I’ve been hearing about Kickstarter for years, and I love the idea of a decentralized, grassroots, bottom-up way of funding projects. The fact that Kickstarter actually works is the testament to the viability of such funding models, and it’s another step into the much more democratized and granular economy of the future. However, from a practical point of view, I have never really looked into the Kickstarter as either a source of funding or a place where I can find some interesting and unique products. That is until I came across this book. It has definitely opened my eyes to all the possibilities and the excitement of crowdfunding websites.

This book is primarily aimed at people who are thinking about having a crowdfunded project for the first time. It’s filled with the stories of great Kickstarted success – and some equally big failures – and it definitely helps you get the general idea of what the Kickstarter experience might look like. All the stories and the interviews are very informative and to the point. They focus on some of the more popular Kickstarter funding categories: films, gadgets, accessories, and art. The book also goes into some detail on the mechanics of interacting with Kicksarter website, setting up your project there, and managing your expectations during the fundraising effort. It gives a lot of useful, and sometimes nonobvious, tips. It also explains what kinds of projects are allowed on Kickstarter and what the site doesn’t support. If you have never done anything like this kind of funding effort before, then this book is a necessary read.

The book lists many external resources, including blogs and sites where you could get some publicity, as well as some alternatives to Kickstarter. The interviews and the case studies also feature or allude to some other resources that you might need for a particular kind of project. However, for a truly comprehensive Kickstarter handbook (or even better user manual of sorts) a book would need a lot more of in-depth and detailed information on all aspects of project development: planning, promoting, finding proper manufacturing, or printing resources, finding the distribution options for your backers, etc. As Kickstarter becomes more and more mainstream a book like that would become an invaluable resource. It would, in fact, be a pretty good Kickstarter project in its own right. ☺