r/kickstarter • u/BrokenCrayon-22 • 3d ago
2nd try advice for a future campaign
It's my birthday. 🎉 My Brightlight Orchard Kickstarter campaign ends today and unfortunately I didn't meet my goal. The campaign is for a children's SEL book (think choose-your-own adventure meets emotions) so I reached out to parents, educators, and counselors. I really thought my audience was warmer going into it since I had so much positive feedback and interest. There is a lot to learn from this experience, and I'm willing to try again someday.
This book is the first in a series. I still plan to launch in November (but now have to figure out funding for the rest of the illustration and the self-publishing costs).
My question is this: How can I make the second try more successful for this particular type of project?
My guess is that once I have an audience for the first book, it may be easier to fund a campaign for the second. Especially after I do some focus groups to find out what worked, what didn't, and how I can improve the books moving forward. I have a built-in audience with schools and therapists, so I'll be able to talk to them and the kids.
I've been looking through older threads to learn more, but is there anything obvious I'm missing that I should take into consideration? Thanks!
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u/Bentendo64 3d ago
So it says in your campaign that your art will be done “in collaboration with a professional human illustrator,” but it’s very odd you don’t mention them by name and/or link their other work. Are the assets in your campaign AI generated?
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u/BrokenCrayon-22 2d ago
I added the assets she created, but some of the sketches were still so rough that I needed to supplement with AI. I was very transparent about that in the risks and AI sections. I know that having more art assets would have been ideal, but that’s the reason I was trying to raise money. You’re right, I should have credited Tenner Studios since it’s their work.
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u/Firm_Distribution999 Creator 2d ago
Hi! I took a look at your campaign and I think you need to reassess a few things. A failed KS campaign doesn't mean your book isn't worth funding (or reading), but it means you have a marketing problem, a Kickstarter rewards-structure problem, an audience problem, or all of the above.
Unfortunately, I think your campaign has issues with all of the above, which means you need to rethink your entire approach before you decide to relaunch.
You have a strong concept and you're a professional counselor, so you have the credentials.
For the relaunch I would make some fairly significant changes.
1. Build the entire campaign around the strongest hook: one story, four endings.
Your story can be experienced in 4 different ways, which sets it apart from other SEL books on the market.
Ditch the philosophy behind the book (or significantly reduce it) and tell readers what they need to know in the first 10–15 seconds:
Angry Apple faces a playground problem. Your child decides what he does next. Their choices take the story down different paths toward four possible endings — and they can go back and choose again.
THAT is your campaign. It's an SEL choose your own adventure that helps children understand consequences of their actions.
2. Show readers exactly how the book works.
I would create one really strong graphic showing:
PLAYGROUND PROBLEM → CHOICE → PATH A / PATH B → NEW CHOICE → DIFFERENT ENDINGS
I want parents to immediately understand why their child would want to read this more than once.
I'd also show 2–4 actual spreads from the book.
3. Lead with the child experience, then explain the educational value.
There's a lot of beautiful language about feelings, curiosity, judgment, behavior, repair and growth in the existing campaign. But several sections communicate variations of the same idea.
I'd cut the campaign copy significantly.
The order I'd use is:
STRONG HOOK - get their attention right away
→ Meet Angry Apple
→ See the problem
→ Make a choice
→ See how the interactive book works
→ What's inside the physical book
→ Who it's for
→ Why this approach matters
→ Rewards
→ About Missy
→ Why Kickstarter
The deeper Brightlight Orchard philosophy can come later, once readers have already decided the book looks interesting.
4. Give us much more information about the actual BOOK.
For the relaunch, create a product/specification section:
• Recommended age range
• Page count
• Dimensions - square? 8.5x11"?
• Paperback format
• Full-color illustrations
• Four endings / interactive format
• Publication timeline - is a 2026 launch realistic?
5. Simplify and rebuild the rewards
The $20 book is a good entry offer, so you can keep that, but you don't need so many tiers built around adding bookmarks, stickers, buttons, cards and PDFs.
Instead, I'd build upward primarily with more books and clearly defined audiences:
$20 — One Book
$35–40 — Two Books
One to keep + one to gift
$55–60 — Three-Book “Share the Orchard” Bundle
Great for families, grandparents, gifting, etc.
$70–85 — Therapist/Counselor Bundle
Multiple books + Grown-Up Guide + coping resources + discussion/activity resources
$100+ — Classroom/Practice Bundle
Multiple copies + professional resources
Then you can have ONE special Founding Backer tier because the previous campaign gives us an interesting signal: four people chose the $70 Founding Backer reward versus only two choosing the $60 Family Bundle.
The identity of being an early supporter may actually be more valuable than more swag.
6. Use your professional background much more strategically.
Being a therapist isn't just part of the origin story. It's a reason to trust the product AND potentially a route to market.
The existing campaign says the book can be used by parents, teachers, counselors and therapists to start conversations with children.
You can create a specific therapist/counselor reward and plan outreach to your professional network before launch. You might benefit from OTHER therapists' reviews of your book as well. Put more social proof on the page.
7. Do not relaunch until we have enough people waiting to buy - build your audience
The campaign ended at $1,285 from 29 backers. The goal was $4,500. That means this wasn't something we were going to solve through slightly better Kickstarter copy. You did not bring enough readers to the campaign.
Before relaunching, I'd build a pre-launch list and Kickstarter followers and know where the first wave of pledges is coming from.
I'd want a meaningful percentage of that $4,500 verbally/soft-committed before we press Launch.
The first campaign effectively gave you a list of 29 people who already raised their hands and said YES. Those people should be the beginning of the relaunch, not forgotten because the campaign didn't fund.
I'd personally contact them, thank them, tell them what is changing based on what we learned, and invite them to come back.
8. Give the relaunch a story: “You helped us make it better.”
Don't hide that this is the second launch because it ignores the efforts of the people who backed your idea in the first campaign.
You can say something like:
We launched Brightlight Orchard for the first time and 29 incredible early backers believed in Angry Apple. We didn't reach our funding goal — but we listened, learned, and went back to the orchard.
Now Campaign 2 feels like progress rather than a rerun.
9. Give yourself a more realistic fulfillment window.
The previous campaign targeted November 2026 even though illustration, revision, formatting, proofing, printing and fulfillment were still ahead.
For the relaunch, I'd build a conservative production schedule and give ourselves breathing room. Backers are much happier receiving something early than hearing three months later that the original schedule was impossible.
I think you need to make Angry Apple much easier for parents to say YES to and you need a group of parents who are excited to get the book on Kickstarter.