Why -Fleetwood Mac
And with the departure of the Green Man (for now...) We come to the end of Book 3. There will be no comic this Friday but next Monday's comic will be a double sized comic to kick off Book 4.
"Now wait a moment," you might be saying right about now. "Book 3? Book 4? I don't recall chapter breaks in Bohemian Nights." And you would be correct...in a way.
When I re-did the very first two comics because the original art was just god awful, I knew I wanted to start having chapter breaks that correspond to the seasons, but I never got around to doing it until just recently. So you will notice that the first book (summer) starts with comic #1. Book 2 (Autumn) starts at comic #169 and Book 3 (winter) at #300. The books are roughly 150 comics in length so that puts Book 4 (spring) starting with the next comic #450 and keeps a loose timeline to the ongoing stories.
This is all in preparation to eventually seeing these chunks of the comic in print. I'm looking into Kickstarter to print the first book which will include... Emrys comes to town and meets the gang and gets a job at the market, Shannon returns, the big night out story, Mark and Shannon reunite, Dave meets Devon, the history and origins of the Bohemian gang, McKrakkin's big acid trip, and the last day of summer trip to the beach. But I really would like to make the book something people would really like to buy. Not just printing the strips that one can obviously read on line. I would like to include a bunch of new extras only seen in the book. And that's were you come along.
I've already decided to expand the Mckrakkin acid trip story to include never before seen scenes of her wild trip, but I would like to do more. So I'm asking all you out there. What else would you like to see in the book? Added comics that expand the storylines? Extra features that show their history? Alternative universe stories? What would you like for intensives? Post card prints of the characters? Stickers? Buttons? Let me know. I'd love to hear from you cos I don't have a clue.
I would really like to print a high quality book (and something better and larger than the thin introduction book I put out a couple of years back), but only if there is some call for it. Would Kickstarter intensives and new material do it?
Anyway...It's not happening overnight, but I would like to hear from anyone out there what they would like. All ideas are welcome.
So a short pause with no comic this Friday and I'll be back next Monday with Book 4.
Cheers!
Save
Hmm, I guess it’s decision time for all of us. 🙂
Kickstarter is, in my uneducated consumer opinion, a great vehicle for publishing comic books/omnibuses and I’ve backed a few in the past couple of years. I highly recommend touching base with fellow artists who’ve already successfully funded and delivered on similar projects (I can name a few if you need suggestions), that way you can get a much better idea what to expect from the professionals who already speak your language, as it were. 🙂
As for suggestions for add-ons or stretch goals, I recommend you keep it simple for your first run. Anything you can easily format and include in the actual book (or PDF format) is best, like your extend Mckrakkin story, and then if you want to do extras offer those as stretch goals. My impression from seeing seasoned (and first-time) Kickstarter comic creators is that they make their goal barebones to help keep the target funding amount low (relatively speaking), then, if they think they have the audience for it, they offer stretch goals like an additional short story not critical to the online reading experience (PDF only), bookplates, bookmarks, character portrait cards (think 3×5″ or baseball sized cards), a button for a mascot type character (maybe the Green Man?), or other options that play to your artistic strengths that you know you can deliver on without having to find a whole bunch of different vendors to coordinate with on a budget. I suppose if you’re really ambitious, you could look into making the drinking board game a stretch goal or add-on, but that might do better as a stand alone project, I don’t know.
For me personally? I like the idea of more character background stories or extended scenes (you could be mean to the guys and expand on what the gals saw and thought when Emrys’ “unmasking” happened – HA!), because I’m a fan of world building and character history. A couple of ideas might be more of Jeff’s work woes, some of Annabel’s or Devon’s past, Mateo’s and Mark’s band stories, or heck, even a dig into the mysterious Desmond’s past(!).
Whatever you decide, I’m interested to see what you come up with and, budget permitting, I’ll be happy to back a book. 🙂
I’d be a little cautious with the stretch goals and what you offer – I think it’s easy to get burned with stretch goals unrelated to your core product if the numbers don’t work out the way you expect (either way – look at the Order of the Stick kickstarter a few years ago which was wildly successful, but Rich Burlew is still working on backer rewards literally three years later).
I think the best stretch goals are those which are directly tied to improving your core product, don’t have a high per unit cost, but *do* have a high setup cost which would only be worth it if enough people buy it. Something like better quality paper, maybe? Holographic covers? I have no idea.
Ever consider posting individual cells that are exceptional and intriguing as a way to generate traffic? Mike posted one from the strip and I think it might do quite well.
I wonder if the Green Man is one of those water spirits that Annabel and Drake mentioned. He always seems to be hanging around water sources, be they water fountains or rivers.
5 thoughts on “#449 Who are You?”
Thracecius
Hmm, I guess it’s decision time for all of us. 🙂
Kickstarter is, in my uneducated consumer opinion, a great vehicle for publishing comic books/omnibuses and I’ve backed a few in the past couple of years. I highly recommend touching base with fellow artists who’ve already successfully funded and delivered on similar projects (I can name a few if you need suggestions), that way you can get a much better idea what to expect from the professionals who already speak your language, as it were. 🙂
As for suggestions for add-ons or stretch goals, I recommend you keep it simple for your first run. Anything you can easily format and include in the actual book (or PDF format) is best, like your extend Mckrakkin story, and then if you want to do extras offer those as stretch goals. My impression from seeing seasoned (and first-time) Kickstarter comic creators is that they make their goal barebones to help keep the target funding amount low (relatively speaking), then, if they think they have the audience for it, they offer stretch goals like an additional short story not critical to the online reading experience (PDF only), bookplates, bookmarks, character portrait cards (think 3×5″ or baseball sized cards), a button for a mascot type character (maybe the Green Man?), or other options that play to your artistic strengths that you know you can deliver on without having to find a whole bunch of different vendors to coordinate with on a budget. I suppose if you’re really ambitious, you could look into making the drinking board game a stretch goal or add-on, but that might do better as a stand alone project, I don’t know.
For me personally? I like the idea of more character background stories or extended scenes (you could be mean to the guys and expand on what the gals saw and thought when Emrys’ “unmasking” happened – HA!), because I’m a fan of world building and character history. A couple of ideas might be more of Jeff’s work woes, some of Annabel’s or Devon’s past, Mateo’s and Mark’s band stories, or heck, even a dig into the mysterious Desmond’s past(!).
Whatever you decide, I’m interested to see what you come up with and, budget permitting, I’ll be happy to back a book. 🙂
Brett
I’d be a little cautious with the stretch goals and what you offer – I think it’s easy to get burned with stretch goals unrelated to your core product if the numbers don’t work out the way you expect (either way – look at the Order of the Stick kickstarter a few years ago which was wildly successful, but Rich Burlew is still working on backer rewards literally three years later).
I think the best stretch goals are those which are directly tied to improving your core product, don’t have a high per unit cost, but *do* have a high setup cost which would only be worth it if enough people buy it. Something like better quality paper, maybe? Holographic covers? I have no idea.
Sterling
Ever consider posting individual cells that are exceptional and intriguing as a way to generate traffic? Mike posted one from the strip and I think it might do quite well.
Luminous Lead
I wonder if the Green Man is one of those water spirits that Annabel and Drake mentioned. He always seems to be hanging around water sources, be they water fountains or rivers.
bohemiannightsthecomic
hmm. I hadn’t thought of that before. Traditionally, the Green Man is more of an Earth spirit though.
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