A question and an answer for another question

[wordslinger.livejournal.com]

How do you get started with Crowdfunding? What's the minimum number of followers recommended (yeah, I realize you could do it with 3, but let's be realistic... they're not going to send you money every week.)

And for an answer, a rather interesting Powerpoint over here: http://www.slideshare.net/vaninadelobelle/how-to-measure-roi-for-social-media-1785840

Return on investment (or effort) is something to consider when doing crowdfunding, I think. There are different ways to approach markets, and some are much more effective than others (I wonder how effective my tweets are about my Coyote webcomic, for instance.)

Scampering off for doctor's appointment, so I'm sorry this is short and cryptic. Any answers or thoughts on my questions would be appreciated.

Comments

[jolantru.livejournal.com]

Well, for me, I started small, by offering shorter fiction before deciding to go into an online novella Oysters, Pearls and Magic (http://jolantru.wordpress.com). I am not sure about the minimum number of followers recommended. I have a small group but the majority, I have to admit, are silent lurkers.

I also use tweets to promote my fiction. At the moment, I am still building an audience. Hard work there.

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

I think you have to be careful with this kind of thinking. While Return on Investment is a big deal, it doesn't necessarily apply in some situations.

For instance, how many artists would stop making art, just because they weren't getting paid? If you're going to expend the effort anyway, then measuring whether it would be worthwhile to spend the effort is unnecessary.

Now, I don't know how to answer your initial question. I think it has to do with expectations. Are you trying to make a living? Do you just want to be able to buy coffee once in a while? Groceries every couple of months?

I'm thinking about a post about how to market yourself successfully online (from a crowdfunding perspective). I think a mistake many people make is they ask for money too soon. You need an audience before you make money; and you grow your audience with free content.

[jolantru.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I had the misconception about the money issue too. Then, I said to myself: Audience first.

And expectations too: Why do we do this crowdfunding thing?

Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I think different people have different goals. I started the Poetry Fishbowls with two primary goals (write more poetry, and get outside inspiration from people) and one secondary goal (make "some" money). Other goals people could choose might include growing their audience, getting attention for their work, getting feedback, practicing their skills, attracting people to a website, making a certain amount of money, etc.

You should definitely have one or more realistic goals in mind before starting a cyberfunded project (or any other project).

Yes, please!

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

>>I'm thinking about a post about how to market yourself successfully online (from a crowdfunding perspective). I think a mistake many people make is they ask for money too soon. You need an audience before you make money; and you grow your audience with free content.<<

Those are excellent points, and I'd love to see you write that post.

[ladyqkat.livejournal.com]

I'm* just starting out and I agree with jolantru and haikujaguar. You start out building an audience and then worry about the return.

But let your audience know that even if they can't pay for your product right away, boosting the signal will help the product improve and help you produce more product, so it is in their interest to tell their friends and family about your project.

ATM, I'm excited when I see 'hits' on my site. It means that it is being looked at. So I would also recommend that you promote and place your product on a site that will record 'hits'. The more people who look, the more chance they will tell other people who will also take the time to look and it should snowball, probably slowly at first, from there.

Good Luck!

*I should say "we", since it is a collaboration between myself and my SO, sordak.

Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Different services offer different advantages. Traffic stats are really useful, but so is traffic. I've found LiveJournal by far the easiest place to pick up readers. Wordpress offers more technical advantages, but it's harder to build an audience.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

>>How do you get started with Crowdfunding?<<

My post on that topic is in the community's Memories.

>> What's the minimum number of followers recommended (yeah, I realize you could do it with 3, but let's be realistic... they're not going to send you money every week.)<<

I don't think crowdfunding has really developed that data yet. Thinking about it, I would recommend at least 3 enthusiastic fans and another 7-10 regularly active readers. That's enough of a core audience to sustain a small project and help spread the word to attract more people.

However, project timing is also vital. You need more people to support more frequent activity. My audience effectively supports a Poetry Fishbowl once a month. I know it's not big enough to support more frequency because they're not maxing out yet: I don't get more prompts than I can handle, and people aren't buying every last poem I write. When it starts feeling like I can't keep up with the workload in a single day, then I will talk to my audience about splitting the project to do two fishbowls per month. I planned ahead for that.

A monthly project with target or item fees, or an ongoing project with a tip jar, doesn't require a huge audience. A weekly project would require a larger, more active audience. A project updated several times a week or even daily would need a very large and enthusiastic audience to thrive, as demonstrated by various webcomics.

[wordslinger.livejournal.com]

Wonderful replies... thank you all so much! You've given me a lot to think about.