Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Chris Hoffman, Jeremy Gates, Joshua Shawndall Butterfield, kickstarter, Napolean Skywalker, Salt City Strangers

Making Salt City Strangers A Success By Making Friends On Kickstarter

Mark Avo writes for Bleeding Cool:

Kickstarter is now just as a legitimate means of gaining financial backing
as traditional financing through a bank. The phrase, "put it on
Kickstarter" has become so normal for fundraising that the New York Times
has run articles about the process. Well, Salt Lake City just had the third
biggest Comic Con in the America with attendance numbers coming in just
behind the iconic New York ComicCON. Why can't the bumpkins from the west
play in the same digital sandbox as the big boys? Well, there isn't a
reason. That's why The Salt City Strangers creative team knew they weren't
betting the house by using Kickstarter, they were funding their passions
and building a future fan base.

Chris Hoffman, the penciler and co-writer of the Salt City Strangers is
very familiar with independent projects. In the heart of Sundance
territory, Hoffman's responsible for one of the Internet's earlier fan
parody success stories with Napolean Skywalker. The other members of the
creative team aren't strangers to independent success either. Jeremy Gates
went from self-published author to mainstream author. The last member of
their crew, Joshua Shawndall Butterfield, runs a gaming company that
develops/publishes card and board games. They used their experience as
leverage when using Kickstarter and are already seeing some great success.
Not only do these creators have experience in independent publishing,
they're also certifiable super geeks. They've gamed in the comic shops they
helped run. They've spent hours researching popular and geek culture.

Using their lifetime of acquired intellect, the first thing they did was
roll an initiative check. After that success, these geeks from ski country
started building publicity with a grass roots approach. They published
their first issue on their own and used the local comic shop Black Cat
Comics to help distribute their book. Knowing their community helped them
to create a comic that locals of Salt Lake City could relate to. It also
helped them with word of mouth advertising. That small but loyal base
wanted more and that's when they knew they'd hit their stride. It was just
a perfect storm that the Salt Lake Comic Con would happen right around the
launch of their Kickstarter campaign. Local media was interested in what a
comic about a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints super-hero group
was all about. That, along with record breaking attendance at the
convention, gave them the additional publicity the Kickstarter needed.

They used local folklore and legends in their writing. Just the kind of
Easter Eggs that geeks in Utah would love to see when reading the Salt City
Strangers. Those geeks are plentiful in number too. Utah has one of the
highest STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) workforces in
the US. On any given day, fifty percent of those people are going to be LDS
faithful. With a tongue in cheek attitude toward the super-hero genre, and
with excellent story tropes, those that came out of the convention with a
copy of Salt City Strangers would soon turn into Kickstarter funders. That
word of mouth, and fans sharing their book with friends and family, insured
they'd get their funding. At the time of this writing, the Kickstarter has
hit 102% of its funding goal, and the team is even now celebrating their
success with 19 days left to go!

The other success that they built into their plan beyond knowing their
market, building a loyal fanbase, building publicity and putting the word
out on funding, was to set their Kickstarter goal at a realistic number.
They knew they had a local book and they knew their current demand based on
the issues of the first book they'd printed. If the Kickstarter funded at
their initial level, they'd be able to award their pledges, sell their
copies of their second issue, and continue writing a local hit. Writing the
book and sharing the humour that comes along with underdog heroes who fight
for what they believe in because volunteerism is a part of the Mormon
church culture, and thusly, Utah culture, was their first goal. They wanted
to have fun and that was what they kept in mind through all of the hard
work. They believe that if you aren't in love with what you're doing then
you need to really ask yourself why you're doing it.

That's precisely the kind of struggle that the Salt City Strangers team
leader struggles with. His culture and his church tell him it's his duty to
volunteer, but if he's not having fun why is he doing it? Is it his calling
in life? The Salt City Strangers report to the LDS Church office building
instead of S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters or the Vatican, but does doing it on a
local level make it any less important? There's certainly little, if any,
money as a reward for the passion and the work. But like his creators, the
Golden Spike knows that the work is usually its own reward. People cheering
you on as you do it is just the icing on the lime green Jello.

Speaking of local and obscure desserts, the Salt City Strangers team has
some very exciting rewards for Bleeding Cool readers. The first one, is
that anyone who pledges at least $1.00 will be emailed the recipe to the
Heber City 4th Wards favorite Lime Green Jello recipe. What's lime green
Jello you ask? Well, it's a local and obscure dessert that the Sal City
Strangers often enjoy at Sunday dinner or after a hard day of crime
fighting.

Be on the lookout for specific stretch goals and pledge levels designed for
our Bleeding Cool readers!

Photos:

Salt City Strangers #1 cover

Screenshot of Live Action Trailer (Starring the Gull)

The Gull with local cosplayers

The Gull with the Utah Jazz Dancers

KIckstarter exclusive cover sketch ($100 pledge got people onto the cover)

2 Pages from SCS #2

Videos:

Live Action Gull Trailer

Creative Team on the local news http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS4Yq_yFy-A

Napoleon Skywalker

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