We Are All Very Cool

Another Kickstarter campaign comes to a close. Some lessons learned.

You’re in for a long one today! Here’s a deep-dive into the campaign for Stay Cool. The campaign ended yesterday, funding successfully, and I have thoughts.

Campaign Review

Let’s get into it!

We took a few days to fund this time out. A huge boost from some other very successful campaigns gave us our best days (aside from launch day) on Day 8 and 9. Those days got us over the line early.

Then we stalled a bit. Pledges trickled in here and there until our 3rd best day hitting on the final day.

Our backers came from all over the world, but our print backers came from just four countries: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany.

For digital, we had backers from the Philippines, Switzerland, Argentina, Brazil - along with the previously mentioned four.

Being the 2nd campaign, we have something to track against…

Comparing Unlimited Udo and Stay Cool

Returning Backers

First off, returning backers were a big part of the day one success of Stay Cool. This isn’t something we had the advantage of with Unlimited Udo.

Not all 37 returning backers were day one - but they were a big part in nearly doubling our day one backer count from Udo.

It was never really close from then on:

Shorter Campaign

You’ll notice we ran a much shorter campaign this time out. On Unlimited Udo, we had 14 “zero days” where no one contributed. We had just 2 on Stay Cool.

Double-Edged Shipping

I covered this in a previous newsletter, but one thing that worked against us was getting such good deals on shipping. If I wanted to inflate the numbers, I could have pocketed that cost. I felt like it would be in the campaigns best interest to pass those savings along. (I have thoughts about this, which I’ll share in the Nov 1 newsletter)

Fortunately, given we’ve had so many more backers this campaign, we’ve still surpassed what we made on Udo.

Project We Love

We were also picked as a “project we love” by Kickstarter, which helped us stay on the front page and show up in emails from KS it self.

Cross-Promo Was Strong

I had more folks reach out and I’ve made more indie comic friends online this time around. A lot more. I’ll be shouting them all out at the end of this newsletter, but they were all a huge help in getting the word out.

There were some things I’ve learned that I’ll be carrying into the next campaign…

Lessons Learned

Two Minutes Make All The Difference

You’d think it’s not a big deal, but the difference between 11:59pm and 12:01am is actually huge! The way Kickstarter tracks time is strange. By having my campaign end at 11:59pm, I had the Kickstarter “days left” shorting me a day until it switched to hourly.

This would be especially confusing if you saw my countdown on social media, then found you lost a day or hour when you get to the campaign page.

Shorter Campaigns Rule

For a number of reasons, I think I’ll keep campaigns short from now on.

One reason of which is that running a Kickstarter is stressful. You’re spending every moment of your free-time hustling - and many of those days may not be fruitful at all. (See “zero days” above.)

Some advice I received was to be aware of the “bathtub” on Kickstarter. You’ll launch strong then have very little movement until your last couple days. This mostly held true if not for a couple huge shoutouts that spiked the campaign. Since that’s the case, I’d rather get to the good part faster.

I Still Don’t Get Advertising

Ads on Twitter/X just didn’t work this time out. I don’t know what I was doing wrong and no one ever got back to me.

Both Google and Meta ads helped get the follower count up, but barely effected the backer count. My guess is having such a lot spend is also lowering the ROI, which makes the ads technically “more expensive”.

I tried reaching out to Jellop, but I was both too late and too small a project. Here’s hoping I can pique their interest for the next one.

Social Assets Up Front

I goofed again this time. Though I was better at planning most things, I didn’t get many assets ready until a day or two before I needed them. Given I don’t launch a campaign without the art being ready - this falls completely on my shoulders for not being done.

I will 100% be better about this next time. Even more so now that I’ve got a better handle on social media. (More about that in-depth on Oct 15).

This goes for podcasting too. I was lucky enough to run into Konrad of Wednesday Night Reviews at Fan Expo and get a slot, but if it weren’t for that - I’d find myself without a podcast to push the project on.

Advice From Those Who Know

I was able to ask a lot of creators questions at Fan Expo Canada this year, which was amazing. But I was also able to ask the heavyweights of Kickstarter questions directly through email or Twitter/X - including Pat Shand, Matt Garvey, Charlie Stickney, Caleb Palmquest, Allan Dunford and more. Much of their advice was invaluable for this campaign and future ones.

A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed

I made friends and acquaintances with so many amazing creators. I’m certain I’m leaving some off the list here, but I’m happy to have met the lot of these folks.

Check out these projects when you find the time. Some are complete, but they have links for you to follow them to the next:

The Muck -Fantasy/Psychological/Thriller

PISSANT APOCALYPSE 165+ Page Outlaw Graphic Novel

GLITCH #1-2 -  A YA Post-Apocalyptic Solarpunk Comic Series

Tales From Town's City #1 - Golden Age Superhero Dark Comedy

Read MEGABITCH Issue 1 for FREE - Scifi Adventure Comedy

The Vein - Bizarre. Chaotic. Gory. Fun.

ARKS Proximan #1 - Prepare for a sci-fi revolution in this groundbreaking biopunk comic.

Cicada Samurai - A NEW STORY BEGINS!

Frankenstein the Unconquered #1-4 - An Action Horror Comic

Nothing Can Stop The Jellyfish-Monkey! - Exactly what the title says!

Papa Balloon & Cactus 3 - Absurdist Comedy

The Devil Paid Men #1 - A Hell-Sprawling Epic Fantasy!

Demon Bitch - Grrrrr! Cartoon Insanity

George Todorovski Sketchbook - Scifi & Fantasy Illustrations

Wastelands - Cyberpunk Spaghetti Western

Depowered, Child Possession Services and Bulletproof Chicken - Three New Books!

Hospice: No Freedom In Texas - 24pg ONE SHOT HORROR COMIC

Glarien of White Ash 1-3 -Fantasy Series for Mature Readers

HAMMER TO HELL #2 - Brutal ACTION revenge comic about a regular man travelling through to hell to KILL the Devil!

START AGAIN #5 - Naughty Surprise

More To Come

I have a lot to do still with Stay Cool, including fulfillment and getting some of the store pages up and running.

Importantly, everything I’ve learned here will be carried into the next project. I’m aiming for February or March. I’ll share more on that as it becomes more clear.

In the meantime…

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What’s Next?

October 15

All Up In Your Socials

Going all-in on Twitter/X and Instagram…for my sins

November 1

Fun With Fulfillment

I stand on my soapbox about shipping rates.