Shot By Adam wrote:
You also have no presence online such as a website or portfolio of any kind that you can refer people to so they can see your work and decide if an investment is worthy of the return.

He does include a link his website on his kickstarter.
It's over on the right, next to his avatar: http://www.mjsphotos.co.uk/

Shot By Adam wrote:
Tons of people have had success with Kickstarter, Gofundme, etc.

How that is going to translate into YOUR success remains to be seen. So it looks like you are wanting 15 Large to make 100 copies of your book. What are you doing to promote this?

On a side note, I'm actually quite shocked that Kickstarter allowed yours to go public. In the past they used to highly scrutinize every little detail prior to accepting or denying the launch of a new project. For a book like what you're describing, they would ask for shoot concepts, chapter outlines, the specific parameters of how the book was going to be formatted and printed, etc. Every little detail.

2 years ago your project would have been rejected within minutes of submission. So I'm failing to see why anyone would fund your project with so little information you are providing about it. You also have no presence online such as a website or portfolio of any kind that you can refer people to so they can see your work and decide if an investment is worthy of the return.

Times change chum

Shot By Adam wrote:
Tons of people have had success with Kickstarter, Gofundme, etc.

Kickstarter is democratizing venture capital - Gofundme is panhandling

But Kickstater is not something you just "do", its takes lots of careful planning and is best suited to finish a project that is in need of funding and not stating from zero.  Its difficult to get people on board these days without showing something, its still a call for venture capital and people are getting more selective.

Also note, you have to give people something in return for their money - consider the costs and logistics of that part as it can be a large undertaking in itself

Patrick Walberg wrote:
In the near future, I am planning a book (probably an "E" book before print) about my adventures behind the scenes at many of the thousands of concerts I've been to since 1980.  I have plenty of pictures to go with these mostly "true" stories.

Well I see that you have already launched before asking.  Good luck to you!  I think you will need it.

fuck that sounds pretty cool..

FilmmakerDC wrote:
This will be a good learning experience for you but for your next Kickstarter, I'd suggest reading the creator handbook:
https://www.kickstarter.com/help/handbook?ref=footer

I'd also suggest going to youtube and watching some of the instructional videos. Type "how to run a successful kickstarter" into youtubes search engine and get a ton of good advice that you can pick and choose from. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ … ickstarter

Next time, please put more work in on your video. A good video is critical to your success/failure. It needs to tell your story. Who are you, why are you doing this, why should we care enough to give you money. This is you one and only opportunity to connect with your potential audience.

Your "about this project" section is very vague, maybe that's on purpose but personally, before I donate, I'd like to know who you are. Why is your story so special, what adversity did you overcome? How short is a short book? 50 pages, 100 pages? How will the money be used? Will you be doing more new shoots for this book or is this a retrospective of the work you have done so far? A September delivery date is a very short window for publication. How will this be published? What size will it be?  These are all questions that most potential backers would want to know before they donate.

Considering that only 40% of all Kickstarter promotions are successful, I think this will be a great learning experience for you but with more research and planning before your next launch, I wish you better luck with your next attempt.

I do not think it can be over emphasized that having a great video is absolutely critical in the success or failure of a Kickstarter campaign!  The most successful ones I've seen will use every social network from Youtube, Facebook and Twitter to their advantage with video being the main feature for communication.  People don't like to read a long proposal if something doesn't catch their attention right away.

AJ_In_Atlanta wrote:
Kickstarter is democratizing venture capital - Gofundme is panhandling

But Kickstater is not something you just "do", its takes lots of careful planning and is best suited to finish a project that is in need of funding and not stating from zero.  Its difficult to get people on board these days without showing something, its still a call for venture capital and people are getting more selective.

Also note, you have to give people something in return for their money - consider the costs and logistics of that part as it can be a large undertaking in itself

Two things that I think are important are (1) Keep the "Goal" realistic as to the dollar amount.  Especially if it's your first campaign, set a goal of $10,000 to $20,000 as opposed to $100,000.   It looks better if you can reach your goal earlier, as it shows momentum.  People are more likely to jump on something if it appears that it will easily be financed. 

(2)  Have some money already put a side for the project and for promoting the Kickstarter campaign.  I've actually spent some money on promoting a friends campaign through my Facebook page.  I received an analysis showing me how many people were reached so that I can judge just how effective it is to advertise.  It works!   It does take some money to make money.

Also perhaps if you are close to your goal, you can get a trusted friend of relative to use your money to close the gap to be sure you get financed.  I have not read all the rules yet, so I am presuming that the creator of the campaign can't contribute to it?   Anyone know the answer to that right of hand?

Solas wrote:
fuck that sounds pretty cool..

See those two tables?  See all those boxes within the blue circle?  Those are filled with prints, slides & negatives of mostly music concerts I've been to.  It's not all my work, but it is most of it.  I've got a huge project going through all that!  I need to buy a damn good scanner that can scan slides, and negatives from 35 MM and 120 ... I'm looking at spending around $1,500 for that. 

I'm happy with the scanner that I have for prints.  Here is a sample from scanning a ticket stub of mine.



Can you imagine tickets for The Who at $10?  I used to go to several major concerts a month and a dozen shows at clubs, county fairs & outdoor festivals.  Back when I started, you could walk in to most any venue with a camera, no questions asked!  Then the managers of the bands started getting greedy. 

I called Bill Graham Presents office when I heard rumors that cameras were not going to be allowed at Styx Paradise Theater tour.  Styx manager, Derek Sutton got on the phone and cussed me out while accusing me of being one of those guys selling pictures in the classifieds of Rolling Stone.  Bill Graham must have heard him yelling on the phone ... and he grabbed the phone from Derek saying "Who is this?"  I told him "It's Patrick Walberg, sir.  I'm the young guy who was up there last week meeting with your archive manager.  Remember me?"   Bill says "Oh yeah!  Well you bring your camera this time.  But the next time, I don't know ... so just call a head each time."   That was a concert I walked in with my camera no problem, but after that, getting a camera in has never a sure thing.   

I had started out by getting to know the local artists who opened for bigger acts, then the promoters, and from there I learned the ropes about contacting the publicists.  Often times I found the managers of bands to be the most difficult to deal with ... most have been assholes towards photographers.  So I became a manager of a few local bands myself!  The most successful was a reggae band called "Uprising" that was wildly popular among the college crowd in the late 80's early 90's.  It was easy for me to book them.  What happened with that is another story.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Backstag … page_panel

I don't make a lot of money, but I sure have fun shooting fast cars, women and rock & roll! 

MJS PHOTO wrote:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mj … ee-boobs-0

You've got 0 backers so far.  Better get busy marketing!  A website where there are photographers and models who can see boobs all day and night on here is probably not the place.   Go to Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter.  Good luck!

Patrick Walberg wrote:
You've got 0 backers so far.  Better get busy marketing!  A website where there are photographers and models who can see boobs all day and night on here is probably not the place.   Go to Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter.  Good luck!

Well, you will notice that he dropped his goal from 10,000 Pounds to 953 dollars (about 606 pounds). That's helpful but his "about" section is still as vague. I can't decide if these are boobs that I want to see but obviously there is a reason why "Very rarely do we encounter such an open and honest telling of a persons story."

You can try to teach a man how to fish but sometimes, he just likes throwing rocks at them instead.

Patrick Walberg wrote:

You've got 0 backers so far.  Better get busy marketing!  A website where there are photographers and models who can see boobs all day and night on here is probably not the place.   Go to Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter.  Good luck!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mj … ee-boobs-0

MJS PHOTO wrote:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mj … ee-boobs-0

You reposting this thing every few days is getting to be spam at this point.

MJS PHOTO wrote:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mj … ee-boobs-0

Shot By Adam wrote:
You reposting this thing every few days is getting to be spam at this point.

You should at least respond to what people are posting.

MJS PHOTO wrote:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mj … ee-boobs-0

One person?  It's a learning experience.  You're going to need to do better than that.  Like I said before  "Good luck!"  You're going to need it!

Perceptions Edge  wrote:
"Panhandling" or not I used GoFundMe when I opened my studio. I already had the basic funds in place, the location, had become an LLC, had a business plan and everything rolling. I just needed a little extra for stuff like paint, sprucing up, a few improvements. There were a lot of models I had shot TF when I/they were starting out and I made them my target audience. I did a $1,000 campaign and the 10 and 20 dollar contributions started rolling in, along with contributions from photographers I knew that respected what I was trying to do. I ended up around $1500.

People are more likely to contribute if the ball is already rolling, you've made an investment of your own and have skin in the game and have a business plan in place.

Yes, it sure helps to have the "ball rolling" as I believe it takes having at least some money to invest or for backup with any business,  I wont contribute to a Kickstarter campaign unless I am confident that they are going to reach their goal.

Justin Matthews wrote:
There are thousands of nude photography books out there, and with the limited info you have given, I fail to see the difference in yours to make it stand out and catch your intended audience. If it's just to show a bunch of photos of boobs, then anyone can get that anywhere. If it's a narrative of your photography journey with photos as support then maybe a few excerpts of your book will help to get your audience emotionally connected to you and your upcoming book.
At this point you have no connection, explain relatively nothing, show a short video of a girl writhing on a wall from one shoot, and seem unwilling to listen to peoples suggestions. So good luck.

I'm afraid his posting here asking for advise while having already started his campaign is backwards.  Coming here to promote a book of nudes is like trying to sell cake to bakers. 

Patrick Walberg wrote:

I'm afraid his posting here asking for advise while having already started his campaign is backwards.  Coming here to promote a book of nudes is like trying to sell cake to bakers. 

Argh I want some cakes, maybe he should start a kickstarter campaign for a cake shop, now thats something I'd be interested in. 😀

MJS PHOTO wrote:
Has anyone had any experience or success with it?

Here's a project I've just started;

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mj … ee-boobs-0

FilmmakerDC wrote:
I was browsing Kickstarter this morning and noticed this:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ma … f=category

Congrats on your successful funding campaign !
May you drink from the Keg of glory. Victory is yours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBqokPYnhhE

The OPs project was canceled by him. The successful one you linked too is s different, though apparently identical project.

- Danny Baldwin wrote:
With less than two weeks I need your support...

Please check out & pledge just £1 (or as you wish) to make my first solo exhibition a reality

PLEDGE HERE https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/41 … kin-deep-0

Kickstarter works in on all or nothing basis so we really need your help to hit the target X

Generally the price for the product offered on Kickstarter is less than if you went to the shop - they use the money for funding production and early investors get a lower price as a perk. £30 for a postcard seems pretty steep.

Patrick Walberg wrote:

You've got 0 backers so far.  Better get busy marketing!  A website where there are photographers and models who can see boobs all day and night on here is probably not the place.   Go to Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter.  Good luck!

BLING BLING

- Danny Baldwin wrote:
With less than two weeks I need your support...

Please check out & pledge just £1 (or as you wish) to make my first solo exhibition a reality

PLEDGE HERE https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/41 … kin-deep-0

Kickstarter works in on all or nothing basis so we really need your help to hit the target X

This is spam.