It's all looking very good. I think you've got a very good chance to make a successful project out of this, and you certainly have the time on your hands now. You have a leg up on some in that you've been working on this a while now - I think that due to the worldwide enforced home stays that a lot of people are enduring, there will be literally an explosion of Kickstarter projects like this one coming out very soon.
That will end up being brutal, I think - a surplus of deck designs amid a time when many are losing their jobs and can barely afford food and shelter. All the more reason to get your project out as soon as possible, and to try and work it out so the price point is as low as you can get it, in order to increase its affordability and popularity for people with less-deep pockets. That's my two cents - I could easily be entirely wrong.
Thanks Don! Yeah, I have some major concerns about the timing of launching the deck possibly this summer, not sure where the world will be at that time (keeping my fingers crossed good things are around the corner). On one hand, I have had it in the back of my mind to try to keep the cost down on production to get it out to as many as possible, on the other hand, I have a few unique ideas for the deck that will make the cost of publishing it a bit higher than normal... hoping I?ll be able to have multiple versions available so it lets everyone get what they can afford/want. Never having done this before (kickstarting), I?m guessing that I will have to get a small army of people interested in buying the decks to lower the costs/making it possible to be offering multiple options.
Really appreciate the encouragement and suggestions Don, any time you can offer ideas or suggestions, my ears are open!
Stay safe and stay healthy my friend!
You should take the easiest route possible. Start with a simple, low goal, then create stretch goals. For example, consider this functional deck project and its stretch goals.
GOAL: for $10,000, the deck gets made, printed by MakePlayingCards.com
Stretch Goal 1: At $12,000, I'll change the printer to Expert PCC
Stretch Goal 2: At $15,000, I'll get embossing for the tuck boxes.
Stretch Goal 3: At $20,000, I'll have the cards all foil-stamped on the backs.
Stretch Goal 4: At $23,000, I'll make a gilded version available for a premium.
Stretch Goal 5: At $30,000, I'll create a second deck with the same design and a new color pattern for the back.
Stretch Goal 6: At $50,000, I'll make a third colorway, custom brick boxes, sign every deck, name my first-born after you, etc.
You get the idea!
This kind of structure allows you to make the project at whatever goal point you're able to raise funds for - if you only raise a little, you still get it made, but as an economy project; if you raise a lot extra, you have more deluxe features and options, but you can still keep it affordable for those you can't shell out for all the bells and whistles, just by keeping your original tiers (some budget-oriented, some more expensive) and making the new stuff (like gilded decks and such) as new tiers or as add-ons to the original project.
Another popular feature, I'm sure you've seen, would be to have "early bird" specials - specially-discounted, limited-time tiers created to jumpstart the backing for your project and give the really skint backers a chance to get what you're offering at a lower price than it would normally be available. For example, if a single deck normally goes for $15, you offer an "early bird" deal of a single deck for $12, but only for people backing in the first 24 hours, or only for the first 50 people to jump on at that tier. In order to really target the hard-up backer low on cash, some will intentionally restrict early-bird tiers to have no add-ons available, thus insuring that only those really working with low funds will be the ones most interested in jumping in. Not everyone does that, though - some really just want to pump up the numbers out of the gate, so they let anyone add anything and just use the early bird as a way to boost their backer numbers, nothing more.
