[...] A month ago we had one creator opposing this latter idea and saying “Maybe I’m a bit of a sadist, but [I had to] stay up late nights and work during my breaks and lunches in hopes of making my comic successful and [by contrast] asking someone to take all the risk for me with only marginal reward just seems too easy to me.” And the complaint persists, apparently, as just today we heard someone else opine that “These days I only get miffed at Kickstarters when it’s someone asking for people to pay for them to quit their jobs.” [...]

[...] the question of what crowd-funding is really about. Johanna Draper Carlson recently commented that she prefers to donate to a project that is already complete and just needs funding for printing costs. This carries that to its logical extreme — the books [...]

Burl, My gf was watching her twitter after I told her about this, and she showed me the tweet.

“Oh Saint @KurtBusiek, stay my wrathful hand when the commenters do pigpile & declare me wanton & beg for smiting. 10:48 PM – 20 Jun 12″

That it?

Dax maybe your twitter has no avatar or no tweets, so she thought it was a bot account?

In a comics channel, this came up. Some of the comments sound cruel, but it shows others had the same thoughts brought up here.

* dude, if i was an aspiring creator i’d be afraid to say anything remotely negative
* I counted over 50 tweets one day about the ks. The average seems like 25 to 30 a day tho. O’delicious delicious spam.

I started following her twitter in the last couple days, but she subsequently ‘blocked’ me and I thought that was rather odd.

This is an amazing book that should happen

I’m heart broken it didn’t reach it’s goal.

Hope this works out, Lea. The book looks lovely.

The $500 dedication style ideas are important. I’ve been very surprised at the creativity in goal tiers … and then doubly surprised that people actually shell out large amounts of money for them.

For the most though, I use my Kickstarter page to mainly fund print editions of webcomics I like. Though, most of these involve me finding the kickstarter, checking out the comic and then donating for my own physical copy. But that’s the thing, I was seeing the product online already, and saying “I like this enough to want to own a physical copy of this content.”

[...] Johanna Draper Carlson has more thoughts on how to run a successful Kickstarter campaign regarding how much you ask for, timing in delivering the product, etc. I am more comfortable [...]

I pledged $25 to Garlicks because that’s a fine price to pay for an autographed copy of a book I think I’ll like, delivered to my door postage paid. We can quibble over whether or not the page rate piece is a good thing to include in a business plan, but there is a business plan and I’m still getting a book for a fair price (if the campaign succeeds).

It’s just that Kickstarter specifically is meant to kickstart going concerns, a little boost so entrepreneurs can start a sustainable business. I think AGH’s feelings clarify that point — even if the goals of Kickstarter projects can be flexible, users mainly see it as a pre-order site, not a donation hub.

Publishing is obviously different from tech projects, but business plans can still be in place. For instance, I might Kickstart a new magazine, with the funds covering all the production and creative costs of my first issue, but then the money that comes in from sales on that first issue will ostensibly fund the continuation. For a book it may be that you Kickstart one edition, which gets you started, and now you can turn that sales revenue into later editions and other books as you build your career.

How to parse all this with earning a living wage? I think the short answer is that you can’t. The life of an artist is one of constantly hustling new projects. A filmmaker friend of mine spent most of last year shoring up financing for something that fell through, so now he’s freelance editing (his version of grunt work) to pay the rent until the next thing materializes. I personally prefer a steady job, and the tradeoff is that I produce a new major creative thing every 6 years instead of every 6 months. But if you go the “only earn money from art” route, Kickstarter can be a viable way to fund some of the dozen or so projects you have going at any given time.

I truly feel for Hernandez and her tough situation, but a person can’t come to the internet and ask for crowd-sourced employment and then loudly complain when people express legitimate issues with their business plan when it seems like their backs are turned – that’s not how the internet works.

That’s not to say Hernandez doesn’t have the right to defend herself, but…I don’t know. It’s complicated.

[...] Draper Carlson has a thoughtful post about the appropriate use of Kickstarter, and uses Lea Hernandez’s Kickstarter for The Garlicks as an example of a campaign she’s not [...]

1) You have to send me something inside six months. I am not waiting 12-18 months for anything. Kickstarter may initially have been “I have an idea” but is now “I am 90% finished”.

Every area of commerce works this way. You put in money and then try to sell it. You write a novel then try to publish, you build a doohickey then try to sell it. Comics are no different.

2) Have the story be complete. I am not going to fund issue #1 of anything. I will be paying a premium and have to continue to do so for future issues. Complete graphic novels do better.

3) People like stretch goals. I don’t care personally but be prepared to offer bookmarks or postcards or random original art as your project gains steam.

4) Updates Update Updates. Make sure you are engaging with your backers…there is nothing worse than feeling like you backed a project on day 1 and have heard nothing after day 15.

5) Make shipping reasonable. How many times, as a Canadian, do I see “free shipping in US” and “add $10 for Canada”…cost out the shipping and move up to the next even number…so many projects ignore the international audience by charging ship costs that are far in excess of what it would actually cost.

6) Be creative with your tiers. Graphic novel? Sell the pages, the cover, new sketches, the dedication of the book…comic people need to start thinking like businesspeople…if somebody will pay $500 to let you dedicate the book to them…take their money!

7) Don’t make me sell your project. If you are yelling at me to retweet your project, you’re doing it wrong. It is not my job to bring in fresh backers for you. It is certainly ok to say “if you know anybody who might be interested, send them the link”…it is quite another to say “TWEET THIS EXACT SENTENCE”.

8) Research successful projects and see what you can learn. Seriously, just look at the top ten funded comics projects and see how many updates, what stretch goals they offered, how did they respond to comments, etc..etc… and then look at the people who failed and see what the differences are.

9) Set your goal at a level that makes sense. Very few of the top twenty comics projects funded had a goal in excess of $10,000. That should tell you something. If you can’t make the economics of a project work on a budget that size, it probably isn’t going to get funded. That just is the way it goes.

There is no right answer. I can certainly understand the attitude you describe, and I think you’re right — the poor economy has a lot to do with it. We all try to find the best solution for our situation, we move forwards with hope, and perhaps we are able to make a book and perhaps we are not.

While I agree with your last paragraph, I wonder if the poor economy plays a part in some people’s attitudes. Something along the lines of “I had to take a job I didn’t want and I don’t get paid to do what I want to do all day, so why should I fund them doing that?” It’s not high-minded, but it might be understandable that there’s a certain resentment involved in that perception.