#jamesmathe

[cleverplayingcards]

To Kickstart or Not to Kickstart - Part 2

In my first post, I explained how I thought a successful Kickstarter campaign would be a great selling point to a publisher. What could be better than approaching a publisher after you’ve already sold 500 or 1000 or more games? It demonstrates a couple of things. First and foremost, that you have a great game that people are willing to pay for. Not just a handful of people, but hundreds or even thousands of people. Also, it shows that you have the dedication and commitment to your game enough to see it all the way through from concept to finished product.

I backed off on this notion after reading James Mathe’s website (jamesmathe.com). His point was that a publisher wants to have a say over the final product. Maybe they want to tweak the theme or artwork. But once it’s published, even if only on Kickstarter, that ship has sailed.

This past weekend at CrafterCon (part of GameHoleCon in Madison WI featuring a series of talks and panels for game designers), I met a publisher who agreed with my initial opinion. It was none other than Steve Jackson. His opinion was that even if you sold 5000+ games on Kickstarter, that was just the tip of the iceberg. He liked the idea of a game had a proven track record. And as a publisher, he wasn’t phased about making any tweaks or updates to the game after it had already been released. That being said, he did agree that James had a point about some publishers not wanting to take on a game after its been Kickstarted. He just wasn’t among them.

So for now, Kickstarter remains our backup plan, but it’s good to know that we’re not burning bridges to all publishers should we end up taking that route. I'm anxiously awaiting T&G Con in ten days, where I hope to find a publisher for “Stripes” and “That’s MY Hat!” I’m also very excited about my first speed dating experience. (Yikes! I may very well have hit upon the topic of my next post.)

[cleverplayingcards]

To Kickstart or Not to Kickstart

I have been dying to run a Kickstarter campaign. I have a great children’s card game with an adorable character. And as we all know, characters sell. The mechanics of the game are all worked out, and as of last weekend, Protospiel tested. The artwork needs to be finalized, but I have enough to use for the campaign itself. So what’s holding me up? My lack of an established social network. In researching how to run a successful campaign, I discovered that the trick is having a social network in place and advertising your campaign before it ever hits Kickstarter. Of course, I can just go for it and try my luck with my uber adorable character, hoping he’ll catch on and spread like an exploding kitten. But I know in my heart that’s a long shot. 

I should have mentioned that the ultimate goal of running a Kickstarter campaign is to catch the eye of a game publisher. I would like to license my game. I’ve self published before and discovered that my strengths are not sales and marketing. I’d like to let someone else do that for me. (Check out CleverPlayingCards.com for “Think Ahead” and “High And Low Poker”. See, not great at marketing.)

Then I happened upon a blog by James Mathe. http://www.jamesmathe.com/courting-a-game-publisher-dos-and-donts/  The last “don’t” is Don’t run a Kickstarter campaign and THEN look for a publisher. Most publishers won’t touch your game after you have run a crowd funding campaign for it already. Contact them before and leverage their marketing to make the best of crowd funding. This puzzled me. I thought what better way to prove to a publisher that there is real interest in your game than to approach them after having run a successful Kickstarter campaign? It seems that my thinking was flawed. I had the pleasure of talking to James at Protospiel as he play tested my new games. I specifically asked him why a publisher wouldn’t touch a Kickstarted game. The answer is simply that a publisher wants to have control over the final product. They want to touch up the artwork. They want to tweak it and make it part of their product line. Once you’ve shipped product to your Kickstarter supporters, it’s published and they’re not interested. So for that reason alone, I am putting my Kickstarter dreams on hold.  

Not having a social presence online was an advantage only that it slowed me down on my road to Kickstarter. I have a new game plan. (Pun intended.) Kickstarter may still be in my future. I kind of hope so. I’d love the experience, but only after I’ve exhausted other avenues. While I explore my options, I’ll work on being more social. Please tell all your friends about me. (See, still not good at marketing. Tell your friends about me anyway.)

Thanks to James Mathe for his incredible website and sharing his insight with me at Protospiel/Milwaukee.