Ask HN: trying to use Kickstarter for Design for Hackers Book tour
My book, Design for Hackers: Reverse-Engineering Beauty is due out in about one month. I've been preparing for launch with various ideas, one of them being a Kickstarter campaign to help fund a book tour, which would start in September. Only problem is, Kickstarter rejected my first campaign. When I asked why, they said, simply:
> Kickstarter is primarily focused on creative arts projects, not the marketing of books or other products -- look around the site and you'll see what I mean. I understand what you're looking to do here, but it isn't what we're focused on.
But when I look around, I see there have been several other book tours funded by Kickstarter:
* Live, Work, and Play Like a Liberal: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/280586197/justin-krebs-living-liberally-book-tour
* The Internet of Elsewhere: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1731685895/the-internet-of-elsewhere-european-book-tour
* Urban Scouts Book Tour: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/13979723/urban-scouts-book-tour
But, I noticed that these campaigns focused more on the overarching mission of the books, rather than on the books themselves. So, I revamped my proposal, in the form of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WGNCk4ClzU
I submitted this about 5 days ago, and haven't heard a thing from Kickstarter since. They got back to me quickly the first time, but I feel like they may be ignoring me.
So, I'm not sure what to do. It would be great to have a campaign, not only to help fund my book tour, but to get the word out about my book. So, I guess amongst my questions are:
* Have you done a Kickstarter campaign before? Is there anything I should know?
* Any ideas on why they may be rejecting me?
* Any feedback on my video?
* Is there another platform I should be using? Should I just dig in and spend several thousand dollars funding my own tour?
Thanks for your help!