Thoughts from a first-time self-publisher Part 16: Last Day of the Campaign

Final day of the campaign! Welcome back!

Best Part of my week (so far): Super Snipers made Room and Board’s “Pick for You” this week, beating out giants like Oathsworn and Spirit Island! Check it out here. That definitely lifted my spirits.

Most stressful part: I’m in the final 48 hours and the last great hope for the campaign. It has completely reignited the boom and bust, elation to despair, euphoria and withdrawal thing I went through at the start of the campaign. I hardly slept on Monday night and found myself checking the numbers at 12am, 330am, and 5am. This really is quite challenging emotionally and it’s difficult to explain just how much you (and partially your self-worth) get wrapped up in it. If you’ve followed this blog, you know that $25-$48 is not going to make a difference in the overall picture, but when that campaign number goes up by that much: I’m on top of the world for a few seconds. When someone drops and it goes down? I get that sinking feeling in my stomach. I can share that I have experienced much larger shifts in both directions in investments, and it does not have anything remotely like the impact this Kickstarter does to me. I’ve refreshed the number about 3 times while writing this paragraph. It went up and I am happy (for the moment)

Numbers are from last week, Wednesday, until today, Wednesday at 1:30pm

Funds Raised: 13,626 15,723 (+2,097)

Number of Backers: 326 381 (+55)

$1 Pledges: 44 46 (+2)

PnP Backers: 36 43 (+7)

Super Saver (reduced cost $25): 20. 30 (+10) I added 10 more this morning and they are all sold out.

Retail Backers: 3 8 (+5)

(NEW) Take your Shot $35 Level: 16 43 (+27)

Super Snipers KS Game: 192 196 (+4)

Sharpshooter (prototype and game) $300: 4 of 8 (+1)

Elite (make your own Super Sniper) $1500: 1 of 2. No Change

Costs: I’ve spent an additional $50 on Fiverr with someone who promises to increase your KS ranking and visibility. As far as I can tell it didn’t work, but I figured it was worth an experiment. I have also given out (promised) 6 $15 shipping subsidy credits for passing Backer number goals. Total of $90

Interpreting the numbers:
Overall: This is the best week to week shift of the campaign since the opening two days so that is positive. That said, it doesn’t look like the final 48 hours will bring in the same amount as the first 48 hours (one of many “KS expectations” that may not hold true anymore. I will follow up on this in a future blog).

$1 Backers and Super Savers: I messaged my $1 backers with my intention to add 10 more of the Super Saver pledges this morning and I am pleased to say that all 10 were either upgrades from the $1 level or brand new pledges. I also had a good number of $1 backers move up to the $35 or $48 level. So, the apparent lack of growth at this pledge level is really more about conversion to higher pledge levels (it was in the 60’s earlier this week). Still hoping to get more before it is all over!

Quartermaster (Retailers): That little +5 is actually a pretty big deal. Each pledge only adds $25 to the campaign total but is worth a minimum of $225 later ($200 after accounting for subsidized shipping). So, that’s at least another $1600 post-campaign and potentially more. Plus, that’s 80+ more people potentially playing Super Snipers.

$35 level backers: Everyone who has clicked to be notified before the campaign ends, got an email yesterday morning. The biggest number of new backers and upgrades of additional backers came to this pledge level. Would I have captured these same folks at $48 if I hadn’t made the mid-campaign shift? Or has my choice to shift the campaign and offer this limited pledge level boosted the end of the campaign? I don’t know for sure but will try to find out by surveying backers after the close of the campaign. I think it is the latter.

Sharpshooter: I’m really happy that I chose to add this level. The extra $1200 it has brought to the campaign has been super helpful.

I’m going to leave it at that for now. I will surely be in a much more reflective mood post-campaign. Plus, lot’s still to do! The campaign ends tomorrow morning, 11/17/22 at 9am EST. Please consider backing if you haven’t already! Super Snipers on Kickstarter.

Thanks.

Galen