The Dilemma of the Last Day of a Comic on Kickstarter

To push or not to push? That is the question.

13 days ago, I launched my latest and newest comic, Last Ride of the 4 Horsemen: Tribulation 3, on Kickstarter, and it’s had a successful, if modest, run on the crowdfunding platform, nearly 180% funded with, as I write this post, approximately 30 hours to go. You can still get in on the Kickstarter rewards here:

At this point in the campaign, I’ve saturated my existing channels to reach previous and potential backers within my network. Here’s a short list of resources I exploited in efforts to inject the long-running Last Ride of the 4 Horsemen series into the awareness of comics fans most likely to be interested in it:

• Topical and relevant Substack posts featuring Last Ride of the 4 Horsemen assets and info to illustrate points and strategies;

• The BackerKit Launch email campaign program, which is dramatically less potent than in the past, almost to the point of being futile;

• Kickstarter campaign updates for all previous Last Ride of the 4 Horsemen Kickstarter campaigns (so far, the clear leader in outreach effectiveness);

• Direct messaging to previous backers of Last Ride of the 4 Horsemen Kickstarter campaigns (no more than once per campaign);

• Facebook posts to long-established Flatline Comics and Last Ride of the 4 Horsemen groups (essentially a waste of time);

• Automated notifications to Kickstarter backers who elected to follow the new Last Ride of the 4 Horsemen campaign or who backed other recent campaigns.

Since Thursday evening, there’s been a nice surge of activity around the campaign, with a nearly 20% increase in pledges, which is likely, should that trend hold through project’s end, to bring the funding in line with the previous campaign for this project. I can be satisfied with that and grateful, regardless. While a final funding figure around $2000 is nice, it doesn’t come close to covering the production and publication costs for the new issue.

However, with just one more issue to go in this 13-issue story, I’m not stopping now. I’m more personally invested in finishing this Apocalyptic Steampunk epic than I am financially invested, and, besides, finishing it means two more big funding campaigns down the line: one for the Tribulation trade paperback to accompany the two already in existence and another for a ginormous omnibus holding the entire body of work someday.

Given all those considerations, at this late stage in the campaign, with some clear funding momentum underway, I always ask myself:

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Should I continue to press my backer network with direct messaging, emails, and social media posts? Or is it wiser to back off the heavy campaigning and allow the assets I’ve put into place to carry this thing into port?

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My inclination is always the latter, to slow, if not halt altogether, any new direct outreach initiatives in the interest of avoiding frustration and/or promotion fatigue on the part of potential backers. Any who followed the campaign via Kickstarter automatically receive reminder notifications at the 48- and 8-hour marks anyway, so I don’t want to be hammering redundantly on their doors and evoking any resentment.

I’d like to know your personal stance on this dilemma, and, if you’re so inclined, I’d love to have your support for this long-form comic that occupies an important place in my creative catalog, whether by pledge or share or mention.

Thanks for making comics with me, and thanks for your valued experience and input!

• Kevin