubbling in the back of my mind for a while.

There are a number of publishers/creators who successfully fund and deliver on their campaigns, but then never offer the final product either physically or digitally after completion. Some of these are prolific creators, and they do sometimes offer their completed items as add-ons in future crowdfunding campaigns.

For those of you who have funded and delivered on a campaign, what barriers did you encounter for offering your product post-completion of the campaign?

Is it that you prefer to setup your own website, but don't have the resources to do that so gave up? Is the pricing model of sites like DriveThruRPG so bad that it's just not worth the hassle? I'm sure life gets in the way for some, but what else might I be missing?

 

[Morrus]

There are various approaches. We use the 2nd of these three.

1) Offering a reward publicly immediately after the crowdfunded devalues the crowdfunder. It removes the incentive to back the project as you can just buy it the day after the campaign ends anyway. I would never advise a creator to do that as it undermines your ability to crowdfund longterm.

2) We offer things for sale but usually long (6 months at least) after the crowdfunder. This rewards the backers, and gives them an incentive to back.

3) Making something a Kickstarter exclusive very much incentivises the crowdfunder. You are to back it or you won’t get the product. We don’t use that strategy, but I get it—unless you are sure of decent long tail sales for months and years to come, the benefit may outweigh the costs.

 

[Lalato]

There are various approaches. We use the 2nd of these three.


1) Offering a reward publicly immediately after the crowdfunded devalues the crowdfunder. It removes the incentive to back the project as you can just buy it the day after the campaign ends anyway. I would never advise a creator to do that as it undermines your ability to crowdfund longterm.

Thanks for the reply, Morrus. I understand this point, and it makes sense. I'm wondering more about creators who never sell an item, especially a digital asset, outside of the crowdfunding campaign. Not even 6 months later. They sometimes don't even offer it as an add-on in the next crowdfunding campaign.

2) We offer things for sale but usually long (6 months at least) after the crowdfunder. This rewards the backers, and gives them an incentive to back.

I think this is a good policy. Would love to see that more often from others. I agree that backers taking a risk should be rewarded... and incentivized to back.

3) Making something a Kickstarter exclusive very much incentivises the crowdfunder. You are to back it or you won’t get the product. We don’t use that strategy, but I get it—unless you are sure of decent long tail sales for months and years to come, the benefit may outweigh the costs.

I guess my idea of a Kickstarter exclusive is an add-on to the overall campaign... not the campaign itself. For example... the campaign is for an Adventure Path and the exclusive is a set of monster minis. Is the Adventure Path meant to be exclusive too? I do understand that physical books might be an exclusive, but what about the digital assets 6 months to a year down the road?