Actually, starting the Kickstarter project was an interesting experience in itself. You can’t have a Kickstarter project without a video (well, you can, but they don’t recommend it), so this inspired me to actually learn how to use the video function on my camera. The whole experience shooting a video, particularly of myself (I confess, I had help; Tanya assisted), taught me how much I don’t know about shooting videos and how different it is from shooting stills.It also reminded me how much I’d rather be behind the camera than in front of it (which is actually good to remember, particularly when shooting portraits). It was fun to play with the video on the camera, but I don’t think I’ll become a professional videographer any time soon. After the video was shot, I learned that I also don’t know anything about editing videos. And since I didn’t want to buy video editing software, I tried a couple of freeware programs without much success. Luckily, my friend Jim Hay, who also didn’t know anything about editing video, offered to help out since he had some editing software on his Mac. He certainly got a lesson in editing, and he did a great job. I owe him at least several six packs! Thanks Jim!
Besides the video, there’s a lot of other work and thought putting together a Kickstarter project; much more than I thought when I came up with the idea. For example, what images do I use to illustrate the proposal, how do I describe it, how many reward levels should there be, what should the rewards be, how long should it run, etc. Lots of details and much to think about. It took a month or so to put the whole thing together; and now I get to wait another month to see if I’ll make my goal. Regardless of whether I make the goal, I’ll still be producing the ebook; it just might take a little longer.
Anyway, check out my Kickstarter project and feel free to tell me what you think or of you own experiences with Kickstarter or other crowd funding.