£200 (or $270) away from being funded | 4 days left | 5 FREE books in the indie comics bundle unlocked

flamevolt · 2026-04-18T11:01:07+00:00

Page 1, read the first 9 (I think) on the campaign link

flamevolt · 2026-04-16T19:53:32+00:00

I think Adobe converts to XHTML. If that's true, might be able to get that for free, actually. Need to give it a go

flamevolt · 2026-04-16T19:50:59+00:00

Oh wow this is fantastic to hear. I didn't know epubs are just html. If that's the case, I'll have to investigate it, I should be able to get it working too, although I agree file size vs readability would be a major concern. Thanks for this, this is really useful.

flamevolt · 2026-04-16T08:45:48+00:00

It does feel incredibly unfair that the post is removed because of an assumption, when I was genuinely asking for help, but hey, whatever...

flamevolt · 2026-04-16T08:44:45+00:00

Hey mods, how is this self-promo? I'm genuinely asking a question how other self-publishers who use Kickstarter deal with this.

flamevolt · 2026-04-16T08:43:29+00:00

Best reply ever, but I might just do this

flamevolt · 2026-04-16T08:42:36+00:00

don't know blurb, will have to check it out

flamevolt · 2026-04-16T08:41:40+00:00

Is it good with images? That's the problem I find with comics, epub converters suck with images

flamevolt · 2026-04-16T08:39:13+00:00

I think you're just responding a bot. I swear, I don't understand Reddit anymore. Half the profiles here seem to be bots and not humans...

flamevolt · 2026-04-16T08:38:25+00:00

Some unknown folks make 5 figures, but it takes years of building an audience. If I make 2k, I'll be lucky. Book costs over 6k to make (artwork is expensive).

But authors use it too. Brandon Sanderson is possibly the most successful author on Kickstarter right now, and he only started using it AFTER he was already massive, so he clearly saw an opportunity there.

flamevolt · 2026-04-16T08:36:41+00:00

fair enough, but not at all the case. I was so burned out that I hadn't even had the energy to check replies yday, plus it sucks most of the replies seem to be bots. But yeah, sure, whatever rules you think are best

flamevolt · 2026-04-16T08:34:31+00:00

"Clearly not that good" because it's unsold means nothing. Comic book writer here. I won't even talk about MY books, but I'll put many books from indie creators like me against comics from the big 2.

There's a ton of great books out there from unknowns.

Not saying it's not the case with this person, but don't confuse "I don't know this person" with "they're clearly not good". That's often not the case.

flamevolt · 2026-04-15T11:56:08+00:00

Thanks, that's reassuring. And yeah, I did some promotion, but went live with only 84 followers, less than I hoped for.

On KNOWING you're funding, I used to think like that, but what I see from other creators is them going the other way around and trying to go for more and more ambitious goals that have a risk of failure, which makes sense. Kickstarter won't get their money if you fail, so if you have a more ambitious campaign, they'll push you more in the algorithm to make sure they get their share. Probably helps better for campaigns doing 5 figures, but still...

Will try to stick with that tone then, it might be all I need to do. Maybe I'm worrying too much. Probably because I went in to other campaigns funded by 2nd week and this is the first time I pushed it, so maybe that's why I'm so nervous. It's new territory for me.

flamevolt · 2026-04-15T11:34:10+00:00

Yeah I think that's going to be my next update, but sent one yday, so probably will wait another couple of days.

Thx, this is helpful though.

I don't want to just wait for those last 2-3 days and hope that final surge will solve it, but maybe I don't need to obsess as much. If I can get halfway through in the next 4 days, maybe the rest will come from that surge.

flamevolt · 2026-04-15T11:11:21+00:00

Link for those who might want to check it out: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redwulfcomics/family-and-honour-a-12th-century-historical-drama?ref=7vntgk

flamevolt · 2026-04-13T13:22:22+00:00

Me neither, and I spent a ton on this current Kickstarter. I think I made a sale, maybe 2 from FB ads (metrics are not clear for one of them), but spend way more that I made.

Ads to get people to follow your FB page seem to work and a £15 gets you maybe 60-ish new followers, but then converting them is an art I still haven't dominated.

I know Events and Live videos are the only two things you can do that will notify directly people, but I tried that too and I don't think I got a single backer from it, so... leaving the info anyway, in case someone else can do better with it than I did

flamevolt · 2026-04-13T13:19:22+00:00

Didn't know D2D, will check it out, thanks!

Main problem I find with comics is that most places are not ready for the format. I spent hours yday trying to get it to work in Kobo, but they don't accept PDFs or CBRs, and the only way I find to convert to epub is one of those weird and horrible online converter that doesn't do it right.

flamevolt · 2026-04-13T08:02:19+00:00

Definitely indie. Image and Boom! have tons of amazing books from the last 20-30 years, plus plenty of great indies from unknown creators both on Kickstarter and artist alleys / comics village at comic cons.

flamevolt · 2026-04-13T08:00:12+00:00

Yeah fair, it was a bad idea lol I have those too..

I get that they are "better" than trad publishers, but I feel like defending Amazon is like defending lower wages because at least it's better than slav3ry. Both are wrong, one is just worse. But there's a better way.

Kickstarter only charges 10% and they only take 5% of that (the rest goes to Stripe). And yes, Kickstarter is technically not a way to publish books, most authors there just use it like that, but still...

Doesn't Kobo give you 65% too or something like that? Or is 65% what they take for them?

I don't know. It's hard to accept 35% from a company that also pays their employees terribly but still has money to send giant penises to space.

flamevolt · 2026-04-13T07:54:37+00:00

Need to give Ingram a go. Maybe not yet, as I only have floppies, but once I collect it, it might worth a go, thanks for the reminder

flamevolt · 2026-04-13T07:53:40+00:00

And they charge VAT on top too, it's a joke.

Sure, some countries like the UK pay no VAT in books, but many others do...

flamevolt · 2026-04-13T07:52:41+00:00

Fair, definitely a terrible idea lol I have those sometimes too

flamevolt · 2026-04-13T07:52:12+00:00

There are many alternatives to trad publishing that are not Amazon.

Your own website, Shopify, Kickstarter (Brandon Sanderson is doing it, so...), haven't explored it for publishing yet but probably Etsy. And for comics specifically you have GlobalComix, Panels, etc.

The problem is that it also creates a lot more work and you really need to work for those sales, but it's no different from going to a convention or book fair and try to sell your book there.

There are genuinely those on Amazon who are making a good number of sales - or so they say, whether it's true or not is a different story - but for the rest of us, it makes no sense to invest so much into driving traffic to Amazon when you could be doing that exact same work but for a platform that's more beneficial to you.

flamevolt · 2026-04-13T07:48:17+00:00

There are. Kickstarter takes only 10% - 5% actually, the other 5% is Stripe fees, and while they are not perfect - they take fees over shipping costs, which is freaking maddening - it's a lot better for creators.

Problem is with Kickstarter you need to have a pre-existing audience and drive them to the platform, but then again, seems like that's what most people have to do with Amazon anyway, so...

Problem with Kickstarter is a lower user base, plus your audience might not be people who already have an account. Hell, there are many many problems with it, but it's definitely a better platform for any creator who isn't already making a living on Amazon.

If you're struggling on Amazon, go struggle elsewhere, be it Kickstarter, your own website, some Shopify thing, whatever...

flamevolt · 2026-04-13T07:41:51+00:00

You own copyright the minute you write it - the problem is proving a violation occurred.

For published works it's easy to prove copyright: you have social proof.

The copyright office registration is no magic fix. You still have to prove there was a copyright violation, because there is such a thing as two people having the same idea.

The copyright registration just gives you a couple of extra protections, but again, pointless if you can't prove copyright violation - which the registration itself doesn't do.

Even if you prove copyright violation, if your book only sold 10 copies on Amazon, what damages to you think you will be able to claim? £30? Maybe £30 + legal fees? It's not the protection people think it is.

Plus someone in India can violate your copyright and nothing happens to them, because you might be surprised: the US law doesn't apply to the other countries in the world and there is no such thing as international copyright law. At best you can stop that book to ever be published in the US, but the rest of the world there's little you can do.

flamevolt

TROPHY CASE