How often should I post Kickstarter updates during the campaign?

Launch day, 48 hours in, and then whenever a number changes: funded, each stretch goal, the last 48 hours. Two a week is plenty while the campaign runs; one a month after it closes, every month, until the last parcel is delivered. Silence is the only update backers punish.

What should the first Kickstarter update say?

That you are live, what the thing is in one sentence, what it costs and when it ships, and a thank-you to a specific, countable group of people. Then one question you will answer today. Under 150 words. Backers who just pledged want to know a person is on the other end, not to read the page again.

How long should a Kickstarter update be?

100 to 300 words while the campaign runs; longer after it closes when there is a factory to report on. One number per update that was not on the page before (backers, percent, a date, a count) and one photo or short video. If the update has no new number, it is not ready to post.

Should I announce stretch goals in an update?

Only when you have hit one or are about to, and only if it adds nothing new for the factory to get wrong. A stretch goal that adds a component adds a way to be late; a rules booklet, a print-and-play file, a solo variant or a better box insert that the same factory already makes are the ones that do not move the delivery date. Say which kind yours is.

Can backers see Kickstarter updates if they have not pledged?

Yes, unless you mark the update backers-only. Keep the campaign updates public so people deciding can read them; use backers-only for addresses, surveys and anything with a pledge-manager link. Public updates are also the pages search engines and AI answers quote after the campaign ends.

Do you write campaign updates as part of the service?

The $69 campaign story includes three short update posts for the campaign (launch day, mid-campaign, last 48 hours), written in your voice from your facts, as you can see in the sample. Updates after the campaign closes are yours to write; the shape on this page is the one to use.

Guide · 17 October 2026

Kickstarter update examples: the first three updates, written in full.

Backers read updates more carefully than the page, because the page was written before they paid and the updates are written after. Here are the three every campaign needs in its first week, written in full for the same made-up board game as our sample campaign story: launch day, 48 hours in, and the stretch goal.

Write my story, $69 Read the full sample

Tidewater, Lena and Tomas, the factory, the backer counts and every number below are invented and labelled as such. Real updates are written only from the creator's own counts and dates.

The short answer

An update is one new number, one thing you did or decided because of what you heard, and one sentence about what is not changing. 100 to 300 words while the campaign runs. Post on launch day, 48 hours in, when you are funded, at each stretch goal and in the last 48 hours; after that, once a month until the last parcel arrives. If an update has no number that was not already on the page, it is not ready.

The three-part shape

The number. Backers, percent, a date, a count of plays. One is enough; three is the most.
The change. What you did because of what backers said, delivered in the same post (“the video is now on the page”), not promised for later.
What is not changing. The print run, the date, the no-components rule. Experienced backers read this sentence first.

Update 1 · Launch day

Posted the morning you go live. Under 150 words. Its job is to prove a person is there and to answer the first question before it is asked.

We are live.

Tidewater is a two-player board game where the board floods between turns: every round the tide comes in by one row, and whatever you left on the shore is gone. As of this morning you can get a copy for $39, shipping in May 2027. The game is finished; the factory in Shenzhen has already made one, and it is the copy in every photo on the page.

Thank you to the 41 people who played it at a table over the last two years and said “tell me when”. This is us telling you.

The question we have had most in the first hour is whether the tide can take all eight of your boats at once. It cannot: the tide floods one row per round and a boat on the harbour tile is never lost. Lena is answering every rules question in the comments today, and the full rulebook PDF is linked on the page.

— Lena and Tomas

One sentence of what it is, the price and the date, a thank-you to a countable group (41, not “everyone”), and the first question answered before most backers have thought of it. No percentage yet: on launch day the number is the date.

Update 2 · 48 hours in

Posted on day two or three, when the first real numbers exist. 150 to 250 words. Its job is to give the number, name the one thing you are changing because of what you heard, and say what is not changing.

Day 2: 1,118 backers, 58% funded, and a rules video.

Forty-eight hours in, Tidewater has 1,118 backers and is at 58% of the $24,000 goal. Of the 1,280 people on our pre-launch list, 702 have pledged, which is a higher share than we planned for and is why the goal is in sight this early. Thank you.

What we have heard most: the tide track is hard to picture from the photos. So Tomas has filmed a 90-second video of one full round, from the first boat move to the row flooding, and it is now at the top of the page. If a rule is still unclear after it, say so below and we will film that too.

What is not changing: no stretch goals that add components, one print run of 1,500, delivery in May 2027. The factory quote is dated September 2026 and still holds. We will post the next update when we are funded, and before that only if something changes.

— Lena

Three numbers, each one that was not on the page (1,118, 58%, 702 of 1,280). One change made because of what backers said, with the thing itself delivered in the same update, not promised. Then the sentence experienced backers look for: what is not changing.

Update 3 · The stretch goal

Posted when the goal is passed and a stretch goal is reached or set. 150 to 300 words. Its job is to say what the extra money buys, and to prove the stretch goal does not move the delivery date.

Funded, and the first stretch goal: a solo mode that adds nothing to the box.

Tidewater funded last night at 9:40 PM Eastern, on day five, with 1,604 backers. The print run of 1,500 copies is confirmed with the factory this morning and the deposit is paid from the first payout. Thank you; we did not expect it this week.

We said on the page there would be no stretch goals that add components, and we meant it, so here is the kind we are willing to do. At $36,000 every backer gets the Tidewater solo mode: the tide plays against you, using the tide track and the 36 tiles already in the box and a one-page rule sheet. The rule sheet goes in the box as a printed page the factory already prints, and as a PDF the day the campaign closes. Nothing new is manufactured, no new proof is needed, and May 2027 does not move. Lena has played the solo mode 60 times since August; the PDF will be free to everyone, backer or not, so nobody is pledging for it.

What we will not add, however high this goes: metal boats as standard, a bigger board, or a second game. Each would be a new factory step and a new way to be late. If you want the metal boats, the Deluxe tier still has them.

Next update when we hit $36,000 or on the last 48 hours, whichever comes first.

— Lena and Tomas

The funding fact with its time and count. The stretch goal defined by what it does not do: nothing new manufactured, no new proof, the date unchanged, with the number (60 plays) that shows it is real. Then the refusal: the three things the extra money will not buy, and why. A refusal in an update is the strongest promise on the page that the thing ships in May.

Three ways an update goes wrong

The page again. An update that restates the pitch has no number in it and tells a backer nothing happened.
Hype with no count. “Amazing response, blown away, keep sharing!” Compare “1,118 backers, 58%, 702 of our list”. The second one is shareable; the first is noise.
A stretch goal that adds a part. Every new component is a new factory proof and a new way to be late, and the backers who have waited two years for a game know it. If you add one, say in the same update what it does to the date.

The rest of the page

The updates carry the campaign; the story gets the pledge. How to write the campaign story, section by section; five risks-and-challenges paragraphs in the same three-part shape; or the full Tidewater sample, with its three short update posts at the end.

Questions

How often should I post Kickstarter updates during the campaign?: Launch day, 48 hours in, and then whenever a number changes: funded, each stretch goal, the last 48 hours. Two a week is plenty while the campaign runs; one a month after it closes, every month, until the last parcel is delivered. Silence is the only update backers punish.
What should the first Kickstarter update say?: That you are live, what the thing is in one sentence, what it costs and when it ships, and a thank-you to a specific, countable group of people. Then one question you will answer today. Under 150 words. Backers who just pledged want to know a person is on the other end, not to read the page again.
How long should a Kickstarter update be?: 100 to 300 words while the campaign runs; longer after it closes when there is a factory to report on. One number per update that was not on the page before (backers, percent, a date, a count) and one photo or short video. If the update has no new number, it is not ready to post.
Should I announce stretch goals in an update?: Only when you have hit one or are about to, and only if it adds nothing new for the factory to get wrong. A stretch goal that adds a component adds a way to be late; a rules booklet, a print-and-play file, a solo variant or a better box insert that the same factory already makes are the ones that do not move the delivery date. Say which kind yours is.
Can backers see Kickstarter updates if they have not pledged?: Yes, unless you mark the update backers-only. Keep the campaign updates public so people deciding can read them; use backers-only for addresses, surveys and anything with a pledge-manager link. Public updates are also the pages search engines and AI answers quote after the campaign ends.
Do you write campaign updates as part of the service?: The $69 campaign story includes three short update posts for the campaign (launch day, mid-campaign, last 48 hours), written in your voice from your facts, as you can see in the sample. Updates after the campaign closes are yours to write; the shape on this page is the one to use.

Write my story, $69

Your campaign story, rewards blurbs, risks section and three campaign updates, written from your facts in 2 days. One free round of changes.