T minus 3: Setting and Setting and Setting my Kickstarter Funding Goal
🚀 The Lump Dog™ Kickstarter Launches on Tuesday
I have to admit, the closer I get to a Kickstarter launch date, the more I obsess about the details. With the Lump Dog™ campaign rapidly approaching, my latest obsession is where to set the funding goal. I think I have changed it 5 times in the last 48 hours!
Obviously, there is no upper limit on how much a creator would like to earn with a Kickstarter. We all dream of our creations going viral and bringing in six figures. However, you cannot reset your goal mid-campaign and Kickstarter is an all-or-nothing platform. If you haven’t reached your predetermined goal by the end of the campaign, you receive nothing! That is a lot of work for nothing!
The “Pay for It All” Strategy
So how do your determine a suitable funding goal? In a recent episode of the Comic Lab podcast1, Brad Guigar admonished creators for setting their funding goals too low and suggested that doing so would prevent them from producing a quality product for their backers. This is a very valid point if you assume that what you earn from a Kickstarter will actually cover the cost of creating, printing, and shipping your comic and both Brad and his fellow podcaster Dave Kellet draw their own comics, have an established fan base, and have a proven track record of successful campaigns of $20K plus. Dave Kellet’s recent “Drive Act 3 Hardcover!” campaign had 1,578 backers pledge $136,824! If you can count on numbers like these, it would be irresponsible to set a funding goal that did not allow for the delivery of quality products.
But the harsh reality is that the vast majority of creators launching Comic Kickstarters, I’d argue well over 50%, will not even come close to covering the cost of producing their comic from what they receive from their campaign.
Have a look at the table above and understand that these are gross figures and by that I don’t mean ugly, but they kind of are. Even cartoonists, who are both the writer and artist of a work, have to pay Kickstarter fees, printing costs, taxes and shipping from that raised sum. Expenses are even more extreme for writers such as myself, who generally pay their artists upfront for their work. While I contractually am unable to share my specific numbers, have a look at my article “Reverse Engineering Comic Page Rates2” for an idea about how much my 44-page comic with multiple variants is costing me to produce.
There are a ton of variables to consider here (e.g., back-end compensation deals), but I hope the numbers above make it obvious that many creators go into a Kickstarter campaign, myself included, with the understanding that the campaign has virtually no chance of fully funding the cost of producing our comic. We are learning to be in the big leagues one day, but right now, we are paying to learn and play like kids in little league.
So how do you set your funding goal if putting down the actual number you need to cover costs is a one-way ticket to not-funded-ville? Here are a few approaches to consider:
The Momentum Play
Have you ever seen a comic campaign with a ludicrously low funding goal? This strategy is all about marketing. People like to back a winner and being able to legitimately say “funded in two hours” is the sort of phrase that will actually generate sales. Not sales from creators like you and me who know better, but remember that many beginning creators are largely selling to relatives and friends who have no clue how much it actually costs to produce a comic.
The Mental Health Game
Kickstarters are anxiety-provoking. Crossing the “Funded” goal line can be the difference between getting a good night’s sleep and staring at the ceiling until the sun comes up. This funding goal need not be ludicrously low, but usually is designed to fund in the first three days, taking into account the u-shaped nature of funding. Removing that stress may be the most important consideration for you.
Cash Flow Surfing
Making your money back from your comic can be a long process of tabling at cons and making sales via mail order & digital platforms. But before you can earn revenue, the book needs to be produced which involves cash up front. As a writer, I need to pay my artists long before my comic is generating revenue. That means either melting my credit card incurring debt or saving funds to saving incrementally from my modest teacher pension to have the book made. No matter what, the book will be made. But it can be made a lot sooner by priming the process with raised the Kickstarter funds.
In this instance, you will want to set your funding goal to at least match the money needed to reach the next production milestone, typically inks.
The “Proof of Concept'“ Strategy
Last but not least, and the strategy I am using for Lump Dog™, is the “proof of concept” approach. I love what I have planned for The Lump Sum Saga so it will be made eventually. It is a story I need to get out of my system.
But even the best stories resonate differently with fans at different times. Is now the right time to be putting this story out into the universe. If yes, it follows that fans will be willing to support TLSS by voting with their wallets. Given this as the backdrop, I am setting and setting and setting a Kickstarter funding goal that is essentially a litmus test about the suitability of publishing this story at this time.
So, does a low funding goal mean you are planning to put out an inferior product? Your answer must be no. You need to deliver a quality product in a realistic timeframe whether or not your funding goal reflects all the funds you need to make that happen. The money needed can come partly from Kickstarter and partly an extra job at Walmart if need be. What matters is that you find a way to keep your promise with your fans and your funding goal should be a portend to that eventuality.
T minus 3: Lump Dog™ Launch Journal
During the Lump Dog crowdfunding campaign, I am recording a journal of my activities each day. The goal is to have a record of what I did so I have something to refer to when I do my next campaign. Hopefully, this will also give you ideas for your own campaigns.
Recent tasks
I wrote a brief introduction to the character and then posted a character reveal for “COMS” to Instagram.
Recorded and edited a brief video appearance of yours truly for the Kickstarter video.
Helpful resources
Tools used
Scrivener
Microsoft Word
Canva
Apple Preview
Adobe Premiere Pro
What I am waiting for
Lettered pre-view pages. This will likely be a last-minute addition as Sean, my letterer, is slammed post-Spring Break.
Lesson learned
How the heck did I miss “First Contact Day” on Friday? What a missed hashtag opportunity for a comic with a first-contact element! 🤦♂️ I’m stashing this “CALENDARR.com Celebrations” link for future reference.
Snapshot (What I’m currently monitoring)
Current pre-launch page followers: 42
Instagram ad spend
Landing: $63.19 CAD for 4,443 views, 185 prelaunch page visits. $0.34/visit
Alien: $99.07 for 8,609 views, 322 prelaunch page visits. $0.31/visit
BackerKit Launch e-mail. 217 were sent, 105 were opened, and 18 clicks.
Up next
Finish the Kickstarter video.
Incorporate the revised team bio info for the Kickstarter page and video.
Create an animated GIF simulating the lenticular cover. When I get a true simulation from the manufacturer, I’ll use that on the campaign page.
Feature Request
I wish I could set my tier prices in US funds even though I am in Canada.
If you are not already listening to the Comic Lab podcast, I highly recommend you give it a listen. While I frequently disagree with the hosts my “Comic NFTs - An Ethical Approach” book was actually a considered rebutal to their Web3 views, their perspectives are worth considering and the delivery is always enjoyable. Brad Guigar and Dave Kellet have the best laughs in comic podcasting.