I received a question the other day about the video interview I did with Larned and Steve on their Talking Small Press YouTube show. Specifically, it was related to the reasons why the other Kickstarter creators didn’t like the HEROES NOW: PATRIOT book.
In a nutshell, it was the story. Technically, it was sound and I don’t recall receiving any criticism on that. The criticism was on the theme and plot…basically that it wasn’t what they liked, and that they didn’t they it would sell.
There’s some merit to that. The Kickstarter (and crowdfunding comics in general) community holds itself out as being tolerant, adventurous and willing to try themes that are at the fringe, thematically. While that can be true, it’s only to a point. There’s a lot of interest (and funding support) in self-made horror, LGBTQ+, super-hero, coming of age and high fantasy storytelling. Cyberpunk, less so. Once you get out of that range, you’re looking at a much harder road to fund a book.
Patriot didn’t hit those marks, and the other creators noted as such. It’s really a war/spy story, not a coming of age book in the modern sense…and while costumes make an appearance, it’s not a super-hero book in the classic sense. The characters are straight, and there’s no horror, cyberpunk or high fantasy element. It’s outside of what a Kickstarter creator would identify as a sure thing.
Crowdfunding is hard. Really hard. While that book is in its funding period, you have to eat, sleep and breathe your marketing campaign. (Oh yeah, and you have to plan and execute a marketing campaign!) It can be incredibly stressful, especially for first timers…and even moreso for first timers who don’t have “sure things” to sell.
Put it all together, and I had to decide whether the project was likely to achieve success, and whether sweating it out for over a month was worth trying the crowdfunding approach. And yes, the lack of overwhelming support from my hand-picked Kickstarter test market made me take pause.
In the end, I decided against crowdfunding. I made the choice to make the book I wanted to make, with the creators whom I wanted to align, with the production quality that I expected out of myself. I had it printed on my dime and distributed it to the people I wanted to see it. (And yes, I have had enough interest to make a second printing. Which is cool.) While crowdfunding would have significantly underwritten my costs, the hassle and stress wasn’t worth it.
I’m happy with the decision. Sure, it would have been nice to put the book into more hands. But instead, I’ve been able to make the book and move along to other, great projects. Zero regrets.
I’ll also note, the feedback that I’ve had from the small press and United Fanzine Organization community has been entirely positive, which has been very, very gratifying for this year-long project. I’ll share some of these reviews over the days ahead.
HEROES NOW: PATRIOT is available for purchase digitally at the Phoenix Productions Gumroad store, or you can order a hard copy here.
Phoenix Productions 