How to Start a Kickstarter

How to Start a Kickstarter

Money Saving Tip: Spend your crowdfunding funds before the end of the year to save on taxes. Funds spent within the same year of launching the campaign won’t be taxed as income. Wait until the next year and you’ll be responsible for paying taxes on those funds as part of your gross income. Finished print files aren’t required to purchase your printing with PrintNinja, so don’t wait! Don’t just take our word for it.

Have no clue how to start a Kickstarter campaign? You’re in good company. As of 2024, only 41.71% of Kickstarter projects succeed — meaning the majority of campaigns fail to reach their goal. But here’s the thing: the difference between the campaigns that fund and the ones that don’t almost always comes down to preparation, not the quality of the product.

We’ve printed for hundreds of crowdfunded projects — card games, art books, comics, children’s books — and the pattern is always the same. The campaigns that fund aren’t necessarily the ones with the best product. They’re the ones where the creator did the homework: built an audience, set realistic goals, and put together a page that made people confident enough to pledge.

We’ll walk you through how to position your campaign for success.

Map Out Your Kickstarter Timeline

Most successful creators spend two to three months planning their campaign before launch. But how long your campaign itself should run matters too.

An analysis of 331,000 Kickstarter projects found that campaigns with a funding phase of up to 30 days had the highest success rates, with a clear downward trend after that. This is consistent with academic research published in Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, which found that shorter campaigns attract independent, conviction-driven backers, while longer campaigns tend to rely on “herding” behavior — backers who only pledge because they see others doing so.

The takeaway: Plan for months, but run your campaign for 30 days or less. Use the planning time to:

• Finalize your product specifications and get manufacturing quotes
• Build your email list and social media following
• Create your campaign page, video, and reward tiers
• Line up press coverage and reviewer commitments

A growing number of creators also use pre-launch pages on BackerKit or Kickstarter’s own pre-launch feature to collect followers before going live. This lets you gauge interest and hit the ground running on day one — which matters enormously, since Kickstarter’s own data shows that 79% of projects that raised more than 20% of their goal in their first days were ultimately successful.

Determine Your Kickstarter Pricing Strategy

Start by nailing down your costs. Most creators approach their budget by getting a printing quote first to determine manufacturing and shipping costs.

Your funding goal should cover:

• Manufacturing costs — printing, packaging, and any specialty finishes
• Shipping and fulfillment — domestic and international postage, packaging supplies, and fulfillment labor or services
• Rewards and stretch goal costs — extras like stickers, prints, or exclusive editions
• Platform fees — Kickstarter takes 5% of funds raised, plus payment processing fees of 3-5%
• Taxes — sales tax obligations vary by state and country; consult a tax professional
• A buffer for unexpected costs — this is critical. Over 75% of Kickstarter projects deliver later than expected, often because creators underestimated costs or hit manufacturing surprises. We see this constantly — a creator sets a tight budget, then realizes they forgot to account for customs duties or postage rate increases

How much should you ask for? Statista data shows that over 133,000 successful projects raised under $10,000 — you don’t need a massive goal to succeed. Set a realistic minimum that covers your costs at a viable order quantity, then let stretch goals handle the upside.

Use our Kickstarter Budget Calculator to estimate your funding goal, or experiment with our spreadsheet version.

Content Guidelines for Your Kickstarter Page Design

Your Kickstarter page is your one chance to make a good impression and clearly explain what your campaign is about and why people should back it.

You’ll need to budget time to write clear, persuasive copy, create a video explaining your product, and plan for images and graphics that excite potential backers.

Writing Guidelines

• Concise descriptions of rewards help backers understand exactly what they’ll get by supporting your project.
• A realistic budget and an honest assessment of risks show that you’ve put real thought into both your product and your campaign.
• Grammatically correct, well-articulated copy describing who you are, your background, and your commitment to the project instills confidence in your ability to deliver.
• Bold sub-headers should outline each section and break up large blocks of text.
• Include a clear shipping and fulfillment section — backers want to know when they’ll receive their rewards and how much shipping will cost.

Keep it simple: clearly lay out what you want to accomplish, how much you need, and what people get for helping you get there. But don’t be afraid to go deep for backers who want detail.

Why You Need a Video

Kickstarter’s own analysis found that projects with video had a 54% success rate compared to 39% for those without. That’s a 15-percentage-point advantage just for including a video.

But length matters too. Research from Genius Games found that videos between 1 and 2 minutes had the highest success rates, while videos over 6 minutes saw significant decline. Keep it tight.

DIY video tips:

• Camera: Your phone is fine. Use a tripod or stabilize your arm. Shoot at the highest resolution available.
• Audio: Audio quality matters more than video quality. A $20 lapel mic is a worthwhile investment.
• Lighting: Use the three-point lighting method — even desk lamps work.
• Length: 1.5 to 2 minutes for your main video. Create a 30-60 second cut for social media.
• Editing: iMovie, DaVinci Resolve, or CapCut are all free and capable. Shoot, load up WindowsXP and get MovieMaker going.
• Music: Use royalty-free tracks from the YouTube Audio Library, Artlist, or Epidemic Sound.
• Be yourself: Get on camera. Introduce yourself, show your product, explain where the money goes. Authenticity converts backers.

Crowdfunding Enables Self-Publishing

If designing your page seems overwhelming, know that you’re not alone. Many first-time creators turn to Kickstarter specifically because they can’t afford to print on their own — and that’s exactly what the platform was designed for.

The data confirms this works. Research by Mollick (2016) found that every dollar raised via Kickstarter generated a mean of $2.46 in additional revenue outside the platform. Kickstarter projects also resulted in approximately 5,135 ongoing full-time jobs and over 160,000 temporary positions. Crowdfunding isn’t just a way to fund one product — it’s a launchpad for a business.

And the long-term numbers are encouraging: a follow-up study found that over 90% of successfully funded projects remained ongoing ventures 1-4 years later, and 32% reported yearly revenues exceeding $100,000.

Beyond raising capital, crowdfunding gives creators complete control over their vision. Self-publishing means cutting out the middlemen. You retain creative control and sell directly to your audience.

What About Delivery?

One of the biggest concerns for both creators (and their backers) is fulfillment. Kickstarter’s fulfillment report, based on a sample of 65,326 successfully funded projects, found that failure to deliver rewards was relatively rare at around 9%, with the true rate likely between 5-14%. So, we believe in you.

That said, over 75% of projects deliver later than expected. The most important thing you can do here is build realistic timelines with buffer, communicate proactively with your backers about delays, and you’ll maintain trust even if your schedule slips. Be transparent ‘ight?

Beyond Kickstarter: Other Crowdfunding Platforms

While Kickstarter remains the dominant platform — 78% of games projects raising $100K+ in 2024 launched on Kickstarter — it’s no longer the only option:

• Gamefound — Originally a pledge manager, now hosts its own crowdfunding campaigns. Especially popular with tabletop creators.
• BackerKit Crowdfunding — Combines crowdfunding with built-in pledge management and fulfillment tools.
• Indiegogo — Offers flexible funding (keep what you raise even if you miss your goal) and InDemand for ongoing sales.

Each platform has different fee structures, audiences, and features. Research which one aligns best with your product and community.

With the right preparation, you’re well on your way to a successful crowdfunding campaign.

Need more help? Check out our guides on Marketing Your Campaign, Setting Your Funding Goal, and Reward Ideas for Backers.

Sources & Further Reading

• Mollick, E. (2014). “The Dynamics of Crowdfunding.” Journal of Business Venturing, Vol. 29. SSRN
• Mollick, E. (2016). “Containing Multitudes: The Many Impacts of Kickstarter Funding.” SSRN
• Mollick, E. & Kuppuswamy, V. (2014). “After the Campaign: Outcomes of Crowdfunding.” SSRN
• Zhang, J., Savin, S. & Veeraraghavan, S. (2022). “Revenue Management in Crowdfunding.” Manufacturing & Service Operations Management. INFORMS
• Kupka, D. (2019). “We Analyzed 331,000 Kickstarter Projects.” Medium
• Kickstarter. “Stats.” kickstarter.com/help/stats
• Kickstarter. “Fulfillment Report.” kickstarter.com/fulfillment
• Stegmaier, J. “Kickstarter Lessons.” Stonemaier Games