Electric Team

As I’ve mentioned previously, our Patreon is up and running, so if you want to support the comic, go check it out. So far the Patreon has done way better than I expected . . . so much better, in fact, that in the first two days, we met three of the goals I had set up. Crazy, right?

The three goals we reached are:

1. Regular blog posts. Instead of sporadic blog posts, I will commit to regular scheduled blog posts, at least two a week. The blog posts will be more than just a short note that the comic has updated, and will go into more depth. There will be treats and surprises.

2. T-shirts. We will make Electric Team t-shirts available for sale, featuring original logos and designs.

3. Bonus stories – Twice a month, we will supplement the ongoing Electric Team comic with bonus pages by guest artists. These will not be part of the main story, but will be connected to it.

For #2, Sam needs to design the t-shirts, which she will get to soon, after she’s finished the cover for issue #7. But don’t worry, we will have t-shirts on sale soon! That is a thing that will happen!

For #3, I am already in talks with our first guest artist, he’s excited, and I know what the story’s going to be. He needs to finish up his current project, but it looks like we’ll be able to launch our first back-up story in April. I’m super excited about this.

For #1, here we are, an extra blog post this week! It’s happening right now!

I’m still figuring out how this is going to work, but right now the plan is that I will have new blog posts every Tuesday and Friday. I’m still trying to figure out how to make the blog posts distinct from the patron-exclusive content; my plan right now is that the exclusive content will be in-world stuff, maps and history and fiction and tidbits about the world(s) of the Electric Team, and the blog will be about the real-world stuff. Like for instance, this blog post is about our Patreon goals.

Which leads me to two questions, for you the people:

1. What sort of material would you like to see in the regular blog posts?

2. What sort of additional goals would you like to see on the Patreon?

Leave your answers in the comments!

Since about 1991, I have known that the greatest, most rewarding thing I could possibly do in life is write an ongoing comic book series. Over the decades I made a few stabs at doing that, but never quite made it. Then, in recent times, I finally committed–if no one was going to pay me to write a comic book series, I’d self-publish my own. Abi had made up the characters and concept of The Electric Team, as I’ve written about before, and I couldn’t get the idea out of my head. Abi and I brainstormed, I wrote a script, and we recruited Sam to do the artwork.

Before we actually started the series, I had spent a few years saving up money.  You have to have money; not just for printing the comics, and hosting the website, but to pay the artist. Artists don’t work for free. Sam works hard, putting so much thought and effort into the comic, spending hours on each page, that she deserves to be well-compensated. And I’d like to compensate her more but, the sad truth of the matter is, I’m running out of money in my Let’s Make Our Own Comic fund. We’ve already cut back from update twice a week to updating once a week, both because of the dwindling funds and because Sam has to balance this, her part-time art job, with her regular, full-time job. We make some money off selling the print copies of the comic, but generally that money goes toward offsetting the printing costs.

So I am living my greatest dream, writing an ongoing comic book series, and I’m co-writing it with my daughter, and working with Sam Albert, and it’s a joy, and I’m proud of the work we’ve done. It’s all going wonderfully, except for the money thing. But money is an important factor, here on Earth. The kind of factor that can certainly dampen your spirits.

Fortunately, here on 21st century Earth, there are ways for artists to raise money,  and one of those ways is Patreon. Have you heard of Patreon? It’s a way for people to support ongoing creative projects, like web comics and podcasts, by signing up to make a monthly donation to that project. We have launched a Patreon, which means that you can SIGN UP TO GIVE US MONEY! Wait, let me rephrase that . . . you can help support us, enable us to continue making the comic, and at the same time GET REWARDS! We really tried to make the rewards appealing, so hopefully there’s something that sounds good to you.

Check it out, over at Patreon!