Powered by I will prepare top-down analysis of your comic-based business, including: Art and writing Social media Crowdfunding Marketing/promotion Then...
Cartoonists Dave Kellett and Brad Guigar are talking shop! Going back to the discussion of publishers vs crowdfunding: What really brings you success? THEN, selling Patreon rewards on different platforms. ALSO, answering questions about background and comic structure WHILE bringing up the more modern characters seen in comics today compared to years ago. FINALLY, figuring out when it is beneficial to hold on to old domains or cut loose.
BUT FIRST, “F*** Voltron!”
Show notes
• 00:00 — F*** Voltron • 6:33 — “Artisanal Success” • 23:17 — Is it OK to sell Patreon rewards elsewhere? • 28:29 — Stretch Break! • 29:19 — Backgrounds • 43:35 — What is an idea best for? Longform? Shortform? • 50:43— 4 panels comics, then and now • 52:48 — New-age characters • 01:00:55 — DAVE! See a doctor! • 01:01:42 — Holding on to old domains
Earlier today, Patreon announced that it will unveil a three-tier system later this spring. The three tiers will be Patreon Lite, Patreon Pro and Patreon Premium. All creators currently using Patreon will experience no changes. They will be grandfathered into Patreon Pro. Here’s an analysis of the day’s announcement:
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During the recent Patreon on Tour conference in New York city, a discussion arose about promoting Patreon at personal appearances. It was tough, one creator complained, because setting up a laptop to process pledges was cumbersome — and expensive. And, it didn’t always work so well.
“Why are you bringing a computer to a show when literally every one of the attendees is walking around with their own in their pocket?” replied another creator.
Why, indeed?
Let’s talk about two ways to convert Patreon pledges at comic conventions and other personal appearances…
QR codes
We first talked about QR codes way back in 2011. In fact, I shared a handy tip on using QR codes to promote Patreon campaigns in 2014. However, it hasn’t been until recently that both Android and iPhones built QR-scanning into their cameras. Now that this particular hurdle has been crossed, this technique should run smoothly.
Simply build a QR code to point to your Patreon page. When an interested person uses their digital device to read the code, they’ll be taken directly to your page. If they sign up, you can even give them a reward on the spot — in person!
Think of what a powerful enticement to drive Patreon pledges this could be at a comic convention!
NFC business cards
Some printing companies — like Moo — are offering NFC business cards. This is a business card with an NFC chip embedded in it that will trigger a digital action when it is tapped on the user’s smartphone. Android phones have had NFC capabilities for a while now, and Apple’s iOS 11 has finally brought iPhones into the game.
They’re expensive, but remember — you don’t have to give these away in place of regular business cards. You can keep one or two at your table and re-use them. Best of all, the chip can be programmed and then re-programmed. So, you can use them in several different ways — from opening up your Patreon page on the smartphone’s Web browser to, say, downloading an app.
Dave Kellett and Brad Guigar are talking comics! In this episode, they discuss the secrets of Instagram tagging. THEN … if a backer asks you to add a crowdfunding platform to Patreon, should you? ALSO… what’s the danger of waiting too long for success? AND FINALLY… Rob Salkowitz from Forbes drops by to discuss the changing comics industry.
BUT FIRST… Dave tells Brad about the time he ate his whole wedding cake.
Show Notes
00:00 — The time Dave ate his whole wedding cake
04:15 — Instagram tagging
08:18 — Crowdfunding – Diversifying vs Duplicating
18:31 — Waiting for success
29:25 — Managing multiple projects
45:56 — Copyrighting digital rewards
1:00:36 — Interview with Rob Salkowitz on the changing comics industry
A federal court ruled in favor of ComicMix in a case in which their Star Trek / Dr. Seuss mash-up book, “Oh, The Places You’ll Boldly Go” was claimed to have infringed upon the intellectual property of Dr. Seuss Enterprises. The ruling has many people claiming that similar creative projects — like mash-up shirts and books — are now legally protected.
It’s a little more complicated than that. Let’s talk about what happened and what it means for creators…
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Let’s pretend you’re a biscuit baker. Your potential customer is a person who is sitting in front of an all-you-can-eat buffet. They don’t even have to walk from their table to the smorgasbord. They’ve pulled their chair directly to the serving station! And they’ve already started filling their plate with food. You’ve got a plate of biscuits you’d like them to eat, so you devise an ingenious plan to entice them…
You tell them that you’ve hidden biscuits somewhere in the next room.
If you’re posting teaser images on social media, you, like the biscuit baker, have a lot to learn. And here’s why…
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Within moments of launching your Kickstarter campaign, you will become inundated with spam. Marketers, third-party facilitators, printers… they all want to talk to you. But perhaps the most cringeworthy and pathetic of all of these is the request for a pledge swap.
The Big Plan
The Kickstarter Pledge Swap scheme works like this. You agree to pledge to the other person’s Kickstarter in exchange for their pledge to yours.
Kickstarter has no official stance on the Pledge Swap except to say that sending unsolicited messages through their service is against their rules. And, according to a Consumerist poll, pledge-swapping is overwhelmingly unpopular. (87% oppose it.) So, why is it still being attempted?
Some people claim that this tricks Kickstarter’s algorithm into perceiving your campaign as more popular. However, I think you’d need to exchange an awful lot of pledges to have that effect. And that would end up being awfully expensive (unless you ghosted on your swap partners at the last minute).
The truth is simple. If your strategy for pulling off a successful Kickstarter depends on pledge swaps, then you’ve failed already. Kickstarter’s greatest strength is in its function as free market research. If your Kickstarter doesn’t meet its funding, then you know that your product isn’t ready for the market (or vice versa). That’s valuable information. It’s information you should be eager to receive. And it’s information that you should be willing to act upon.
A pledge swap reeks of desperation and amateurism.
Kickstarter strategies that work
So, let’s talk about Kickstarter strategies that really work well.
THE PATREON SECRET LAUNCH
Dave Kellett shared this strategy during a recent episode of ComicLab. It’s very simple. You set up a number of Early Bird specials offering enticing rewards. For example, you might offer free shipping at these levels. These must be limited — only about 10-20 backers per reward.
And you alert your Patreon backers that you’re about to launch a Kickstarter and that you’ve set up rewards just for them. This is a bonus reward to their patronage. After giving your patrons advanced notice, you open your Kickstarter without a public announcement. Make it clear to your patrons — they have 24 hours to snap up the Early Bird specials. After that, you’re throwing open the doors.
Using this strategy, my Kickstarter earned nearly $2,000 in pledges in the first 24 hours.
And that got noticed by Kickstarter’s algorithm, placing my campaign in the Popular category, and boosting its prominence in internal Discovery mechanisms.
VIDEO
I can’t stress enough the importance of a good video. Two minutes — maximum. I’m a strong proponent of delivering the pitch in person. If you’re going to ask someone for money, you should have the courage to look them in the eye. But avoid posting a video that’s two minutes of talking-head blather. You should insert visuals of the product you’re Kickstarting — as well as rewards — too keep the video engaging and interesting.
And include subtitles! This is important to your potential backers who might have hearing issues — as well as those who are scrolling on their smartphones with the sound disabled.
The first step in running a successful Kickstarter is to correctly determine all of your costs. The rookie move is to determine the cost of the thing and set that as your goal. The seasoned Kickstarter campaigner knows that there’s a lot more than that! For example:
Shipping all of the items from the vendor/printer/producer to you
Shipping the individual items to your backers
Shipping supplies — boxes, tape and padding, etc.
ISBNs
editors/spellcheckers
storage for the merchandise
insurance for the stored merchandise
And… if you’re smart, you’ll building a buffer for all of the little things that always come up. Whatever my rough goal is, I usually add in an additional 1-2% for incidentals.
Just remember to keep your receipts on all of those costs. Kickstarter income is taxable income. This is especially important to remember in the happy circumstances of running a campaign that goes beyond the goal.
Once you have your total costs, use this formula…
COSTS / 0.90 = GOAL
Or, simply worded, take your total costs, and divide that number by 0.90.
That will give you a final goal that is large enough to cover those total costs after 10% is deducted by Kickstarter.
The Supreme Court voted unanimously in a copyright case that will have a ripple effect across several creative industries. You’ve probably heard a lot of chatter about it on social media — and you’ve probably seen a lot of folks jumping to alarming conclusions. I’d like to have a better understanding of the topic than that.
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Brad Guigar and Dave Kellett are talkin’ comics! In this episode, each cartoonist offers a step-by-step guide to their creative process — from the idea stage to posting the finished comic. Then, they take a moment to talk about how real-life struggles can often interfere with our goals as creators — and that’s OK. Finally, a Patreon backer asks how soo is TOO soon to launch a new Kickstarter after their current crowdfunder closes.
BUT FIRST, Dave fondly remembers Screwgie, perhaps the only syndicated comic strip written by a baseball hall of famer.
SHOW NOTES
00:00 — Screwgie
10:49 — What is your creative process?
42:53 — Anything worth doing well is worth doing poorly
53:02 — How soon is TOO soon to launch a new Kickstarter?
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