Kickstarter

Creator Rob Thomas reached a funding goal of $2 million toward a Veronica Mars movie in one day. As a fan of the show, I was glad to see it happen, but I'm sure there are other hurdles in the way.

I've backed two Kickstarter projects so far: Seth Harwood's CrimeWAV Books and Michael A. Arnzen's Fridge of the Damned, which both reached their goals. I think Kickstarter is a good way to reach out to fans and make them feel a part of projects, but I have no plans to use it to fund my own.

My experience publishing and promoting The Lineup didn't show enough interest to warrant a campaign. If I take your money in advance, I'm obligated to you; whereas if I see something through to fruition on my own, I will have done it my way, and you can buy my product or not. Whether you buy, my product is already out there.

On the other hand, I might use Kickstarter to offer small rewards related to a base product. The goal might be lower because it wouldn't include the cost to make the product itself, and it would show how large a fan base I had.