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I would be up for pre-orders if you do that with future grab bags so you know how many to make plus maybe some extras. That also might be a good way to not have to limit a grab bag to one per person if people wanted 2 or more and no one would miss out because you already know how many each person wants. That could be done on here and just advertised other places like on social media. I also like the idea of getting a discount if we refer someone new who buys an item here. I just got paid $50 per person I referred to open up a new account at my new bank as they are basically paying customers to advertise for them so if something like that could happen here that would also be cool. I know many of us have referred friends or family here and they ended up becoming regular customers.
Looking for rainbow or pink & teal grab bags!
Kickstarter tends to work with price levels, someone pledges $5 and gets a bumper sticker, or $1,500 and get 1 of 3 special painted pieces (examples)… and somewhere in the middle is the actual GB’s… and I’m not sure if there is a minimal amount of price points, so you may need to find other things to offer…
I honestly think for the amount of planning, and extra work needed for the Kickstarter to get off the ground.. it’s going to stay grounded…
Kickstarter will let you do just one price point if you want. But it will make veteran kickstarter users eye your campaign and wonder if you know what you’re doing, it’s very unusual. Then again, “unusual” doesn’t mean you’ll fail, and if you’re running it as a kind of grab-bag order, you can set the goals such that just the people from this forum are enough to make the campaign fund.
I will say, though, that kickstarter’s order management system is… a bit rough. It works, but it’s not always terribly efficient, there’s a reason really large campaigns oursource their rewards to other services that have sprung up to manage kickstarter backer fulfillment. (Though having just one reward level will simplify this, since any given order will by necessity be one single order for one single dragon.)
I’m still totally up to consult on details if you guys want to go ahead, I’ve got four successful campaigns under my belt at this point, all finished (well, I’m still making rewards for the last one. Success can be its own problem!) Susan or Melody or whoever can drop me a line any time. Heck, pay me in Windstones I’ll help actually listing and running the thing. 😀
But yeah, kickstarter itself is not a great way to get publicity, the site will not drive backers to your campaign, especially not early on. If you get fairly successful you’ll climb up their listings and be more visible, which will bring in a few extra backers, but by and large you have to do all the publicity to reach people yourself. And since they take a cut of the money you earn, if it’s just for publicity, it may not be worth it.
At least it is possible to do a single price point. The little I know is from a glance, figuring out the basics so I know what I am buying into if I support a campaign.. I also thought about starting my own campaign, back before life went inside out >.< but I never got much into the details of how it works. Maybe some day when I am in a better place, I'll get mine going, lol..
Anywho, I still think Kickstarter is not the right place for Windstone, I think there are a handful of other options that would be better suited. My .02 anyway *shrug*
Actually, speaking of conventions, you might consider having a dealer’s booth at DragonCon in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s one of the largest conventions that happens in the U.S., covering a very broad range of sci-fi and fantasy topics (crazy amounts of special guests, panels, and HUGE setups for artists and dealers). It spans 5 different hotels and (if I recall correctly) 2 other side buildings (though most of the dealers are in one particular spot).
I’ve wanted to go for awhile now, but haven’t been able to scrape up the cash. Artists with whom I’ve spoken that attend this convention typically do 6-8 months of business in that one weekend alone. It may not be the most cost-effective of things, given the size/weight of Windstones in general; however, it would be a great way to push publicity.
It might be cost effective to rent a delivery/UHaul type truck to take stock down to Atlanta. You could close the factory for a week to go. It might actually be something to look into! Or, have examples of most of your stock, and take orders and ship them from OR when you get back. Seriously, I think most people who are into dragons have seen or know what a a Windstone is.
Love baby kirins, safari poads, mini keepers, and anything BLUE, BLUE, and, oh yes, BLUE.
As someone that used to do Dragon*Con every year, there used to be a vendor there already that sold Windstones in the dealer’s room. I think he still does that con, though I haven’t gone in person to see if he still has Windstones.
Dragon*Con, as a vendor, is a huge investment, and a big logistics nightmare, unless you know your product will sell very well.
Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
My art: featherdust.comIt might be cost effective to rent a delivery/UHaul type truck to take stock down to Atlanta. You could close the factory for a week to go. It might actually be something to look into! Or, have examples of most of your stock, and take orders and ship them from OR when you get back. Seriously, I think most people who are into dragons have seen or know what a a Windstone is.
I think you are sweet to think of this to help, but the cost of getting at least two people out there, the table, flights, hotel stay, and shipping of product might not break even with sales, less get a profit. Exposure at busy cons like Dragon*Con is very hit and miss, because it’s so huge and overwhelming. It’d be much smarter to try smaller and/or more local (West Coast) convention type events first that can be easily driven to, if the Factory even wants to try.
Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
My art: featherdust.comIf you’re looking for other ways of promoting Windstones, there’s always something like a charity raffle especially if you can find personage of interest that would consider sponsoring the event. A more plausible idea would be to consider web-ads on sites willing to sponsor them.
I will say, as a been-there-done-that type person, and talking to other professionals in the field… never donate art to charity raffles for self promotion! Donate if you want to help that cause or charity or course, but not to get exposure or for self promotion. The artist rarely sees any actual benefit from this. There are a few exceptions, but they are largely exceptions.
Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
My art: featherdust.comKickstarter may not be what you are looking for, in terms of promotion. I suspect that most of the people that pledge will be established collectors and people that already know about Windstone. Kickstarter works as a promotion if you are creating a new, exciting product and need money to get off the ground. Then the community gets excited about your unique, new Thing and it goes viral. I’m not sure you can expect that with a dragon that looks like the rest of your independently produced line.
If you want to use kickstarter just as a tool to manage pre-orders, there are probably other ways to doing this that are a lot less headache. Don’t forget you will pay kickstarter/amazon/credit card processing fees, so you might be better to invest that amount in software to help you do pre-orders in general, and chase more fruitful marketing means.Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
My art: featherdust.comI’m curious to know why it would be a bookkeeping nightmare compared to your usual sales of GB batches. What if you pre-ordered batches- as in how many can you turn around in a timely manner? Obviously you would need a poll to determine how many buyers are interested just to even start one batch, but say it takes you a month to produce 20-30 painted sculpts, and you left batch numbers open, and as each batch sells out there is a notice to when the buyer’s sculpt would be ready (so if two batches sell out in a week you notify buyers from batch #2 their sculpt will be done in two months). When you don’t get a batch that sells out by the time its production will begin you can retire the item in the store, fulfil those last few orders, and move on.
I only say this because already having buyer’s information in the windstone store database (with most buyers being regular customers) would be half the battle won. I know the more sales you have the cheaper the production gets essentially, but even with kickstarter you would have one set price tag. Worrying about leaving a sales window open long enough to obtain the maximum amount of buyers is simply a matter of announcing and advertising when preorders will open plenty of time ahead so people can set aside money and mark a date.
And yes I would HIGHLY recommend showing at conventions as well. That is where I get the most exposure. If you want to start small/close by here are some I found:
http://37.orycon.org/ Portland
http://www.norwescon.org/ Seattle
and of course several in Cali, but that might be a bit far for you.I would recommend bringing one of each type of your best selling sculpts, printouts showing the various colors of each sculpt, LOTS of flyers, nice big banner/wall backing, and a laptop with wifi or order form program (google docs is a good one) to allow people to order. You can also pack some doubles to sell at con to store under the table, specifically smaller ones that don’t take up much space/weight in suitcases. It’s a really big first-investment to even know if it’ll work for Windstone, but if it’s not something you’re sure about you can always start small. Social media is your best friend to let people know you’re going to these places as well!
If you ever need web marketing/convention advice I’ve got lots and can offer my services.
I’m sure it won’t help much but I’ve been pinning your stuff like crazy on Pinterest lately. I would hate to see production halt due to low funds. Any exposure is better than no exposure!
I agree that, although Dragon Con is huge and attracts tons of people, it may not be the right venue. I went to the east coast version of FaerieCon and the main thing to do was look at what vendors had and buy things. It was a different crowd too, an older crowd and more artsy types. I enjoyed it more than DragonCon and I bought a lot of neat things! They have a couple of west coast events in or near Seattle – Mythic Worlds and Faerie Worlds. Worth checking out I think https://faerieworlds.com/store/
I’m sure it won’t help much but I’ve been pinning your stuff like crazy on Pinterest lately. I would hate to see production halt due to low funds. Any exposure is better than no exposure!
Same here! My goal is to get a pin of everything Windstone related on that board. Don’t know if that’ll help, basically it’s just for me ‘tho the board is public…
tdm
tdm
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