Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Bad News The Isis Series Kickstarter Was Unsuccessful- Moving on and Moving Forward

Bad News Isis fans: This Sunday the Isis Series Kickstarter did not get funded. I want to take a moment to thank all the brothers and sisters who took the time to pledge money towards the project. I appreciate you taking the time to support me and my project. 

Over the last two months I received donations from brothers and sisters all over the United States and as far as the United Kingdom.  From 8 backers I raised $131. Unfortunately I still needed another $379 to get the funding to hire the artist to design the cover for Isis: Wrath of the Cybergoddess

What does this mean for Isis: Wrath of the Cybergoddess? The book will still be released in paperback and eBook later this year.

But as for the cover…That’s still up in the air. All I can tell readers is that the prototype cover I drew up for the Kickstarter will NOT be final.

I’d love to hire that comic artist to design the cover. It’s always been a dream of mine to give a comic artist a job and to see my characters rendered by a professional.

I’m still working towards that goal. I know how many comic artists struggle to pay their bills. How they go from convention to convention making their money on commissions and sales of merchandise. I still want to help out an artist. I’m just still trying to find a way to pay them. Artists don’t work for free, and their time is worth money.

One of the reasons I did this Kickstarter was to promote Group Economics in the Black community. To show Black people how easy it is to support Black –owned businesses. And to Show Black people how their dollars directly impacted the expansion of a Black owned business. I planned on doing a series of YouTube videos to show readers how their dollars were going to be used towards the creation of Isis: Wrath of the Cybergoddess. At the end of the series of videos I wanted to show viewers their finished books before I shipped them.

The other reason for the Kickstarter was to see how serious my critics were about working on solutions. Many have complained about the art on my book covers. However, when I presented critics of my art with a solution it seemed they had no interest in being a part of it.

Why did the Kickstarter fail? I can’t speculate. I thought the rewards were fair. A copy of the finished book for $20 and the entire Isis series in paperback for $100. And I did an effective job of promoting it on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN and Blackbloggersconnect.com. And several of my Facebook friends helped promote it as well.

But all I can say is I’ve learned my lesson about trying to do business with Black people. Black folks talk a good game, but at the end of the day most Black people don’t back that talk up with action. For all the talk about supporting Black-owned businesses and participating in Group Economics I’ve yet to see a large majority of Black people spending their money on my books.

I’m not going to get upset about the Isis series Kickstarter failing. All I know is I gave it my best efforts. I gave Black customers a chance to help me address their complaints about the product. To take action. To participate in Group Economics. And outside of a few brothers and sisters, most Black people have decided that they aren’t interested in putting their money where their mouth is.

Now I’ve done what I can to reach out to Black customers first for the past five years at events like the Harlem Book Fair and with this Kickstarter. And after experiencing all the indifference and resistance from Black customers, I’m starting to understand why nonblack executives don’t take the time to target African-American customers. For all the time, money and effort a businessperson invests in trying to create products to target Black audiences and reach African-American customers, African-Americans rarely ever reach back to the companies trying to support them.

At the end of the day, there’s only so much money anyone can lose dealing with a demographic of indifferent customers before it’s time to move on to a more profitable audience. Watching the actions of Black people from a business perspective I understand the main reason why most companies don’t take Black customers seriously: It’s because Black customers won’t put their money on the table. For all Black people’s whining, complaining and bitching about the lack of positive Black books, movies and other forms of media, they never follow it up by taking action and buying those products in force when businesses like mine produce them and put them in the marketplace.


Here’s the deal: Talk is cheap and it doesn’t pay my bills. Business is about making money, not talking about it. And I don’t have any more time to listen to hot air.

12 comments:

  1. I kind of read there that you'd rather have to move onto to appealing to other kinds of people since appealing to a niche doesn't always help at times.

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  2. Ad, That's my plan. I have to go where the paying customers are. Businesses follow money.

    I finally understand how the late Dwayne McDuffie probably felt after Milestone published its last issue. He invested in Black readers and got nothing from them. It's only when he went to writing Justice League and JLU did people see how great he was.

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  3. FYI Milestone books were not meant to last forever. They had a beginning, middle and end however Icon, Static & Hardware ended before those issues (which became Milestone Forever)were made.
    And Milestone wasn't meant for just blacks but everybody who wanted to read them.
    The reason why McDuffie got more attention via cartoon is because cartoon were accessible to EVERYBODY.
    For many to get a comic book you have to hunt down a comic book store or book store and just how many book stores are in the hood? Also I don't remember seeing Milestone books in black bookstores.
    Here is some advice stop trying to only attract blacks. write YOUR story and let who wants to read it read it.

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  4. I think he means he is writing books with Black characters, or Black protagonists/antangonists, and because Blavk folks are not supporting him, I guess that means he will write books that feature white people. I wonder how many he will sell then?

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  5. It looks like not many different colors want to support you. Not everyone will like what you have to offer. Maybe it's time to do some popular stories for the short term and leave your passion projects for the long term. You keep doing the same thing and have very little sales for it. Free downloads are not sales or a show of interest.

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  6. Again, where were you when the Kickstarter was on? Why didn't you Donate money?

    I see where this is going...A Circular argument filled with shaming tactics meant to go nowhere. More TALK, but the ACTION remains the same. Doing nothing but blowing HOT AIR.


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  7. I just started working and I get paid every two weeks. When I get paid I will donate funds to your paypal account on this blog page. I will donate each time i'm paid to help you achieve the 400.00$ you unsuccessfully funded with kickstarter.

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  8. I don't always agree with your blog post, especially your horrid views on single mothers. I don't have any kids but I have friends and family members who are single moms. But I have learned alot about the entertainment industry through your blogs and imdb, I'm an aspiring movie producer and I'm mixed race african american, east indian, english female.

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  9. I only get paid minimum wage. So I can only afford to donate in payments, as an mixed african american Myself, I understand how hard it is to find a job to support yourself financially. I had to move to another state to finally get employment. After doing research on the movie industry, reading your blog and imdb and looking at the careers And the type of roles african american entertainers get. I understand why you want to create better images. These bad images impact how others view african americans and that affects when applying and getting a job. It makes it harder to work, not everybody is lazy.

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  10. Why can't you get it thru your head. People did not donate money BECAUSE THEY DID NOT WANT TO!!! End of story. Hustling is the same as pushing, hustling is the same as stripping, hustling is the same as standing on the corner for whatever reason to make your money. Hustling, however, is not gainful employment. How does pointing out that you don't have employment reinforce your point about Group Economics? The Black race is not responsible for your individual failures or successes. Very few people of any race, creed or ethnic group supported your campaign. Get a grip on reality!!! Economics 102 states that if no one is buying your product, even after it has so called been improved, then you need to take the product off the market

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  11. Shawn,

    its obvious that many of the people commenting here are completely lost.

    after all your posts they still don't get it. Check out the comments...

    1."Just because you're black doesn't mean other blacks have to support..."

    2."The Black race is not responsible for your individual failures or successes..."

    Is there any wonder Blacks are at the bottom ?? Only they would make such ridiculous comments and then get offended when you point it out. The simple fact is both of those comments are exactly wrong and the exact opposite should be true.

    1. Just because you are Black, other Blacks should support - every other successful ethnic group operate on exactly this principle.

    2.The group is responsible for helping the success of it individuals - assuming the individual is trying to be productive.

    You are right Shawn. Many Negroes are still psychologically enslaved.

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  12. You should try putting up an ad on digital webbing. I can usually get someone to do a cover for about $100.

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