Kick Start Your Next Launch with Crowd Funding (with Aurora Winter)

Angela Frank: 00:00:00

Welcome to The Growth Pod. Today on the podcast, we are welcoming back Aurora Winter. If you missed her first episode, go listen to that.

But for those of you who want a refresher on her background, Aurora is a successful entrepreneur, bestselling author, TV writer, producer, and the founder of SamePagePublishing.com using her expertise in film and neuroscience, she helps people tell memorable stories that build brands, books and businesses.

Aurora's book, Magic Mystery in the Multiverse, is a Reader's Choice Award Gold winner and the second book in this trilogy, Secret Multiverse Academy, just launched on Kickstarter yesterday. Aurora, welcome back to the podcast.

Aurora Winter: 00:00:41

Angela, it's so great to be on the podcast with you and I'm looking forward to helping people discover if Kickstarter might be right for them.

Angela Frank: 00:00:48

Yes, we were chatting after your last episode and you mentioned that there are so many different things that go into launching a successful campaign on Kickstarter and I thought that this, this would be a great way to get a behind the scenes look of a launch in real time. So with that, you're running a Kickstarter campaign to promote Secret Multiverse Academy.

How did the setup for that go and what are some things that you learned along the way?

Aurora Winter: 00:01:17

I definitely want to share the things that everybody can do with Kickstarter.

But before getting into setup, I want people to know that Kickstarter is not just for books and it's not just for crazy people who have some crazy idea. It's become a way to launch a product.

Or more likely, a product can be something new, but it can also be a way to get more revenue from something old. So for example, Brandon Sanderson launched a 10 year old book on Kickstarter and made $7 million. So that's additional revenue stream.

Brandon Sanderson also launched four new fantasy books on Kickstarter and made $42 million. And the, the cool thing is it's not just for books. There's messenger bags made, 5 million. Luxury Italian watch, 5 million.

Even a bra, a special kind of bra, a million dollars. So this could be something to look into. But anyway, you asked about the setup for Kickstarter, one of the three.

One of the takeaways that I learned that I can share with you is be sure that you have a URL that you can use in your advertising before your Kickstarter goes live, when it's live and after the Kickstarter is over.

So I got the URL, Magic Mystery and the multiverse.com and that means that now, while a Kickstarter is live during this short window, it's just going to be live for 17 days. Magic Mystery and the multiverse.com redirects to the specific page on Kickstarter.

Now why this is important is, is because the Kickstarter page is only going to be live for 17 days. And if you set up a bunch of advertising linking to that, then people will get a dud link at the end.

So magic mystery and multiverse.com will either go to the live Kickstarter page or after Kickstarter is over, it will go somewhere else useful. So this is one of the things that I learned about setting up a Kickstarter and anybody can do this and redirect it.

The second thing I learned about Kickstarter, which applies to everybody, is that it can be a way to 10 fold your revenue. And I think McDonald's is the great teacher of this.

You know, when you go to McDonald's, whatever you order, they say, would you like fries with that? Would you like to super size it? Right. So the interesting thing about Kickstarter is the average transaction for books is $42.

Well, there's not too many books that you would actually spend $42 on. But it's because on Kickstarter, super fans are attracted and people may want to buy something extra that would you like fries with it?

So it's really an opportunity for you to consider what kind of additional things might your fans like.

So, for example, with my fantasy book, the second book in this trilogy is called the Secret Multiverse Academy, I'm offering that one person can name a character. So there's only one character, one male character and one female character that's going to be done with.

And it's not something you could offer on Amazon. It's not something I want to offer after the book is published. But in this window of opportunity, I thought, you know, that's kind of fun.

Maybe somebody would like that as a legacy, that every book that's published in the Secret Multiverse Academy will name them or their child or grandchild. So what kind of extra upsells could you add with whatever your book or your product or service is?

I've also got like a legacy package where people can get a set of books for their family and have those books signed.

But other authors, for example, have offered, you know, come to my house and spend the weekend with me and my wife and have dinner so you can just brainstorm what could be some interesting things. I know there's a non fiction book that generated a half a million dollars. It was Simply a workbook to decide on your goals.

But the author of that offered you could be on his podcast for $10,000. Maybe that's something you could do. Angela, I'd love 10,000. So the. Would you. Yeah.

Would you like fries with this is consider do you want to offer an event or a workshop and some other things could be offered on Kickstarter. The third thing to know about Kickstarter is to lean into those stretch goals.

So with Kickstarter, people will say, yes, I'm interested in that and I'd like to back that book for $20 or $40 or dollar or whatever the tier may be. But unless the whole project is funded, it's either funded or it's not. So people can pledge.

And if the the person is not successful, then no money is charged. But if it is successful, then you go ahead.

So what this means is you don't have to worry about being committed to do a fancy hardcover book or do, I don't know, make a luxury Italian watch with only one person backing you. You can set whatever minimum would be needed to cover the cost of that.

But the other thing that's really fun and I hope people follow my Kickstarter and they can see an example of this. They can just go to Magic mystery in the multiverse.com and just click the button to follow. It's free. You don't have to do anything.

You do need to set up a Kickstarter account. But that's fun to do and worthwhile and quick and free. And then you'll see that once the campaign is funded, there are stretch goals.

So if we meet X, then there's bookmarks. If we meet Y, then they will have color inside the book. My son made some fantastic art images of the characters and the special devices.

And so I thought, hey, you know, this would be so fun to put in the book.

And if we achieve certain stretch goals, we can put them in for color or we can have bookmarks or at another stretch goal level is to have a group zoom call so people can talk to me and find, find out more about the process and get feedback on if they're working on a book or whatever. So consider what the stretch goals are. And that's something to have a lot of fun with. And that's something that you can't offer in other places.

So that's really interesting. And the other thing that I want to share is a lot of people don't do a Kickstarter because they think, oh, it's too much work.

I have to organize all of these things. And that is true.

There is a lot to organize at Kickstarter, but you also really want to have all those assets anyway, whenever you're launching your book or your product, you do want to have all of these things together. Kickstarter, just as an opportunity to force yourself to get it all done, you know, in advance.

So those are a couple of little tips I want to give people, as an example that they may want to do Kickstarter too.

Angela Frank: 00:08:01

Yeah, I think all of that is such great information for anybody who's considering starting their own Kickstarter to launch a product or something that they've been working on. I want to just hone in on two things that you brought up. One is that, you know, there's.

You brought up the example of it's a rare case where anybody's going to spend $40 on a book. And I think that's really important.

There's always going to be a subset of people who work with you, buy your products, buy your services, who want to take the next step. And this is a really fun way to encourage them to do that with you.

You can increase the amount of commitment that they have by offering these tiered opt. Also, the second thing that you mentioned is there's almost like a gamification aspect to it with those stretch goals.

So once it's fully funded, you know, there's more that can be done on top of that, like you said, to create something even more special. And I think that introduces a really neat aspect of gamification to your Kickstarter campaign.

Aurora Winter: 00:09:03

Exactly right. And with a Kickstarter, you know, you can create beautiful product. You know, in my case, creating just the most stunning hardcover books possible.

And the other thing is, you can also acknowledge people in fun ways. So people who back the Kickstarter for Magic Mystery Multiverse will be acknowledged in the back of the book forever. They'll see their name in there.

So that is a really cool thing to, you know, to be acknowledged and to know that you were part of making the book happen. So that is, you know, really, really cool. And the other thing is, like with a tv. Sorry, with a book series.

Well, I'm hoping to get my book series as a TV series. BBC has expressed interest in that. Working on that. You can also offer digital products.

So, for example, with Magic Mystery in the multiverse, we're going to be offering the art behind it. So it's not like it's not a graphic art book, but because I created or had my son create Such beautiful art images.

People who, who fund it are going to be able to get those delivered to them electronically. So that can be kind of fun. We're still working on the merchandising aspect, but one thing that you can offer on Kickstarter is merchandising.

You can offer T shirts or cups or whatever kind of bling might be, might be kind of fun to offer. The other thing I really want to emphasize for those of you who are listening, who are like, well, maybe I want to try Kickstart Kickstarter first.

Like go on to Kickstarter and back a few projects and see how it's done. Look, you know, whatever business you're in, look and see if there are other projects that have been successful in your business.

I think there's so many different products that have been a success. Follow my Kickstarter just so you can see what it's like.

And who knows, maybe you'd like to buy a fantasy book and get your name in the acknowledgments. Maybe you want to even name a character. That would be kind of fun. But the other thing is to consider with Kickstarter.

What I've really learned is it's not Kickstarter or how you would normally be selling. It's and, and you can do Kickstarter. Quite frequently. Kickstarter is done first.

For example, the new, the brand new book, the Secret Multiverse Academy is not available anywhere else. It's coming out first on Kickstarter. Much later, it'll come out on other platforms.

But you can also, like Brandon Sanderson did, he had a 10 year old book, but he did a special edition leather brown ten years later and made millions of dollars. So consider another, another kind of format like a different, like a special edition.

It can be something, something old that's been popular that you offer again, or can be something brand new that nobody's seen. And the worst thing that happens is you pull together all your marketing and it doesn't get funded. So then you try again, whatever.

And the best thing that can happen is you find new fans. You create more of a relationship with them by offering something really special.

Angela Frank: 00:11:59

Yeah, absolutely. I am very inspired by all of this information that you're sharing.

You mentioned quite a few different types of businesses that have been able to successfully leverage Kickstarter. From Italian watches to tote bags to of course, authors as well.

How do you know if Kickstarter is right for you when you're considering launching a product or service?

Aurora Winter: 00:12:24

What's the old question of is your product or service already successful. So I think you, you want to make sure that you've got like we call in Silicon Valley, minimum viable product or minimum proof of concept.

So for example, with Magic Mystery, the Multiverse, I know that it's already been very well received because the first book in the series won the American Fiction Award, Best Preteen book. It won a UK Wishing shelf award, it was a gold finalist in the Teen Catego.

It won the Reader's Choice award for the best teen book, and it's also won a half a dozen other awards. So I already have proof of concept.

So make sure that you've got proof of concept, get some awards, get some momentum, make sure that people like whatever it is that you're offering before you do Kickstarter. Kickstarter is quite a bit of work and so I think you should test it first. You know, do a 90 day test and sell it to a few people.

Make sure that it's, it's, it's hitting the mark. But then you can use those reviews and those positive comments as part of what you're up to. The other thing is you want something unique.

So usually it would be some particular intellectual property that you have. It could be a copywritten thing like a book or a board game or a movie or anything that's intellectual property.

So you've got your own, your own watch, your own messenger bag, your own bra, something unique that can be very well received on Kickstarter.

And then the really good thing to do on Kickstarter, they it's free to set up your Kickstarter page and you can let people follow you, find you and follow you before the Kickstarter actually launches. So those would be a couple of tips. You want to be passionate about the project.

I don't think this is a way just to monetize something that you're not excited about. Like, you want to really be passionate and excited about it and think this is, this is the best thing since Slice Bread.

And that's how I feel about magic. Mr. In the multiverse, I think it's a fantastic fantasy series for young adults.

I know, you know, people, I've been waiting for the next book, the next Harry Potter book. And unfortunately they don't seem to be any more Harry Potter books, so I had to write one myself.

So Magic Missing the Multiverse is kind of like Harry Potter meets Doctor who.

It's, you know, would appeal to people who like Percy Jackson or like Shadow Would Bone or like the Harry Potter books, so, or who like The Narnia series by C.S. lewis. It's, it's fun, light hearted young adult fantasy series that the whole family can enjoy.

It's not too spicy, so it's not a spicy romantic thing. That's, it's, it's a young adult book. Not, not an adult book. So I think there's a lot of hunger for that kind of book.

The first book in the series has frequently been number one in its category on Amazon and I'm really excited to offer people these special hardbound books and give them a chance to get their name in the acknowledgments in the back of the book.

Angela Frank: 00:15:25

Yes, this is great. I think it's amazing how you're tapping into what you've described as this MVP you already have. Well, I mean, you have so much proof already.

I don't even want to call it an MVP with this book.

But the key thing is making sure that there is already some traction behind something that you're looking to launch on Kickstarter and making sure that it's something that you're passionate about because that passion is going to come through.

Like we can hear you talk and you're so passionate about the series that you've written and that's going to come through in the Kickstarter campaign as well. So real quick, I'd like to know what are the three biggest pitfalls that you should avoid when launching on Kickstarter?

Aurora Winter: 00:16:13

Yes, three biggest pitfalls. Well, I think we've covered already quite a few of them. You want to make sure that you have that minimum viable product.

You've got some momentums, you've got reviews, you want to make sure that you've got a URL that you can redirect that you own. And another pitfall would be to have the mindset like it's too much work really.

You need all of these marketing assets anyway when you're going to launch your book or you're going to launch your product. Just Kickstarter is an opportunity for you to get your act together and pull them all together in advance.

And it can be fun, you know, it can be fun to think what would people want? I think another opportunity that Kickstarter provides is you can invite the people who like what you're up to to create some buzz, you know.

So I'd love, you know, if you follow Magic Mystery in the Multiverse on Kickstarter, share it with people in your, in your friend or in friend group or community group who are interested in young adult fantasy. So a big Mistake is not thinking through how can I make this? How can I gamify it? How can I make it fun to share?

And so make it fun to share by gamifying it. Like we are talking about the stretch goals, right? As you get more momentum, everybody benefits.

So for example, with my book, when we hit certain stretch goals, then everybody will get color illustrations inside their book. So that means like, oh, I'm already backing this book. I might as well tell a couple of friends, right?

So that would be a really great thing to think and enjoy the process. And I think one of the things I've struggled with, this is my first Kickstarter and so I was like a little bit nervous about it.

Like, just get over yourself. The worst that happens is you pull together all this marketing material and you don't make as big of a splash as you wanted to.

But in my case, I'm already committed. I've already written the Secret Multiverse Academic Me. I've already had it edited professionally. I've already paid for the book cover designer.

So I don't need Kickstarter to generate a lot of revenue. I'm committed to the book and I'm, I've also written the third book already and that's going to come out a little bit later this year.

So, but, but consider for yourself and your own project, do you need X amount of money to make it break even? And you know, then you can set your, your minimum accordingly.

You know, with the case, in my case, I'm already committed to this book, so I just set the minimum as $500. Just a very low, low goal.

But if you are making, I don't know, a messenger bag and it costs you $20,000 to tool up for that, then you can set 20,000 so you can reduce your risk. So basically you can set up, it's a win win.

People can support you and if you don't get the minimum that you need to break even, you don't have to go forward and they don't get charged.

Angela Frank: 00:18:59

Yeah, it's a great way to test the viability of a new product. Like you said before, you go through all of the tooling or if you need to meet certain minimums for production, things like that.

I think that Kickstarter can be a really powerful tool and of course for authors as well.

Aurora Winter: 00:19:19

But right now one of the key things. Sorry, just real quick, just to finish that thought.

One of the key things is such an opportunity to add more value and create special things and you know, really reward and nurture Your fans.

Angela Frank: 00:19:33

I love that. So, Aurora, right now you are in the middle of your Kickstarter.

If somebody is interested in backing you or following along, where is the best place for them to do that?

Aurora Winter: 00:19:45

Oh, thanks for asking, Angela. They can simply go to Magic mystery and the multiverse.com and that will take you to the Kickstarter when it's live.

It'll take you to more information about the books when they're. When the Kickstarter is not live, but it's live right now. So go to magic mystery, the multiverse.com right now.

If you already have a Kickstarter account, then you'll just be able to. To follow. You'll be able to see all of the different fun things that we're offering. I'd love you to follow and to support, of course.

I think you're going to just love, love, love these books. If you haven't read book one, then you can take advantage of getting both book one and book two together.

And you just go to Magic mystery in the multiverse.com amazing.

Angela Frank: 00:20:27

And all of that will be linked in the show notes. So if you're listening, it is right there for you. It's one click and you can see everything that Aurora's up to on her Kickstarter.

Aurora, thank you so much for coming back and joining us on the podcast today.

Aurora Winter: 00:20:41

Thanks, Angela. I really appreciate it.

Angela Frank: 00:20:43

I wish you the best of luck with your Kickstarter campaign and I'm so excited to hear how it turned out.

Aurora Winter: 00:20:49

Okay, we'll have to have part three to talk about that. Thanks, Angela.

Angela Frank: 00:20:53

Yeah. If you enjoyed listening to this episode of The Growth Pod, please leave us a review.

Thank you so much for listening and I look forward to seeing you in the next one.