A large proportion of backers to my sci-fi novel (http://planetoz.net/kickstarter http://planetoz.net/kickstarter) came from personal connections, and I forged

A large proportion of backers to my sci-fi novel (http://planetoz.net/kickstarter http://planetoz.net/kickstarter) came from personal connections, and I forged most of those in person. While that may have "only" yielded several hundred dollars for this particular project, I anticipate a far greater chance of future backing from them than from impersonal advertising captures. (And I use the term "capture" here with all its connotations.) I also found potential future editors, artists, beta readers, and the like in the process. Even better, I made some awesome new friends. This all applies to a book that I haven't yet finished editing (23% progress), never mind put up for free. The insanely successful indie author, J. A. Konrath, explains how he paid his dues with hundreds of hours spent on book tours, convention floors, and the like, all sans publisher compensation. He now brings in six figures or more. tl;dr - A focus on selling (_selling_) your work to just one person at a time will pay forward in spades, even if it takes a while. @liamcarton - Feel free to hit me up. We can trade author notes. My email's in my profile. :)