Lindsay - January 2, 2020On this week’s show, we chat with science-fiction author and game developer Loren L. Coleman. Through his company, Catalyst Game Labs, he’s run several Kickstarters including campaigns that have funded for over $2.5 million. We asked him a bit about gaming novels and licensing your work to game companies and a whole lot about how to run a successful Kickstarter campaign.
A few authors have had big success on Kickstarter and lots more have funded small campaigns. If this is something you’ve thought about, you’ll definitely want to check out this episode.
Here are some of the specifics that we asked Loren:
- Are there still opportunities for authors interested in doing work-for-hire in established gaming worlds that publish novels?
- How an interested writer goes about getting these kinds of gigs.
- Are many authors successfully licensing their work to gaming companies so their worlds can be turned into games?
- Why Loren uses Kickstarter and how it’s helped him grow awareness for his brands and also bring in some nice revenue!
- Some of the most important things first-time campaign creators need to keep in mind when planning a campaign. And what more seasoned campaign creators need to keep an eye out for.
- Why it’s important to back and study lots of campaigns in your category before jumping in.
- Being prepared to “let people into your office” when you run a campaign.
- Because the various Kickstarter categories have existing fan bases, it’s possible to pick up new people that you didn’t bring to the site yourself.
- If you’re busy or anticipate getting a lot of backers, you may look into a Kickstarter Manager to help out.
- Some rough rules for gauging success early: if you don’t fund at least 40% of your goal in the first 48 hours, you’re probably going to struggle to fund, and if you’re over 60%, you’re in good shape and will probably overfund.
- Why it’s a good idea for new campaign creators to start with a small Kickstarter and what constitutes small.
- How to use and work stretch goals to your advantage and what kinds of things to offer to incentivize people to bid more and spread the word.
- Giving away free work (i.e. short stories) early on to get your backers excited.
- Thoughts on getting more organic reach and being selected to be featured on the platform.
- Whether authors and other creators need to worry about backlash from people who might think they’re being greedy by asking for assistance on Kickstarter.
- Loren mentioned Matt Forbeck as an author who’s run several Kickstarters and succeeded each time.
If you’re interested in more about Loren, you can find him on his personal website, through Catalyst Game Labs, or on Facebook. You can also find Catalyst Game Labs on Twitter.
