We’re chugging along!
As I write this on Sunday, May 1st at 5pm EST, the GunEngine Zero Kickstarter campaign is at 18% funded with 32 backers after 4 full days. (I launched it on Tuesday night.) Honestly, I was hoping for closer to 30% at this point. There are still a lot of people following the campaign that haven’t backed it yet (about 80%) and I don’t know if any leads have come in from the Alterna Comics ads I placed. So, maybe when those people get their books from Alterna, the backer count will jump up. Otherwise, I wasted a lot of money and time.
And, man, this whole crowd-funding stuff is seriously stressing me out. Since so much is riding on this campaign, I’m feeling the weight of that every day. Last night I woke up from nightmares about 3 different times. I can’t focus on other things, I have to force myself NOT to look at the campaign stats every 2 minutes and I’m berating myself because I feel like I should be able to come up with more ideas for promoting the campaign. But I don’t know what else I can do.
CROWDFUNDING IS FUN!
Crowdfunding Promotional Strategy
I’ve come to the belief that the best promotional strategy may just be to swap links with other creators on Kickstarter. Facebook/Instagram posts and going on podcasts/livestreams may help but I believe that sharing campaigns with other creators may be the most productive route. (And I’m talking about campaigns that I’ve actually backed.)
Of course, this is just a guess. I have no way to actually discover where every backer is coming from. Kickstarter gives some general data on this but nothing so specific to say that a backer came from the Alterna ad. The only way to know that would be to send out a poll but I don’t see any option to do that. Maybe I’ll do that in a survey at the end of the campaign.
So, with this in mind, here are some projects that I’ve backed or plan to back once I get some more money flowing into my bank account that you might also find interesting.
This one has already closed but I believe you can still order thru Backerkit by clicking that “pre-order here” link. I’ve never used Backerkit so I’m not sure how it works.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/americandreamscomic/knightwrath-1-a-90s-influenced-antihero-adventure
This one just launched. I was meaning to back volume 1 when it came out so I’ll have to see about getting my hands on that somehow.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amazingactioncomics/project-shadow-breed-volume-2-1
This is Russell Allen’s campaign to send books to kids via the ComicBooks for Kids charity, which we are also supporting on our GEZ campaign.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/russxplode/catcat-and-piggygirl-issue-1
And this campaign has ended already but
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/a-aron/blood-and-fire-a-samurai-tale-chapter-1-of-3
The Amazing Con-Man
The April 30th show in Hickory, NC was moved to June 4th. So my next convention will be in Nashville on May 14th. It’s about a 5 hour drive, so me and the kids will have to stay in a hotel for 2 nights, making this con a pretty expensive endeavor. Hopefully, I’ll be able to sell at least 1 book!
After that will be in Asheville on May 21st and Orlando on June 18th.
By the way, I do have some con-exclusive items. Namely, 8 x 10s and 11 x 17 posters. I don’t offer these in my crowdfunding campaigns because they don’t fit in a Gemini mailer unless they’re folded and I know people aren’t too keen on that. The 8 x 10s might barely fit in the mailer but there’s a good chance the sides can get crushed in transport, ruining the print inside. And I don’t want to have to go through the headache of mailing replacement 8 x 10s.
So, if you’re ever at a con that I’m at, please come by and let’s have a chat! I’ll be happy to sign stuff, too, if you want. (Rainy Road stuff. Just to be clear.)
They mostly come at night. Mostly.
More sneak-peek goodness at the upcoming adult horror anthology. This time in color! Adriel Dalla Vecchia colored Brian Azcurra’s line work and, I think, did an amazing job. I’ll go into more detail about this project once the GEZ campaign is completed.
A Word About “Coincidences”
Coincidence is a funny thing. When you write something into a story that a reader qualifies as a “coincidence,” they are basically accusing you of being a hack. I know because it’s happened to me. And I generally agree that having your plot rely on coincidences isn’t the best way to create story progression and it can throw you out of a story. (Training Day, I’m looking at you!)
But coincidences DO happen in real life. I’ve experienced them. Coincidences that sometimes make you question if we really are living in some sort of simulation. Like we’re just characters in a play or movie or video game and elements of our life are being manipulated by an invisible hand.
I know this sounds silly but I have experienced things that give me pause and question my understanding of the universe. Let me tell you about the latest one.
First, to add some background to this tale, you should know that one thing I’ve considered doing with the GEZ campaign is to give away comics from the 80s. The idea is that since GEZ takes place in 1985 and the book is somewhat of an homage to sci-fi superhero comics/characters of that era, it might be fun to let modern readers get a hands-on experience as to what that’s all about. (Not to mention, to enjoy the dizzying fragrance of 80s comic paper!)
I already have some issues of ROM and whatnot but, yesterday, I went to a flea market looking for more comics I could giveaway. I found some more issues of ROM, issues of Iron Man and, how about that, an issue of Shogun Warriors.
As I’ve mentioned in previous newsletters, Shogun Warriors was one of the main things from my childhood that stuck with me and eventually led, in part, to the creation of GunEngine Zero. Now, not only was the comic in surprisingly good condition, not only was it in a Mylar bag, not only was it just $2 but when I opened the book, this is the ad I saw on the inside front cover.
“What’s the big deal?” you may be saying. Well, I’ve stated previously that GEZ recalls not only classic sci-fi/superhero elements like those found in Shogun Warriors but also classic sci-fi/horror elements like those found in “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”
So here we have a random book I found to give away as part of the GEZ campaign that contains both of those EXACT things, side-by-side.
Coincidence, you say? Insidious plot by an omnipotent force set out to blow my freaking mind, I say!
This Week in Randomness!
Were you around for this? I was. Oh, fun times. When we thought the internet was nothing more than a meaningless time-suck and had no idea that it actually signified the downfall of our civilization. C’est la vie!
~Michael T Gonzalez