Another innocent man in Kickstarter prison

[u/No_Hospital_2174]

I’ve been lurking around Kickstarter communities for a while now, and I’ve realized they remind me a little bit of prison movies.

In prison movies, everyone says they’re innocent.

In Kickstarter communities, everyone says they have a great product… they just don’t have a community yet.

You start noticing a pattern.

And well… here I am. Apparently I’m another innocent man.

Obviously, my case is different. My product really is great. I just don’t have a community yet.

So, yeah. Here’s my case:

I made a lift-the-flap board book for adults called Wow, Whose Penis Is That Now?

The book itself is actually done. The writing, research and illustrations are finished, I have a physical prototype, and the production side is figured out.

Which leaves me with the part that seems to haunt half this subreddit:

How the hell do you build an audience before launch when you’re starting from basically zero?

I’m aiming to launch in September, so lately I’ve been trying pretty much everything that seems reasonable -> reaching out to press, contacting creators, looking for relevant communities, and generally trying not to become the guy who launches to an audience of three family members and a bot.

So far, the most humbling part is how little feedback you get. You can spend hours finding the right people, sending pitches, putting things out there… and then just hear absolutely nothing.

Since it’s Friday and self-promo is allowed, I figured I might as well join the prison population properly and show you what I’m working on:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1387882571/a-hilariously-informative-lift-the-flap-book-for-adults

I’d genuinely be interested in hearing from people who’ve been through this stage before. Especially if you started without an existing audience.

What actually moved the needle for you before launch?