Seven years on Kickstarter

This morning, Facebook reminded me that seven years ago today YOU ARE THE HERO - A History of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks funded on Kickstarter.

Since then, I have run another eight successful Kickstarter campaigns and am currently preparing my next one, for my sixth ACE Gamebook, Dracula - Curse of the Vampire, which launches on Sunday 1st March 2020.

I read an interesting piece on the Stonemaier Games website the other day, which makes the point that Kickstarter is not a pre-order store and that we should even drop the idea of Kickstarters being 'late'. You can read it here.

I agree with the first point - Kickstater itself makes this point on their site - but I think part of the reason why so many backer treat the crowdfunding platform as a pre-order store is because so many creators do, myself included.

However, I cannot get behind the idea that we exonerate creators for projects being late. I received some criticism after YOU ARE THE HERO funded for not meeting my original, self-imposed deadline. The reasons for this were manifold, but, on the upside, backers ended up with a bigger and better book than they were expecting, and for a bargain price.

YOU ARE THE HERO was nine months late in the end, which is nothing compared to many Kickstarters, including several I have backed myself, but just because this is the case, I do not believe people should go into a Kickstarter - either the backer or the creator - expecting it to be late. If, as a creator, this is your attitude, then you need to rethink how long it's going to take you to fulfil your commitments to your backers if the project funds.

It is precisely because I don't want Dracula - Curse of the Vampire to be late that I am considering very carefully at the moment whether I can have it out by October, or whether I should wait until Spring 2021.

To be kept informed about develops regarding the Dracula - Curse of the Vampire Kickstarter, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter, and join the ACE Gamebooks Facebook group.