Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Jan 8, 2014 18:09:11 GMT -6
After about five years of slowly building momentum, the crowd-funding sector of comics may be nearly 2 percent the size of the direct market. Based on analysis of the past three months of campaigns, funds generated through Kickstarter and Indiegogo would be roughly the equivalent of the sixth- or seventh-largest publisher distributing to specialty shops in North America.
While crowd-funded comics haven’t seen as brisk of an increase as digital comics, it’s a sector of the industry that’s undeniably growing. As more established creators and publishers experiment with running campaigns, they have pulled in their readers, increasing the awareness, and even the legitimacy, of the platforms. I’ve found this area to be under-studied, and I was curious to see just how economically significant crowd-funding is becoming to the comics industry. So I have collected data on every campaign that successfully raised funds through Kickstarter and Indiegogo from October 2013 to December 2013. I’m actually going further back than that, but that data isn’t ready yet; I’m still digging through the numbers, as data collecting, sorting and number-crunching can be challenging due to the different platforms and currencies. But I wanted to make public what I have so far because as we head into 2014, following Fantagraphics’ amazing Kickstarter campaign (as just one example), I believe we’re going to be seeing the industry embrace crowd-funding more and more, and there’s a lot we can still learn about how it works and how it affects comics.
Over the past year or two, the buzzword for digital comics was “additive” to win the hearts and minds of retailers and others worried about digital cannibalizing print. We’ve since seen that it’s true, and that both digital and print have excelled. It’s worth noting that in October 2013, Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns surpassed $1 million raised. For some campaigns, they are additive in more ways than one, as many books and products that was financed by backers are later distributed to and sold at comic book stores, generating more funds.
Crowd-funding may share something else with comic book stores: Similar to the direct market’s slower holiday months, November and December didn’t generate as much; funds raised through campaigns decreased to slightly more than $850,000 and $750,000, respectively. However, the average amount raised per campaign and the average number of backers per campaign increased by the end of the year. In October, each campaign raised an average of $11,379, but in December, that amount increased to $15,862 per campaign. To look at it another way, October saw each campaign have an average of 218 people each give $52.20. In December, each campaign averaged 263 backers pledging $60.25 each. This could show that while the number of people who ran campaigns decreased in the holiday months, the number of people participating in campaigns is increasing. What’s more, they may be gaining confidence in giving more. If that analysis is correct, that’s an excellent indicator for a building momentum. However, November’s averages saw a dip in comparison to October and December, so more data will be needed to better track the progress.
As mentioned above, the crowd-funding sector appears to be almost 2 percent the size of the direct market; that’s based on the monthly sales estimates of the direct market as provided by John Jackson Miller’s Comichron.com. In October, the direct market moved about $50.32 million. Crowd-funding campaigns raised approximately $1,001,310, about 1.99 percent the size of the direct market. In November, crowd-funding’s $856,364 was 1.80 percent of the direct market’s $42.24 million. If Kickstarter and Indiegogo were a comics publisher delivering comics to the direct market, and they were collectively doing those kinds of numbers, they would be just slightly larger in market share than BOOM! Studios and Valiant Entertainment. Crowd-funding campaigns raised $761,382 in December; however, December numbers for the direct market haven’t been released. It could end up about 1.90 percent, but we will see in a couple weeks how it shakes out. Based on the numbers I have for earlier in 2013 and how they’ve tracked, I expect 2014 will surpass 2 percent fairly soon.
It’s worth taking a moment to compare the performance of Kickstarter and Indiegogo. It’s no surprise that Kickstarter is the leader here. However, in the raw numbers below, note Kickstarter’s relative stability over the three months; it’s always in the $700,000 range. Indiegogo’s fluctuation is what causes the dip during the holidays. It’s also possible that Indiegogo’s decrease over the past three months isn’t due to the holidays, but due to abandonment. If so, it doesn’t appear to be abandonment in favor of Kickstarter, at least not yet. Whatever the reason, without a blockbuster campaign like DC Entertainment’s We Can Be Heroes, the numbers on Indiegogo appear to plummet.
Just like with estimates of the North American direct market through Diamond Comic Distributors, there are caveats galore here as well. Most notably, while the amount pledged by backers is public knowledge, the final amount fulfilled for each campaign is not. Anecdotally, people running campaigns have sometimes said a surprisingly significant amount was never paid, while some seem to consider it negligible. It’s also worth noting this only includes Kickstarter and Indiegogo. These are far and away the most used and most successful platforms for comics, but there are others with a number of relevant campaigns that likely add an as-yet-unaccounted long tail to these numbers.
Finally, because I know we all love lists, I’ve included the Top 40 fundraising campaigns for each of the three months I’ve discussed here. Sometimes the blockbusters may surprise you. You’ll notice some entries have two amounts. That is due to the campaign being run in a different currency. I converted those to U.S. dollars, but it is an approximation due to the fluctuating dollar, euro, pound or what have you. I’ve also included the Top 10 campaigns with the most backers, as I think it’s interesting to see where the people flock. You’ll see that sometimes projects have a larger following that maybe can’t spend as much, and some have fewer fans with bigger pocketbooks. But first, here are the totals for each month, and divided by platform.
October 2013/November 2013/December 2013
Total Raised on Kickstarter: $757,258 / $734,232 / $721,260
Total Raised on Indiegogo: $244,052 / $122,132 / $40,121
Total Funding: $1,001,310 / $856,364 / $761,382
Total Backers on Kickstarter: 15,259 / 16,160 / 11,984
Total Backers on Indiegogo: 3,922 / 2,330 / 652
Total Backers: 19,181 / 18,490 / 12,636
Total Campaigns Funded on Kickstarter: 72 / 64 / 35
Total Campaigns Funded on Indiegogo: 16 / 17 / 13
Total Campaigns Funded: 88 / 81 / 48
Average Raised per Campaign on Kickstarter: $10,517 / $11,472 / $20,607
Average Raised per Campaign on Indiegogo: $15,253 / $7,184 / $3,086
Combined Average Raised per Campaign: $11,379 / $10,572 / $15,862
Average Backers per Campaign on Kickstarter: 212 / 253 / 342
Average Backers per Campaign on Indiegogo: 245 / 137 / 50
Combined Average Backers per Campaign: 218 / 228 / 263
Average Donation on Kickstarter: $49.63 / $45.44 / $60.19
Average Donation on Indiegogo: $62.23 / $52.42 / $61.54
Average Donation: $52.20 / $46.32 / $60.25
Top 40 Campaigns – Most Funded – October 2013
We Can Be Heroes: Justice League Edition – $217,932
Fubar: Mother Russia – $95,908
In the Dark – $75,350
Akiba Anime Art Magazine Vol. 00 – $74,003
Library Ranger Badges – $33,298
Forager – $27,043
LVL UP – $26,813
ACE 2014 – $20,251
JFK and the Unspeakable – $18,087
The Dead Roots – $17,527
Brandi Bare #4 – $17,280
Maelstrom – ~$17,040 ($18,806 CAD)
Legend of Ztarr Vol. 1 – ~$16,211 ($17,206 CAD)
The Adventures of Super Penguin – $15,164
The Will of Captain Crown – ~$14,471 ($15,359 CAD)
Lilith Dark and the Beasties Tree – $14,146
Era: Ibuki – $14,089
Game Cave Vol. 1: Fighting Junkies – $12,577
Yeti Press 2014 Subscription – $12,069
Grave Soldiers – $11,710
Captain Kitty – $10,790
A is for Antichrist: Obama’s Conspiracy Alphabet – $10,262
Pariah, Missouri: Director’s Cut – $9,479
Decrypting Rita Vol. 2 – $9,313
Persimmon Cup – $9,235
Suicide 5 – $8,798
Dawn of the Black Age – $8,446
Afroella – ~$8,121 (£5,180)
Adamsville Book 1: The Unknowns – $8,106
Nightworld – $8,070
Boss Snake: Cold Blood, Cold Streets – $7,540
Epic – $6,483
Last Res0rt Vol. 2 – $6,035
Space Bastards – $6,020
Beatrice is Dead Vol. 1 – $5,986
Kids, Eh? The First Year – ~$5,768 ($6,122 CAD)
Ben Vol. 1 – ~$5,567 ($6,028 CAD)
Dare2Draw: The Series TV pilot – $5,498
Agent: Wild #0 – $5,011
Banished – ~$4,442 ($4,715 CAD)
Top 10 Campaigns – Most Backers – October 2013
We Can Be Heroes: Justice League Edition – 3,317
Fubar: Mother Russia – 1,890
In the Dark – 1,588
Akiba Anime Art Magazine Vol. 00 – 1,548
Forager – 840
Library Ranger Badges – 612
LVL UP – 504
Lilith Dark and the Beasties Tree – 468
The Will of Captain Crown – 402
The Dead Roots – 339
Top 40 Campaigns – Most Funded – November 2013
Doug TenNapel Sketch Book Vol. 2 – $87,334
The Middleman: The Crowd-Funded Franchise Resurrection – $67,759
Serenity Rose: 10 Awkward Years – $61,575
Nelvana of the Northern Lights: Canada’s First Superheroine – $52,391
Weapon Brown: The Funny Pages…Weaponized! – $45,555
Cradle of Filth: The Curse of Venus Aversa – $42,938
Brick by Brick – $39,531
Bittersweet Candy Bowl Volume Three – $25,761
A Hero’s Death – $16,263
Fat Rabbit Farm: Mutated Bill’s Sweet Revenge – $16,021
Far from Faith – $15,875
Ninja High School: A New Semester – $15,358
Tales of Mr. Rhee – $15,158
The Circle – $14,175
Nenetl of the Forgotten Realms Part 2 – $14,000
Head Lopper 2: The Wolves of Barra – $13,468
Clockwork Game – $13,341
Not a Villain: Book 2 – $12,940
School Bites: Night Classes Part One – Just Desserts – $12,243
QU33R: New Queer Comics Anthology – $11,798
CruZader – $11,315
Stray – $11,246
Dude and Dude: Fish Tacos and Far Out Friends – $11,202
Ultrasylvania Vol. 3: The Book of the Damned – $11,042
Shattered with Curve of Horn – $10,455
A Piggy’s Tale – $10,285
Super-Ego – $9,244
Tara Normal – $9,047
Zombies Hate Kung Fu – ~$8,929 (£5,619)
Ruin – $8,661
The Daily Cartoonist – $7,945
Peter is the Wolf 2: Living in the Doghouse – $7,882
The Mighty Titan #3 and 4 – $7,824
Noam Chomsky graphic novel – $7,665
A Mad Tea-Party – $7,654
Manga Reborn – $7,098
Killweather – $6,990
White Worm – $6,671
Hey-Zeus – $6,569
Modo: Ember’s End – $6,591
Top 10 Campaigns – Most Backers – November 2013
Brick by Brick – 1,920
Doug TenNapel Sketch Book Vol. 2 – 1,365
Serenity Rose: 10 Awkward Years – 1,365
The Middleman: The Crowd-Funded Franchise Resurrection – 1,340
Nelvana of the Northern Lights: Canada’s First Superheroine – 1,096
Weapon Brown: The Funny Pages…Weaponized! – 827
Nenetl of the Forgotten Realms Part 2 – 717
Cradle of Filth: The Curse of Venus Aversa – 689
Head Lopper 2: The Wolves of Barra – 544
A Hero’s Death – 406
Top 40 Campaigns – Most Funded – December 2013
Fantagraphics 2014 Spring Season – $222,327
The Squidder – $137,708
Mould Map 3 – ~$48,801 (£29,735)
The Looking Glass Wars: Hatter M – $39,453
Periscope Studio: Maiden Voyage – $27,528
Darwin Carmichael is Going to Hell – $22,662
True Patriot Vol. 2 – ~$21,637 ($23,367 CAD)
Cain: First Born – $19,882
Thrilling Visions 2 – $16,035
Monsters, Maidens & Mayhem – $13,009
Finn McCool – $12,501
Eden #1 – $12,020
Swords of Edo – ~$10,780 (£6,568)
Lyon’s Den – $10,000
Phileas Reid and the Institute of the Impossible – $9,941
Plume: The Collected Edition – $9,876
Hood – ~$9,397 (£5,725)
Top of the Line – $8,833
Welcome to Harts Pass – $8,213
Le Jardinier des Molson – ~$7,737 ($8,354 CAD)
Cazadora – $7,370
Z’Isle #1-6 – $6,711 ($7,245 CAD)
iMAGiNOs PLUS – $6,650
The Locksmith #1 – $6,570
The Bully’s Bully – $6,417
iPlates – $6,389
Crimes Against Hugh’s Manatees Vol. 3 – $5,784
Grey Is… Vol. 3 – $5,746
51 Serif: The Actress – $5,275
The Rise – $4,390
Breakball – $3,271
Yellow Zine #4 – $3,239
Gridcurrent #1 – $2,637
Concrete Martians – $2,550
Death’s New Lease on Life – $2,487 (€1,825)
The Ugly Duckling – $2,301
The Amazing Adventures of David Walker Blackstone – $2,191
Freaks’ Progress – $2,077
Haiyan’s Wrath – $2,060
Autogen: The Motion Comic – $1,870
Top 10 Campaigns – Most Backers – December 2013
Fantagraphics 2014 Spring Season – 2,974
The Squidder – 1,912
Mould Map 3 – 823
Periscope Studio: Maiden Voyage – 719
Darwin Carmichael is Going to Hell – 505
The Looking Glass Wars: Hatter M – 480
True Patriot Vol. 2 – 383
Monsters, Maidens & Mayhem – 351
Plume: The Collected Edition – 329
Phileas Reid and the Institute of the Impossible – 268