Crowdfunding Confusion
Crowdfunding Confusion
One small publisher’s take on crowdfunding
By James Kerr of Radio James Games
Sometimes the cottage industry that is table-top role-playing games feels like a small county arts and craft show. You sell a tiny bit to people who support you, who are also vendors. Then you run around the craft show buying stuff from those vendors to support them. At the end of the show everyone only breaks even, maybe, except you also gained a little something...community.
Recently, I was faced with a question posed to all ttrpg publishers—is it worth it to try to use a crowdfunder platform that's not Kickstarter? The conversation is still not “what crowdfunding platform is right for me?” but it’s getting closer. A lot of confusion remains about what the advantages of Kickstarter are against other platforms, and for this article I want to specifically focus on Crowdfundr.
After running or being a part of three different Kickstarters, I'd like to share thoughts on why Crowdfundr is going to be my next crowdfunding platform. It's not that Kickstarter has done anything wrong, per se (or anything that's factoring into this decision, at any rate) but, it's complicated, with reasons both touchy-feely and practical. A lot of it boils down to two factors. That I’m Canadian is one factor, because Crowdfundr allows me to do things to further my long-term business goals that Kickstarter does not. The other factor is—just like the small country craft show—is community.
Community counts for more than you might think. When we look at the digital age and we think about what's required to make a ttrpg publisher successful, at the end of the day, it's all down to fostering, growing, and being a part of your community. And I don't just mean for the emotional support of it, but from the financial necessity.
The Dreaded Mailing List
The single most important thing to do before launching a crowdfunding campaign, on any platform, is to have a mailing list. I would more broadly say “have an audience”, but if you're reducing ttrpg publishing to a numbers game, then the primary metric of that audience is who you have on your mailing list. (Yes, once again it's the old advice that the best way to open a new business is to already have customers lined up at the door.)
If you ignore this adage and plough boldly forth into crowdfunding without an audience, it will add about three years to your publisher's journey. I get that three years figure just from talking to publishers that have done it one way or another, from boozy barstool confessions after-hours at conventions. Three years. Three years doing it the hard way, building an audience effectively by brute force.
The Cult of Personality
Can an indie ttrpg publisher exist without a cult of celebrity? Good question. The answer is maybe yes, kind of, but with substantially lowered expectations. This industry will never support you if you cannot become at least something of a known entity. That means being active online, being a vibrant part of your community, staying after-hours at conventions to hear those boozy confessions, joining groups, and generally reaching out there in a way that most of us don't like to do, and is directly against the introvert nature that encourages a love of ttrpgs in the first place. Some ttrpg folks do it effortlessly and well (even while all the while deep inside their impostor syndrome screams) and more power to them. Others struggle. But, this is necessary. You cannot cloister yourself in a cave, scribbling ttrpgs on parchment, sending them off to be published via carrier pigeon, and expect to have success in the field. You need the support of a community around you.
Eyes on Kickstarter
The wrongful assumption publishers often adopt with Kickstarter is that it will give them a built-in audience. It’ll be like shooting fish in a barrel! Yes, the advantage of Kickstarter is that you get a lot more eyes on your product, but they're indiscriminate eyes. No crowdfunding platform will give you a community.
In my last Kickstarter about 20% of its modest take came in from Kickstarter’s own pages, the rest was traffic I had to generate from paid ads, social media blitz’s, and desperate cries. Whatever crowdfunding platform you choose, all the promotion, ads, and marketing are still all up to you.
So, if you’re doing the work yourself, what is the advantage of Kickstarter? I can think of one—market authority. People know it, and, presumably, trust it...but that is slipping, isn’t it? Even casual eyes on the industry know that there are several emerging legit platforms in crowdfunding, and we’re only a few years away from them having their own little equivalent of the streaming wars, duking it out in bloody battle until a tacit market equilibrium is achieved where there are three or four major platforms.
I’ll retreat back to some old business advice I got, or maybe it’s not even business advice...maybe just happy life advice? Work with good people.
Crowdfundr is Nice
When I first signed up for Crowdfundr they reached out with a personal email, helped me schedule a meeting with them over Zoom, and talked with me for about an hour about my projects, my needs, and answered all of my questions. I didn't hold anything back: "How can I hope to get my project to fund if you just don't have the eyeballs Kickstarter has, and it barely funds over there?"
The answer, as stated above, was: marketing and promotion are necessary for every crowdfunding campaign, period. You're still going to have to support and push your product. (She didn’t put it like this, but...) You still need to be involved in online discussions, in groups (like the IGDN, that’s a good one!). You still need to chit-chat late night afterhours at cons. You still need to leverage your own cult of personality—or at least, let people get to know you? You still need community.
So, if you can more-or-less split the difference between crowdfunding platforms, did Crowdfundr’s personal touch make such an impression on me to off-set those 20% more eyeballs from Kickstarter? Well, yes. But not just that. I also have schemier reasons, because I am Canadian.
Canada’s CASL Regulations
As a Canadian, I'm bound by CASL regulations for collecting emails. I can't just find an email and email it about my ttrpgs. Any names and emails I get from Kickstarter are inadmissible under CASL because whatever consent was given by that email holder was not only outside of CASL compliance, but still collected for the consent of Kickstarter, not for me. Also, I think Kickstarter gets super crabby when you email everyone from your campaign things not related to the campaign.
As a Canadian, Crowdfundr collects its emails under CASL compliance. That means I can use them again later when the campaign is done, to encourage the next campaign. It means I don’t have to rely on organic sign-ups that stumble onto my website. Everything I do can further the next thing I do.
This fall I’ll be launching a Crowdfundr for a fairly low-impact sum of somewhere between $3k-$5k, depending on where the art budget ultimately lands. That will be my great test, but even if it’s a flop—I’ll be able to walk away with X number of names and emails of people who want to know more, literally in a better position for the next campaign than a successful Kickstarter provides, at least in terms of a mailing list. And there’s nothing saying I can’t juggle both platforms, one for smaller projects that bolster the mailing list and one for the biggies when the audience is more proven, and I have more of a momentum of marketing appeal behind me.
The Resistance to Self Promotion
I know some small ttrpg publishers will react to this article with disdain. People want to be able to do their thing, and have their work “speak for itself”, even if it’s just shuffled away into some neglected corner of itch.io. It’s like the act of resume writing having nothing to do with the job you’re applying for; it feels false. To believe that the success of your art is based on what is effectively an industry-wide personality contest brews resentment. But, you also can’t be that person in a cave sending out ttrpgs via carrier pigeons, and expect your work to be successful in the industry, even if it’s good. Just because your ttrpg is good does not mean it will be popular, the same way that—I’m sure you know—just because a ttrpg is popular does not mean it’s any good.
I do not encourage anyone to be false, to put up a face you don’t have, to make friends with jerks, or to slap back booze late-night at cons if you don’t drink (I don’t drink). Even so, it’s important to be part of the conversation. There are many ways to do that that aren’t false. The IGDN itself is a really good one.
Whether it’s a big industry-wide community you’re talking about or the equivalent of the little country arts and crafts show, you need that community. With it, you can get through any crowdfunding confusion.
This IGDN blog article is brought to you by James Kerr of Radio James Games. If you want to get in touch with the contributor he can be reached at info@radiojamesgames.com or visit their website at www.radiojamesgames.com.