[Op-Ed] Why is the Rippaverse winning?

As of this writing, the Isom #2 campaign is just shy of 1.5 Million dollars after only five days, including a day or two worth of site outages due to excess website traffic. For any independent creator, Isom #1 (which finished its campaign at 3.7 Million dollars) would be considered a fluke. When the pace of the second issue looks to be matching and possibly exceeding the first, it’s impossible to deny Eric July and the creators of the Rippaverse are doing something that works.

If you’re well-versed in Youtube punditry, culture war slap fights on Twitter, and general Reddit shenanigans, you know the Rippaverse can be a sensitive topic. Eric July is an outspoken individual with a reputation for criticizing the Comics Industry establishment and the state of comics journalism, so it’s fair to say he has folks who cheer him on and folks who hate his guts. Either way, July is not a middle-of-the-road type of creator.

So, when July has a significant portion of the Comics Industry establishment against him, practically guaranteeing the Rippaverse won’t be promoted on any traditional channel, why is it making so much money? How is the Rippaverse able to generate enough funds to sustain itself, pay its creators generously and on time, and ensure there’s enough money left over to fund multiple future projects?

Would you be surprised to learn the answer to those questions isn’t a mystery? It all starts with the Golden Rule of Sales & Marketing I’ve talked about on this site multiple times.

Today’s Op-Ed is focused on the first and last part of the Golden Rule – “Give customers what they already want…” + “…where they already are” because it forms the basis of why the Rippaverse sales are so high.

More importantly, the Rippaverse sets an example for every indie creator regarding how you should be creating, marketing, and selling your campaigns for maximum effectiveness.

First, Eric July’s presence on YouTube, Twitter, and everywhere else where comic readers congregate keeps readers (past, present, and future) engaged with exactly the type of comics the Rippaverse is creating. July engages with his audience daily, so he knows what they like, dislike, and what they’re craving in comics that they’re not getting from the Big 2 or anywhere else.

In marketing terms, the Rippaverse customers are “curated” because they’ve been engaged consistently over a long period of time. So, when the time comes to open the sales doors (virtually speaking) to purchase Rippaverse comics, the customers know the Rippaverse is designed for them. Regardless of the details of the story, the constant cycle of feedback with Eric July gives potential customers the perceived assurance that they’re going to get what they already want. 

Using a simpler example, if I like chocolate ice cream, and somebody tells me they’re opening an ice cream shop in six months with chocolate ice cream on the menu, I’m more likely to visit that shop because I know I’m going to get my favorite flavor of ice cream.

Next, the “…where they already are” part of the rule is all about making sure that when the time comes to sell a comic, you reach out to the customers wherever they happen to be.

Listen closely, boys and girls. The “If you build it, they will come” approach to selling comics is a Hollywood fairytale. In the real world, it doesn’t work that way. You have to find the customers. They aren’t going to come looking for you.

The Rippaverse sets this example beautifully because within every opportunity that presents itself, Eric July and his colleague actively market the latest product and tell customers where to get it. In sales, shyness equals failure. A customer won’t buy your comic if you don’t tell them how, when, and where to buy it. You have to find them, and you have to remind them every chance you get.

This cycle of constant reminders is made much easier when you have a curated audience because you’re already engaged with them. Do you see how that works? Find your audience, engage your audience, grow your audience, and then, when it comes time to sell your comic, the audience is waiting for you to let them know. 

Both ends of the Golden Rule feed on and amplify each other. The more you curate, the more likely your comic will match what your audience is looking for, and the easier it will be to find them when your sales campaign launches.

Now, some will throw around aspersions like “Isom is terrible” or “Rippaverse is a grift.” That’s irrelevant to this article.

What is relevant is a real-time case study of a small publisher doing marketing and sales the right way. Frankly, the Big 2 could learn a lot from the Rippaverse, and if you’re an independent creator, you have just as good a chance of being as successful as the Rippaverse or Marvel if you follow the Golden Rule and learn from the Rippavere’s example.

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