Tell me if this has ever happened to you. You have a deadline or an assignment is due, and you can’t get an idea — there are no ideas! I have good news for you…
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Today’s episode is sponsored by Bonjoro — an amazing app that enables you to quickly send personalized welcome and thank you videos to your readers, clients, patrons, or backers. This week, Brad and Dave welcome “Crabgrass” creator Tauhid Bondia. Plus — how do you know if you’re good?
Questions asked and topics covered…
Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the editor of Webcomics.com Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.
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ComicLab is hosted on Simplecast, helping podcasters since 2013. with industry-leading publishing, distribution, and sharing tools.
Today’s episode is sponsored by Bonjoro — an amazing app that enables you to quickly send personalized welcome and thank you videos to your readers, clients, patrons, or backers. As Twitter launches a subscriber service, we discuss how every platform is introducing subscriptions. Also, after a decade of social-media dominance of the Internet, what happens NEXT? Then, we spend the rest of the hour discussing Patreon best practices.
Questions asked and topics covered…
Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the editor of Webcomics.com Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.
Listen to ComicLab on…
ComicLab is hosted on Simplecast, helping podcasters since 2013. with industry-leading publishing, distribution, and sharing tools.
Artfol is a new social-media platform that is positioning itself as “a social-media network for artists.” Eschewing the traditional algorithm approach, it promises an improved platform for creative people. Ironically, it’s because of that approach that I give Artfol a high probability for failure.
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The traditional tax deadline today. However the IRS has extended the deadline to May 17 due to the COVID pandemic. (This does not apply to state and local taxes.) But what if you owe money and can’t pay? Don’t make a bad situation worse. This could end very badly if you handle it improperly.
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A cartoonist was sharing some advice they got on a recent webinar. The instructor suggested that a comics artist should keep a reader moving through a book by placing something enticing at the end of the page. This is a wonderful way to approach a book. It’s fantastic! It’s downright TREMENDOUS! …if the year is 1983 and you’re signed by a print publisher. But… since it’s the year 2020 and you’re trying to build an audience on the Web, let’s talk about strategic layout based on story beats.
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The ’Ringo Awards have opened nominations for this year’s awards. Click this link to nominate your favorites — and share it with your readers, encouraging them to nominate their favorites!
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FREE FRIDAY! Today’s post is available without a subscription! For years, I’ve advocated against printing calendars to sell to readers. The logic is very simple. You have an incredibly narrow window in which to offer this merchandise, and after that window closes (sometime in mid-January), your stock is completely unsellable.
That has changed.
The DIE KITTY DIE CALENDAR is now FUNDED! And available to add-on! @DieKittyDieNow @GiseleLagace @FernandoRuizArt @JustinSalvato @Fangs_Southside @astrocomix https://t.co/tMFKoRJF8k pic.twitter.com/Zb43ndbIlB— Dan Parent, DKD:Starstruck Kickstarter is Here! (@parentdaniel) April 13, 2020
Recently, I saw Archie Comics’ Dan Parent promoting the Kickstarter campaign for “Die, Kitty, Die“. Included in the list of Add-ons was this…
What a brilliant idea.
See, the problem with printing a calendar is that it’s incredibly difficult to foresee the correct number of units to print. Of course, you can do the print-on-demand (POD) route — as I’ve recommended in the past — but the profit margins on POD projects are notoriously small and the best (in my opinion) option for POD calendars, Redbubble, stopped supporting calendars altogether.
This strategy — including them as Kickstarter Stretch Goals or Add-ons — circumvents that entirely.
By piggy-backing your calendar onto a successful Kickstarter campaign, you start out knowing approximately how many calendars to print because the orders have already been placed. You can print enough to satisfy your Kickstarter backers, and you can include a small number of extras to sell later.
By getting the money and the orders upfront, you can print the calendars using an offset printing process or a high-quality digital one. That means higher quality, and more satisfied customers.
And, most importantly, you start the print project in the black. You’ve already paid your costs through the Kickstarter. So any extras you sell between now and next january as pure profit. If they don’t sell in time, you simple pulp them or throw them in as extras in all of your February orders. Or you can send them to your top Patreon backers. Or gift them to family. It doesn’t matter. You’ve already turned your profit.
If you — like me — have been vexxed by readers asking for calendars — or stung by printing calendars that didn’t sell within their window — this is an excellent tool to have in your back pocket when your next Kickstarter comes around.
Steven Spielberg was rejected TWICE by the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. Walt Disney’s newspaper editor told him that he ‘lacked imagination and had no good ideas’. A perceived failure often tends to be the gateway to a bigger success. That’s why I think we spend too much time worrying about what happens if our Kickstarter fails.
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You’ve got your script written, and you’re ready to start penciling pages. The only problem is — how the heck are you supposed to get started?! Let’s take it step by step.
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