Do as much of the work upfront as possible. Have good art or something to draw people in. Reach out to people(you’re already good on that one ;)). Spend as much as you are able to afford to lose, as if you were going to make it no matter what (whether that is true or not), and start investing that time and money and effort in before you even launch the crowdfunding.
In my case, I was financially in a position where I could have afforded to fund it out of pocket if my Kickstarter had failed, so admittedly it was easier for me to risk those funds, but nonetheless, I do believe it was critical to the success of my campaign.
Don’t over scope and don’t raise the funding goal too high, but also, if you think you’re thinking too low, go a little higher. Have a clear sense of what you want it to be. Part of putting in all that time and money and effort upfront is not just about catching people’s attention, but also earning their trust, and proving to yourself that you can do it.
Be involved on social platforms, put out stuff regularly, like on a blog, again partially to build “credit”, and make connections. But also, understand that probably most of those things will go nowhere and that’s ok. It’s ok to hustle and be a little shameless, but you want to still respect other people and engage genuinely.
Here’s my Kickstarter campaign, game is still in progress but coming along well. Feel free to ask any other questions. It’s a pretty modest project in scope, but it’s been incredible to see that any people are interested at all, when I thought I’d never come close to meeting the goal, and it’s already turned into something I’m really proud of having made.
Maximum Recursion Depth, or Sometimes the Only Way to Win is to Stop Playing