IPA: How did you first develop the concept of a crowdfunding model for publishing?
Patrick Pinchart: It emerged through my experiences working in comic books and as a result of the frustrations I encountered when I was editor in chief of “Spirou”.
In the first place, I’ve had a long career in the industry. I launched my first magazine as a teenager in the early 1970s, at a time when comic books were just starting to be taken seriously as an art form, as opposed to a distraction for children or morons. In 1980 I created the first radio programme dedicated to comic books, which went out on Radio Campus (two hours a week, lasting 16 years). In 1987 I became editor in chief of “Spirou”, a job I took on again in 2005. I created a multimedia division for Editions Dupuis at a time when nobody knew what the internet would become. I launched the first website for a French publishing house, the first website for a comic book series, the first film trailer for a comic book… we were innovating. I was also responsible for Dupuis’ assets. So Sandawe is a sort of melting pot of all these activities: communication, publishing, multimedia, interactivity etc.
While I was editor of “Spirou” I was frustrated when after having worked with comic book creators for months, helping them to formulate and develop a work, monitoring their progress, I had to decide in my role of publisher not to publish the work (as a publisher is entitled to do). The readers, who might have bought the books, had no say in this decision. But in reality, it is readers who decide the success or failure of a book by buying (or not buying it) from their bookstore. I said to myself that the crowdfunding system would enable them to become actors in the process from the beginning, by committing financial support for a project. That wasn’t possible at Dupuis, who could afford to purchase works, and who wouldn’t be credible in this model. So I resigned, in order to launch Sandawe.