First, some cred: Orna Ross is an award-winning historical novelist, poet, and founder-director of the global non-profit for self-publishing writers, the Alliance of Independent Authors. This is distilled from https://selfpublishingadvice.org/podcast-kickstarter/ which thankfully comes with a transcript.
While that’s great, one can expect that she’s got a mailing list somewhere in the 5,000 to 10,000 range. As of this writing, she’s got 600+ supporters on Patreon too. It’s easy to draw traffic to your Kickstarter (henceforth KS) when you can wave at that many people to tell them it’s there. That said, she does discuss using KS as a beginning author.
KS is a creative space that attracts people looking for creative projects
KS makes you think creatively about your book launch as you come up with levels and rewards.
Your job as creator on the platform is to excite and delight readers, and to get them to become backers.
Creative elements you need include: good samples, good images, a video that tells people what the book/campaign is about, and more. These are all elements that you need to have in place for any successful marketing campaign.
Offers can include: special editions, bonus content, merchandise, book bundles, digital specials, print specials, early access, and book credits.
A KS campaign doesn’t have to be a huge campaign. Beginning authors can set a very low funding goal and build marketing skills in the process.
KS is a virtual community that offers creative connections and collaborations with other authors.