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For those who like the plushes, but don’t have the funds to back the campaign, I’m doing a promotional giveaway over on my tumblr.
http://bladespark.tumblr.com/post/115685899346/i-really-love-my-kickstarter-backers-yay-but <—go check it out. 😀
I am SO in! Almost missed seeing this (my attention is elsewhere these days) but I really want to do it!
Another suggestion I have: in addition to changing the rewards offered, you should have an advertising plan laid out in advance. Kickstarter itself will do almost nothing to help you reach people, unless you’re very lucky and get a staff pick.
Things like google’s adwords can be cheap options for getting some visibility for your campaign, or banner ads on websites specifically related to your art in some way, (just don’t buy any of those BS advertising packages from companies who claim to be kickstarter gurus, they’re not likely to actually be any good.)
Also, I’ve compiled a list of twenty or so places where I can post and let people know (it includes this forum, of course), as well as another list of blogs and websites to reach out to that might possibly be interested in featuring my campaign. Unfortunately my list is mostly brony-centered, (and the previous list was all doll centered) so I can’t really pass it along, but given that I got only one or two backers from any given spot I advertised in, having a long list of such spots is pretty necessary.
Finding decent perks is a serious pain in the butt. My resin doll kickstarters were okay, because casting batches of stuff gets cheaper the more popular the campaign is, but with the plush one I just launched… ugh. I have to make every reward individually! I do hope it succeeds, but I could be in trouble if it does *too* well. (Although there’s worse problems to have.)
I will say that 2-d art campaigns are fighting a real uphill battle. There are so many sources for lovely drawings and paintings that it’s really hard to compete and grab people’s attention. You have to compete on price, or be super unique, or do *something* to stand out.
I suspect that having the first original turn up at the $150 level (and that being a pre-painted picture, not something where the backer would have any input) might have hurt you guys, perk-wise. Prints are everywhere, and postcards in particular aren’t actually that much of an attention-getter. My experience has been that with art, there’s more market for personalized art especially, but prints are *really* hard to get anyone excited about.
For years, I’ve thought if I had the money to commission you to make a plushie of the fish in my avatar lol. That would be the most adorable thing ever.
That would be way fun. 😀 I have done a couple of fish plushes, including these goldfish:
I’m about to launch my 4th (probably tomorrow) and you can feel free to hit me up to talk about ideas. 🙂
Is $500 an okay goal?
Well, gas for the drive up is probably going to be your single biggest expense, and that depends on your car. If you know your mileage, you can do the math. (Though assume gas will cost at least a bit more than it does now, it will have gone up, and summer is always more expensive than the rest of the year.) I’d say $500 is probably doable. The hotel rooms would have microwaves and mini-fridges, so you can cut costs a good bit by eating microwave food instead of eating out and such while you’re there, too.
It looks like if everyone’s lucky with finances, we’d have a pretty big group! (Which I know fewer people always come than want to come, but I’m still pretty excited!)
I had the thought that if we end up holding this on the second weekend in July, it’d overlap with the Oregon Country Fair, which is a possible activity for people to do. It’s basically the world’s second-largest hippie festival, after burning man, but it’s a bit more old school. It’s way fun, or at least I think so.
Pros of going to the fair:
Tons of artists there with booths full of fascinating hand made things to buy.
Interesting activities. I learned how to make stone-age beads last year.
Lots of music and poetry and performances and so on.
GREAT food.Cons of going to the fair:
The logistics of getting people there would be tricky.
It’s expensive, tickets are around $30 a person, and then you have to buy food at festival prices.
It’s so big it’s not really worth going unless the whole day is dedicated to it, so it’d eat up an entire day.It could maybe be an optional activity for Sunday, if there’s a smaller group of people who’d like to stay an extra day to go to it?
Just throwing ideas out!
Anybody with suggestions for things they want to do is welcome to chime in. I agree that a trip to the Carousel is a great idea, for one.
Just a few quick follow up things.
I did hear back from John, and he’s open to arranging a group tour. We are still discussing things, and nothing is set in stone, but it’s certainly on the table.
Looking at hotel options and the general schedule of events I’d have planned, we’d be looking at an attending cost of around $150 per person. That would cover three nights hotel (assuming two to a room, that cost would go up for individual rooms, but down if people were willing to share four to a room. The beds are queen sized so that’s quite possible if you’re bringing a spouse/room with a close friend.) as well as the fondue party that I definitely want to host, and all the supplies for painting PYOs (probably foo pups), and covering a bit of the gas I’d use driving everyone about in the stupid gas hog I’ve got.
I’m considering other art/craft projects as well. I used to teach art at a children’s museum, so I have a large mental library of fun artsy things to do, and I’m always willing and happy to teach plush making. I have several different plush projects that can be done cheaply and in a short time period, and don’t require any previous sewing skills, so they could be done as workshops. :3 (In particular, my favorite “easy plush” project is taking goodwill plushes and making horrible Frankenstein plushes from their pieces. Super easy to do, very fast, and WAY fun! Also cheap.)
My current general plan is to do this over a weekend, with an arrival day on Thurs, activities on Fri. and Sat. and then sending folks home on Sun. Assuming we don’t get more than a dozen (which is unlikely) I can shuttle from the airport in Eugene to the Corvallis hotel in just a few trips, I’ve got an SUV. :3 The hotel I have my eye on is actually within walking distance of the factory, assuming the weather is pleasant. Anybody with disabilities/issues walking could be shuttled there by vehicle, of course.
Given the feedback so far, I’m tentatively settling this in 2016 rather than this year, so there’s all the time in the world for people to be prepared. I can’t pick actual dates yet, though, given that I don’t know what my own summer convention schedule will be like. It’s sometimes a bit of a madhouse for me. July is likely, as I shouldn’t have any conventions actually during the month, but they keep moving Everfree’s date around. 😛
No, I mean I’m supposed to be getting e-mail notifications whenever somebody posts a reply to this thread. That’s what happened in the past when I subscribed to a thread, and now I’m not getting any at all, even though there have been 30 replies! And I didn’t get notified of my classified add expiring. I checked my spam filter and everything, no e-mails. Did the forum change how that works or something?
Anyhow, I’ve fired off an e-mail to John, so we’ll see what’s up with the factory tour.
Are forum notifications broken, or something? I’ve subscribed to this thread, but I haven’t gotten a single message about it, despite all the posting here.
