Crowdfunding a project relies on communication, organisation, obviously a product, and lots of encouragement and support. The product, in this case, is the comic. But I’ve never written or produced a comic before. So how did I go about communicating and organising the funding of a product I’ve never produced before? This is where the encouragement and support come in.

Most importantly, I’ve had vast amounts of help from friends and family, from proofreading to producing merchandise, to recording voice-overs and making earrings, to enthusiastic support and backing when my own confidence was wavering.
Within the first couple of days, the project hit its target, and the campaign was successful. Chris who’s in New Zealand stayed up all night watching the backing come in. He said it was better than election night! At that point, there were another 3+ weeks to reach further funding goals (meaning extra free gifts). We’ve hit them and continue to receive additional backers. I am completely blown away and feel very humbled indeed.
My main backers are friends. Friends who have been kind enough to support the project and want to see it succeed. That’s the humbling aspect. Those backers I’ve spoken to aren’t generally comic book fans, but they are interested in seeing what’s going on in my addled mind. This is one of the first glimpses you’ll get since I’ve taken this time out (unless anyone’s seen me draw an IT diagram on a whiteboard).

So far, the comic has received three reviews (here, here and here) – all very positive, all interested to see how this imagined universe develops. This has given me the confidence to begin writing the second episode and think of another series.
I still expect my main writing medium to be the short-story and novel format but taking on this Kickstarter challenge has proven to be an invaluable activity regarding lessons learnt, growing an audience and most importantly, confidence building.
With any luck, my other work will find new people interested in seeing what I’m up to. I’m told the Twisted50 horror story will be available soon, and who knows, one of my other stories might get published too.
Thank-you to everyone who’s either backed, liked, shared or simply offered words of support and congratulations about the Kickstarter campaign. It’s given me the confidence to continue to write and come up with even more crazy ideas.
Andy