A Decade of Launching C is for Cthulhu Books
Time flies when you're launching Kickstarters and building a brand.
10 years.
3,652 and a half days.
A decade.
Any way you slice it, that’s a solid chunk of time.
There’s was absolutely no way of knowing that when I started working on a small project that was first pitched to me by my pal Jason Ciaramella while hanging out after a hectic Boston Comic Con, that I’d still be working on it 10 years later.
And yet, C is for Cthulhu, a project that started out as a simple 26 page Alphabet book of Lovecraftian lore targeted at young and old ones alike, is turning 10 years old this year.
When we first started, my thought was “Hey, here’s a book we might be able to get funded on Kicktarter.” I certainly didn’t foresee:
The initial launch becoming our most successful Kickstarter to that point, getting the support of over 1,100 backers… nearly triple our previous backer high.
The book continuing to sell long after the Kickstarter, to the tune of tens of thousands of copies solid over five printings and counting.
Becoming the highest rated Lovecraftian children’s book on Amazon and selling books on that channel every day.
Getting C is for Cthulhu translated into multiple foreign languages through foreign licensing deals.
Expanding the series to include four additional books, covering everything from tackling nightmares, counting & colors and even a Christmas book.
Bringing Cthulhu and pals to life in the form of amazing plush toys in partnership with Skelton Crew Studios.
Going back to Kickstarter nearly every year after that initial launch and having our many C is for Cthulhu campaigns earn the support of over 6,000 total backers and raise over $750K and counting… making it one of the top children’s book franchises on Kickstarter.
When this all started, I never would have thought one of ComixTribe’s biggest successes would be a children’s book. But when my son Cullen was born, three years after C is for Cthulhu was published, I really appreciated taking the leap into kid’s stuff. Cthulhu was one of his first stuffies, and he knew “Thoo-loo” before he knew most real world animals, which was cool. Since he was a baby, he’s been helping model for C is for Cthulhu Kickstarter launches each year.
Time flies when you’re launching Kickstarters, that’s for sure!
A Few Thoughts About Sticking With A Brand for the Long Term
#1: The Benefit of Hyper Focus
There’s a common saying in marketing and business that “The riches are in the niches.” The idea being that rather than going after big, broad markets, getting hyper focused on producing stuff for a small, but passionate group of consumers has a much higher chance of success. C is for Cthulhu is definitely an example of that. Once I started taking the board book to conventions, I noticed that 9 out of 10 people had no idea who or what Cthulhu is or how to pronounce it… but the 1 in 10 who DID know Cthulhu and immediately got the irony of putting one of Lovecraft’s most terrifying creations into a kid-friendly format HAD TO BUY THE BOOK!
Now, reality is, “the riches are in some of the niches” and your niche has to be of a big enough size that there are enough potential customers out there to make it worth doing. But by focusing on this particular market for the past decade, it made it simple to keep delivering products that our customers were asking for.
#2: Opportunities Come When You Keep Showing Up
Let’s face it… all of us want instant gratification. With social media, Prime same day shipping, Netflix bingeable season drops and the like, we’re probably less patient than ever. Likewise, most creators I know are far more interested in making the thing than sustaining it over the long haul.
But many of the best opportunities that have come up over the years related to the C is for Cthulhu brand didn’t come right away. Our foreign license deals came several years after our initial launch, and only because foreign publishers discovered us continuing to promote the product. It took eight Kickstarter launches before we were able to crack the 6-figure launch, but now we’re on track to do it for the third time. If you’re willing to stick with something and work on growing it a bit every single day, more opportunities will come.
#3: If One Person Wants Something, There Are Probably More People Out There Just Like Them
A third piece of pithy business advice (that is also super valuable) is “Ask people what they want to buy. Then sell it to them.” Stupid simple, right? And yet… how many creators take that approach? Now, I get it… many will bristle at the idea of letting your audience choose your content or what you create. I don’t think we did that with C is for Cthulhu exactly. The initial book was pure vision from the writer and artist… and whether it was a massive success or a huge flop, we all would have been happy we scratched the creative itch in making it.
But once your creative work meets the market, and there’s a strong response to it, there’s tremendous opportunity to be had simply by listening to your audience. I’d love to tell you Cthulhu plush toys were my idea… they were not. The Cthulhu fans asked for them. I’d love to tell you doing variant colors of Cthulhu to extend the line was my idea. Nope. Fans asked for those, too. And we eventually expanded the line beyond just Cthulhu plushies because we kept hearing interest from fans year after year. When we finally listened and made them available, it resulted in our biggest launch ever.
#4: The Power of Compounding Launches
One of my pal Russell Nohelty’s favorite slogans for his Wannabe Press encourages creators to “Make it once, sell it forever.” It’s the dream right. The challenge is, at least in the comics world, most creators and publisher make their book, launch it, and then it’s right on to the next thing. The sales shelf life for most creative products is quite short. One of the reasons the C is for Cthulhu brand has endured is that the original board book has continued to sell year after year, and we’ve been able to offer it and most of the other books and products we’ve creative over the years again and again as add-ons in our Kickstarter launches.
Now, the downside of this is that it takes FOREVER to set up a Kickstarter page, and it has created plenty of challenges around inventory. Some products sell great and we keep bringing them back. Others that underperform, we’re happy to let ride out into the sunset. But the model of launching a few new things each year and also selling lots and lots of older product along side it is what has let our campaigns perform so well.
As I said, 10 years is a long time, and sticking to something creatively for that long is a milestone worth celebrating. It felt like the perfect time to roll out a new, expanded, remastered edition of the book that started it all.
Here’s to sticking with those great ideas… you never know where you’ll be in 10 years when you do!
-Tyler James
ComixTribe Publisher
Thanks for dropping those sweet knowledge bombs Tyler!