ComixLaunch: Crowdfunding for Writers, Artists & Self-Publishers on Kickstarter... and Beyond!
About
Available on
Community
474 episodes
Creator Iván Brandon has worked in television, animation, film and video games, and is probably best known for his American comic book work including Viking and Drifter (Image Comics) and has written for Marvel, DC, IDW among others. Now, he's focused on launching his latest creator owned project on Kickstarter, with the second volume of THE ROMAN STARS live now.
In this ComixLaunch Pro Spotlight featured interview, Clay Adams chats with Ted Sikora, a comic book writer and filmmaker, sharing insight building the Hero Tomorrow Comics Universe with the help of Kickstarter and the support of the ComixLaunch Pro program and community over the past few years.
Fear of failure is one of the major things holding creators back from pursuing their dreams. In this session, Tyler James and writer Caleb Palmquist will talk about how to deal with the inevitable failures that come with being a creative, Caleb's decision to cancel a Kickstarter project earlier this year, and why that hasn't stopped him from pushing forward.
Kickstarter rolled out some spiffy new UI updates that affect how your projects will be discovered going forward. Tyler grades the changes and shares the most important thing creators may want to adjust as a result.
As soon as you launch on Kickstarter, your inbox will be flooded with messages... some legitimate, some spammy and even some straight up scams! In this session, Tyler breaks down what exactly you can expect to come your way when you launch on Kickstarter, and how to separate the legitimate messages from the frauds.
The ComixLaunch Pro Spotlight is back and shining a light on Alton Simpson, the creator of Vampires of New Jersey, Witches of Westchester and Bunny Goes to Space, among other successful titles. Over the past couple of years, Alton's projects have raised over $150K on Kickstarter, and he joins Clay Adams for a discussion spilling some of his secrets!
Writers Phil Butehorn and James Ferguson join the podcast to discuss not only their latest collaboration, Slice(s) of Life, an anthology set in a world where pizza has been outlawed, but their evolution from lifelong comic fans to prolific creators.
Want to know what creators who are NOT launching on Kickstarter say are the biggest things they're missing that are holding them back? In this session, Tyler is diving into data from the recent ComixLaunch Survey to reveal insight into 7 perceived areas of lack that hold creators back from achieving their goals. He'll then share some insights on how to overcome each lack, and why launching on Kickstarter might actually be the answer to all of them!
Over the last month, Kickstarter once again celebrated Make 100 month, an invitation for creators to launch smaller, limited projects. In this session, Tyler will shine a light on a bunch of really cool comic projects that embraced the Make 100 ethos in hopes that it will encourage more creators to take part in this annual event and to think differently about how Kickstarter can be used.
In this special session, Spotlighting a member of the ComixLaunch Launch Pro program and community, Clay Adams interviews Sarah Cooke, winner of Mad Cave’s 2023 Talent Search and the 2023 Negative Space Women’s Comic Book Writing Competition and the creator of the Kickstarter funded series No Spell Lasts Forever.
Energy and enthusiasm for your comic book projects can be infectious, and few creators embody that quite like Michael Watson of Freestyle Comics, creator of the ongoing superhero title Hotshot. In this session, Michael and Tyler will discuss effective ways to build hype and interest for your creations for online and in-person events.
Interested in creating a video teaser trailer for you comic book, but not sure where to begin? In this session, Tyler breaks down his easy process for making provocative, engaging teaser trailers for ComixTribe's books!
In an effort to reach new readers and build awareness and interest in one of his ongoing comic projects, Tyler is serializing a comic on Webtoon this year. In this session, he'll share some of the reasons why he's doing this, the challenges and opportunities of reformatting traditional comics into the infinite scroll mobile format, and offer some tips and tricks if you're thinking about doing the same.
With a couple of successful Kickstarter projects under his belt, and some new ones in the early stages of development, writer Adriano Ariganello is looking for some ideas on how to best keep his audience engaged between launches, even if he doesn't have any art to share from the new project? A roundtable of creators have ideas for him in this final mastermind style session of 2023!
Cartoonist Melissa J Massey is always looking to bring more efficiency to her comics business? With needing to balance a day job and family life with comics production, marketing and sales, she's looking for some tips on how to make the most of the spare time she has to finally get ahead of her never-ending to do list! A mastermind roundtable of comic creators is there to support her with some great creation efficiency tips!
Comic writer Alton Simpson has had a lot of success on Kickstarter over the past few years, but is concerned about a contraction of the comic market as a whole. How can he keep growing, even if the economic headwinds in the comic book industry are choppy? A mastermind roundtable of creators has ideas to help him!
Comic Writer Mark Abnett has had success in the past on Kickstarter, and even had his series picked up for publishing by Scholastic. But it's been a while since he's launched on Kickstarter. With a new trade ready roll, and it being a while since he's reached out to his email list, Mark is looking for advice to ready his audience before he goes live, and a mastermind roundtable of creators is there to help!
Comic writer Jack Holder is concerned that he often defaults to telling "the same story" over and over again, regardless of what genre he's writing in. Is this a normal concern? And how do writers grow beyond their usual ideas? A roundtable of comic writers help Jack brainstorm ideas to this dilemma as MasterMind season returns to the ComixLaunch Podcast!
On last week's podcast, Tyler covered the importance of surveying your audience regularly, and provided a number of tips on how to conduct an effective survey. In this follow-up session, he'll cover what to do after the survey is complete, and his process to turn audience responses into cold-hard cash!
The practice of regularly surveying my audience has been a major reason why Tyler's been able to generate several million dollars in sales over the past decade. In this session, he'll share 5 savvy survey tips that will help you survey your audience. Plus, a new Comics & Crowdfunding survey is LIVE for ComixLaunch listeners at comixlaunch.com/survey
Tyler shares some of his most powerful post-launch profit insights on how to keep raising funds after the crowdfunding campaign ends. You'll also get a specific upsell strategy that's been converting very well for him over his past few launches.
Longevity in the comics game is something that all creators aspire to. To commemorate the 20th year of publishing under his Elephant Eater Comics imprint, cartoonist and comics professor Ryan Claytor just launched a massive, oversized hardcover celebrating his creative journey and the love of process.
Tyler's been on an Alibaba shopping binge as of late, saving money on cool custom products to sell during his Kickstarter launches? In this session, he'll share some ideas for products you can save big on when you order through Alibaba, as well as the pros and cons of working with that e-commerce giant!
For years, veteran Kickstarter creators have come to expect a solid bump at the end of their campaigns, with a surge of backers coming in during those final days and hours. However, some been reporting seeing smaller than usual end-of-campaign bumps? So, what's the status of the end of campaign bump these days and what can creators do to encourage one?
Does it seem like more backers than usual are canceling pledges these days on Kickstarter? Are some projects more likely than others to have a higher cancelation rate? And is there anything creators like us can do about it?
Over the past few years, writer/producer Don Handfield and writer Clay Adams have been working to develop a gritty western comic with actor Martin Kove, best known for his iconic role as Sensei Kreese from Karate Kid & Cobra Kai. Their project, Prodigal Son #1, launched this week on Kickstarter, and the boys join the ComixLaunch Podcast discuss the ins and outs of writing a comic for a celebrity.
Writer Robert Krisch joins Tyler for a wide ranging discussion on the importance for comic creators to prioritize their mental health and well-being and some ways to do just that, while still thriving creatively and in the crowdfunding space.
The creators of the HOSPICE shared comic book universe join Tyler James for a discussion about this unique Kickstarter experiment that sees six veteran crowdfunders all launch distinct one-shot projects with the same name! In this panel, expect great insight on campaign design, taking big swings, and shaking up the status quo in crowdfunding promotion.
Surprise! Kickstarter just rolled out a big change to it's Project Story Editor, which will impact how you design your Kickstarter pages going forward. In this session, Tyler James will help you navigate the new editor and hook you up with some savvy tips to make the most of it.
Building a new audience is a challenge, even for creators who have had success in the past. Rob Multari of Lone Wolf Comics returns to the ComixLaunch Podcast to discuss the process and stress of building a new audience on different social channels and email lists to support his new children's book, Wolf Pack Pups on Kickstarter.
