A LOOK INTO KICKSTARTER
Welcome to a brand new week folks! We sit here, slowly opening our eyeballs still adjusting to the time change seeing everyone jumping onto our newest PAINKILLER JANE: BEAUTIFUL KILLERS Kickstarter campaign. We love seeing fans new and old back our projects each time we launch a new book and end up doing lots of press and interviews where we try to shed light on what and why we use Kickstarter.
And of course, we’re going to plug our active campaign that has tons of stretch goals already hit, so join in if you can: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/creatorownedheroes/painkiller-jane-beautiful-killers?ref=45z2at
Kickstarter has been an amazing platform for the team for us to launch several comic books, graphic novels, artbooks and more. These projects would not at times possibly see the shelves if it was not for platforms like this. While companies like Marvel, DC, Dark Horse are incredible companies and have an enormous and vast catalog of characters, the freedom of working on our creator owned properties is something the big industry groups will never be able to provide us. So, we push forward with our own properties. Yes, this comes with an incredible amount of work, and we often get asked, you mean, you don’t just cash a check on these campaigns and move on? Oh no…. big no. 😊 There are companies that do allow that and 100% that is great for some creators. We’re a very hands on team, we have a specific vision and control factor (good or bad) which we need to deliver upon to our fans that we like to retain. So, what things can we share that you as a fan, might not know or think of when backing our campaigns? Here are some high level items that we’re lifting the veil to let you see. We have over 20 successful campaigns in our pockets and by no means are we experts. We’re doing our best and doing what we can to get our books out and make, hopefully, people happy. So, if you’re thinking about running a campaign, or just want to know why we work a ton on these and appreciate people’s backing and patience, keep reading!
Running The Campaign
So, before you are even able to back the campaign, we’ve gone through a deep dive into several things that factor in for budget, goals, setup, shipping estimates, printing estimates, etc. When setting up the campaign, you’re sometimes trying to answer questions that might come in ahead of time during setup. How might people back the campaign? What tiers and items would make people feel special for backing? What is the cost to ship to the US and non-US items? Some of the below items are specific trends for OUR campaigns, others may vary, we’re just providing a frame of reference for our readers.
Shipping
This is one of the most overlooked items by creators and one of the biggest challenges campaigns are faced with. Your Kickstarter total typically will account for 15% of your total. Remembering, for the US, pretty easy to calculate based on weight, overseas, well, that’s tough since you have weight and postage however you also have to start factoring potential duties, taxes and VAT charges. And don’t forget, you need those shipping supplies. T-mailers, tape, postage labels, bags and boards. All that should be considered.
Fees
Kickstarter and payments will also take their cut, as they should, they are hosting the campaign, helping on promotion, doing payment collection, etc. Like anything, they are in business to make money. They have been AMAZING partners for our projects and that is why we keep coming back. They typically average 10% for the campaign total for their fee.
As you can see the, around 25% of your funding total has dropped. This does not even account for what it “costs” to make the comic for example. So, you factor in what printing costs would be, paying all of the creators, artists, design work, etc. Everyone should be included in the costs. That’s typically how we as a team, back into our goal. What do we absolutely need to break even. See…. break even. Not taking any profit, just get the book out. And no one wants to lose money and sure, wants to at least have some profit.
The Other Stuff
Note the other thing not mentioned above that might not show as a “true” cost is running the campaign. By this we mean, doing the legwork to promote the campaign, creating PR, answering questions and comments throughout the campaign. Providing CONSTANT updates throughout the project (this is big for us). Answering questions, messages and surveys after funding is done and you’re shipping out the books. We try to be transparent with our items as much as possible. We want our fans to be engaged and aware of what is going on with the campaign.
When you’re dealing with our campaign, you’re dealing with us directly. The books you see, we pride ourselves on. We’re working directly with the printers, picking out the paper. Unpacking the boxes when shipped. Putting in the bags and boards, taping up the packages, you name it, we’re doing it. So we hope, while we have so much more to discuss, you can see just a smidgen of what we put into these projects and why they are SO important to us as creators when you support them. They are an extension of our souls.
SHARING SOME GREAT AMANDA CONNER ARTWORK
We love seeing people who have supported and been overly kind to grab some amazing original artwork from our own AMANDA CONNER in the past. Even more entertaining to us is when those individuals can share their stories and the artwork with the public. This is no exception. One of our long time, favorite backers, Wayne Mousseau, shared his lovely artwork from INVINCIBLE RED SONJA #6 from AMANDA CONNER. He also shares his love of the character and how this great piece fits his collection. Give it a read!
https://mailchi.mp/comicartfans/comic-art-roundup-912642?e=1214f02a81
TODAY'S FEATURED COMIC ART
INVINCIBLE RED SONJA #6 COVER
ARTISTS:AMANDA CONNEROWNER:WAYNE MOUSSEAU MEMBER SINCE 2005
This featured cover art by Amanda Conner for Invincible Red Sonja #6 features the title character in a dynamic and action-packed pose. She is shown standing on a pile of defeated enemies, her sword raised high in the air and ready for the next battle.
Till next week folks!