See you next Tuesday

Wait! Stop right there!

The Lucy Dreaming Kickstarter will now be launching on 27th April. Follow it here to be notified when it launches so you don’t miss out on an early-bird discount!

OK, now on with the blog…

In my preparation for Kickstarter last year I read A Crowdfunder’s Strategy Guide by Jamey Stegmaier. Jamey’s extensive research and blog on the subject of Kickstarter campaigns is extremely useful and inspired some of the solid strategic genius behind PRIM’s campaign and success earlier this year. I have spoken to PRIM’s creator, Jonas, many times about the various elements of a Kickstarter campaign, and after I announced that I was going to launch my campaign on Saturday 1st May, he contacted me to ask why I chose a weekend to launch.

Here were (note “were”) my reasons:

• It’s a Bank holiday weekend in the UK – a lot of people will be browsing the internet and have gaming at the front of their minds.
• It’s just after pay-day – people are more likely to feel financially flush.
• It means that a 30-day camapaign will END during a UK bank holiday after pay-day too (win, win).
• Saturday is when most adventure gamers and devs are active on social media, posting and sharing links.

As I read this list again now, it really does sound compelling. There’s some reasonably-intelligent assumptions and reasoning behind my decision.

However…

Jonas sent me a blog article which I had seen before, but since forgotten about completely, and it sowed a seed of doubt in my mind (in truth, coming from Jonas, it was more like a coconut of doubt).

After re-reading this I was really doubting decision, but didn’t change my mind immediately. I mulled it over for longer than I should for one reason, and one reason only – I had already tweeted the 1st May.

OH NO!

What if I changed the date and people didn’t realise? What if they thought I was some kind of pathological mind-changer? What if Jamey and Jonas are wrong? What if…? WHAT IF…??

So I stoically closed my eyes, repeated my original rationale in my head and carried on.

Last week I was lucky enough to participate in GI Live Online. During the event there was a particularly timely Q&A with Anya Combs, saxophonist and Kickstarter’s Director of Games.

During the exchange I posed the above the theory about which weekday to launch on, half expecting her to laugh it off with some comment about “conspiracy thoerists” or “maybe 10 years ago this was the case” – but she didn’t. She confirmed it.

Not only did she confirm that, according to their data, a Tuesday/Wednesday launch date really DOES make a big difference to a campaign’s chance of funding, she also informed us that launching at a weekend is pretty much the worst thing you can do…especially during a holiday.

No-one knows why either, even Kickstarter themselves. We can all make educated guesses about backers’ workload/boredom levels, or browsing habits during weekdays, but it is all conjecture at this point.

Anya had taken my list above, and told me that pretty much every point on it just wasn’t true.

Bugger!

That was all the evidence I needed! Before the Q&A session had even finished, I was re-working my artwork and sending out messages to tell people the new date. I chose April 27th (the Tuesday preceeding May 1st) so that if anyone missed the memo, the campaign would at least be live on the date I had originally stated.

I don’t know what kind of backlash I was expecting, maybe people would tell me “Just make up your mind!”, or “I had already cleared my Saturday for you, now you’ve ruined everything!” But, obviously, the only person who the original date had ever mattered to was me. Everyone helped me spread the word by sharing my new launch date and supported the decision. Why wouldn’t they?

So we’re now launching on Tuesday 27th April instead, and I’m so glad I swallowed my pride/paranoia/arrogance and listened to people who know what they are talking about!

Tom x