User blog:Queso6p7/Shameless Kickstarter Plug

Intro
Yes, it's going to be that kind of blog, but please bear through it, dear readers. :) My good friend turned me on to kickstarter about two weeks ago and this was a financially fatal mistake for me. I've seen so many good-looking projects with tasty looking awards (didn't know books could look delicious, huh?). Every few days I just keep seeing awesome sounding and eye-catching ideas and I just wanna jump on board. However, just pledging a dollar, the minimum pledge amount, doesn't do it for me. I want to have some decent, physical goodies that I can read, re-read, show off to friends and the staff at the lcs, and file away for posterity. I love the feel of kickstarter-from how you can hear/see the creators' pleas "directly," to the more or less immediate feedback you can get from said creators and other supporters called backers. The project updates, if done in a timely fashion, do a lot to keep momentum and excitement going, and if you include the "word of mouth" that occurs with social media, you've potentially got an unbelievably huge pool of backers. Now that I've gushed about the site, let's explain how it works.

How to
Navigating the site is really easy to do and intuitive but I'll give a rundown all the same for those who are curious. If not, feel free to skip this section. Naturally, you have to create an account, but it's easy and you can even sign in with your facebook one. At the top of the page in blue it says discover and create. This get you started either searching through projects you may want to support, or you can set up your own. We'll just focus on the searching, though. To help make things a little easier to navigate, there are categories on the right of the page that narrow the search. You probably wanna choose "comics," but there's also theater, music, and even photography. Once you find an intriguing looking project, just click and visit the page. Creators often have videos that introduce their projects followed by descriptions of what they're trying to accomplish, what the funding will go towards, and any "stretch" or extra rewards that are given as another token of appreciation for backers support. Creators establish pledge levels which are listed on the right with descriptions of what rewards/goodies are included for that level of financial support. After you pledge, you'll confirm the amount and corresponding reward and you can even manage your pledge if you want to change the amount or even just give it all without getting a reward in return, most generous you. :) After you confirm, you'll be taken to amazon where you'll further confirm your payment method and address, so make sure your amazon account is up to date with accurate address and payment info. That's it! You'll be redirected to a kickstarter page saying "You're a backer of x project," and from there you can-pledge more, post comments, or just browse to your heart's content.

Wrap Up
There have been a number of posts about kickstarter projects and I'll post them later for easier referencing. A lot of big names in the industry such as Gail Simone and Jamal Igle have projects on kickstarter (Igle's was successfully funded already), but there are tons of other ones from "amateur" creators who are taking a chance with the public to make their dreams come true. *Cue the sugar overload and subsequent barf bag* I say all of this because I think these projects are neat, comic based, have good rewards, and worth the support. Although I'm not one for facebooking, skyping, or the like, I feel like this is the way that I can help promote these projects, even if it's only a little bit. Take a look around and maybe you'll see a project or ten you feel like throwing a buck at. The friend of mine who turned me on to kickstarter has backed (i.e funded) several video/card games so there's a lot here to appeal to everyone, I hope. Thank you all so much for bearing through this. Blessed be.

Links

 * Simone and Jim Calafiore's project Leaving Megalopolis
 * Venezia by Wolf Beaumont
 * Endtime: Book 1 by Tim Kenyon
 * Nowhere Man by Jerome Crawford
 * Blast Furnace by Ryan Rowe (Here's a link to the web comic that this project will be compiling. It's funny and random but I stopped reading as to not ruin the future reading experience.)
 * I Draw Comics by Matt Marrocco
 * Human by Gabe Smith and Ryan Merrill (This is one I really want to succeed.)
 * Black Lotus Empire #1 by Moneyhorse (no writer's name available but the artists are Carlos Gomez and Neeraj Menon)

Thanks for reading!