I woke up in a cabin in Montana, checked my email and found an expected (but no less delightful) email in my inbox from Kickstarter. Your project, it read, has been accepted. I have been given the green light to launch my campaign and see one of my projects go into the world.

That was seven days ago. It has been an educational seven days.

Launching a product into the world is exciting and scary. More importantly, it's only a small part of it being real. While I have been on the road traveling back from Montana, I have been answering questions, promoting the campaign, and figuring out how to get more traffic. Launching is the first step in the process of bringing a product out. It is early in the campaign, but I wanted to share some of the things I have learned so far. 

Don't count on support until you have it. I hate to start with a downer, but your colleagues may not actually help. I don't mean money necessarily. I also mean spreading the word. A lot of people said they were excited to see this project get going, but they are nowhere to be seen now. Don't dismay: being an optimist is important, and while some people didn't help, others have. And many of those other people are people I don't know. Strangers supporting you is a great feeling.

Content matters. Shooting a video and adding some images and a paragraph are the minimum of what you need to do. I am sure I need more content. When I add content- an update, a new paragraph- I get more traffic. I need to spend the next week making more content and adding it to my campaign. It's work, in a way, but it is also an investment. Good news: even if the campaign doesn't work, you keep the content for other use (portfolio, sell sheets, youtube, etc).

A launch is an active act. You can't sit back and let the work speak for itself. I am very pleased with the D'Jinn lamp, but I need to constantly tell people about it. The best thing would have been for me to be ready with publicity materials ahead of time. Failing that, I am working on it now. Get everything out there and keep at it. The more people see it, the more potential support you have. Some of them will give money, and some of them will spread the word to people who will give you money. 

I hope some of this is helpful. I will keep posting and keeping an update going. For now, here is the video. To support this project, use this link.

Thanks and stay tuned.

-Bates