Get out your calendar and start circling dates. It’s time to do a little webcomics planning.
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To run a successful Kickstarter campaign, you must understand the concept behind the Kickstarter Ladder. The Kickstarter Ladder works like this: You start your backer with a reward at a very low price. A digital reward works excellently here: Low cost and no shipping.
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When Patreon first unveiled its free membership feature, I was not a fan. After all, Patreon is a phenomenal monetization tool, but it was never delivered on discovery for creators. And building a tier for non-paying members seemed counterintuitive. After using it for a while, I’ve come around to seeing the wisdom in a free-membership tier. Nevertheless, it will be essential to have a strategy for converting those free remembers to paying members.
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This week on ComicLab, veteran comic artists Brad Guigar and Dave Kellett kick things off a discussion about something every cartoonist wrestles with: work-life balance. If you’re juggling a day job, relationships, and your creative ambitions, Brad and Dave break down practical strategies that actually work — including:
• Why consistency beats intensity
• How to build a repeatable creative schedule
• The power of small, daily wins
• And why your health and relationships are just as critical as your drawing skills
They also tackle a big-picture career question: What happens when a long-running comic ends? Dave shares his thoughts on winding down Drive, how to retain an audience, and the challenge of transitioning into your next project without losing momentum.
Plus:
• Smart ways to monetize short comics
• Why finished is better than perfect
• And how thinking long-term can transform your creative output
Whether you’re just starting your first comic or planning your next big move, this episode is packed with actionable advice — and a few chaotic detours along the way.
Key takeaway: Three years are going to pass anyway… you might as well have a finished comic at the end of them.
Today’s Show
• UPDATE: Enshittification of Bluesky begins
• Work-Life balance
• UPDATE: NCS Conference and Reuben Awards
• Monetizing short comics
• What will Dave do when Drive is over?
For more information about joining the National Cartoonists Society, go to https://nationalcartoonists.com/how-to-join/
• Get on the mailing list
• More information on the 27 Club
• 80th annual Reuben Awards and NCS Conference — August 6-8, 2026
In sharing advice on promoting a Kickstarter campaign, I suggested recording yourself giving a tour of your studio or workspace. I mentioned talking about the equipment you use and the special items you keep nearby — tchotchkes, trophies, mementos, etc. And I included a reminder to be sure to mention that you’re recording this video to “celebrate” your Kickstarter, use links, etc. Now, here’s the fun part. As you post this video on social media, your followers will comment about the stuff they see in the video. That’s YOUR cue to post follow-up videos with stories/commentary about those things (and more mentioned of the Kickstarter, of course! Here’s how this strategy worked for me.
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Looking over the dashboard for my past Kickstarter campaign, I saw something jaw-dropping.
Although I’m Kickstarting two physical books, my most popular reward tier is a digital-only package. In fact, the five digital-only reward tiers in my campaign have combined to make about 20% of the money I’ve raised so far.
Better yet, I don’t have to pay for shipping.
It seems counterintuitive, doesn’t it? After all, a Kickstarter is all about physical merchandise.
But those digital reward tiers — and digital add-ons — will help you meet your goal quicker and push that Kickstarter further.
The content you are trying to access is only available to members.If you’ve ever stared at your social feed during a Kickstarter campaign thinking, “I know I should be posting more… but what the heck do I post?” — you’re not alone.
A strong campaign isn’t just about launching with a bang. It’s about showing up every day with something interesting, engaging, or persuasive. That’s easier said than done… unless you’ve got a plan.
So here’s one: 100 Kickstarter promo post ideas, organized by category, designed to carry you from pre-launch hype through the final 48-hour scramble — without repeating yourself or burning out.
The content you are trying to access is only available to members.In this episode of ComicLab, Brad and Dave tackle a surprisingly practical question: How do you start a web ring for comics creators? With social media platforms becoming less reliable for discovery, the classic web ring is making a comeback as a way for creators to promote each other directly.
Along the way, the guys discuss audience targeting, technical setup, and why the success of a web ring depends more on community alignment than on code. Plus: tattoo debates, Tolkien romance arguments, and the eternal challenge of drawing the right amount of detail in your comics.
Key topics
Paid setup
Matt Sowers, who created the Hot Box web ring software can install and host the software for you. Contact him at hotbox@rcsipublishing.com
$50 — install on your server
$100 — hosted setup (includes one year hosting). After that, hosting is $75/year.
$75/year — ongoing web hosting for your comic
You want to write longform stories that are brisk and engaging, and yet you also want to optimize your comic to use social media to build an audience. It feels impossible to write a quality story and succeed on social media at the same time, doesn’t it? It’s not. Welcome to a publishing method I’ve developed called Mutli-Channel Publishing. MCP helps you to do both.
The content you are trying to access is only available to members.A couple of years ago, I launched my first Kickstarter in over four years. I was shocked at how rusty I had gotten! Here’s a list of ten promotional ideas that I used to keep me on track.
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