Zoop! A new player enters the crowdfunding arena.
Crowdfunding has been a godsend for some comics creators. Many comic creators have publicly stated that if not for crowdfunding they may have been unable to produce their project.
For over a decade now, IndieGoGo and Kickstarter have arguably been the most visible and viable platforms for creators looking to produce a project through the support of backers.
Now comes Zoop. Founded by Jordan Plosky (founder of ComicBlitz, which was acquired by Cinedigm and drummer for Big Time Rush, a detail that we here at Indie Volt isn’t mentioned enough!) and Eric Moss, the former head of Business development at IDW and project manager on Keanu Reeves’ BRZRKR. Rounding out the team is former Kickstarter comics outreach head, Camilla Zhang who will serve as Advisor at Zoop.
Zoop is a crowdfunding platform that promises a user-friendly experience for creators and publishers. The main thing that sets Zoop apart from Kickstarter or IndieGoGo is that its focus is comics.
Zoop CEO, Jordan Plosky has stated that the platform will do more than just assist in raising capital for projects. Zoop can handle logistical challenges like marketing, printing and production, fulfillment, and campaign management, also Zoop only gets paid for successful campaigns. Ideally, creators will be able to work more on creating and not be burdened with the tedious and stressful bugbears that are systemic with running a campaign.
Zoop was also built for fans as well, promising to offer à la carte support abilities, allowing a robust system where you can pick and choose perks and Tchotchke’s from all over a campaign, allowing backers to in a way “build a bundle”.
“Comics are the fastest-growing crowdfunding category today, and COVID’s impact on the industry highlighted the need for a new solution for creators, Zoop was created to solve these and more pain points by bringing crowdfunding, e-commerce, production, fulfillment, and distribution together under a single, simple platform,” said Jordan Plosky.
As of now the only project available on the service is Slow City Blues from David Baron, created by Samuel Haine, Shawn Moll, John Livesay.
10 years in the making, Slow City Blues is a five-issue comic for mature readers that’s also being developed as an animated series. It’s the story of Detective John Loris, who is trapped inside his imagination after an accident leads him to commit suicide. Instead of dying, however, John enters Slow City, a bizarre world created by his own imagination, memories, and pop culture references and ideas.
It’ll be followed by Scarlett Couture from Des Taylor, a story about a beautiful,
wealthy and deadly billion-dollar heiress to the Chase Couture fashion empire. When she and her team retrieve an encrypted SD card that contains damning evidence of perpetrators behind a Las Vegas terrorist attack. Unfortunately for Scarlett and her team, powerful groups are determined to make sure that ANYONE who comes into contact with the files is killed.
Bart Sears’ Heads Will Roll and Resolution from Ron Marz, Andy Lanning, and Rick Leonardi.
It’s also been confirmed that Paul Cornell, Chris Ryall, and J. Gonzo will launch campaigns with Zoop as well.
Time will tell if Zoop can unseat Kickstarter or IndieGoGo but their offerings and promoted ideas do sound pretty tempting to some creators who plan to run campaigns on the service as soon as it’s made available for wider use.
What do you think? As a reader are you open to using a third platform for your indie comics fix? Or will you remain brand loyal to either IndieGoGo or Kickstarter? How about for creators? Some have suggested phrasing in the Zoop Terms of Service have given them reason enough for pause or to stay away altogether. Let us know in the comments below.
