If you are broke, do not stress about it. Seriously. The two best things you can do to support this drive if you’re broke as heck are:
Spread the word to the folks in your life who like comics about genderqueer pirates, caticorns, dragons, and adventure! Use the link ko-fi.com/kelcidcrawford
Subscribe to my YouTube channel. My other goal this year is to get to 1,000 subscribers on YouTube before the end of the year. It’s free and you get to see my art process in my livestreams!
That’s all I’ve got for now. Spread the word and get some zines!
This is a drive to get more memberships on my Ko-fi page, whether you give just once, or you join with a monthly membership. (Though there are definitely more perks if you join the monthly membership, more info below).
As of right now, we have 8 active Ko-fi members. If we can make these following benchmarks, we can unlock the following goals:
At 10 active members, all members (one-off and monthly) will get a 4×6-inch Little Caticorn mini-print!
At 15 members, all members (one-off and monthly) will get that PLUS a 4×6-inch Forest Spirit mini-print!
At 20 members, all members (one-off and monthly) will get these PLUS a 4×6-inch Prince Odinon mini-print!
At 25 members, all members (one-off and monthly) will get these PLUS a 4×6-inch mini-print of The Two Sisters – a watercolor painting from the 2022 Columbus, OH show, Comics vs Art!
More rewards will be announced as more goals are unlocked!
WHY
2025 is going to be an uncertain year for a lot of folks for many different reasons. For me, 2025 will be risky because of book bans and their challenges (I’m a genderqueer comic artist who makes comics about LGBTQ+ characters). Plus, for 2025 I’m *only* going to zine fests and shows in the Toledo, OH area. For one, those shows are friendlier to comics like The Legend of Jamie Roberts. Also, the proposed tariffs are affecting many artists’ ability to afford merchandise stock like keychains and books. This isn’t even mentioning that comicons and pop culture cons are too expensive to go to as a vendor, even with splitting tables with friends.
Because of these impacts, that leaves us with a question: how can comics like The Legend of Jamie Roberts, Vanita and the Demon King, and so many zines and minicomics happen with these challenges ahead? How can we solve at least one part of this puzzle?
That’s where Ko-fi Memberships come in.
Ko-fi Memberships are an easy way to get cool and custom rewards *and* support to keep making comics like The Legend of Jamie Roberts. The more supporters there are, the more comics and art that can be made and shared with more and more readers!
I want comics like The Legend of Jamie Roberts to keep going. More importantly, *the readers* want comics like The Legend to keep going. This comic especially is written with teens and young adults in mind, who, like me, struggle with gender identity and their place in the world. Stories like this cannot exist in a vacuum, and need support from readers like you to continue.
HOW
Ko-fi Memberships come in two flavors – one-time donations and monthly memberships.
If you give just a one-time donation during this Membership Drive, you get…
Ko-fi shop discount codes,
First dibs when I’m available for commissions,
If you join any of my monthly memberships – the Digital Club, the Zine + Sticker Club, the Art Club, you get all of that PLUS…
Webcomic updates two days earlier than the rest of the internet,
Sneak peeks at how comic pages are made,
Access to comic scripts,
Shout-outs on YouTube,
Member-exclusive zines and stickers (for Zine + Sticker Club and Art Club members),
Exclusive 4 x 6 inch mini-prints (Art Club members),
AND members-only rewards if you back a KickStarter or Crowdfundr campaign.
To get these rewards, head to my Ko-fi page and click “Memberships” to join monthly, or “Shop” to get some goodies. Spending $3 or more in the shop gets you the one-time rewards. You can also get one-time rewards by leaving a tip of $3 or more on the main Ko-fi page.
Keep in mind, too, that you can cancel monthly memberships anytime, no questions asked.
These are options IF you have the budget for it. If you are broke or struggling, absolutely *do not* feel pressured to join. Like I mentioned up top, I understand that 2025 will be a tough year for all of us. So if you are broke, share this campaign with other folks who love genderqueer pirates, trans girls, demon kings, dragons, fantasy malarkey, and supporting queer creators. Sharing is caring and helps spread the word that this campaign and these comics are even happening.
WHEN
This Ko-fi Membership Drive will run UNTIL JAN 31, 2025. I will be updating you once a week on Tuesdays to let you know how the campaign is going. Rewards will ship out after Feb 1.
That’s all for now. If you have any questions or anything, please let me know!
Now live on KickStarter, it’s the Zine Club Pledge Drive!
I love making zines!
For the first half of my webcomics-making career, I offered zines as rewards for patrons on Patreon…back when I was on the platform. After I left Patreon, I moved to Ko-Fi and offered the Zine Club as a membership tier.
Right now, our membership is small – less than 13 people. We are a pretty cozy community of creative folks. I love them! AND I would love to grow the club to more members. To get more zines out into the world AND to make more webcomics happen!
Growing the Zine Club would also mean less of a need to hustle so much for income. Less hustling means more time for making rewards, too.
With your help, I would LOVE to grow the Zine club to make these goals happen. KEEP IN MIND, These are set intentionally low so we can hit goals and spread the word faster:
(This is already unlocked!) If we raise our Base Goal of $72, all backers and Zine Club members will get the Deluxe version of my tabletop roleplaying game, Toe Beans & Broomsticks! This game was originally designed for Free RPG Day last year. In it, you play as magic-casting cats, crows, dogs, and owls on a Saturday Morning adventure. The Deluxe edition of the game will have updated character tokens, NPCs, and a homebrewed game setting, The Lost Scroll of Madam Jellybean!
(ALSO UNLOCKED!) If we raise $143, all backers and Zine Club members will get the remastered PDF of Thoughtful Dinosaur!
If we raise $220, all backers and Zine Club members will get the PDF of New Punk Signal (The Signal So Far), the spin-off/sequel to Validation featuring everyone’s favorite himbos, Mike & Steve.
At $385, all backers and Zine Club members will get The Lore of Jamie Roberts, the zine containing SO MUCH RESEARCH that went into The Legend of Jamie Roberts. The zine will also contain concept art and a recipe for the pepper soup that appears in Chapter 3 of The Legend.
We also have stretch goals if we go BEYOND $385! But we’ll unlock those when we get there.
Can you pledge and become a member – even for just a month?
Then back this campaign! There are base rewards on the main page, and whichever one you click, you have your choice of add-ons to pick with your bundle!
Broke? Share this campaign far and wide! Sharing is caring and it helps more than you know. The link is tinyurl.com/kzineclub
That’s all for now. Thank you so much for your support!
If you don’t know, I created an alternative to Patreon for my fans and myself – my Subscribe page. On this page are 3 different clubs, each with rewards that stack the more that you pledge.
Previously, one of these clubs was only for folks who lived in the United States: the Zine Club. As part of the rewards, I mailed physical zines to members each month. For the sake of how much postage costs, I kept the reward to only folks who were based in the US. International shipping just cost too much.
But now, things are DIFFERENT…
It started with the zine I made for February. I made THAT zine digital, because of how I formatted the pages. It just couldn’t work to make it a print book, so I made it a PDF download instead.
Then I thought, “What if I did that…EVERY month?”
Because here’s the thing – I’ve made a few comics exclusively for digital release, not print. Comics like PuzzleSpell, for instance.
So I did some poking around on the backend, updating the Stripe system, making a special segment of my newsletter, and now, we have…
ZINE CLUB 2.0!
By joining for a subscription of $5 a month, you get a new zine downloadable sent to your inbox before the end of the month. No shipping is necessary! Plus you get early webcomic updates and behind-the-scenes news in your inbox each week.
Here’s What’s Next
If you are currently a Zine Club member, you don’t have to do anything. Everything will continue as normal.
If you aren’t subscribed, use this link to sign up.
Are you a Pin Club member but wish to downsize? Here’s where you do that. (It’s also the place to go if you’re a Zine Club member and want to upgrade to the Pin Club.)
If you’re a Digital Club member and want to upgrade to the Zine Club 2.0, reach out to me directly. I have to make certain adjustments because of backend stuff.
Bottom Line…
I’m VERY excited about Zine Club 2.0. Now anybody worldwide can join – and I have SO MANY fun comics and zine Ideas!
