Three Things I've Learned During My First Week on Kickstarter

I've been on Kickstarter as a creator for just four days and I've already learned a few things.
​
1.) This is an amazing community 

And I'm not just saying that because I'm 49.84% funded (!). It's what I've always wanted to experience -- the marketplace of ideas, if the market is really smart people who want to be at the front end of societal impulses. This is why a nerdy story about tessellations can be a thing, even if some of the initial feedback I got for my book was that it may only be for so-called smart kids.

2.) Kickstarter and other platforms are how society can change.

Think of it this way. By the time a cultural product makes it into the mainstream, it's had tens if not hundreds of hands shaping it for maximum exposure. Here's what happens in marketing: You have a Chinese-American child as a protaganist? Let's make it a brown-haired white girl. Or better yet, let's make it a boy, since we believe that boys can't connect with girl protaganists. Kickstarter be like: Screw that!

3.) Kickstarter creates an unprecedented connection between readers and creators.

​I can't imagine another way, other than perhaps hand-selling books, that I could sell a book and see exactly who is buying it. And let me tell you, seeing the names of people I know and don't know come through is the fuel for my fire! I have seen so many lovely names come through, and there are some surprises in there!

That is all! I hope that if you've thought about pledging to Tessalation! but are a Kickstarter newbie, that you'll consider having my project be your first time!

I've been both burned (backed projects never sending rewards) and blessed on Kickstarter. What's your experience?