Analyzing a Failed Fiction Project

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Recently I made an attempt at crowdfunding with fiction. It did not work. You may find the post-project analysis useful.

Has anyone else had experience with crowdfunding projects that just totally failed to get off the ground? What do you think went wrong?

Comments

Re: Hmm...

[jolantru.livejournal.com]

Mmm, good points there.

I write, because I have to. It's like breathing or eating. But then again, I write because I appreciate the feedback/interaction I get from my audience (a bit like teaching - same principle: interaction with students).

I am not sure about the others doing crowdfunded projects. But I suspect that my audience doesn't really understand the meaning of 'crowdfunding', hence the zero signal ratio. It got a little frustrating for me, because I felt as if I was sending out pings but getting nothing in return. I know what I wanted to do, but I am not sure if my audience knew that.

Perhaps, for me, this came during an intense period in my life: my pregnancy and eventually the birth of my daughter. I was brimming with creativity and I just wanted to share with people. However I ended up feeling as if I was dealing with a mute audience (or least, my f-list is).

Re: Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

>>I am not sure about the others doing crowdfunded projects. But I suspect that my audience doesn't really understand the meaning of 'crowdfunding', hence the zero signal ratio. It got a little frustrating for me, because I felt as if I was sending out pings but getting nothing in return. I know what I wanted to do, but I am not sure if my audience knew that. <<

This kind of thing has happened to other people too. How much effort did you put into teaching your audience what cyberfunded creativity is and how it works? Did you explain what you hoped to get out of it?

One thing I do is talk about cyberfunded creativity and link to other people's projects. I think that helps raise awareness and encourage participation.

>>However I ended up feeling as if I was dealing with a mute audience (or least, my f-list is).<<

Low audience participation has been reported by other people attempting cyberfunded creativity. If you look in the Memories file for this community, there's a post about increasing audience activity. Many people get really frustrated if they feel like they're just shouting into the wind.