Kickstarter has this neat subdivision of their site which is called Quickstarter -- it's basically the Gateway Drug for Indie Crowdfunding Campaigns.
Kickstarting major projects is one of the most obvious fundraising toolsets in an indie publisher's arsenal, but what most people don't realize is that you can also fund small projects, and Kickstarter actually encourages you to do so.
I suggest you read that blog I linked up there, but here is the basic qualifications for this sort of "Quickstarter" project:
Rules for launching a Quickstarter campaign:
- The development process—from sketching an idea to launching it on Kickstarter—should take no more than three months.
- Keep the campaign under 20 days.
- The funding goal should be below $1,000 (or thereabouts in your local currency).
- The main reward should be under $50.
- The video should be shot over one day with whatever camera you have (smartphone highly recommended).
- Don’t do any PR and media outreach (unless you get contacted).
- Don’t run any paid ads on social media.
- No stretch goals.
- Include “Quickstarter” in your campaign name.
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Why should you do this?
Mostly because it's good practice:
- exercise your crowdfunding DIY muscle
- work on projects that are larger than single posts, or single pin-up images.
- expand your idea of what is possible for your work
- Learn how to structure projects so that you can tell good stories.
- prepare for larger projects in the future
- interface with the market in a new way, learn how to serve your target audience.
Also - given the Stay At Home Orders, I'd say you probably aren't doing much anyways.
Now is the perfect time!
Here's a cool video by Jake Parker that talks about the value of making 10 small comic projects over just one great big one:
[Minimum Viable Story]
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What sort of ideas should I explore?
I'd suggest trying something topical, like a riviting tale of Steve Mnuchin being forced to prostitute himself on the streets in order to live during the pandemic on a late $1200 check.
Or, perhaps something more heartwarming, like a love letter to covid 19 medical workers.
Maybe you can go for something that is based on something that you love, and something that other people love as well -- No reason why 4/20 needs to stop being celebrated today, give marijuana a whole month of glory.
Do you love Mermaids? -- So do a lot of other people. In fact, there is this great hashtag trend called #Mermay -- why not make the most of it?
Are you into fertility rituals and paganism? Nothing quite like a good old fashioned Maypole comic.
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But How Do I know which idea will make me the most money?
You have no idea, and it probably won't make you a bunch of money. But you might get a little bit of money, and you might meet some people who also LOVE stoner mermaids and fertility rituals.
Want to make it even better?
Rip off Hans Christian Andersen -- That's what the The Public Domain is for -- and you can find the source material on Project Gutenberg.
Then everyone that loves Marijuana + The Little Mermaid [18+] + Fertility Rituals is a potential backer for your project.
This is likely to work way better than your Original Character that nobody has heard of, doing some fringe shit that only you care about. It's good to be weird, and passionate, but it's better to serve an audience of people that you know already exists, and would love to have you make something for them.
Your objective ought to be coming up with a complete project, from start to finish, executing that project, and impressing the handful of people who back your project.
If you are wildly successful, congratulations, figure out what you did right, and then replicate that success.
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Here's what I would suggest that you do:
- Get yourself a HIVE account, if you haven't gotten one already. Just go here to the OCD Discord and say "I need a HIVE Account so I can post my artwork for this project I'm doing, and can you please Delegate me some HP to get me started."
They will help you out.
Then post daily about your journey like a dev. blog.
Figure out a storyboard and make a handful of classy illustrations. Maybe even consider taking a page or two to a rough draft level of completion. Then put a quick video together introducing your idea, and hit that launch button!
It's going to take Kickstarter 3 days or so to make your project approved, so, take this time to brainstorm where your potential market likes to hang out.
Just ask yourself:
"Where can I find Potheads who Love Fertility Rituals and Mermaids?"
"Do you think they share a market with Jay and Silent Bob?"
"Do you think they share a market with polyamorous pagan communities that live next to oceans?"
"Do you think they share a market with that television show about sirens?"
"Do you think subconsciously, there are some kinky dope fiends that are magnetically attracted to your nearest starbucks?"
These are excellent questions.
- You'll want to let these people know about your project when it goes live. I'd also recommend individually letting your fans know about the project with a quick, non-spam email -- [if you have any fans at the moment].
Also, try not to spend your whole campaign doing this outreach, it's exhausting, and most of the time it won't be fruitful, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't put in a good week's worth of effort.
Feel free to use Kickstarter's link tracking tools. That's why they are there.
- After you're done with your outreach, spend the rest of the campaign actually doing the work that you set out to do, and make that comic happen.
This is the most important part of your project, and it will take you the longest time to complete, so you might as well hop on it, and share your updates as you continue.
When the campaign is complete, share your project exclusively with your Patrons, your Backers, and with HIVE.
Your project is all done when you send out your Digital PDF rewards to all backers, and integrate all commission panels / pages into your final project. When that time has come, feel free to take a breather -- you just kicked ass and tried something new.
[If you're not a comic artist, try doing something similar in your field. Feel free to comment down below and let me know what your project looks like.]
PS: I don't think that HIVE is a good place to crowdfund for USD projects, but I do think it's an excellent place to share a development blog of your work along the way.
Cheers.