Another Kick At It

Back in 2013 I tried to launch a Kickstarter for a new graphic novel I was working on called Don Giovanni.  Suffice it to say, it didn’t go spectacular.  It did gain some backers though and excitement for the project.  But, I had quite a few details for the campaign that weren’t very realistic.  It needed some work.  I asked for way too much money to hit financially (in case you didn’t know, Kickstarter relies on cash contributions from the community to hit a goal set by the creator and in return the contributors get a piece of the project), I didn’t pitch it well and there are other tidbits in the campaign I would’ve done different.  Anyway, it didn’t pan out.  I raised some money, but if you don’t raise enough and hit your goal, you don’t get any of the money and the project fails.  It can sting a little, I’ll be honest.

Above:  An original promo for the novel.

Though it failed on Kickstarter, Don Giovanni is a graphic novel I’ve never lost passion for.  Since 2013, I’ve actually re-written it, edited all the text and changed the whole perspective of how it comes together from the original plan.  I’ve been working on it for years.  I’ve made it better (at least in my perspective) and am actually glad it failed raising enough money to publish back in 2013 now.  I know I have a better quality graphic novel on my hands to create.  I’ve learned a lot since then.

Therefore, I have a nice handy-dandy script in front of me, the character design, layout, etc.  What to do next?

I’ve thought about another go at a crowd sourcing platform for it.  I may use a different one this time (so there’s no confusion on Kickstarter) and see what happens.  Admittedly, I’m not great at these (crowd sourcing).  Most successful campaigns have a huge following and – though I have thousands of readers of my cartoons in print and online daily – I feel like I have readers but not a real big actual following of me personally.  I wish I knew each fan/reader on a one-on-one basis though so I could tell them about the project.  They might get as excited about it as me.

All this being said, it may not be easy trying this again.  However, I think it’s worth it.  The BIG picture would be publication from an actual publisher.  But having a physical copy of a completed novel first is probably the best way to go.  Baby steps.

Fail or succeed with crowdfunding, I’ll be completing this graphic novel in my lifetime.  It’s well on its way.  I just don’t want to imagine it being locked up in my drawer with no one seeing it if I never get a way to publish it either myself or something else.  Worth a shot trying to get it funded first.  I know it’ll be good.

Now it just needs completed….

 

Random Happenings

My oh my this summer is flying by (hey, that rhymes!).  I knew at the beginning of 2013 that this was going to be an interesting year in terms of my cartooning career.  And with it’s midway point here, you know what – I was right.  This is turning out to be a real interesting time in my life.

I’ve recently written about the sad state of syndication and I often post about how I feel like the market is for a guy like me.  This career of mine makes me re-think things almost daily.  I swear, consistency of a solid state of mind to the direction of my craft isn’t the norm for cartooning with the current trends.  There is a constant cosmic shift and evolution of my work.  After lots of head scratching and figuring out of what direction to take things, I’ve taken some drastic measures.  Many of them recently.  And I think it’s all a pretty solid direction and don’t plan on changing my path anytime soon.

One decision and direction I’m taking is this:  I’m going for the BIG stuff.

I’ll be continuing on with my current clients, but not sure I’ll be taking on any more any time soon.  I’m going for the bigger projects that I REALLY want to do in my lifetime.  Life is short, so you gotta pick your battles.  So, instead of work that makes a lot of money instantaneously (like, on a regular basis), I’m more focussed on things that have long-term potential and don’t exactly pay off-the-bat.  Money isn’t everything anyhow, but a guys gotta eat.  So, in the meantime, with my current client work, syndication (as sad as it is), magazine work (I’ll keep pushing out more magazine stuff) and other projects, I should be alright.  I plan on working a bit on other things as well to keep bread on the table.  A lot hard work hasn’t killed me yet, so I’m expecting some 80 hour work weeks ahead.

In the near future, here are some things to look out for from yours truly:

This upcoming week:  A book of mine is coming out.  Published and all by a real publisher.  Details when and how you can purchase it will emerge on this blog.  I’ll have artist editions available where I’ll sketch something in it for you.  Be on the lookout…..later this week.

Within the next year or so:  Don Giovanni, a graphic novel of mine, is still being sorted out and worked on.  After a failed Kickstarter for it, it has been delayed.  However, Don and pals will be all together in my first graphic novel.  Hopefully within a year or maybe a bit more it shall be released.

In my lifetime (or sooner):  Animated series?  Well, don’t be surprised.  Let’s just say there is some work in progress.

And also, be on the lookout for cartoons of mine in upcoming MAD Magazine, Parade Magazine and more.  And I still have greeting cards out on the shelves of awesome businesses near you.

Again, I’m going for the bigger picture.  I will continue my syndicated work with Break of Day, but I don’t see the market for it growing anytime soon, so I’m mostly focussed on big projects.

I have in my head tons of short stories, graphic novels and material that is just anxious and itching to get out.  If I had all the free time in the world and not have to worry about the electric bill, you would see A LOT more from me.  And I hope a lot of these ideas in my noggin appear on paper soon.  I know think they will – but in bits and pieces at a time.

Anyway, that’s your little update from me.  I’ll be extremely busy in the near future and not too sure how often I can write here on my beloved Nate’s Ramblings.  BUT, again, stay tuned this week for the book announcement.  And, of course, I’ll be writing as much as possible (considering I still have use of all my fingers).

 

How to fail at Kickstarter

Well, I wanted to try it out.  I did – and it failed.

My Kickstarter campaign for Don Giovanni didn’t do quite what I wanted.  With a goal of raising $17,500 – I raised $2,270.  A thousand of that came from a truly awesome source (thank you again – you know who you are!) and the rest elsewhere (and you are all awesome as well).

So, you might be thinking I’m down in the dumps about it, but actually I’m not.  The reason being it was a first attempt at it and going into it I knew it would be a challenge.  I thought I’d discuss potentially why it did fail so maybe, just maybe, if you decide to go with a Kickstarter, you’ll have a few things to consider.

On a good note, when launching this project, I found that there is interest in it beyond me.  Yes, I wasn’t exactly close to my goal, but the supporters I had were truly supportive.  And some really big outside sources (big names in the industry, let’s just say) helped back it as well.  That makes me feel good about it and again confirms that I definitely want to complete this novel.  Just because it failed on Kickstarter doesn’t mean it’s not a good project.

One issue about it though is this:  You don’t know if it’s a good movie by watching the first five minutes.  Okay, that’s my clever analogy.

I put up the first seven pages of the novel.  I don’t think it’s enough to base the entire book off of.  In fact, the first seven pages tell little of the story.  There was a bit of a cliff-hanger in it, but I don’t know if it was enough to get a lot of people to fund it.

That being said, I believe when the novel is completed, people will be more into it once they can see more and know a bit more about it.

Don Giovanni has a very classic name as well.  I’m not sure if too many people associated it with opera so wanted nothing to do with it.  But, the name could have been a factor as well.  Maybe I should of named it just Don – or something totally different.  However, even after failing, I feel the name needs to stay the same.  That’s part of what makes it special.  After all – it IS Don Giovanni (a take off a Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart opera).  If you notice though, mine is completely different.  It takes place in a trailer park in Ohio and features mostly children.  Not fat men/women bellowing out Italian on stage.

Another factor is I don’t really have a major online presence with marketing.  I have this blog and Break of Day at GoComics.com.  This blog is an excellent platform to market things, however, I haven’t always been too consistent on here and my readership isn’t massive.  The REAL successful Kickstarters tend to have a major following.  I think I have a pretty big following with my work (like Break of Day), but me personally, well, I’m don’t have a huge online presence.  So, when marketing my Kickstarter, I relied on Facebook, here (Nate’s Ramblings), Twitter, press releases, interviews, emails, talking with people and others.  I had some great shout-outs, mentions and post about Don Giovanni including at The Daily Cartoonist and Andrew Farago of The Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco and more, but it wasn’t exactly enough.  I’m guessing if I had tens of thousands of followers on Nate’s Ramblings, readers like yourself and others would probably be more aware of me and therefore support the project more.

I’ve always admitted to be bad at marketing, but that’s no excuse.  I did learn some new marketing things from all this and so that’s a plus!

My $17,500 goal obviously played a big role in failing as well.  That’s a big chunk o’ change.  However, I didn’t just pull that number out of my behind (which would’ve been gross anyhow).  Nope.  I based it off of printing cost, an editor and just some compensation so I would have the time to do it.  I would have not worked on other projects that pay my bills to complete Don, and so, that’s why it was high.  But again, that’s a big number to hit.  And when you add in the not-so-big online following, well, you know.

It’s funny because I could sorta tell from the beginning (launch) of my Kickstarter that it wasn’t exactly going to take-off.  I just had that intuition.

It didn’t create “buzz” – which is needed as well.  I’ve noticed the successful ones usually take-off a bit right at first.  And if not at first, after a week or so.  Mine didn’t.

I actually emailed a guy that works at Kickstarter and asked for some constructive criticism of how my project looked, what I could do different, etc.  I told him to be brutally honest.  He wrote back and said everything looked good.  The video I did (which was nothing fancy) came across as genuine and sincere (which I was), the first seven pages looked good and the levels of pledging were also up to par.

So, again, what went wrong?

I think that’s something we’ll never know exactly, but I believe it was just a combination of things.  All the possibilities of what would persuade someone not to pledge I think I mentioned.  When you added the all up, it just wasn’t’ enough to hit $17,500.

I’m actually excited that it failed in some regards (and honestly, I use the term ‘failed’ loosely, because I don’t think it failed if I tried – I learned things).  Of course it would have been exciting to hit my goal, to get it funded and get to work.  But, that’s not the way things always happen.  And the possibilities of getting a REAL publisher with Don Giovanni is very exciting.

I plan on definitely, as I’ve mentioned, finishing this novel.  I want to do more graphic novels as well.  I’ve found that I enjoy what I’ve done so far and this is just the beginning.  And speaking of publishers, I’ve already submitted it off to one.

The Kickstarter was a first attempt.  Like learning to ride a bike, I fell off.  BUT, I’ve learned a few things on the way, had fun trying and I actually got a lot out of it.  And unlike falling off a bike, I didn’t hurt anything – not even my wallet.  (The good thing about Kickstarter is there’s really no initial investment – just time.)  It was like taking the over in a football game.  It was somewhat like running for office with all the campaigning.  Through it all though, I learned there were definitely people interested in Don Giovanni, just not enough people knew about it or who pledged.

It’s going to take a few extra steps for me, but hey, nothing wrong with stepping.

Below:  The first seven pages of Don Giovanni