Can you explain how the Sandawe crowdfunding model functions exactly?
First, there are the comic book creators. They present their projects. I operate drastic selection criteria, just like a traditional house. We work out a budget that allows us to print a first edition and for publicity and marketing… everything needed for a book launch. We sign a publishing contract. Then, the authors produce story boards, a summary, a trailer etc, everything needed to show off their project. Then, there are people we call “edinautes”, a combination of publishers and internet users (don’t bother looking it up in the dictionary, it’s a neologism we invented). These are comic book enthusiasts. They are the ones who will decide whether to fund the project through investments ranging from 10 euros. In exchange, they will receive exclusive items, “collectables”, and they share in the profits along with us and the author.
They interact on a blog that we create for each project. The authors reveal how their work is evolving, their sketches, the various stages of creation. This is a unique opportunity for the public to go behind the scenes of the creative process for a comic book. They can interact with authors throughout this period.
Once the budget is met, the author is paid, he gets to work, and we produce the book like any publisher. It is then sold through sales teams in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada, and distributed in bookstores by the largest European distributor, Hachette. The édinautes get involved in the promotion and the buzz. And we keep them abreast of things that we’re organizing, often with their help. The model therefore combines a crowdfunding site, a full-service publishing house and a community that is 100% dedicated to comics. This is what makes us unique, compared to other “generalist” crowdfunding sites. It is the only model backed by a publishing house and all its services, and it’s the only one that exclusively funds comic books.