There have recently been a new wave of creator bans at BackerKit, Indiegogo, and Kickstarter:
This weekend, in an unprecedented move, Kickstarter banned me after I submitted my military science fiction space marine comic, The Emerald Array, for approval. I’ve seen projects declined before, but never an outright creator ban like this where it’s stripped me of the ability to communicate with the current backers of my last campaign, some asking questions via message or comment, which I have no way to answer.
JDA isn’t the only one to have a crowdfunding campaign shut down before it started of late. Lacey and I were banned by BackerKit for some unidentified “associations” and Comicsgate’s Cecil was banned by Indiegogo. Fortunately, a less censorious gentleman has prepared an alternative platform that is open to all and sundry, as JDA notes:
I’m not going to take this lying down, however. I’ve decided to fight, fight, fight, moving up the timetable of The Emerald Array space marine graphic novel campaign. We’re moving to Fund My Comic, a site run by a Christian creator committed to free speech.
Although we haven’t had any problems with Kickstarter, it’s good to know that there are other options that are available to us; while we have the right to use a certain alternative with whom the Cavalry are very familiar, we prefer not to use them and thereby generate revenue for them. One victory lap was sufficient to prove the point.
In the meantime, the HYPERGAMOUSE campaign is going well, moving steadily toward the next stretch goal. We’re contemplating the addition of a) a leatherbound edition of Sigma Game and b) foreign language editions of Hypergamouse.