I am, unsurprisingly, obsessing about how I did this, and how I could have done it better. Here are some things I wish I'd done:
- paid someone a little something up front to do a decent cover design; mine doesn't look professional and doesn't inspire confidence -- Tobias Buckell's, for example, is gorgeous and makes me want to support his book
- priced the eBook reward higher -- $20, probably, instead of $10. I think I was thinking in terms of how much the eventual eBook should cost -- but people who support this project aren't doing so in order to get a cheap deal on my book; they're doing it to make the book happen, and to support me. If I'd thought that out in advance, I'd have priced the eBook higher
- not gotten sick for the entire second week of the Kickstarter -- or, if I'd had to get sick, not let that mean just falling off the internet and stopping publicity. That made for a really big lull, when I should have been spacing out interviews and other pieces to keep the ball / momentum rolling.
and maybe...
- set the goal a little lower, probably to $5000. Would have meant not doing the print editions, though, which would make me sad. I still love the feel of books in my hands. I've been unpacking my book boxes for the past few weeks, and it makes me so happy, just holding them. Some of them are so beautiful. I want to make something like that.