Kickstarter Success: What's the Secret?

Who knows for sure, and random chance may come into play, no doubt, but there may be more. Here's my research and thoughts:

Fast Company:

"Want Your Kickstarter To Work? You Better Have A Good Story

More than half of all Kickstarter projects fail. Want yours to be among the lucky few? Having a great product isn't enough. You need to connect with people using storytelling."

Forbes:

"Five Essential Tips For A Successful Kickstarter Campaign"

1. Make Sure Goals are Attainable
2. Give Your Supporters Something Good
3. Hit Feasible Deadlines
4. Go Hard and Get Shameless
5. Make a Great Video

Few of the following did videos. I'm not sure how necessary it is for anthologies.

Because I'm not rich, I don't buy in at higher levels. What can I do with funds available?  Ask yourself if you are providing value at as many levels as possible. I spoke to one author who was funded by adding several unusual values at different levels.

These are projects I backed, so they seemed to have promise. Comments below:

Ares Magazine by One Small Step Games

"80 pages of amazing new science fiction and a complete board game in a bi-monthly periodical."

Funded.  Most people wanted a game only--a few scattered others. The only other primary group wanted one game plus another that may have value one day. These guys just made their goal.


Dark Trails: An Anthology of Weird Western Stories. by Michael Knost

"Saddle up your horses and get ready for Dark Western fiction that will merge the horror and western genres like never before!"

May not get funded.  Too few levels and the goal is high. I bought in, but the prices scared me off at first. Are there more levels that could have been added? An ebook--if even a partial sampler--could be given at a smaller level. Do you have other ebooks available to add? Can the ebook be given with the books? What else can be added?


Streets of Shadows - A Noir Urban Fantasy Fiction Anthology by Steven Saus

"A new fiction anthology combining noir crime and urban fantasy. Life on the streets was tough...before things started getting weird."

May get funded. The ebook price seems steep to me (will they charge that at the bookstore?), yet that's the level people are buying into. They also want the ebook and the book.


Unidentified Funny Objects 3 - Annual Anthology of Humor SFF by Alex Shvartsman

"UFO3 is the 3rd annual anthology featuring offbeat and humorous science fiction & fantasy short stories."

May get funded. While the ebook-in-question's price may be steep, they have other price levels, including a bargain one (at least at this pricing system) which gives you all three ebooks. Again, the editor includes the ebook with the book. Since you can see interest spread across multiple levels, Alex Shvartsman is probably doing something right.


Waylines Magazine: Year Two by Darryl Knickrehm

"An online magazine of speculative fiction, poetry, comics PLUS streaming film.

Not funded. I suspect that people wanted more for their investment.


WOMEN DESTROY SCIENCE FICTION! by Lightspeed Magazine

"Women Destroy Science Fiction! is a special issue of the Hugo Award-nominated magazine LIGHTSPEED entirely written—and edited—by women."

Killed funding goals.  The zeitgeist jackpot. Take a close look. These guys planned: tons of levels you can buy into. They unlocked double-subscription goals and multiple other goals with additional issues underway. Multiple partners in the making.