During GalaxyCon Richmond 2024, a panel was held featuring three indie comic book creators – Charlie McElvy, known for “Milestone: GodQuest” and “Spider-Squirrel”; Anthony Stokes, known for “Tap or Die” and “Decay”; and Pat Shand, the creator behind “Space Between Entertainment.”
The panel focused on crowdfunding, with questions asked to the creators. The conversation was later broken into shorter snippets for easy viewing. Here is a part of the panel where the question “Besides Kickstarter, what’s your opinion on those alternative platforms?” was discussed.
Below is the transcript of the session:
INDIE COMICS ZONE: Now, Pat just mentioned some other platforms, but I wanted to get your opinion because you guys mostly use Kickstarter. So, there’s Crowdfundr, FundMyComic…
For a complete list of crowdfunding options for your project, click here.
PAT SHAND: It’s challenging to get people to move to different platforms. Kickstarter has been and will be the main platform for a long time. These startups, in my opinion, may be worth trying in the future. Right now, they are the biggest competitors to Kickstarter in terms of offering an alternative crowdfunding solution for comics creators.
Even so, creators often focus on projects that are related to comics, but the reality is that choosing a platform other than Kickstarter might result in sacrificing your current funding for the long-term vision of that company. Are you serving your own vision or someone else’s?
ANTHONY STOKES: I believe, for now, it’s mostly just Kickstarter. It’s that simple.
CHARLIE MCELVY: I have experience with another platform, Zoop. I found that, as Pat mentioned, you need to bring your audience to the platform as they don’t have an established crowd. Zoop curates creators initially, inviting well-known names who already have a built-in audience. For newer creators, it can be challenging to succeed on such platforms.
While Zoop is focused on comics and related products, Kickstarter remains the go-to platform for many creators. The CEO of Kickstarter is aware of the competition and is constantly learning and adapting to meet the needs of creators like us. Kickstarter is the platform of choice.
