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crowdfunding2011-07-21 12:52 pm
ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com) wrote in crowdfunding2011-07-21 12:52 pm
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Reprise: Why do you donate?
Back in March 2011, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aldersprig launched a discussion, "Why do you donate?" Given our recent discussions about patrons, this seemed like a useful topic to revisit. You can look at the previous post or just start fresh here. If you're a patron, you can talk about your spending habits. If you're both patron and creator, you might contrast your experiences across the two modes. What makes you click that "donate" button?
aldersprig launched a discussion, "Why do you donate?" Given our recent discussions about patrons, this seemed like a useful topic to revisit. You can look at the previous post or just start fresh here. If you're a patron, you can talk about your spending habits. If you're both patron and creator, you might contrast your experiences across the two modes. What makes you click that "donate" button?
Thoughts
*nod* That's fairly common. We are still working to get the word out and connect people.
>> My disposable income is quite limited, but I find it's still easy to support people by making smaller donations.<<
Don't underestimate the value of word-of-mouth advertising. Linking, tweeting, reviewing, etc. all boost the signal and drive more traffic to your favorite projects. Some of those folks may spend money.
Everyday Cute, wow. It's not my thing but a bullseye for people who are into cute.
>>As a black woman who sees no black women who act like her on television, I've got to support someone who breaks the norm and does it so well.<<
Yay! This makes me happy for many reasons.
1) I like diverse renderings of humanity too. I'm more likely to jump on a project that has a mix of characters, or represents a character type that's usually overlooked, than Straight White Joe Gets the Girl.
I often recommend "Wonder City Stories" over on Dreamwidth because the cast and storylines are so diverse.
Folks who like poetry are welcome to visit my Poetry Fishbowl once a month and hook up their favorite character type with the current theme. I have some fans who reprise favorite ideas, and sometimes that turns into a series.
2) I want more people to become aware that crowdfunding means influence over what gets made and published. That is, whatever you want -- more strong women, more black characters, plots that aren't about being popular, etc. -- you can find a project that does it or look for an open prompt call and request it. Then you send that creator some folding votes, and they think, "Hey, this stuff is making me money. I should do more of it." If you're talking about an underrepresented category, it only takes a few pieces of art or literature to make a statistical blip.
3) It's good to hear a patron's perspective of why they support a given project. I encourage you, and other patrons, to post reviews or recommendations on the community.
>> I'm clicking around and doing research so I can nail down my gameplan.<<
Check the Memories file. We have lots of posts that talk about how to start a crowdfunding project or make one work. You can also ask questions here -- someone will probably have useful input.
>>I used to think, "Well, who would give when you can just get it for free?" but I've been participating in this business model for a while now. <<
Ask yourself: what can you give your audience that they can't get for free? What can you offer that is difficult or impossible to find elsewhere?
One thing you have going for you is that you're a black woman and you've been paying attention to portrayals of same. You should be staring at a selection of very large gaps where mainstream media does not cover most of the experiences had by black women today. So you could pick one and fill it, and that would attract an audience of people dissatisfied with the usual portrayals. There are a lot of them.
Or maybe you're looking to write something that's pretty common, like flash fiction. Think about ways you could make yours different, like writing it on postcards. You could scan each one to put online ... and donors would be entered in a drawing for the original. Then it wouldn't be like everybody else's flash; people could only get that from you.
Look at your own life and interests for inspiration about what kind of crowdfunding project and perks to do. Think about what kind of audience you want and what they might enjoy. It's kind of like throwing a party. People will come to my fishbowl, drop me a prompt, then stick around to talk with other prompters. For your party, who do you want to invite?
>>So glad I got to see this in the spotlight!<<
Yay, it's working! I'm really glad to see so many new people showing up here. Thanks for joining us.
Re: Thoughts
Re: Thoughts
Okay, great.
>>I just need to figure out how to reach them without begging for money and give them a reason to give.<<
Try to think of something that you could afford to give away as a free sample. That's a widespread crowdfunding technique for hooking an audience. If they like what they see, some of them will probably give you money for the premium stuff.
Something you could do now would be to make an introductory post to the community, so more people will see it. Describe yourself, what you've sponsored, what you're thinking about writing. That will help other folks figure out how well they match your interests, which should give you more networking contacts.
I thought of a possible audience-contact idea, once you have your project going. Look for people who share something in common with you (female, black, F&SF writer, writing about a diverse or mostly female cast, etc.) and talk to them about cross-promotion. I'm pretty sure that my audience would be interested in the kind of thing you write, so if I posted about your work on my blog, some folks would probably go read you. If you returned the favor later, you'd probably send me some new traffic too. "Wonder City Stories" over on Dreamwidth is another very close match.
Mention this stuff in a post and you should turn up more -- pretty much anyone writing in these areas has heard readers grumbling that they want more female characters, more black characters, etc. and thus keep an eye out for such to recommend. The audience you're aiming for is already huddled around a handful of projects. Every time we connect those dots, we make the audience pool bigger and happier.
Re: Thoughts
I've had my eye on "Wonder City Stories" since I came here, I want to sit down and give it a real read. I'm such a comic book nerd and it looks like something right up my alley.
Re: Thoughts
I describe "Wonder City Stories" as a comic book soap opera. It seems to specialize in doing the things that conventional comics hint at but stop short of. So we get to see the rest of the action.