Disclaimer

-SUCCESS-

Success will be based on these key points:

1. Your art’s quality.
2. The number of people who see your project.
3. How much interaction do you have with your community?

Your art’s quality.

It’s very simple. It’s easier to sell art that is better. You can also sell your comics for the rest of your life. The short-term financial pain can be better than the long-term.

The number of people who see your project.

It doesn’t matter how great the comic is if you can’t keep your eyes open enough to enjoy it. You must create your channel, and your social media, and build relationships to help others.

The level of interaction with the community.

Do not expect people to just come to you and take their money. They need to get to know you and your values. This takes effort and time.

-PROMOTE OTHERS-

Promoting other people is a good thing. 

Unfortunately, there are many people like this. They take, take, and take again. DO NOT BE ONE OF THESE PEOPLE. It’s a two-way street. You have to give.

I have been asked how to answer people’s questions. You can find a campaign that you like, tweet about it, share, like, or talk about it.  This will build relationships and support projects.

 

-If people think that you can just show up and get money, they are wrong.

– we build this thing together (crowdfunding).

PRE-CAMPAIGN

These are listed in order of importance.

YOUTUBE

YouTube is the most powerful tool we have as comic creators. Take a look at the top 25 crowdfunded comics from Indiegogo. Most of them have small- to medium-sized YouTube channels.

Rage Golden Eagle and That Umbrella Guy are just a few examples.

Talk about something that interests you. This will bring people to your channel where they can get to know you better and become more invested in you. This will allow you to get funded.

EMAIL LIST

Email lists are extremely important. My email list has about 3,000 members. I send them updates, new art, and all other information in weeklies.

About 500 people receive my weekly emails. Google statistics can be found on how email subscribers are more likely than those who use social media to read my emails and are more likely to purchase something from them.

HOW TO MAINTAIN AN EMAIL LIST – Indiegogo Prelaunch Sign-up page.

Indiegogo’s sign-up page can be used as your start for your email list.

It is essentially a page that allows you to collect email addresses. Because they are already committed to your cause by signing up, those on your email list will be more inclined to support you than the average person.

These people should be rewarded with a discount or other incentive for signing up.

Some examples:

Get this trading card by signing up on day one

Sign up for Day One Backers to receive a bonus/discount

• The most well-known trading cards are trading cards.
• Prints of art are easy to ship and make.

TIPS

• I held an original art raffle and received 680 signups. It was unique, successful, and different.
• Secret perk (ideally, one or two perks, a lower- to mid-range tier, and an upper-tier tier).
• The secret perk’s success is in providing real value, a substantial discount, additional goods, or any combination thereof. It is impossible to offer a small discount.
• It is important that the launch email you send out looks appealing. Michael Bancroft has an example. Example Email – The Lucent

TWITTER

Comicsgate is on Twitter, and this document was created for Comicsgate creators. However, even if you are not Comicsgate, many of the principles will still apply.

BUILD-UP TIME

• The ideal is a three to six-month buildup.
• Minimum of one to three months

What does this mean? Let your followers and fans know that you’re launching a campaign before you launch it. This will allow you to get them excited and prepared for your launch.

As you move closer to your launch, a longer build-up will allow you to attract more supporters and followers.

A minimum of one to three months is what I recommend. It takes time to make people feel part of something.

CAMPAIGN

These are three examples of great campaigns. These layouts could be copied from any one of them.

PRELAUNCH

•  The more people who see your project, and the more people support it, the better.
• DO A COUNTDOWN FOR LAUNCH 1 month, 2 weeks, 1 week, 6 days, etc. You get the idea.
• Ensure the BEST START TIME FOR AMERICAAmerica will make up 75+% of your audience. This will allow you to maximize the time with your audience. Lunchtime: 12pm EST – Recommendation by Ethan Van Sciver
•  I have everything ready to go and can adjust them as necessary. These items will allow you to participate in the campaign in other ways by having them already assembled.

LAUNCH

Campaign Length – 30 days + 30 day extension. If you need/want it, then in demand

 This will allow you to devote 100% of your time to your campaign’s crucial days.

• LAUNCH ON a STREAM Contact people and prepare a plan. Book as many people as you can. The same applies to closing day. My favorite plan for Kozor’s launch was the one I devised. It involves having a team of fans or people to help you, and a channel to launch. Two of us streamed 12 hours on How To Draw Comics. The third streamer could then go on as many streams as he wanted. This technique allowed us to secure 149-day one-backers for Kozor, and 204 for Replicator.

STREAMING

While I don’t claim to be an expert, I will point out some key points you should do. These are going to be listed in ascending order.

It is important to identify the main selling points of your book. You need to determine if the book is fully colored, has a cover by x, and is almost finished. Is it perfectly bound? This list could go on.

•  Without passion, it is almost impossible to sell your book. No one will get excited about your book if you don’t. If your story is difficult to sell, you can still talk about it.
•  You can start with the basics, and then you can go into detail if necessary. I prefer a fast pitch of ten seconds to a detailed pitch of five minutes.
•  Practice your pitch before you prepare it. A pitch written on paper is better than one that is scattered all over the place. It is much better to know your pitch than to read it from a document.
• CAMERA People will be more comfortable talking to you if they have a camera. You’ll sell more books if they can relate to you.

CAMPAIGN Page

Tips – Keep it simple, use less text, and best art.

VIDEO

There’s a choice between two types of videos.

The second type is not for you.

A voice-over would be the minimum. This alone would instantly elevate you to the top of a significant portion of videos

Motion capture is excellent. It’s great to capture motion. Keep it short.

1. USE THE BEST IMAGES Use your best images for your thumbnails and marketing sharing images. Anything that can be used to link people to your campaign is fine. Take 4 images that you like and take a poll. Do it. This is what I do all the time. Although you might believe X is the greatest thing you have ever seen, 95% of people do not like it. Sorry.
2. WHAT YOU GET, SIZE, COLOUR People want to know exactly what they’re getting. This is very important. This should be the first or the second thing that the backer sees. It is important to clearly explain the benefits that the backer will receive. What number of pages does it have? Is it in color or in black and white? Is it perfect bound Are you looking for a series or a single book? The genre could also be mentioned. As you can see, Replicator 3 has 32 pages in full color and can be purchased as a three-issue comic book set for a total of 88 pages. Everyone knows immediately what they could get. If you like, you can also use a graphic. I prefer not to.
3. Elevator pitch. It’s imperfect, as you can see in the image. It’s possible to change the order or tweak it. It’s all that I can say until I get to the images.
4. FUNDING GROUND AS LOW AS POSSIBLE The campaign goal should be as low as possible to make the book finished, printed, and shipped to people. Your % of funding will increase the more you exceed your target goal. You will be more successful if you have a higher % of your goal. *Don’t set it so low that you don’t have the funds to complete the book. It’s important to have it as low as possible in order to protect yourself.

• COVER After you’ve addressed the main points, add your cover. This cover should reflect your best image and make backers say “Hell yeah, that’s what I want!”
• Add more detail to your hook/logline This is optional.
• 5-10 INTERIOR PAGES WITH LETTERS I polled people to find out their preferences. It was split evenly between unlettered and lettered pages. Ideally, I would like to have three to five letter pages and three to five unlettered.
• NOT MUCH Text This is the killer. Too much text is too much information. People are visual creatures and don’t like to be text-to-death. No one will care about your personal story unless you are or were a major player in some way. Your campaign page should not be so long that it turns people off.
• Keep it simple. Keep it simple.

REWARDS

1. SHOW PICTURES OF WHAT IT IS THAT THEY GET. People are simple beings, so there is no need to confuse them. They need a visual representation to see what they get.
2. REWARDS NAMED WHAT Keep it simple.

This illustration is an excellent example of both the previous two points. The image shows three comics, and the text tells us that there are three.

• REWARD PRICES VARIATION FROM EXPENSIVE TO CHEAPAll people has different amounts of money. Some people have very little, but others have a lot. You should ensure that your rewards range from the basic to the most expensive and are affordable for everyone.
• KEEP REWARD LEVELS LOW & CHANGE IF SOLDExample 0/25 and 0/50. Your numbers will have more demand if they are smaller. The theory goes that if you have 0/25 people, they will think, “I need to get it now or I might lose out. If you have 0/500 people, they will believe that they can get it later. Add a reward if they sell.

STRETCH GOALS

• SET YOUR STRETCH GOALS, AND PRICE-WISE Stretch goals can kill you. It is easy to get lost in the excitement of crowdfunding. You want everyone to have everything. It is important to determine what your stretch goals should be and to price them based on the cost of fulfillment. If I have 1000 backers, I might decide to give each one a print. It doesn’t sound crazy right? But, 1000 color prints will run you 1000 dollars. 1000 black-and-white prints will run me 200 dollars. If you aren’t careful, you will be caught. Backers, according to me, prefer visual representations of the product to text.

DATA USE AND MAKING MONEY

This is how successful a campaign can be summarized:

• A number of page visits x Backer conversions % = Backer number.
• Money made = Backer number x average spend

Page visits: The number of people who visit your campaign page.

Conversion % to Backers: The percentage of people who visit your page and become backers.

Number of Backers: the total number of backers you receive.

Average Spend The amount of money that the average backer spends.

It is crucial to understand where your campaign is at the moment. It doesn’t have to be checked every day. 

What’s your problem?

Are you not getting enough people to visit your page? Are you getting lots and no one is buying from your page?

The campaign insights page provides statistics.

These two numbers can be used to calculate that 5.5% of people who visit the page return something.

If you can attract 5000 people to your site and keep your conversion rate at 5%, this is a great first campaign. 250 backers.

Total Visits

If the number of people visiting your page is low, you should get more.

Anything below 5% would be a cause for concern. Your campaign is not working. It could be anything. If the price is too high, it can make your page look unprofessional or even devalue your product.

It doesn’t matter if you get 10’s, 100’s, or even hundreds of thousands of people to your campaigns. Success will be achieved if you have a large enough audience.

Get new options and rewards

REGULAR UPDATES

Simply hit the little heart button to follow a campaign. This will add them to any updates you send. Remember to remind people to return every update.

Regular updates let backers and followers know what is happening with your campaign. This helps to keep the excitement going or generate it.

Keep your momentum.

TIPS

You don’t want a digital tier; you want actual books in the hands of people.

UPDATED NOTICES*

I will add any information that I have received from others to this section.

• Be true to your beliefs. We don’t want you to say that you dislike this or that group. No drama. It’s important to market yourself. Drama is a huge turnoff.

Campaign Page

• Keep it simple if it’s a brand new book.
• You can easily get caught up in a particular tier if you have multiple issues.
• New campaigns require three covers maximum
• If you don’t tell us that they are coming, we won’t allow you to add covers.
• Use Your best at art. It doesn’t have to be in a sequence. Do not cover up art with too many words and bubbles.

Stretch goals are important to us.

 

• We need to set achievable stretch goals. 
• After you have received funding, list them.
• Do not try to make them up as you go.

Fulfillment

• Important are package and package presentation. Be sure to bag and board your package. Gemini mailer, or an equivalent. The personal touch is essential.
• It’s great to track.

Rob’s notes*

To expand on the hotdog analogy, picture yourself at a baseball game. Imagine you are looking for a professional, clean hot dog stand. You want the hot dog to arrive in perfect condition, with friendly service, and maybe some additional toppings.

You don’t want the hotdog man to appear like a drug addict. He’s swearing at people, demanding money, and delivering the hotdog aggressively. The hot dog is missing some bread.

You will enjoy the hotdog no matter what.

Backers are willing to give you one chance. If you fail to meet their expectations, they may simply terminate your support. You can satisfy backers and they will likely become repeat backers for future projects.

• Realistic Ship Date
• Answer backer questions.
• Comic 75% completed.
• It is important to be clear about what backers get.
• Ask someone to proofread and edit your campaign.
• Regular updates
• What does it mean? What is it?
• Five pages of sequential art, and five pages for interior art.
• The best image is the first image.

BAD

• Too many words.
• Too many tiers, with cute names.
• International shipping costs exceeding $20 US
• There is no video.
• There is no featured tier.
• Arrogance.
• Creator’s life story.
• Talking politics.
• Too many variant covers, three maximum
• Spelling grammar errors.
• Funding pie chart: Don’t worry about how the funds are used.

August 2020 video interview with Eric Weathers and Clayton Barton. Von Klaus and Sweetest

• Signups by email are a great indicator of the potential reach of your campaign.
• If you don’t get 100 names, you won’t break $10k US.
• 300 is a good starting point.
• Sign-up page, video, or gif are good options.
• Establish relationships with people and be professional.
• Adam Post has several videos about the secrets of the Comicsgate network – on YouTube.
• Title and concept are very important.
• Pitching is extremely important.
• You can try different pitches, log lines, and hook lines. Ask for feedback from other people.
• If it is your second campaign, issues one and two are ideal.
• A thumbnail image is crucial – attractive images are great. Bad faces are bad for a guy.
• Get feedback from your backers. What about the writing?
• Make it a priority to get back. Limitless time rewards, very few numbers
• Important updates are sent to backers and those who follow the campaigns.
• Research successful campaigns in the same genre.
• Get your eyes on the project.
• Know your audience.
• Interact with Comicsgate members
• Have fun engaging people
• Choose the right art: complete art, action scenes.
• Write about your successes, record-breaking backers, and record numbers.
• Your success is what people want. People want winners and not whiners.
• Include the link.
• Cool graphics to reward you.
•  Project Thunder is a long-running project and people love it even though they don’t understand what it is.
• Endorsements can be a good thing.
• How To Draw The Torso: Back View