Dear crowdfunding publishers: Chill out with the content stretch goals

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I back a lot of Kickstarter projects (and as of today, Indiegogo -- thanks, Goodman Games).

I don't have any real horror stories. I generally shy away from any projects that seem unrealistic or otherwise problematic (I will not fund your book that is clearly just the lure for us to fund your big tabletop RPG app that no one wanted to fund separately, for instance).

But even successful campaigns by very successful publishers keep getting themselves in relative trouble by adding more content as the campaign brings in more money.

Stop it.

It's one thing if you already have an extra chapter written (please have as much of your project done as possible before starting the campaign) and just aren't sure if you can justify adding the extra signatures to a book to include it.

But adding chapter after chapter after chapter of new content to a project slows things down, increases the chances that something will go catastrophically wrong and, frankly, often dilutes the original idea everyone was throwing money at you over to begin with. Many of the projects I am happy that I didn't back ran into trouble because the 64-page idea turned into a 256-page behemoth with unanticipated costs and complications.

Instead of inflating your project beyond your original vision, save those ideas for a sequel after the initial project ships.

If you are more flush with cash that you know what to do with, I suggest doing the following:

1. Give your creators a raise or bonus. No matter how good your pay rate may be by industry standards, your creators still deserve some more compensation.
2. Upgrade your physical product -- to a point. Bound-in bookmarks are fantastic. Spot UV coatings or foil on the cover are nice. Gilt-edged book edges are very cool, if it's reasonable and fits the project. Do something useful with the end pages. Then stop.
3. Give yourself a raise or a bonus. This is the RPG industry. You are almost certainly also underpaid.
4. Invest that money in the next book. Get it written and the art created as much as possible before having to return to the crowdfunding well.

This is a golden age for RPGs, in large part due to crowdfunding. But having a successful focused campaign is a lot better than an ambitious, sprawling, promise-all-the-backers-a-pony mess.

 

[heks]

i've seen a number of highly successful kickstarter campaigns fail to deliver due to ridiculous amounts of stretch goals (the costs of which weren't fully taken into account when the campaign started) with some even ending up with, not just no product delivered, but bankruptcy and folks REALLY need to understand the logistics of it all before they start a crowdfunding campaign.

 

[thirdkingdom]

I cannot agree with you more. Keep it simple, don't add too much (also, more physical content increases shipping costs, which may not be added into the budget).

 

[CleverNickName]

Unfortunately, Kickstarters with the most stretch goals also tend to have the most backers, and tend to meet their funding goal more reliably. If people started cancelling their pledges when too many stretch goals are met, that trend would probably change overnight...but I don't see that happening.

If it makes you feel any better, most of the highly-anticipated Kickstarters these days already take their stretch goals into consideration when putting the initial delivery together. Nobody is really surprised anymore when a Kickstarter from Free League or Goodman Games hits the first six stretch goals in the first week...it's pretty much a foregone conclusion for those guys. They've already accounted for most of their stretch goals long before the Kickstarter went live--they aren't scrambling to create them from whole cloth in the 11th hour because they were surprised.

Smaller, less-anticipated Kickstarters might be a different story, but I wouldn't sweat the stretch goals on a Goodman Games KS.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Unfortunately, Kickstarters with the most stretch goals also tend to have the most backers, and tend to meet their funding goal more reliably. If people started cancelling their pledges when too many stretch goals are met, that trend would probably change overnight...but I don't see that happening.

If it makes you feel any better, most of the highly-anticipated Kickstarters these days already take their stretch goals into consideration when putting the initial delivery together. Nobody is really surprised anymore when a Kickstarter from Free League or Goodman Games hits the first six stretch goals in the first week...it's pretty much a foregone conclusion for those guys. They've already accounted for most of their stretch goals long before the Kickstarter went live--they aren't scrambling to create them from whole cloth in the 11th hour because they were surprised.

Smaller, less-anticipated Kickstarters might be a different story, but I wouldn't sweat the stretch goals on a Goodman Games KS.

I'm not really sure those are actually stretch goals for Monte Cook or Free League or Goodman or Kobold Press. I think they're promotional tools that they are more or less counting on happening. People get hyped to "unlock" a stretch goal that's been planned for since the beginning. (Free League is not going to not create a screen or a starter box set, folks.)

That said, all four are also rock solid bets to back, as you said.

 

[payn]

IDK, many of the projects I have backed lately are ready to roll when the campaign ends. Bring on the Stretch goals!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Glancing at Kickstarter a moment ago (which is how I end up spending so much money there), Roll & Play Press is a great example of a company that typically doesn't do stretch goals, but still has extremely successful campaigns, like this one for its One-Shot Wonders book, which has already brought in nine times its funding goal, four days in.

Yeah, they're probably not going to be multimillionaires or make it onto the million dollar campaign lists some folks are really into, but they also ship their products on time (in the case of digital-only products, the moment the money clears through Kickstarter) and their physical products are top notch. (I got the Fantasy Gamemaster's Fantasy Toolkit, which is a wonderfully built product.) They've been successful enough, as I recall, for them to quit their day jobs. That's not nothing.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

IDK, many of the projects I have backed lately are ready to roll when the campaign ends. Bring on the Stretch goals!

Those "stretch goals" were almost certainly done before the campaign began, then.

 

[payn]

Those "stretch goals" were almost certainly done before the campaign began, then.

Thats fine I still like having reasons to check back and see whats poppin. Keep them coming!

 

[Joshua Randall]

The bloated stretch goals are why I don’t kickstart. I want the book and that’s it. I’ll wait until you’ll sell that to me. After it’s done.