Their TRACY QUEEN series is very much Not Safe for Work. Although the story is full of heart and touches on some very important topics, the book contains some nudity and adult situations.
Because of that, the two creators felt limited in how they could talk about the book on social media and in ads—after all, they had to beat the algorithms, which clamped down on such content.
So how would they reach the audience they knew would love it? How would they locate podcasts, websites, and other creators willing to help promote the book?
And as launch day grew nearer, they found themselves wondering…
How sexy is too sexy?
He’d spent months putting together TODDLER-POCALYPSE, an anthology he co-wrote that was drawn by a dream team of collaborators.
He'd painstakingly put together his page and made a plan for Kickstarter success.
But once he hit launch, he quickly found himself fighting to maintain a delicate balance between life, work, and spreading the word about the campaign.
And as the “very busy 25 days” went by, George wondered if he’d ever get that balance right…
Over the last couple of years, George curated a Twitter timeline of talented and positive artists that continually made him...
He’d been slowly building up his audience, Kickstarting books, and delivering on his promises. Now, with the launch of Legends of the Realm #1: The Floated Dream, he was having his best campaign yet.
And that's when he noticed something interesting.
A large number of backers were opting for digital rewards. And Jack couldn’t help but wonder:
“Can I get them to upgrade?”
Jack spent several years growing his audience. He focused his strategy on building out a robust email list, but it hasn’t always gone as fast as he’d like.
And when Covid hit, his job got even tougher as conventions shut down.
“A surefire way to build up a...
Not only was he concerned about hitting his outward-facing Kickstarter goal for his book A-Z Baby Animal + Scientists: ABC Fine Art Book for Everyone, but like many other creators, he had a private goal he wanted to hit as well.
David had spent months building his list in anticipation, but now that it was time to launch, he found himself wondering:
“Did I put in enough work?”
David knew that the success of your Kickstarter launch is set months before it starts. He got to work building a mailing list well before his planned launch, but he wasn’t...
Caught in a time crunch, he didn’t have his Kickstarter page peer reviewed before launch, which led to some embarrassing errors in his tiers.
And as he played clean-up in the first few days of his campaign, Kurt made a promise to himself:
He’d never make the same mistake again.
Based on this experience, Kurt came up with a system for getting his page ready in time.
“Backwards planning will help you avoid delays. Call your launch day X-day. Think about everything you want to accomplish before X-day. How much time do you want for your friends/peers to have to look at your page to review and give feedback? A week?...
A quiet, introspective type, she was struggling to stay energized throughout her 21 day campaign for Sacrimony #2. How many times—and in how many ways—could she say, “Hey, please check out my comic?” It was especially hard on those days when she didn’t get any backers at all.
So M decided to do something about it.
She decided to chill the heck out.
M has made peace with the fact that trying to generate excitement during the Dead Zone can be draining and often futile. With no opening day excitement or final 48 hours FOMO, she knows it's harder to...
He'd heard the advice to stick with one thing until it was successful. To pick his genre and focus his efforts there as a specialist.
But that's not where his passion lies, and he knew if he faked it, his audience would sense it.
So the question nags him every time he launches a new project:
"Will my audience show up?"
One way Frank mitigates this fear is by constantly looking for ways to grow his audience. He's tried viral giveaways to varying success, but ultimately decided his efforts would have better results elsewhere.
So, like many comic creators, he turned to Facebook ads. Frank freely admits he's...
His first anthology—a collection of fractured fairy tales he called Not So Fair Tales—had been named a Project We Love and reached its $12,000 goal early in the campaign.
But with plenty of time still left on the clock, John couldn’t help but wonder…
“What now?”
Before launch, John spent countless hours putting together the book. He had a clear vision of what he wanted—a 172 page hardcover anthology collecting some of the best professional indie creators and new creators in comics. Many of these creators were seasoned veterans who had been on his...
This wasn’t his first Kickstarter, and he knew the dead zone could be brutal. After multiple campaigns, he'd learned how to take it in stride. Still, this one felt particularly long.
But like a pro, Drew didn’t panic.
He got to work.
Drew was no stranger to hard work and shoe leather. He’d spent considerable time and money growing his readership through paid Facebook/Instagram ads and cold calling retail shops to see if they would carry his series Brokenland.
“From September 2020 - March 2021, I spent $500 per month on paid ads. I worked with a small marketing company to handle the audience...
He knew his campaign for Espresso Detective #3 needed to raise more money than he ever had before. With a goal of $10,000, Eric was ready to jump into the deep end of Facebook ads.
But he couldn’t help but wonder:
Would he be throwing his money away?
Eric initially planned to run a 15-day campaign in order to shorten the emotional rollercoaster the dreaded Kickstarter dead zone brings. In the end, he says he "chickened out" because with such a tall ask, he felt he needed more time to get the word out.
And in this case, "chickening out" was the right call.
“I’m so glad I did a 30-day campaign...