EP #22 A Talented Spanish Artist Leverages Kickstarter to Raise $132k for His Work

In 2014, David G. Forés and Play Attitude launched their first Kickstarter campaign for an Edgar Allan Poe illustrated anthology entitled "Ravings of love & death." Despite setting an initial $58,000 goal, the team managed to blow past that and raise $87,530 for the campaign over the course of 29 days.

What started as a modest dream in David's imagination two years prior turned into staggering crowdfunding success story, attracting backers from all over the world. After the buzz settled down and the last few orders had been shipped out, the team behind the project turned their gaze to the next potential Kickstarter launch.

Having conducted one successful project, David and Play Attitude were familiar with the process of launching a campaign and what it took to fulfill rewards in a timely manner. They also were now aware of the power of crowdfunding and how it can enable a local Spanish artist to reach art enthusiasts and graphic novel lovers all over the globe.

Armed with these bits of knowledge and healthy dosing of experience, the team launched their second Kickstarter campaign for Forgotten Colors, a limited edition art book for all ages. Remarkably, this project hit it's funding goal even sooner than the previous and ended up raising $44,604 out of a $19,000 goal.

In this episode of the CrowdCrux Crowdfunding Podcast, we talked with Naiara, who is one member of the team behind these two wildly successful projects to learn what makes them tick and how they were able to gather a community on the crowdfunding platform.

 Show Notes

- Ravings of Love & Death campaign Kicktraq Statistics can be found here.

- The team researched similar projects to gear up for the first Kickstarter campaign. Since they've been working in the publishing field for 4 or 5 years now, they have experience on the fulfillment aspect. They have worked for clients in the past and are now doing illustrated books.

- The artwork for David G. Forés is showcased on Instagram, tumblr, facebook, pinterest, and more. It's clear that building up a community is important before launching a project.

- The team worked a lot in the first two weeks explaining the project and the new initiative. Towards the end of the campaign, some backers that already pledged actually increased their pledge to a higher reward tier.

- You must be aware of what kind of feedback you are getting for backers. Although you need a plan, that plan should be very flexible.

- After the campaign finished, people were still asking where they could order books. There is a big post-Kickstarter effect to launching a successful project. Lastly, David became more well-known.

- You can check out the post-campaign website at PoeKickstarter.com.

- The Forgotten Colors campaign Kicktraq statistics can be found here.

- The first campaign required a lot of research. In the second campaign, the team drew from their previous experience to be successful. The main difference in this project was that people are not as aware of the main character in the second campaign, compared to Edgar Allen Poe.

- The team took advantage of the marketing potential of the thumbnail on their video in the second campaign more-so than others. They also introduced members of the team.

- It's important to understand the "target market" with regards to your project. Are there more horror lovers and lovers of a family book? These are questions to ask yourself and are a good way to set realistic expectations for the project.

- The team has a different strategy for each social network and had a different way to engage the users on each network. Don't forget to explain what Kickstarter is and how it works!

- You can check out the post-campaign website at kickstarter.forgottencolors.org.