By Travis Gibb
November 26, 2023
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Metal Ninja Studios is dedicated to providing free, high quality education about the comic book creation process. Topics include writing, lettering, production, print prep, and more!
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Avoiding Kickstarter Marketing "Experts"
by Travis Gibb
Comic Book marketing is hard. If you are doing any sort of publishing work then putting that work out in the public sphere is scary because you only know your own circle of influence. You only know so many people who may be interested in your product. You know that you need to get the word out, that you have a great piece of amazing, awe-inspiring art the world needs to check out, but how? You want a large group of fans beyond your wildest dreams, but you don’t know how to get it. That's when the Kickstarter “experts”' come to help guide you!
Did I say help you? I meant scam you. They want to take your dreams of success and use it to fill their pockets. They’re not interested in helping you one little bit.
Sadly, most of these Kickstarter experts are scammers. It's becoming a problem. Crowdfunding is stressful enough without having to worry about people messing with your dreams for a quick buck, so to help guide you these bad apples here are 5 tips to help avoid being scammed.
1) COLD MESSAGING VIA KICKSTARTER
As soon as you launch your Kickstarter, you get these messages!
On average, you will get 20 - 30 of these when you launch. It's getting out of control. However, now and then, you may get a legit message. How do you separate the good from the bad? The first thing to do is look at when they joined Kickstarter. If it was within a few months of your launch, chances are they aren't experts or they would have been around much longer because being an expert at anything takes time. The second thing is to look at how many projects they have backed. If they didn't back any projects then odds are they’re looking to make money off of you.
2) COLD EMAIL LISTS
The second thing you have to avoid is being sent out on a cold email list. Lots of services offer to send your comic book out to their list of thousands of backers. Most likely, they’ll send that cold email and you won’t get any backers. If you do get backers, however, since Kickstarter doesn't take the money until the end of the campaign, those new backers will often cancel at the last minute or their money doesn't go through.
Sending a random email to a bunch of people who aren't ready or excited to hear from you is called spam. You ignore it every day in your mailbox. Why do you think other people wouldn’t do the same?
3) THE KICKSTARTER LINK SCAM
Here is one that upsets me the most. Some marketers promise you a 30 - 40% increase from your last campaign. They give you a short URL to your Kickstarter because they tell you that the Kickstarter link is too long. Then, they use that same link as proof to show how many backers they brought in. This is a scam.
They are getting credit for your work. It happens in web design marketing frequently, and it's a predator attack to make you think that you can't get backers without them, which is false. If you happen to end up doing this, let them use that URL exclusively. You can then track how many backers came from that link and see exactly how much they brought in.
4) THE GROUPS LINK SPAM
Another thing Kickstarter marketers offer is Facebook group messages. They will spam in hundreds of groups every day because the thought process is: if someone sees it they will go to your Kickstarter page and back the book. This is clearly simple math. However, the problem is 95% of those groups are being spammed by similar accounts every day, and, for the most part, people have learned to ignore them. You will notice most of these posts won't get any likes or shares. You’ll also notice they post in places where people aren’t even looking for new comics.
5) FIVERR SUPPORT
FIVERR is a wonderful tool and can help you grow, but you still need to be weary of the so-called expert. Always read the reviews. If you notice they don't have a lot of reviews then I would stay away. Also, comic book Kickstarter is not the same as invention Kickstarter or music Kickstarter. You want an expert in your field, which, by the way, companies like Metal Ninja Studios can provide.
Those are the 5 things to avoid. However, since we like to keep things positive around here, I’ll give you a list of services that are good to buy from actual Kickstarter experts to help you grow.
1) PODCAST INTERVIEW SCHEDULING
Someone reaching out to podcasts to help get you some appearances are great!
2) KICKSTARTER SET UP
Someone helping you get a nice and professional Kickstarter page can help your book stick out and level up.
3) EMAIL LISTS
Yes, I know I said email lists can be bad; however, if you find someone who does this for a living, like a creator or publisher, a good email can make all the difference for your campaign.
4) FACEBOOK/DISCORD/REDDIT GROUPS
There are some great groups out there having great conversations about indie comics. If you join them and become part of the conversation then you have a great chance of success. If you go in there and spam links then you’ll find yourself becoming one of those so-called Kickstarter “experts” I’ve warned you about!
That's all I have for you this week. Come back next week for more free knowledge and avoid paying for stuff with no return.