The Mid-Campaign Dead Zone
Hello and welcome to Pesto Comics. We’re right in the mid-campaign for Snip #1 and #2, and we’re hitting the “dead zone,” which is what it’s usually called. The campaign isn’t doing poorly; it’s just kind of stalled.
My original plan with this campaign was to do a very short one—14 days, maybe 21 days max. We’re at a 30-day campaign, and that came out of the reality that I had some extra time at the end. My original goal at the beginning of 2026 was to try to get 11 to 12 campaigns out there, but that didn’t feel fair to the artists I have creating content behind the scenes. We’re not only doing 12 campaigns, but we were doing two, sometimes three issues per campaign in order to get things to the direct market.
Realistically, we don’t need to hit that pace to hit all the goals we have coming. So I thought, let’s do this a little slower to make sure we have more time for people to get their hands on Snip. But in doing so, you extend that dead zone and now we’re right in the thick of it. I’m certainly feeling it as I’m seeing one or two backers a day. I’m grateful for everybody who backs, but you’re not seeing the same traction you did in days one, two, and three. When you’re in this part of the campaign, it feels like there’s nothing you can do to convince people to jump on board.
Followers and the Direct Market
One of the ways I convince myself to feel better is to actually not look at the backers, but look at the followers. These are people who would probably come back by the end of the campaign, and that has been consistent with nearly every campaign I’ve done. Roughly 30% of followers end up backing the campaign after all is said and done. Seeing that follower number grow helps me know that we’re well on track.
One thing that’s new with all of these campaigns is that it’s just the first of two lives that it will live. The Kickstarter campaign is our early adopter phase—the people who want the first look and the exclusive covers. But the other half of it is the direct market. Eventually, these books are going to be on store shelves again, with some exceptions. Books like Naked Kaiju Woman obviously can’t make it on a shelf given the content, but it does well enough on Kickstarter to sustain itself and I’ll keep doing it as long as Rafael is interested.
The 100-Week Timeline
I’ve done myself a little bit of a disservice as four weeks ago I gave myself 100 weeks to make this a full-time endeavor. Now we’re just four weeks in, so there’s 96 weeks left. Seeing that four weeks have already passed and we technically have zero income right now makes it feel like a long road ahead.
The campaign is doing well, but until the campaign ends, none of that money is legitimate. It won’t be hitting our account until two weeks after. Now we’re talking about 90 weeks left in the plan before we see any of the first income, and this is without counting the fact that I still have to finish fulfillment on Big Smoke Pulp, Naked Kaiju Woman, and Snip itself.
There is quite a bit of projects happening at the same time: Crimson Frontier with Daniel, the rest of Snip with Riccardo, Naked Kaiju Woman with Rafael, and a project with Mattia Monaco. I have another project with my buddy Roberto Viacava, and that’s not even counting the card game with Dice & Development and my buddy Danon Hennessy. It’s a lot of investment—mentally, time-wise, and financially. We’re in the “money out” phase, and it’s piling up really quickly.
The Pesto Vault
One thing I want to mention as a side note is once I get things sorted, I’m going to get the Pesto Vault up and running. We’ll do all the deep dives, the post-mortems, and the more financial talk about what’s happening with all this. I’m going to share as much as I can, but it will be behind a paywall so it’s not available to the world via Google search or all these AI things. All the people who were paid subscribers, I will be giving you those in kind in the new Pesto Vault plus some extra just for being a pal and dealing with this transition.
The Messy Middle
96 weeks is somehow a very long time and a very short time all at once. I feel like I do have a plan, but I’m also feeling the stress of deadlines—never more so than when we’re in the dead zone.
If you’re working on something that feels so big and like it’s slipping away, that’s probably not the case. You’re just in the “messy middle.” That’s where motivation is hardest to come by. When you start something, it’s very easy to get excited. When you’re near the end and it starts looking real, that’s also very exciting. But when you’re in this middle, and things are still uncertain and the excitement’s gone, this is the hardest part.
It’s normal to feel like Sisyphus pushing the stone up the hill, but the truth is there’s light at the end of the tunnel. You just have to keep going. Time has a funny way of feeling really long going ahead, but when you’re looking back, you realize just how quickly it can go.
So when you’re in these doldrums, just know it’ll pass. Keep pushing. I’m hoping I’m doing things the right way. This is really a “do as I say, not as I do,” and it’s kind of me speaking to myself as well as you guys. I really appreciate all the support. If you’ve backed Snip already, I really appreciate it. If you’re waiting for the direct market, it’s going to be a bit of a wait—it’s not going to come out until the fall at the earliest. Regardless of how you choose to support, I really do appreciate it. We’ll talk again next week. Have a good one.
