010 – The Agony & the Ecstasy of Kickstarter: From Failure to Success with Wes Locher

Thousands of creators have had successful comic book projects on Kickstarter, and thousands more have had unsuccessful ones… but few creators have experienced both failure and success in the same month! Today, Tyler talks to writer Wes Locher about the agony and the ecstasy of Kickstarter, and how he turned a failed campaign into a successful one by changing 5 key things.

Today’s Session is Sponsored by The Warden Anthology on Kickstarter

ComixTribe publisher Tyler James, will be joined by a special guest today, who is a hard-working, up-and-coming comic writer and creator, most know for his Kickstarter funded Sci-Fi comedy Unit 44, and the upcoming self-published title Hipsters vs. Rednecks, Wes Locher.

Today’s episode is about turning a Kickstarter failure into a Kickstarter success in a short time.

Episode Outline:

1) Take Us Back to Your first KS… What were your goals, hopes, fears, etc. Put us in your mindset before you launched.

2) Your First KS Failed… and You Identified 5 things You did wrong. What were they?

Scope
Money
Audience
Words
Video

3) Story has a happy ending… You immediately relaunched and made some changes

Why did you launch right away?
What did you do differently?
- Scope
- Money
- Audience
- Words
- Video

ComixLaunch Lightning Round with Wes Locher:

1) Finish this sentence: “Kickstarter is _______.”

…eye-opening!

2) Let’s pretend the powers that be at Kickstarter are listening (which you know they are)… if you could change one thing about the Kickstarter platform, what would it be?

Kickstarter is solid, but add better built in tracking stats.

3) What’s your secret weapon? (Meaning a tool, resource, app, etc. that you couldn’t make comics without?)

Showers! Where all the good ideas happen.

4) Fulfillment is where even successful Kickstarter creators often drop the ball… Do you have a fulfillment tip for our listeners?

Know how much it costs to ship to Australia, because that can mess you up!

DIY Crowdfunding Fulfillment – Ship Like a Boss

5) Can you recommend one comic (not done by you) more people need to check out?

The Life After by Josh Fialkov and Gabo. (Oni Press)

Today’s Sponsor: The Warden Anthology

Set at the turn of the 20th century, The Warden is about a mortal man with an immortal soul. Science and industry are shining a light across the world, but casting deep shadows. No one knows the limits of technology or of the ancient magics slowly being forgotten. The Warden is one of the few that delves into the darkness and prevents the shadows from engulfing the light.
The Warden Anthology is heavily inspired by pulp comics like “Doc Savage” and “Conan the Barbarian”. Each story is a self contained one-shot like the early “Hellboy” stories. They often involve mythological creatures, American folklore, and close calls with apex predators.
The Anthology will include 5 short comics stories involving 12 collaborators, including ComixTribe’s Alex Cormack, Steven Forbes, and Jules Rivera.
It will also include 1 prose story by award-winning pulp author Barry Reese. Reese, who is most well-known for his pulp titles “The Rook” and “Lazarus Grey”, has also worked on several of Marvel’s encyclopedias, handling the Blade and Ghost Rider sections.
“Swamp Magic”, the first story of the anthology is available as a free download on the Kickstarter page. In the spirit of 10 cent pulps, a single story of your choice is being offered as the $1 reward.

ComixLauncher

A ComixLauncher is a short, actionable activity you can and should do right now, or immediately after listening to the show. They’re all activities I’ve done myself, and will get you one step closer to a successful ComixLaunch. They’ll transform this Podcast from a passive, lean back activity centered around Tyler James, into an active, lean-forward activity centered around YOU.

This Session’s ComixLauncher: Reframe your next Kickstarter in your head for a moment by asking yourself this question… What am I testing? It could be you are testing your ability to connect with an audience, building a platform, selling, fulfillment, etc.

By framing KS in your mind not as some all or nothing high stakes endeavor, but rather as a test, it might be the breakthrough you need to get over your fear and launch.

We don’t think of Thomas Edison as having failed 1000 times to create a lightbulb, rather he simply took 1000 tests before he found the right material to light the world.

All of us our busy, but we all can spare 5 minutes to do this. Email me at [email protected], subject line: ComixLauncher #10. and let me know… what are you testing with your next KS?