Want Bigger Kickstarter Funding Totals?
Strategic variant covers are the low-hanging fruit of higher-performing campaigns... let's talk about them!
With the Comic Book Crowdfunding Planner campaign heading into the home stretch, I want to talk about one of the key strategies that comic book campaigns especially take advantage of….
👉 GET YOUR COMIC CROWDFUNDING PLANNER
…Yup, I’m talking VARIANT COVERS!
You probably know that variant covers are alternate versions of your comic with different cover art.
However, I don’t think most creator’s appreciate just how much of an impact offering strategic variant covers can have on one of the most important campaign performance metrics, your Average Pledge Level (APL).
Why does APL matter?
Because APL is the number that tells you how much each backer on average is worth. And that determines:
How much you can afford to spend on ads
How many backers you’ll need to hit your funding goal
And how profitable your campaign can ultimately be
So if you can bump your APL by just $5, $10, or $20 through smart offers like variant covers, that makes a huge difference to your bottom line.
For example, one of the top performing comic projects on Kickstarter right now is Lady Mechanika: The Mechanical Menagerie. An awesome looking project with a pro creative team, it’s no surprise this campaign is doing quite well and on pace to go over the 1,000 backer mark and six-figures in funding.
If you crunch the numbers on this campaign, you’ll see that the standard edition comic pledge is $28. However the average pledge level is more than 3X that amount. What explains the difference?
You guessed it… an assortment of attractive variant covers, including premium priced covers and special bundled tiers that some backers a grabbing for several hundred to $1,000 or more.
Why Variant Covers Work:
Collectors love options. Give them something to collect!
They create natural upsells. It’s easy to say “yes” to a second (or third) cover.
They add more reasons to support the campaign. Backers can pick their favorite—or grab them all.
They’re easy to produce. You don’t need to create new interiors—just new cover art!
They justify premium pricing. The market already accepts that variants can command higher prices.
Smart Variant Cover Strategy:
Want to do it right? Here are a few tactics that top campaigns use:
Use different artists. Let each bring their unique take on your character.
Offer different formats. Think: virgin covers, foils, sketch editions, wrap-arounds.
Experiment with high-end formats. Metal. Lenticular. Glow-in-the-dark. Push the envelope!
Create exclusivity. Smaller print runs can drive urgency and FOMO.
Save a few surprises. Mid-campaign cover reveals can keep momentum high.
Bundle smart. Offer an all-in “Collector’s Set” with a juicy discount to increase cart size.
Here’s the truth: More backers are awesome… but increasing the spend of your current backers is often the fastest path to bigger funding totals.
Adding compelling variant cover offers to your campaign helps you do just that. And it’s one of the strategies I break down in detail inside the Crowdfunding Page Planner.
If you haven’t grabbed your copy of the planner yet, you can check it out here!
-Tyler James
ComixTribe Publisher
P.S. Got any questions for the fine folks at Kickstarter? Kickstarter’s Head of Outreach for the Comics Category Sam Kusek is joining me today at noon for a special LIVESTREAM and he’ll be taking our questions and joining a discussion with indie comic creator crowdfunders including Rob Multari, Christian Douglas & Allan Liska!
And I hope you’ll tune into the stream or catch the replay on YouTube!