Kickstarter

Hi! The short of this is that I'm trying to fund the printing of my graphic novel, "Bandage: A Diary of Sorts". This is a black and white comic on the experimental side that I have been coming back to for almost ten years now. Synapses, you say?

"Bandage: A Diary of Sorts" follows a nameless young man from one summer to the next as he is dealt the mundane traumas of life. His best friend moves away, his long term relationship ends, and his beloved grandmother passes on. The book becomes his diary, documenting both his stream of conscious narrative and his surreal visual interpretations of these events. As the year progresses, he becomes more and more a stranger in his own life, and he must decide if there is a place for him in it at all.

This isn't my first foray into the comic world as you can find my illustrations in Archaia Comic's critically acclaimed "Hybrid Bastards!" which came out last year. However, this is certainly my most personal. I'm writer and illustrator on "Bandage" whereas the majestic, wondrous, and possibly magical Tom Pinchuk was the writer on HB!. This is mine from top to bottom, and is largely based off of a similar year in my own life. You could say it is my diary as well, but that would be pretty revealing and embarrassing wouldn't it.

I mentioned before that "Bandage" is a bit experimental so let me explain what I mean by that. The format is one page of free form text facing a full page illustration. The story doesn't play out in a traditional panel based way. This format felt like the natural presentation for it-- it mimics a traditional diary while still maintaining a certain looseness with the injection of imagery. I have been pitching this book for years--pitching and reworking, pitching and reworking. The consensus has been it's too weird in content and it's too weird in its layout for a company to take the risk, so I'm going to try to self-publish my book.

On to the specs! After receiving several quotes to find out what the best options were, it seems that initial costs are going to be about $6000 for printing, shipping, and taxes. This would be for a run of 1,000 hardcover copies of roughly 112 pages (that's what the book I have now is, but I know I'll be revising right up until I send it off to the printers). I really wanted to make this a hardcover book, as it is as much art book as it is comic. I did look into softcover printing and the difference in pricing was too slight to warrant the aesthetic hit the book would take. The same goes for quantity--1,000 books was the amount that seemed to work best with value for pricing as well as having enough books left over after rewards (if a miracle occurs and I get funding) to bring to comic conventions and offer through my website. I also need to tack on $500 to cover rewards and their shipping, as well as the 10% charged to the total by Kickstarter and Amazon. I know it's a lot of money, and I'm very nervous to ask for such an amount, but if you're going to do something, you gotta do it right, and that's the lowest number I think I can do that with.

International Backers, please add: $3 for $10+ rewards (not the Facebook one, only add $3 for the linoleum print option) $5 for $15+ rewards $15 for $100+ rewards

If you dig my work, here are the links to my portfolio and blog, and also "Hybrid Bastards!" on Amazon: http://www.katiecrimespree.com http://apps.katiecrimespree.com/blog/ http://www.amazon.com/Hybrid-Bastards-Tom-Pinchuk/dp/1932386505/ref=sr_1_1... Feel free to hit me up with any questions you have!

If this project is something you want to support, please help me by sharing the video with people who may also be interested--spreading the word is hugely important. Thank you so, so much for your help however big or small!

--Kate

**Rewards Update**

Now that we're about halfway in both time and pledge amount,  it's time to spice up the rewards section and see if we can get a money snowball rolling!  While I wasn't able to fully adjust the listings as you can't edit rewards that backers have already chosen, I'd like to add some features to these rewards, if one so chooses to participate in the additions.  If you already pledged, and don't want to, that's absolutely fine--your reward will remain exactly how it was when you pledged.  This just means that the option will be open to you if you'd like!

ALL BACKERS, OF ANY PLEDGE AMOUNT STARTING AT $1, WILL BE LISTED IN THE PRINTED BOOK AS KICKSTARTERS!

This also means that for the people who have pledged previously at amounts that would get them special notice in the printed book, I will need to add a little sumthin' sumthin' to make it fair. Here's the new breakdown:

$1+:  Name listed as a Kickstarter on Thank You page in small font.

$50+:  Name listed as a Kickstarter on Thank You page in medium font.

$250+:  Name listed as a Kickstarter on Thank You page in largest font, with a link or slogan (or any grouping of letters for that matter within a given character count) of your choice.

$1500+:  Name, hand drawn portrait, and bio listed in the book.  You can supply the pic and bio, or I can take care of it, whatever you choose!  I will also mail you the original drawing of your portrait.

$3000+:  Full page dedicated to an "about you"! Name, hand drawn portrait, bio, and whatever else you'd like to throw in there ( um, maybe we should discuss it first, though. Danged lawsuits).  I will also mail you the original drawing of your portrait.

Thanks again for everyone's support thus far.  Still a ways to go though, so keep spreading the word!

:D  <----me