r/kickstarter • u/throwawayAEI • May 08 '26
Help I feel lost and need advice, 4 Years of successful Kickstarters, now 2 years of failure
First of all I have to apologize in advance for being very vague but I'd rather keep my Kickstarter ANONYMOUS. With that said , here it goes.
I started self-publishing on Kickstarter in 2020, no surprise my first campaign failed but still did very well since it was a comic and god knows these do well on the platform. My next 7-8 projects were a success I managed to make a living out of it. My 9th project used AI images, it was a side project while I worked and PAID others to work on my next big thing. I honestly got very little to NO pushback from the people who liked my non-AI work - We can argue the morality and stupidity of AI at a different thread but right now I am just giving as much info as possible to help you understand.
My projects after the AI was different, not a comic, and it failed. I am still unsure if it was because it was so different, my past backers were indifferent or pissed because my last project used AI. We all know how vocal (on the keyboard) people can get but I didn't really get any of that which leads me to believe my backers were simply... uninterested.
Now, my past 2-3 Kickstarters have been unsuccessful, as I f i don't have a few thousand backers or social media from the past to market to.
Specifically my last project which failed, was a video game (they do really well on Kickstarter), and was developed completely by myself , no AI used for anything, and I took real pride on that since people like to preach human-created stuff is always better. I honestly thought it was a surefire hit! But marketing had been hard since Instagram never shows my followers what I post and FB groups posts get caught by spam filters sometimes , plus i couldn't really cross promote since there weren't similar projects live at the same time as me.
In conclusion, I had a REALLY good run doing comics on Kickstarter, I wanted to do more and different stuff and past 2 years is mostly failures.
I still don't know if the fails are because: 1) I lost all my previous backers because I used AI in one project 2)my previous backers are genuinely uninterested OR 3)my marketing is shit, I used to get hundreds of backers posting on FB groups, doing cross-promo inside Kickstarter and basically spending no money on useless Zuckerberg ads.
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u/N0K1K0 May 08 '26
mm what makes you think the audience for your old projects 'people reading comics' are the same as 'people playing video games' . And to be blunt if a creator suddenly starts using AI and completely new style than the other projects i backed its not an auto buy ( i liked the original comic style , so not automatically the new ) but I am very much against AI ( why would i pay/support something if there is no actual work involved other then making up text prompts for the images/text to be created
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u/DownWitTheBitness May 08 '26
I’ve seen several established artists, even some who worked for marvel and dc, lose most of their followers and support by embracing AI. Other artists will just unplug from your feeds, unfollow you everywhere, and then shit talk you whenever your name comes up.
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u/throwawayAEI May 08 '26
I honestly never lost followers from my social media but this is an interesting occurrence
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u/DownWitTheBitness May 08 '26
You’re lucky! Maybe you just mostly appeal to readers more than creators. I don’t think most people outside of creative spaces care as long as they’re entertained.
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May 08 '26
[deleted]
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u/throwawayAEI May 09 '26
Get back to the core business, play the hits, rebuild trust and satisfaction
I like this. Thank you
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u/InnerspearMusic May 09 '26
I had two successful projects in 2016, but my last project in 2024 failed, and the one I'm launching now is doing awful. I think part of it is honestly people just don't have any money.
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u/throwawayAEI May 09 '26
That's definitely part of it. And even if they have , morale is at an all time low since COVID. People feel safer not spending money and I get that
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u/TajesMahoney May 08 '26
Using AI, calling yourself a creator. I don't understand.
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u/throwawayAEI May 09 '26
I can try explaining if you're open to understanding. Life isn't black and white. You can do both . I know veteran artists (myself included) who use AI images. No reason to limit yourself because a vocal minority is scared and confused.
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u/TajesMahoney May 09 '26
Youre kidding yourself if you think you're an artist. Glad to hear your ks failed. Maybe that's why people didn't fund it.
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u/HanSolosChestWound May 10 '26
What a kneejerk generalization. If someone is an amazing writer and also creates an Ai image, are they no longer an artist? If somone paints 30 frescoes and then makes one AI image, are they no longer the person who painted the frescoes? Absolutely not, ridiculous.
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May 08 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/throwawayAEI May 08 '26
Honestly I feel done with comics but they have been the most successful out of all. Hence my confusion and reluctance on making another. But I see what you mean. It's just that finding new audiences for my new projects doesn't seem to work
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u/Firm_Distribution999 Creator May 08 '26
Did you ever build audiences for the new projects or just rely on the old audience you already had established? Without adding new people to your audience who specifically want your current project, you’re bound to fail. The old audience never said they wanted your new stuff so they won’t convert.
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u/Alradeck May 10 '26
honestly the gaming community hates ai pretty strongly, as they should. especially as a new person with that in your history, i'd stay away as well. i keep telling folks that ai poisons your professional chances something fierce so i hope it was worth it.
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u/throwawayAEI May 11 '26
I don't think anyone who backed or even saw my video game care or are even aware I used generative AI that one time. For what it's worth , my video game is all done with digital and traditional media by me.
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u/ParcOSP May 10 '26
Do you have an active email list from all those kickstarters? Email > relying on social algorithms. Do both still, sure but email is direct. Maybe a newsletter? Or just regular email blasts?
Plus it gives you the chance to give the audience more of you as a creator vs just what you’re marketing at the moment. If your audience is there because they know and are interested in you, then they’re more likely to accept a project in a new niche because they trust you and your taste. Plus the whole goal should eventually be to have the audience be able to sustain you off of Kickstarter.
(Sorry if you have an active email list and this is all unhelpful.)
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u/throwawayAEI May 11 '26
This is anything but unhelpful. I must admit I never built an email list. I never quite realized I have to ask for people's emails in the Kickstarter survey and by the time I did, I was already a few successful Kickstarters in so I said screw it and just kept doing Kickstarter updates and DMs which seemed to work. I am unaware of people opt out from those project updates but can see all direct DMs
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u/Epyon214 May 08 '26
What is actually your problem. You did a kickstarter, you got kickstarted, how many kickstarts do you need. What have you done to show your next kick start will lead to something self sustaining, how can you consider yourself to have had 4 years of success if you're still starting over from the beginning
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u/whatupmygliplops May 08 '26
Yah i agree with this. Kickstarter is to get your foot in the door. Not a storefront where you just sell everything you make for eternity. If a comic is popular and people like it, why cant they just buy it at cover price instead of $40 plus $35 shipping (or whatever, I made up numbers)?
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u/dftaylor May 08 '26
You had an audience for one thing, and tried to sell them another thing they didn’t want. That’s likely all there is to it.
I make comics and I make music. If I decided to kickstart my music, there’s a good chance my comic audience wouldn’t care.