Days #17, 18 & 19: Friday 16th, Saturday 17th, and Sunday 18th December

Another busy weekend. Let's get into it...

 

ACTIONS TAKEN:

FRIDAY: Today I a table at another local comic convention; The Australian Comic Arts Festival (ACAF) for February 2016.

 

SATURDAY: I spent a good chunk of my morning researching more webcomics. It was suggested to me look at SmackJeeves and I did. A lot of good looking webcomics there. So, I tried to set up a page, but I suck at this programming stuff. I have a friend who offered to build me a page.

 

SUNDAY: I tried again with a fresh head to try and build my webcomic on SmackJeeves. Again, I struggled. So I sent a message to my friend and await a response.

 

RESULTS: 0% increase - 11 patrons = $79 per month.

 

AFTER-THOUGHTS: I just need to get this webcomic started. That's what this all comes down to. This is my course of action. But this time of year is so busy, it's hard to divide my time and energy between all the people and things I need to. I would love to launch my webcomic on X-Mas Day. But I'll need to pull my finger out and get a move on.

 

Talk again tomorrow.

Day #16: Thursday 15th December

Today is fun stuff. Nothing amazing, but what I love seeing. Panel previews from my artist Ahmed Raafat.

ACTIONS TAKEN: Like I said, no ground-breaking actions today, But I did throw a couple of panel previews up on my Patreon and shared them on my Facebooks and Twitters.

RESULTS: No change - 11 patrons = $79 per month.

AFTER-THOUGHTS: I love Ahmed's artwork. Not like, LOVE! This is why I do this. I have these silly little stories and then artists like Ahmed smash them and take them to whole new levels.

On other things, it's a crazy busy time of year. And it's so damn hot over here, so I'm not sleeping much. Some people would be lie "Great! More time to be productive!" But the chronic pain prevents me from doing much more than lying there in pain.

Anyway, That's all for today. See you tomorrow.

Day #15: Wednesday 14th December

Everything I do and listen to seems to concrete the fact that re-thinking my business model (as you've been reading this last week or so) is the smart thing to do.


ACTIONS TAKEN: Re-listened to Comixlaunch podcast episode #61 with Jim Zub. Tyler asked us to take an inventory of what we might already have have to offer for Patreon rewards.


RESULTS: Same as it ever was - 11 patrons = $79 per month.


AFTER-THOUGHTS: Inventory - All I have is my scripts. I have two short stories I did for the Will McLaren's Circus Graphic Novel and Darren Close's upcoming Killeroo Gangwars, as well as the script for Cthulhu Williams #0, and my work-in-progress Gorillas my Dreams: Mime of my Life. Apart from that, I think I'm just too much of a rookie to have anything else to offer. Which is another indication that I've jumped onto the Patreon boat a little too quick.


And the thing is, my scripts are already a pledge level. So it's good to know that I'm at least on the right wave lengths.


Actually, I kind of feel like my entire wave-length is on the right track, though (as I said above) I've just acted prematurely. A lot of what I'm hearing to try I have already attempted to do, but my audience is too small.


Tyler brought up in the podcast why he was giving away Amzon vouchers to entice people to do his survey. Well, last two mini-conventions I did, I was using a free t-shirt give away to entice people onto my email list.

Days #13 & 14: Monday 12th & Tuesday 13th December

Busy couple days at the day job and gruelling couple days with my chronic pain, but I think I still managed to do a task for each day.


ACTIONS TAKEN:
MONDAY: Re-listened to Comixlaunch podcast episode #60 - The task Tyler set at the end of that one was to "write my story." So I took a shot at that:




Comic books and superheroes have been a major part of my life forever. When I was beat-up in high school. The first time my heart was broken. When I crashed my motor bike, spent seven weeks out of action, and left with chronic pain for the rest of my life. When, as a result of all that, I suffered depression and was thinking suicide. At these, the lowest points in my life, there were always mutants in blue and yellow, vigilantes dressed as bats, red skinned demons, and reptiles practicing martial arts ready to help pull me out of the darkness.


I believe comic books and superheroes are a form of escape and support and under the right (or really wrong) circumstances, comics can save lives. This is why I want to make more comics. I wanna try to contribute to saving someone else’s life with my silly characters and Funny Books.




TUESDAY: Tonight is Turtle-Boy Podcast night. Recording a new episode and, same as last week, I'll have the new advert my brother and I recorded tagged to the front.


RESULTS: Again, because I'm not actively pimping stuff, the results aren't changing - 11 patrons = $79 per month.


AFTER-THOUGHTS: Again, I think this is going to be the same for the rest of the month.
It's the business model that's getting in the way. I really do need to focus on a few other things before my Patreon is going to take off at all.
And I have a friend that has pointed me in the right direction for some education as far as webcomics are concerned (And I'll buy that book as soon as I have the money).
So, yeah. I'm not expecting any more pledgers for this month, but I will continue the exercise.

Days #11 & 12: Saturday 10th & Sunday 11th December

This weekend has been a write off.

My friend's funeral, multiple blood tests and doctor appointments, and computer problems (I'm typing this up on my phone, since my computer is A PIECE OF CRAP!!! But I digress).

ACTIONS TAKEN:

Saturday: Re-listened to Comixlaunch podcast episode #57 - Filled out the Patreon Survey mentioned at the end of that episode (I can't remember if I did it the first time around, but doing it again with the lessons I've learned this week in mind was a good exercise).

Sunday: Re-listened to Comixlaunch podcast episode #58 - Looked at the pledge action suggested at the end of the podcast. Asked to come up with potential rewards for $1, $5, $10, $20, and $100 pledge levels. I did realise that my Patreon is already (almost) set up like that. But regardless, here's my reworked pledge levels:

$1 Pledge:

Official patron status. This means you'll get access to my patron-only blog feed with behind the scenes art and whatnot, including seeing the finished page before it gets posted on the webcomic web site. Not to mention you'll have my undying love and appreciation.

$5 Pledge:

Same as $1, plus you'll get an email link to buy my latest comic before it goes on sale to the general public. Plus an exclusive variant edition of every new comic book that comes out! FREE!

$10 Pledge:

Same as $5, plus every year on your birthday, I'll send you a signed script of whatever comic is currently on sale. Plus an exclusive variant edition of every new comic book that comes out! FREE!

$25 Pledge:

Same as $10, plus every year on your birthday, I'll send a T-shirt with a Big Tim's Funny Books character on it. Plus an exclusive variant edition of every new comic book that comes out! FREE!

$100 Pledge:

Same as $25, plus you will appear in my current comic as a hero, villain, or monster. And this won't be a throw away character in one panel and never seen again. You'll go down in history as one of Cthulhu Williams' or KnockaroundGuy's friends, foes or informants.

RESULTS: Again, because I'm not actively pimping stuff, the results aren't changing - 11 patrons = $79 per month.

AFTER-THOUGHTS: It's been a rough weekend. Saturday was my mate's funeral so there wasn't much time or motivation for work. But I slipped a quick-nonaction-action in by listening to the podcast. Managed to do that is the waiting room of the doctor's. Health isn't great and was told to get some blood tests. By the time I left the doctor the Pathology Lab was closed and I was told to come back on Sunday morning.

Sunday, I was set up to smash out some homework (As well as a full-time job, juggling four kids, making comics and rehearsing to play Uncle Fester in Addams Family: The Musical early next year, I'm also doing an immersive screenwriting course), do my 30 day diary, and write some comics.

I got up, had a little breakfast and went got some blood sucked out of my body. When I got home I spent hours trying to get my computer working again. Interrupted by a phone call. It was the Pathology Lab. They needed me to come down so they could take more blood. Apparently they had an accident with my samples and needed more. More needles, more blood. 

Got home again, computer is still a piece of crap. So, went to bed with a pen and paper and listened to the podcast making notes.

Again, what I'm hearing is I need to build a following outside of my Patreon to make this thing work. I need to research my local and interstate cons and how much they cost.

It's been a whirlwind weekend of shit. But even though I didn't get done a lot of the stuff I needed done, I'm taking this Patreon thing seriously so made sure I at least did some non-action actions.

Oh and once I get the webcomic up and going, I'll probably change my pledge levels as listed above. Except I dunno how I can make that $100 level work. I need to think about that more.

Day #10: Friday 9th December

I'm kind of... not sure what my daily actions should be. As I've previously mentioned, rethinking my entire approach is going to take some time.


But I am a determined sum-a-bitch so I will be doing something behind the scenes daily, even if it's not directly pimping my Patreon or my comic Gorilla my Dreams.


Today saw a number of tiny actions taken, but nothing major.


ACTIONS TAKEN:
1. Googled webcomics. Looked up a whole mess of webcomics to see how they work and what they look like.


2. Overwhelmed with the search results, I Tweeted/Facebooked to my friends about what ones they enjoy so I could look them up and see how thei pages are laid out.


3. Spoke to a web-designer type friend about potentially helping me set it up when he's back in the country.


4. Sketched out a rough Idea of what I want my future webcomic page to look like. Whether he'll be able to make these things a reality? I have no idea. But this is the first design of what I THINK I need for my webcomic's page.


5. Read the How Nataly Dawn Increased Her Patronage From $1.5k to $6k in 30 Days article. Trying to see what wisdom I can milk from this woman's experience.


RESULTS: 0% Growth. 11 patrons = $79.


Again, no real change. I don't expect any real change for the next week or so while I do invisible work in the back ground.

Day #9: Thursaday 8th December

As mentioned yesterday I'm rethinking my entire approach. So my action today is just my business as usual stuff.


ACTION TAKEN: Posted page six of Gorilla my Dreams: Mime of my Life to my Patreon Backers.


RESULTS: 0% Growth. 11 patrons = $79.


So, I've been trying to research and design a webcomics page. That's about it. I have six pages of finished art I can start posting once I get it up and running, and can add another one every fortnight.


I think this could work. But still figuring out the ins and outs of it all.