Welcome, readers, Sunnyville fans and visitors from elsewhere! It's your old friend, Max West, and I need your assistance once more.
What I've got for your today is a gripping comics tale part of the noteworthy saga titled Sunnyville Stories. This issue is Sunnyville Stories #17 and we aim to raise a modest goal of US$300 to fund a micro run of about 50 copies of this comic.
Sunnyville Stories is the incisive saga of two teenagers, Rusty Duncan and Samantha Macgregor, in a remote village. They have all kinds of adventures in Sunnyville and in its vast surrounding wilderness.
Let's meet our protagonists, shall we?
Rusty Duncan is the protagonist of Sunnyville Stories. Originally from a big city, this wisecracking teenage city boy moves out to the tiny village of Sunnyville at the start of the series.
Samantha Macgregor (often called "Sam" for short) is the deuteragonist, Rusty's best friend and a sweet country girl. She enjoys Rusty's company but also has to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't pull any crazy stunts.
Jason Macgregor is the little brother of Sam. This adorable kitten loves tagging along on adventures with Sam and Rusty.
The folksy hamlet of Sunnyville is one that is isolated from the outside world by vast wilderness. Isolated by mountains and vast stretches of forest, the congenial townspeople go about their daily business. Dressed in unpretentious clothing (males wear suits or farm clothes, females wear skirts or dresses), this down-home populace lives untouched by today's hectic world. In this town live Rusty and Sam, where much of this series takes place.
However in this story - Sunnyville Stories #17, "Some Guys Have All The Luck" - our heroes trek to the audacious metropolis of Oak City. This snappy city has many luxuries Sunnyville does not have...including an incomparable shopping mall!
This mall amazes Rusty as he hasn't been to one since he left his former home in the big city. However, he has to be home by 5:00PM.
Unfortunately for our heroes, a rockslide has blocked off all train traffic in and out of Oak City!
The only thing that may help our heroes? It's a mysterious fox they meet in the mall. His name is Hieronymous.
Can Hieronymous help Rusty and friends? There's more to come...but I won't spoil it for you.
Now let's move onto our funding goal.
We aim to raise US$300 to do a micro print run of about 50 copies of Sunnyville #17. This will run $98.50. Shipping those comics to me will cost about $13.65. First class mail to 20 backers (mailing the comics to said backers) will run a cost of $57.80. International first class mail to 4 backers (I have had backers in Canada and Britain) will run about $24.00. The cost of padded envelopes goes for about $60.00.
That brings us to around $253.95. Anything else will go to cover the processing fees, the cut that the nice people at Kickstarter take and anything else that may happen.
There just may be stretch goals too. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Are you still with me, people? Then let's continue.
Now we get to the good stuff - REWARDS!!
As little as $1 will get our thanks and your name printed in the comic.
A pledge of $4 gets your name in the comic plus a free PDF copy
A pledge of $8 gets your name in the comic, a free PDF copy and a print copy mailed out to you anywhere in the world.
For retailers, there’ll be a pledge of $25 available for you. That will get you about 4 print copies of Sunnyville #17 to sell in your shop as well as your name printed in the comic AND you’ll get some neat point-of-sale items to promote the work to customers (flyers, posters, etc). This however will be limited to about 3 backers.
We also have a limited number of $50 pledge tiers! So what does $50 net you comics lovers and Kickstarter fans? You get your name IN BIG LETTERS on the "thanks" page of the comic. Plus you get a free digital copy of Sunnyville #17. You also get a SIGNED print copy of Sunnyville #17 mailed out to you. BUT THERE'S MORE! You will also get a free piece of original artwork of Rusty or Sam (your choice) sent out to you. BUT WAIT - THERE'S EVEN MORE! You'll also get an exclusive 2-page comic with Rusty and Sam that you CAN'T get anywhere else! Of course, there's a limit of 3 of these rewards so better act now!
ABOUT ME
My professional name is Max West. Born & raised in New York City, I hold a degree in creative writing from Baruch College. I also went to night classes at the School of Visual Arts, where I got training from individuals like Tom Hart (Hutch Owen) and Matt Madden (Drawing Words & Writing Pictures). I developed Sunnyville Stories in 2009 and officially launched the series in 2010. I've since done three whole trade paperbacks collecting Rusty & Sam's exploits. I am also the creator of the gag series Tiffany & Corey.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
1. Spread the word! Tell people all about the Kickstarter and, even better, tell them of Sunnyville Stories!
2. Use social media to spread the word and get people to help with pledges & promotion! Use Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and so on.
3. Check the official blog, the Facebook fan page and my Twitter for Sunnyville Stories. We'll have news and updates there as well as here on Kickstarter as it develops.
Risks and challenges
Shipping remains my biggest challenge. In spite of careful calculations and even a test shipping (I mailed a copy of a comic to myself from Minnesota), any challenges could arise.
I also have to wear many hats, having to handle creation, publication, mailing and marketing. It's a tricky balancing act but I expect to still succeed.
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Funding period
- (30 days)