Lea Hernandez’s Kickstarter for The Garlicks is ending today and it doesn’t look like it’s going to make it—it’s currently only $15000 in to a $40K goal. We’re not Kickstarter experts by any stretch of the imagination but in this case, it is a clear case that just being good isn’t enough to get funded, because this was clearly a great-looking project.
Johanna Draper Carlson has some further thoughts, pointing out that the basis of the project wasn’t for everyone: the $40,000 was primarily to fund production of the strip, although there were the usual premiums. Johanna feels these kind of projects aren’t at an advantage:
I am more comfortable funding a project where the work already exists, one where the creator needs print costs. This doesn’t apply to Lea’s case, but one of the reasons why is that, if rewards deliver within a couple of months, I’m protected if something happens and I don’t get what’s promised. Within 3-6 months, I have the ability to do a credit card chargeback in the worst case, if the provider flakes out. On a more personal level, it’s more rewarding to get a book or other rewards within a couple of months, as though it was similar to a preorder. Otherwise, it feels like throwing money into the wind.
Of course, if you have the resources to be charitable and make donations, supporting favorite artists without concern for what you get in return, then this isn’t a worry for you. But at that point, Kickstarter reminds me of a popularity contest.
I would advise those planning Kickstarters to note that something in the range of $4-8,000 is more likely to be achieved than asking for multiple tens of thousands of dollars. Sure, there are plenty of success stories, but they’ve been run by people with huge followings and a long-term track record of delivering products of known quality. Also, anthologies, which have a much bigger crew of contributors working to get the word out. A Kickstarter is, on many levels, a measurement of trust, and if you don’t have enough dedicated followers and a solid, substantial track record of doing what you say you will, you may not succeed.
Hernandez shows up in the comments to clarify that the money wasn’t just for living expenses:
As for supporting me for a year: well, yes. I’m not asking for backing for JUST that. The amount covers production AND printing AND fees AND taxes AND the cost of incentives AND postage.
There’s a breakdown of where the money goes on the front page. A later update details where my money I earn monthly (in the form of a page rate, not a lump sum) will be spent. It’s a modest and responsible budget that ensures THE GARLICKS doesn’t go off-track because I’ve under-funded and have to stop working on it to take other work or a job in case of an emergency.
Also on the front page, I mention that the money is to be put in a protected account that is ONLY drawn on when tasks are finished or bills must be paid. I worked this out with a respected financial adviser, Liz Schiller (former president of Friends of Lulu), to ensure that money would be spent ONLY whe
If THE GARLICKS doesn’t make it, another way will be found.
I’m determined to get this book. I’m selfish like that.
If you’re interested in this phenomenon, definitely check out the lastest “Funding the Dream” podcast with Seth Godin. Great insights.
We’re seeing Kickstarter shift to a marketplace…those are the projects that go nuclear.
People want to back a winning horse…
Unfortunately, Leah’s current platform just did not seem to be large enough to get her to her goal…and because of that she never got on the radar of the people not looking to support, but instead looking to shop. (See Sullivan’s Sluggers for what that looks like.)
The good news is that the phenomenon of projects going dead once they hit their targets has gone away…with savvy creators realizing that the way to keep the funds coming in is to make the product already funded EVEN BETTER.
The bad news is…Kickstarter is becoming less about Kickstarting ventures and more about a being a great way to sell a finished or nearly-complete product directly to your audience…with a viral potential not available elsewhere.
As Godin smartly summarized, “Kickstarter looks like a shortcut. It’s not. It’s a maximizer.”
Admit it, Kurt, you just really like eating bugs.
Talented doesn’t correlate to having a following. I think sales on Hernandez’s books show this.
For instance.
Amazon sales ranks on Hernandez’ books.
Rumble Girls – 2,417,596 in books. Available used for $.01.
Manga Secrets – 1,101,263 in books. Available used for $.01.
Cathedral Child – 3,383,481 in books. Available used for $.48.
Clockwork Angels – 3,610,148 in books. Available used for $4.15
The sales position shows there isn’t much demand for Hernandez’ books. The used price shows that a lot of people are trying to get rid of these.
Succeeding at Kickstarter funding isn’t based on some financial trick. It’s succeeds as a result of one of two things. One, the creator has a big following. Two, the idea is something people who don’t know the creator want to see. The second one has to entail some good marketing besides just posting a Kickstarter page.
The Amazon ranks and prices aren’t always a fair gauge. Older books have lower rankings, and books in poor quality or used library copies go cheap.
You can get Neil Gaiman books cheap in used or bad condition. There’s Anansi Boys for a penny on Amazon, too. It’s more fair to compare prices on new conditions books, not books with library stickers on them.
Unfortunately, in the case of Hernandez’s body of work, not much demand out there.
Here in the Secret Laboratory we takes our kisses as we finds ‘em. :)
As Lea’s kickstarter campaign winds down today, I have mixed feelings. Nobody wants to be the poster child for the unsuccessful comics kickstarter campaign, and some of the comments have been brutally honest, sometimes borderline unnecessarily hurtful about lea’s approach to this campaign and her career as a cartoonist.
However, on a positive note, it has spurred the comics community to have a conversation that needs to be out there: that Kickstarter isn’t / shouldn’t be a substitute for a functional comics economy that can support new projects that don’t fit in the usual comix mold.
Do i know the answers? No. But this example certainly gave a lot of us (creators and comics consumers alike) food for thought about this business model. Kickstarter has opened up a lot of possibilities for creators — but we can’t pretend that it’s the answer to everyone’s self-publishing dreams.
I want to read this comic so much. This is the kind of book the comic industry needs badly.
I think it’s really hard to draw conclusions from this. Some not very good projects have been over funded some amazing projects never reached their goals. This isn’t Warren Buffet buying rural newspapers. This is more to do with chance and reach and a billion other factors. Lea’s work is brilliant and she’s an important cartoonist. If you argue against that you’ve already lost all credibility.
I think an IndieGogo campaign is in order. And a brand new all bug diet .
Same thing happened with TOny Harris who wanted 60k but had to adjust 2 times to just 25k ?
I guess Kickstarter people do not want fund your pagerate where the the finished product won’t be available for at least a 1,5 years away
I almost hate to say it, but I agree with Charles Ranier. It was the constant deluge of tweets and posts that turned me off. I completely understand that publicity is necessary for a campaign like this, but hearing about it every single day was a bit much for me. And I don’t know if I could offer an alternative to the non-stop advertising. It was successful in getting my attention and I definitely checked out the Kickstarter page, so maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about.
Some folks have pointed out that too many backers get tied up in the emotional aspect of backing a project, but they forget that every single purchase spent on entertainment and media is an emotional purchase.
People will back a project if it hits an emotional pressure point for them. Whether its because they have an emotional attachment to the concept of a story (I backed Anathema because this), supporting a completed story they’re already attached to (Order of the Stick has a massive following attached to its characters), or because they want to support the creator themselves (The Oatmeal fundraiser to troll legal threats). Unless a creator can hit an audience’s emotions in any of these areas, the Kickstarter funding might not succeed.
Given these three points, which one could this project hit? I’m not sure what Ms Hernandez’ online presence is, but I don’t think it’s on par with say, Scott Kurtz or Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal. Was the concept incendiary enough to get attention? Vampire sitcom family sounds cute but it doesn’t have this same punch as “showcase otherwise marginalized female talent in ALL the comics” as Womanthology did. So, what’s left? Build an audience for the comic by getting people to read the thing up front, as many webcomics have done already. This gets your audience invested in your characters and storyline. However, very little of the comic was available for audiences to read, so how could they get invested?
I’m not saying this project isn’t worthy of backing, but I am saying that a Kickstarter is something to market like anything else. Kickstarter = Asking for money = Making a sale. Perhaps this project will do better next time if there was a preview PDF for readers to check out or if it was released as a webcomic. It’s all about hitting readers in that soft spot that makes them hit that pledge button.
Addendum: if I were to start up a Kickstarter to fund, say, printing my webcomic, I doubt I’d get the support I’d need to make it happen. I have nearly zero Internet clout and while my readers are really great and dedicated, it is still a very small audience as my comic is still fairly new. This may change in the future, but as it stands I’m holding off for now.
@Chris Hero: “I’ve always thought the point of Kickstarter was to raise money for fully developed products that need the means to be mass produced.”
No, it is simply a “funding platform for creative projects”. Some just need a little money to finish, others need money to even get started. Hence the name “kickstarter”.
“The return on the investment is a gift of the completed project.”
No, no, no. It is explicitly not about investment. It is a request for contributions. The only “return” is the satisfaction of having contributed, and whatever perks the creator offers as thanks. If you look at it as a simple quid-pro-quo preordering system, you are definitely missing the original point of it.
I watch every one of these post-mortems with interest, because I plan to turn to Kickstarter later this year with a project of my own: an adult-readers graphic novel told through short anecdotes. In case it’s helpful to anyone else to reflect on or pick apart:
I lack any significant fan base or internet presence, though I have a somewhat similar collaboration in progress with an established creator, which may change that a little in a few months. It’s a project I’ve already spent a substantial amount of time on, both writing episodes and illustrating some of them myself, and I’ve spent some of my own money hiring artists to illustrate a few more of them.
What I’ll be asking for is money to hire more artists, which another patron I’ve already approached will match 1:1 (up to a point). I plan to set the goal fairly low (even if it only pays for one 5-page story to be illustrated, that’d help) but set out rewards for substantial donations that will hopefully entice people to contribute more.
It’s a project with a rather Queer angle to it, so I’ll try to promote it to that community, and whatever segment of the alt-comix crowd I can bend the ear of. I’ll use the work in progress as a teaser for what’s to come if the campaign is successful.
And when it’s done, we can all come back and do a post-mortem on why it didn’t work. ;)
I use KS exclusively as a preorder mechanism. I know far too many creatives to just start handing out donations.
“I like it” loosens a hell of a lot more wallets than “I hope I like it.”
Has it occurred to anyone that maybe the general, indie comix crowd just doesn’t want to read a comic about a stereotypical screaming Hispanic woman and her kids?
I was sorry to see the swing-’n'-a-miss. I pledged; I later increased my pledge; and I even wrote a short piece about it that Ms. Hernandez was gracious enough to share with others.
That being said: I’m sure I’m in an extreme minority when I say, IMHO, the project would’ve drawn more attention if it’d just had a better, catchier, even readable name. It took me a while even to give the Kickstarter page an initial look-see because all the words looked garbled and out of order. Was “The Garlicks” a preexisting series? Who names a kid “Pandora Orange”? And did I miss the day when “fail” graduated to being an adjective as well as a noun? I was so lost.
Eventually I parsed it and got on board, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it made other casual, would-be donors cross their eyes and move on.
>> Has it occurred to anyone that maybe the general, indie comix crowd just doesn’t want to read a comic about a stereotypical screaming Hispanic woman and her kids? >>
Try to imagine they’re Italian vampires instead. Maybe that would help.
All those Hispanic kids, turning into fish-bats…
@Jackie Haas: Agreed with Kirk. She’s speaking Italian. Hispanics are those descended from the Iberian peninsula, which incidentally, does not include the country of Italy. But, hey, don’t let a little thing like geography get in the way of your awesome opinions.
Keep up that attention to detail, bro!
I’m sorry to see the campaign fall short. From the sample art I’m suspecting this could be one of the great kid-friendly graphic stories of which the market could use a lot more.
I’m also hoping Kurt has some cattle to back up his hat. I want to see this book made, but my barn door broke and all my cattle have run away.