Could this project fit on Kickstarter?

Factual Questions
1

Hey all,

Okay, so I have a project, and it IS a creative project… but even after reading all of the guidelines on Kickstarter, I STILL don’t know if it would actually fit on there under the rules. Here’s the situation.

I’ve been part of a fan site for almost 10 years. This is a self-loading fiction archive (think fanfiction.net-- kind of-- except that we don’t censor or filter for naughty words and activities. NC-17, yay!) The original founders all had fights with each other about 2 and ½ years ago and finally decided (as in this fall) that they just didn’t want to run the site anymore. They offered ownership to all of the long-term mods, and I, being nuts, was the one who stepped up. :wink:

For the past two years, the original mods really didn’t do anything at all to keep the site fresh or current. It was just coasting. I really want to do some new creative projects, a couple of which would be reviving projects that used to be done (fic exchanges, podcasts) and some of which are new (our own Youtube channel, new videos, new art, new music.) I could certainly make a video explaining exactly what I want to do and the time frame, as well as rewards for contributors.

The reason I need money is that it’s hosting fees time. No yay here whatsoever. The funding drive isn’t going that well, people are not enthusiastic about using Paypal, and the fees are $200. I’m thinking that if people could go to Kickstarter and see EXACTLY what the plans are for upcoming creative projects, it would really, really, really help. A lot. And I really want to do it, even though I have several zillion projects on my place already. (Why? See the part above about being nuts…)

So. Is this something that could go on there? I personally don’t think that our site could be called social media—the point isn’t talking/blogging/rambling/posting 75439817259.pi pictures of your new cat, but rather sharing creative work with the community. But I’m not exactly sure what KS’s definition of social media is, and I can’t find anyplace where it is very specifically defined. Here’s the site itself, if anyone wants to take a look and see what they think: The Fire and Ice Archive

Also, here’s what is up on our Youtube channel to date-- I want to do MUCH more of this, but it does show that I’ve started already. :slight_smile:
The Happy Fun FIA YT Channel.
Some extremely smart person must know the answer! Please share. :slight_smile:

2

Take a look through the Kickstarter guidelines. Look at a bunch of projects. Note that most offer tangible rewards to people who donate.

A few relevant items from the guidelines:

If your goal is just to raise a couple of hundred bucks for the hosting fees, that won’t qualify. If you’re doing this specifically to launch the creative stuff and you can define when it’s “done,” it should work.

If you sell anything or have social aspects to the site, this might rule you out.

If you’re modifying the code, you’ll need to be doing it yourself.

3

Have you checked Indiegogo’s policies? I believe they are more allowing than Kickstarter, and they don’t have the same focus on “it has to be a product that ships”.

4

If you put each individual project separately then it could work on kickstarter

5

The “social media” aspect is the part that I don’t think is well defined at all on the Kickstarter site. What are the EXACT elements that define it? If people are communicating with each other at all as even a small part of a site/project/whatever, then would that be defined as “social media?” (I don’t think that it should be.) And if a project has an associated Facebook page (which I would certainly think they all would), then why doesn’t that count? The founder of a writers’ group I’m in just raised money on Kickstarter for a new ezine. Social media is linked to it in so many ways, but HE was able to do it…

You know, this is starting to sound snarky. :wink: I looked at IndieaGoGo, and they don’t seem to have the same kinds of arbitrary rules. That might be an option, but it doesn’t seem like as many people have heard of that. Anyway, I’ll talk to the writers’ group guy and find out more about how he was able to make it work.

6

I don’t think the social media part applies, since the primary purpose of the site is content, not socialization. You’re letting people submit content (fic, art, videos) and allowing comments, the comments are not the content itself. Like, the only content on Facebook and Twitter is the social sharing aspect. But I don’t know if it’d be allowed on Kickstarter because there’s no defined product in the end.

7

Well, it’s not really that there isn’t.

I want to start up the yearly fic exchange again. People absolutely loved this and there’s been a lot of interest. The content that came out of the previous exchanges was an end product each time. BUT if I don’t get $200, it won’t happen. The podcasts won’t happen, the YT videos won’t happen. I can definitely do a set of specific projects rather than just “I want to see the content/site/community/whatever improve.” The thing is that when I actually think about it, what Rich (writers’ group guy) did on Kickstarter for the ezine was basically the same exact idea. There isn’t going to be a physical, tangible product that you can hold in your hands at the end in that case either. It will never be printed on paper, and neither will this.

I think I’m going to try! :slight_smile: Wouldn’t somebody catch it at the application stage if it wasn’t going to be accepted?

8

Not to be the Debbie Downer, but not necessarily, and if it IS caught and rejected due to complaints or notice after you’ve started the Kickstarter, that’s really bad press that you have very little (if any) control over.

If you were interested in doing it through KS, I’d flag the proposal yourself saying you’re unsure if it qualifies as social media projects. I’ve heard the KS staff is really good about helping new people start their projects, and if you ask, maybe they can help you twiddle the specs enough that you fit nicely.

If not, then you know ahead of time it’s a nonstarter, you’re still on good terms with Kickstarter, and you can head over to IndieGoGo without having a failed/shut-down Kickstarter attempt making your supporters grumpy at you.

9

I couldn’t see any ads on any of the pages - have you considered that as an option for making the site self-funding? Some ad networks might not want to deal with sites that have adult content, but others don’t care.

10

Is that $200 in hosting fees for the month, or a year?

$200/year should be quite achievable with some basic ad and affiliate revenue.