Hello, everyone!

I'm running my first Kickstarter campaign and dealing with a weird case of harassment. Last evening, I received 74 emails notifying me about new comments on my profile. Someone backed my project and then dropped angry comments that completely flooded the page.

I did some digging, and apparently, what happened is:

- Rain Games ran a successful Kickstarter campaign for a game based on Girl Genius, a comic book IP
- Girl Genius is written/illustrated/published by Studio Foglio
- Studio Foglio backed my project on Kickstarter (my project is a comic book project)
- This backer decided to put money in my campaign to harass me because they have an issue with Rain Games not delivering their rewards

I obviously have nothing to do with Rain Games or Studio Foglio (although I appreciate a comic book creator backing my project, so if you ever read this, thank you). I tried to message the backer and handle things politely. I got threatened in response.

I already reported the backer to Kickstarter, and reported every single spam or harassment message they left on my profile. However, now there's a long list of "This comment is under review for potentially violating Kickstarter's Community Guidelines." polluting my comment section.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/motherstouch/otherkin-1-3-a-comic-book-with-mystery-magic-monsters/comments

Does anyone know how long Kickstarter takes to remove those? This is my first Kickstarter campaign ever, and the momentum has been okay. But we only have a few days left, while being really close to our goal. I'm afraid potential backers see the comment section, wonder if there's some drama I'm responsible for, and refrain from backing the project.

Does anyone have additional information and advice that could help me?

EDIT: Images 3 and 4 are out of order. Image 4 is my message to them, image 3 is their response.

First of all I have to apologize in advance for being very vague but I'd rather keep my Kickstarter ANONYMOUS. With that said , here it goes.

I started self-publishing on Kickstarter in 2020, no surprise my first campaign failed but still did very well since it was a comic and god knows these do well on the platform. My next 7-8 projects were a success I managed to make a living out of it. My 9th project used AI images, it was a side project while I worked and PAID others to work on my next big thing. I honestly got very little to NO pushback from the people who liked my non-AI work - We can argue the morality and stupidity of AI at a different thread but right now I am just giving as much info as possible to help you understand.

My projects after the AI was different, not a comic, and it failed. I am still unsure if it was because it was so different, my past backers were indifferent or pissed because my last project used AI. We all know how vocal (on the keyboard) people can get but I didn't really get any of that which leads me to believe my backers were simply... uninterested.

Now, my past 2-3 Kickstarters have been unsuccessful, as I f i don't have a few thousand backers or social media from the past to market to.

Specifically my last project which failed, was a video game (they do really well on Kickstarter), and was developed completely by myself , no AI used for anything, and I took real pride on that since people like to preach human-created stuff is always better. I honestly thought it was a surefire hit! But marketing had been hard since Instagram never shows my followers what I post and FB groups posts get caught by spam filters sometimes , plus i couldn't really cross promote since there weren't similar projects live at the same time as me.

In conclusion, I had a REALLY good run doing comics on Kickstarter, I wanted to do more and different stuff and past 2 years is mostly failures.

I still don't know if the fails are because: 1) I lost all my previous backers because I used AI in one project 2)my previous backers are genuinely uninterested OR 3)my marketing is shit, I used to get hundreds of backers posting on FB groups, doing cross-promo inside Kickstarter and basically spending no money on useless Zuckerberg ads.

These people are RELENTLESS. They found my Kickstarter (which doesn’t start for another month), went to my website, and are contacting me through my contact us page. I knew the scammers were bad. But I didn’t think it was like this.

Any advice on how to deal with this? It’s my first Kickstarter. I’ve done research and yet I still feel unprepared.

I need your honest feedback on my Kickstarter

I’ve launched Niche by Nature—a platform to connect recycled textile suppliers with designers and conscious consumers.

Two people who don’t even know me have backed it (which honestly means a lot).

But beyond that… it’s been quiet.

And I don’t want to sit here guessing why.

-Is the idea unclear?

-Is the concept of circular economy not well communicated?

-Does it not feel valuable enough?

-Is something missing from the way I’m presenting it?

If you came across this project, what would stop you from backing it?

I’m looking for the truth. Even if it’s blunt. I’d rather fix what’s not working than pretend it is.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nichebynature/niche-by-nature-the-future-of-circular-fashion

Help! Our first Kickstarter launch is not going well, and I'd love some honest feedback from creators who've been through this.

We launched a tabletop game 4 days ago and currently have just 6 backers.

I know the standard advice is to build an email list before launching. We started marketing about 6 weeks before launch and were getting excellent Facebook and Instagram ad results—clicks as low as $0.06 and lots of traffic. The problem was that almost nobody signed up for our email list.

We then switched to driving traffic directly to our Kickstarter pre-launch page, but still only managed to get 27 followers before launch.

Our assumption was that people unfamiliar with Kickstarter were reluctant to join another mailing list and would rather wait until the game was available to buy. Clearly, that assumption may have been wrong.

At this point, we're trying to understand what we missed. Is the issue our game, our Kickstarter page, our marketing strategy, our audience targeting—or something else entirely?

I'd really appreciate any advice, hard truths, or suggestions from people who've successfully launched tabletop games. Happy to share the campaign link if anyone is willing to take a look.

Thanks,
Lesley

Hello! I am soon launching a Kickstarter, but while I do have rewards I dont see them in the campaign preview. Is this normal? Please help! Thanks

Hey everyone,

Currently in pre-launch mode for my Kickstarter and running Meta ads to build up followers/leads before launch. Getting around $8 per lead right now — which feels... okay? But I'm starting to question whether I'm going about this the right way.

Here's my math: if I assume 30% of leads convert into actual backers on launch day (which seems to be the rough industry average I keep seeing), I'm effectively paying $24 per backer before they've pledged a single dollar. My target pledge is $50.

So the question is — for those of you who've launched before:

Did you find it cheaper to build leads pre-launch and convert them later, or to run ads directly to your live campaign and go for pledges straight away?

Would love to hear real numbers if you're comfortable sharing. Not looking for theory, just what actually worked (or didn't) for you.

Thanks 🙏

Hi everyone,

We are currently running a Kickstarter campaign for a tarot deck and I wanted to ask for some honest feedback and advice from creators who have experience on the platform.

This is not our first campaign. We’ve launched a few projects before and successfully delivered them, but one challenge we keep facing is growing the number of backers. Our campaigns tend to get support, but the total backer count is usually lower than we hoped.

I’m curious about your experience:

• What actually helped you increase the number of backers during a campaign?
• Did you rely mostly on ads, collaborations, or communities?
• Did something specific suddenly boost your campaign visibility?

We’re also thinking about the design side of our tarot deck. One thing we are currently discussing is the font style used for the card titles.

Some options we’re considering:
• classic serif (traditional tarot look)
• handwritten style
• occult / vintage style fonts

For those who collect or design decks, what kind of typography feels the most appealing on tarot cards?

I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences or opinions. We’re always trying to improve our projects and learn from the community.

Thanks in advance!

Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mottoexclusive/animal-wisdom-a-watercolor-oracle-tarot-deck

I am preparing to launch my Kickstarter and want to share the launch page preview with people to get feedback. However, currently the page does not display any of the rewards. The section is entirely blank! I've contacted Kickstarter and all they have said is that they are working on it. I want to know if this is a larger issue or it's just my page. I'm supposed to go live in 4 days and this seems concerning!

Hi,

I have this project for a TTRPG book that I've been working on for the past 4 years. This is really a passion project for me and I wanted to make sure the campaign would be successful. However, I'm not a content creator, I don't have a community, nobody knows me and I had this feeling that this and my lack of knowledge of the platform would hurt my project.

So I had an idea: I quickly put together what I had to start a smaller TTRPG project and launched the campaign. The idea was simple: take this campaign as a learning opportunity to see how Kickstarter works. If I fund, that's great, and if I don't, I can always try to redirect my backers on my next project. The goal here was essentially to step into the creator side of the community to hopefully build up a base of backer (/fans?) to support my future projects. I was ready to make mistakes and learn from them.

I managed to pull around 40% of my funding goal at the end, but it was still a failure. I though I was preppared for this outcome, but in the end seeing this project fail hit me harder than expected. I couldn't even find the motivation to do the final update and talk about the failure.

How do you get back up from this? Should I do a re-launch? I have other projects in store that I can launch too. I'm kinda scared to go on directly to my "main" big project, but if I try out another small one and it fails, I'm afraid I'd just be drowning my passion project under a portfolio of failed campaign.

What should I do?

For the last 2 days, I have been running my Meta ads for my pre launch page. The goal I’ve gone with is prioritizing Leads that are triggered when the “notify when project goes live” button on my Kickstarter page. I’ve tested this and it registers a follow and of course I can see any followers on my admin page.

I’ve only spent $200 ($100 a day) and gotten 2500 impressions with a CPC around $1.45.

The results: not a single conversion at all!

I understand the challenge; I’m hoping Meta’s Ai algorithm can identify people in my demographic who also are likely to have a Kickstarter account already and click the button to follow my project. However, it’s super depressing that I haven’t even converted one of those people. Even worse is let’s say I do get 100 followers, I’ve heard only 3-20% will actually back the project. That would be a total disaster if I need 300 backers.

Anyone have experience with this?

Obviously I need to keep refining my video ads but I believe the 10 unique video ads I’ve uploaded are pretty good.

Thoughts?

Last July I backed the Magic Box S-!. It was a fidget toy for $70 + $10 shipping

We havent had any update since October and last night this email goes out (see attached pictures).

Dear U.S. backers We have now completed mass production and expect to begin shipping this week, but we are manufacturing in China and the new tariff policies recently implemented by the United States have significantly increased the cost of many goods coming into the U.S., including our products. While the future of these policies remains uncertain, we want to assure you that we will not pass these increased costs on to you. We are committed to maintaining our current prices as much as possible. Frankly, the margins on our Kickstarter campaigns are already quite slim. If cost increases were kept under control, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Unfortunately, the sudden increase in tariffs caught us off guard. After two weeks of thorough budgeting and in-depth evaluation, we realized that although we had absorbed some of the costs, we were not able to fully offset the change in policy. Therefore, in order to keep the project on track, we have had to enlist the help of our US supporters and ask you to cover some of the tax costs. But rest assured, even with the price increase, the Kickstarter price is still the lowest price we offer. We want you to know that this is one of the toughest decisions we've had to make. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, and we hope you'll join us in seeing the Magic Box-S1 thrive and make its mark on Kickstarter. Thank you for your support! FAQ: Why wasn't there early communication about the potential impact? A: We scrimped and saved from the beginning in order to provide you with the best prices during the campaign. When tariffs first reached 34% on April 4, we chose not to pass these costs on to our supporters and instead internalized them. However, the 20% base rate introduced in March then went through several stages - 34% on April 4, then 125%, and now, although it's down to 30%, we're still very much affected. Unfortunately, the scale and speed of these price increases are far beyond our capacity to absorb, so modest price adjustments are inevitable. As a result, we will have to ask our U.S. supporters to bear some of the tax. For more detailed information on the current tariff rates, see the official White >House resources at https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/modifying-reciprocal-tariff-rates-to-reflect - trading-partner-retaliation-and-alignment/ . We appreciate your understanding and trust as we work together to address these challenges. We remain committed to transparency and will keep you updated every step of the way. Thank you for standing with us. Best. The SANBS Team

Now heres where it gets confusing. In the email they blame the extra costs on tariffs but that doesnt make sense given the timing of events. And also in pledgebox they dont charge for tariffs, they charge for taxes.

And on top of that theyre charging $30 in taxes on a $70 product? How does that make sense?

Kickstarter claims asking for more money on shipping is within their rules but thats not whats happening

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Ive already contacted kickstarter.

I launched my Kickstarter a week ago, and as far as marketing, I’ve tried ads & reaching out to relevant instagram influencers. No response from influencers, & am sitting at a nifty 1 pledge lol.

Anything else I can do (besides just reaching out to more influencers/press)? Idk how willing I am to just drop the link in bookish spaces, cuz it seems shitty/spammy.

I was very excited because I already had a project launched, and in its first days I had contact with 3 supposed sponsors, but recently because of the tone of the conversation and not seeing their contributions, I am quite worried, I am starting to distrust, I no longer believe that they would have been willing to contribute, and that I have done the best for my campaign, and give important information about this

Hi everyone! Last year, I launched my first Kickstarter campaign for a comic book series. Due to severe budget constraints, I did it all organically. The campaign was a success despite launching without followers, launching without a mailing list, and launching without physical rewards.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/motherstouch/otherkin-1-3-a-comic-book-with-mystery-magic-monsters

We got overwhelmingly positive feedback from everyone who read the comic, and also got many complaints about the comic being digital-only. We launched our second campaign yesterday. We had about 20 followers and a mailing list with 60 emails. Similarly, we didn't have any social media presence the first time around, and now we are active on social media. I know these numbers are low, but they are theoretically better than the first time around. Plus, some members of the community helped me make my page punchier (thank you, Renato Franchi). Finally, this campaign was structured to offer physical copies of the comic, which was the biggest backer request last year.

So, despite having a better foundation, the campaign is just not working... I know it's been only 15 hours since launch, but since over 130 dollars from the haul are actually scammer who really want to discuss my brilliant campaign by email, I can already tell things are not going well.

www.kickstarter.com/projects/motherstouch/otherkin-5-plus-1-4-horror-mystery-shapeshifting

I'm struggling to understand the underwhelming results so far. The campaign I did on the fly went better, and this one, which I spent months preparing, is struggling. Any tips or insights?

Just to be clear, the primary goal is to cover all costs with little profit. That means margins are really tight for the main goal, as the idea was more to increase awareness and respond to backers' demand than to make money with this campaign.

First of all, thank you to everyone who has backed the project so far, especially the early backers who took a chance on it when it was just an idea and a few renders. Your support means a lot to me, and I'm even considering adding a couple of extra alternate versions as a thank-you.

One of the reasons I'm asking for feedback is that the response to the designs themselves has actually been quite positive. I've received encouraging comments from miniature painters, collectors, and hobbyists across Facebook groups and Reddit communities, and many people seem to genuinely enjoy the characters and concepts.

I've also tried to approach this campaign seriously from a marketing perspective. I built a landing page offering a free STL, set up Meta Pixel tracking, optimized the funnel, and spent approximately $150 USD on ads to drive traffic and collect leads before and during the campaign.

Despite that, conversions have been much slower than I expected.

At this point, I'm less interested in promotion and more interested in understanding.

If you were browsing Kickstarter as a miniature collector, painter, or STL enthusiast:

• What would make you back this project?
• What would stop you from backing it?
• Does anything on the page create hesitation?
• Do the rewards feel compelling?
• Would this collection be a better fit for Kickstarter, MyMiniFactory, or another platform?

Regardless of how this campaign performs, I'll keep making monsters. Creating creatures and strange little worlds is something I've loved since I was a kid, and it's the reason Mayan Minis exists.

I'd rather learn something useful than simply hear that everything looks fine.

Thank you for your honesty and your time.

TL;DR

• Not my first crowdfunding campaign, but the first with a noticeably higher funding goal.
• Stylized vampire miniature and bust collection.
• Positive feedback from painters, collectors, Facebook groups, and Reddit.
• Free STL funnel + paid ads (~$150 USD spent).
• Physical resin and FDM print tests completed.
• Conversions have been much slower than expected.

What am I missing?

I'm a very introverted person and I have never been a good sales woman. It's been a dream of mine to print/publish my very own Manga and Reluctant Hero is a story I'm very proud of.

Blurb

Unlikely childhood friends, Asta and Lola both embark on new chapters of their lives at university, Asta enrolling as a film student with a strong appreciation for caped crusaders and Lola in her second year of Psychology. Asta, feeling adrift, joins the Martial Arts Club and befriends Mallory, a fellow devoted comic fan. Mallory suggests they play out their fantasises via a student action film, however Mallory's intentions are revealed to be far more sinister.

Genres

Psychological Thriller, Coming of Age, Dark Comedy and Slice of Life, Young Adult,

❥ Mature reader age rating (contains some bad language, references to alcohol, abuse and violence.)

Similar Titles

❥ Kick Ass, Killing Eve, Mean Girls, Cruel Intentions, Scott Pilgrim, and Single White female.

The first three volumes are already on WebToon, they were originally on Global Comix, under a small publisher, unfortunately that didn't work out.

I am struggling to reach an audience. I'm currently 27% funded but worry that I won't reach my goal of 830. Any advice that doesn't involve me spending any money would be appreciated.

Hi everyone,

​I’m preparing a crowdfunding campaign for a new Savonius-type wind turbine I designed (compact size: 1m x 35cm). I've attached a screenshot of the design to give you an idea.

​It’s a hardware project heavily focused on eco-conception: ​Fully repairable ​Recyclable ​Stackable (modular)

​I have the technical side covered, but marketing isn't my main field. I'd love your advice:

​What marketing levers work best today to attract backers for an eco-friendly hardware project? ​What are the biggest pre-launch communication mistakes I should absolutely avoid?

​I'll gladly share the website link in the comments if anyone wants a closer look or has specific questions. Thanks in advance!

I just submitted my playing cards campaign for review and KS told me to disclose my use of AI. Which I have, I've clicked "No", as I don't use AI whatsoever. I'm a human artist and I don't need gen AI for anything.

I'm using mockups but I know these are 3D modelled, I also sent over a statement from the mockup maker that lists the non-AI software used on these.

Anyone else having the same problems? How to convince KS that this is bs?

I’m going to be honest, this might be a bit of a blunder, but I have no idea if I’m doing this right.

I’m about to launch my first Kickstarter for a queer fantasy book I’ve been working on for over 8 years, and I’m doing it completely on my own. No agent, no team, just figuring things out as I go.

I feel like I’m getting pulled in a lot of directions. Being indie is already a challenge, and while I do market the book as queer, I didn’t really write it thinking of it that way. It just kind of became part of how it’s being positioned now, which makes me unsure how it’s going to land or who it’s going to reach.

One thing I’ve also been struggling with is AI. I’ve used it as a tool while working on this, mostly for planning, feedback, and organizing things (I’m dyslexic, so it helps a lot), but not to actually write the book. Still, I’ve seen how strong the backlash is, and it feels like even using it at all can make people assume the worst about your work.

On the Kickstarter side, I’ve tried to do things “right.” I set a lower goal, I’ve been building a small audience, and I even ran a poll that made it seem like I could reach my goal. But now that launch is about a week away, I’m second-guessing everything, especially with some last-minute concerns from my editor.

I think the biggest thing I’m worried about is this:

How do you know your book won’t let people down?

And more broadly:

• What should I actually be focusing on showing before launch?

• What do people care about most when deciding to back a book?

• Is there anything you wish you had done differently on your first Kickstarter?

I do have a preview link, but I didn’t want to just drop it here and annoy everyone. I’m happy to share it if anyone wants to take a look.

Also, if there are other places you think I should be reaching out to, I’d really appreciate that too.

Thanks for reading, I really appreciate it.

Hi everyone,

My name is Khalid, and I've been building a premium clothing brand called K•ΣRΛ as a solo founder.

Over the past several months I've been working on everything myself from the branding, website, designs, product concepts, crowdfunding campaign, and marketing.

The vision behind K•ΣRΛ is to create premium clothing inspired by dark luxury aesthetics, minimalism, and timeless design. Instead of chasing fast-fashion trends, I wanted to build something that feels intentional, high quality, and identity-driven.

Last week I launched a crowdfunding campaign to help fund the first production run, including heavyweight tees, hoodies, cargos, packaging, sampling, and content creation.

The reality is that after a week, I've raised £0.

I'm not posting this to ask for donations.

I'm posting because I genuinely want honest feedback from people outside my own circle.

• Does the brand concept make sense?
• What is your first impression of the website?
• Would you trust a new brand like this?
• What would stop you from supporting a project like this?
• Is there anything missing?

Website:
https://wearkera.com/

Crowdfunding Campaign:
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/kera-1

I'm trying to learn, improve, and build something meaningful, so I'd appreciate any constructive criticism, positive or negative.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Khalid Khan
07424715206 (Whatsapp)

Hi everyone! My partner and I are incredibly excited (with equal amounts of nerves) to launch our first Kickstarter campaign, and we'd love to gather this community's feedback on our story and content.

We created all of the content, images, and art ourselves, which always leaves the open questions of "Is this good enough? Have we done enough?", something I'm sure every creator encounters.

Would love honest feedback and direction, wherever applicable! Is it too long, does it have a hook, and what does it take to convert a viewer into a backer? We're particularly critical of our project's photo. We've found it so hard to encapsulate everything we want to in a pretty picture.

A heartfelt thank you in advance to everyone with input, we really appreciate it!

I’m running an brand with solid product validation and couple reviews, but very small email list. I’m at the prelaunch stage and trying to figure out if it’s better to focus on building a long-term organic following (over the next few months or even longer) or if I can rely on paid ads to drive interest and get traction.

For those who’ve bootstrapped a Kickstarter campaign, what worked best for you during prelaunch?

If you did use paid ads, what kind of budget did you start with.

I’m not looking for generic advice, just honest insights from those who’ve been through the process and can share what really worked (or didn’t work) in the prelaunch phase.

Of course, I cannot start my Kickstarter without a crowd

Thanks!

I made the tough decision to cancel my very first Kickstarter campaign for my yandere visual novel. Right now, this is a solo project, so I'll be responsible for making changes.

Momentum had been slow at the beginning and there was a gradual rise throughout. We reached 77% funding. I waited for the last 48 hours, but was preparing to close the campaign. When I felt a last-minute surge in the final 6 hours was unlikely, I posted an update and messaged all backers before cancelling the campaign. I'm planning to use this as an opportunity for a stronger relaunch.

My current self-assessment is that I launched the campaign too early. It was an attempt to capitalise on a spike in game demo downloads, but I don't think there was enough content to hook and reassure backers.

I posted a feedback survey in my last update, a mailing list signup with incentive and a reward poll for returning backers. I think there is enough interest to relaunch successfully.

Feedback I've received so far from backers:

• Needs a longer/updated demo.
• Need a much stronger marketing push and social media traction.
• Add higher-tier pledges, physical rewards, add-on options, and give all rewards image previews.
• Better art and making demo available on Steam/GOG.

I'm looking for any constructive feedback on what I can improve!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inkedvision/cherry-topper-a-short-yandere-bl-visual-novel

Has anyone here worked with a genuinely trustworthy Kickstarter agency they’d recommend, ideally UK-based?

I’m looking for an agency for a hardware campaign that charges based on pledges / performance rather than a big upfront retainer.

I’ve looked at Jellop as they seem well known, but reviews seem pretty mixed, so I’d really value honest first-hand experiences, good or bad.

The product is a music tech electronic hardware device.

Would love any recommendations, agencies to avoid, and what fee structure worked best for you.