by Clay Adams

John Schlim Jr felt nervous.

He’d just wrapped up a Kickstarter campaign the month before, and now he was about to hit “launch” on another project, the third issue in his long-running GOTH GHOST GIRL series. 

With his previous campaign just finished—and still unfulfilled—John couldn't help but wonder:

Was his audience ready to back a new project?

In this edition of the ComixLaunch spotlight, you’ll learn:

• Why showing "range" is important
• The key to comics Kickstarter success
• Plus: How to keep control of your Kickstarter budget 

Should Kickstarter Comics Creators Stick to One Genre?

Before we look at John’s second launch in two months, it’s a good question to ask why he would Kickstart multiple properties at the same time. His long-running GOTH GHOST GIRL series was a success. Shouldn't John just stick to that one title? Or, at the very least, something in the same genre?

John says:

“The success of Goth Ghost Girl prompted advice from people s...

by Clay Adams

Rob Multari didn’t have an audience.

His first crack at Kickstarter had just failed, and the realization was beginning to sink in: setting a $20,000 goal without a built-in fanbase might have been a little naive. 

But Rob is a finisher. He picked himself up from that failed launch more determined than ever to get his work out into the world.

The question now was: how?

In this edition of the ComixLaunch Spotlight, you’ll learn:

• Why the right mindset can turn failure into success
• How to grow your audience ahead of a Kickstarter campaign
• Plus: Rob's tips for keeping up the momentum after launch

How to Turn Kickstarter Failure into Comic Convention Success

In the aftermath of the campaign, Rob made the tough call to keep paying his artists out of his own pocket. Once Night Wolf #1 was complete, he once again dug deep and funded a print run himself. This felt like a big victory… except for one glaring problem:

“I still didn’t have an audience to buy it…That’...

by Clay Adams

Andrew Guilde knew what he was getting into.

After one successful campaign to fund the first issue of "Man of Sin", now he was ready to launch a second Kickstarter to complete the four issue mini.

To do that, he’d need to pull in more backers--and money--than he did before. 

The question now was: 

How?

In this edition of the ComixLaunch Spotlight, you’ll learn:

• How to get high dollar pledges for your comics Kickstarter
• How to get your indie graphic novel into comic book shops
• Why you need an editor

Why Having a Community is "Essential" to Kickstarter Success

Andrew knew that in order to launch bigger, he needed to change his approach--and broaden his reach. 

“I knew I’d have to do some things differently with the new campaign. What that exactly was I didn’t know. So, I enrolled in the ComixLaunch course and found my answers. I’m not sure I could have been successful without it.”

Inside the course, Andrew found a community eager to help him ho...

by Clay Adams

Simon Birks was ready to experiment.

He’d already had success over the last few years launching multiple comics Kickstarters, and like any good entrepreneur, he was looking for a new challenge—and a new market.

Simon did his research and learned that gamebook Kickstarters in the Tabletop Games category often did well. Now the question was:

Could Simon branch out?

In this edition of the ComixLaunch Spotlight, you’ll learn:

• The best—and easiest—way to conduct market research
• Why you should consider putting “skin in the game”
• How to market your Kickstarter campaign

How to do Market Research for Your Kickstarter

Simon didn’t jump into the new market cold.

He studied the games category on Kickstarter and noticed that those projects tended to do well. This gave Simon the confidence to approach his existing audience. 

Simon had built up a reputation and a track record over the past several years launching more than twenty comics Kickstarters. During that time...

by Clay Adams

Colin Devonshire was feeling dejected.

His pitch for BY THE TIME I GET TO DALLAS was going nowhere fast. The lack of response from publishers was taking a mental toll, and it would have been all too easy to throw in the towel.

But Colin knew he had a good book. And he was confident he could put together a professional product if given the chance. 

So he decided to bet on himself and turn to the fastest-rising star in the comics publishing game:

Kickstarter.

In this edition of the ComixLaunch Spotlight, you’ll learn:

• Why prepping your audience before launch is key
• How to expand your audience after you launch
• What to post on social media during a campaign—and how often

What to do Before Launching on Kickstarter

Colin self-funded all of the art production for the book, putting a lot of skin in the game. Taking a “tortoise” approach, he worked hard until he felt his book was ready. Meanwhile, he joined the broader Kickstarter community—starting with ComixLa...

by Clay Adams

Abrian Curington saw an opportunity. 

She had completely sold out of her first two books, and now her third was close to funding on Kickstarter.

As she watched her backer count and funding total rise, she carefully crunched the numbers and made a surprising discovery:

If Abrian did everything right, she might have a way to fund a reprint of her previous two books…

As stretch goals.

In this edition of the ComixLaunch Spotlight, you’ll learn:

• How thinking outside the box can help grow your audience
• What to consider when choosing the size of your print run  
• Why stretch goals can help you reprint books... and pad the bottom line

How to Expand Your Fanbase Before and During a Kickstarter

Abrian’s first Kickstarter was a success, overfunding her modest goal by nearly 100%.

But for her second campaign, she knew she needed a bigger ask. That meant finding more backers--any way she could.

“The key to making so much more this time around…  [was tha...

by Clay Adams

Don Handfield had a brilliant idea for a comic.

The only problem?

Unlike his other work, UNIKORN would be all-ages friendly. And the subject matter—unicorns and grief—was so far outside his usual genre, he had no idea if he could pull it off.

With a short time until launch, how on earth was he going to reach an all-new readership?

In this edition of the ComixLaunch Spotlight, you’ll learn:

• How to quickly expand your network
• What you should fall back on if your Dead Zone plan fails
• Why Kickstarter isn't just for beginners—and why that's a good thing

The Challenge: How to Launch a New Comic Book on Kickstarter

Don works in the film and TV industry, producing material aimed at a grown-up audience. His previous comics work has tapped that same vein. But something was nagging at him.

“I have two children, 10 and 8, that mean the world to me. They can’t really fully enjoy my other work because it’s made for adults, so I was really motivated to do something I ...

Erin Ptah had a plan. 

She’d filled out her spreadsheets, worked carefully to build her sales page for the "Leif & Thorn" Kickstarter, and come up with a guiding philosophy that would see her through all phases of the campaign.

Now she just had to execute.

In this edition of the ComixLaunch Spotlight, you’ll learn:

• Why having a guiding principle is important
• One simple trick to boost funding
• How to resist “shiny objects” 

Erin’s Kickstarter Philosophy: Keep it Simple

Like many successful business owners, Erin knew that before she even made a sale, she needed a guiding principle—a philosophy she could always fall back on in the face of difficult decisions. So she settled on what would be her mantra throughout the Kickstarter:

Keep it Simple.

“The philosophy is, the more variables you introduce, the more opportunities you give yourself to screw up. Since this was my first time fulfilling a Kickstarter, it was important to keep those down.”

Her strategy for Keeping it S...

By Clay Adams

James Powell was feeling confident.

After two successful Kickstarter campaigns for his children’s horror comic, House of Fear, James felt the time was right to get his stories out to a wider audience. Before, he’d been too scared to pitch his work to a publisher. What if he wasn’t ready? What if they could tell he didn’t know what he was doing?

But now, armed with the confidence gained from crowdfunding success, James was ready.

It was time to submit.

In this edition of the ComixLaunch Spotlight, you’ll learn:

• How to pitch your book to a publisher
• What to do while you wait to hear back
• Why failure isn’t the end… and neither is success

How To Pitch Your Comic Book Or Graphic Novel To A Publisher

James knew that he couldn’t just spray his pitch around to every publisher in the game. His experience with Kickstarter told him that having a specific, targeted plan was important to success. 

“I made a list (a very short list) of publishers I’d consider working...

By Clay Adams

Travis Gibb was feeling stretched thin. 

With two campaigns running at once, he felt pressure to make both succeed. But as a collaborator on one project and "just the writer" on the other, Travis wasn’t fully in charge of either. 

How was he going to get through this month?

In this edition of the ComixLaunch Spotlight, you’ll learn:

• How to work with collaborators on a Kickstarter campaign
• The secret to a successful launch
• One trick to turbo-charge your final week

How to Work with Collaborators on Kickstarter

Both of Travis’ campaigns were a challenge—for very different reasons.

“One of those campaigns (DOG DAYS) was run by another publisher. It was challenging because I couldn’t build the campaign as I saw fit. I didn’t have complete control of how much we needed to raise. I didn’t know all the backend numbers, and I didn’t get a lot of pre-campaign planning in. I also couldn’t make decisions to add more benefits to potential backers.

“The second (THE A...