Canadians Get Kickstarter On September 9

After four years, Canadian project creators and backers will be able to participate on Kickstarter. Until now, international sites like Indiegogo have been the crowdfunding options of choice for those either from (or trying to reach backers from) outside of the United States and The UK, but Kickstarter's brand recognition and user base could be significant for Canadian comic creators and publishers.

Canadians interested in building campaigns can begin now at the Kickstarter homepage, with the campaigns themselves kicking off on September 9. Users need to be at least 18 years old and permanent residents in Canada who are either creating a project in their own names or on behalf of a legal entity with a business number. They also need to have a Canadian bank account, government-issued ID and a major Canadian credit card.

Canadian projects will pop up just like US or UK projects, with the only visible difference to users being that their prices will be listed in Canadian dollars. Fees for successful projects are the same as well. There's a 5% fee to to successfully funded projects, plus a conversion rate fee on foreign currency. Kickstarter's posted a full FAQ with more information detailing what Canadian users can expect when embarking on a campaign.

According to Kickstarter's stats, 1,344 and counting comics projects have been funded as of press time, with more than 60 percent successfully raising between $1-9,999. On the flipside, some 1,410 comics projects have gone unfunded, meaning a slight majority of users weren't able to take advantage of Kickstarter's unique all-or-nothing (plus extra) platform. Successful projects still have an edge, though. Comics Kickstarter projects that do get funded tend to win big when they win, with those that have gotten funded securing a combined $17.72 million vs. unfunded projects' mere $1.4 million.

Indiegogo doesn't keep stats the way Kickstarter does and its "comic" category is vague as it contains humor and stand-up oriented projects on top of sequential art works, but it's still had some clear success stories. Indiegogo has different terms of use, fees and functionality than KS, but DC Entertainment's "We Can Be Heroes" two charity efforts on the site have raised a combined $285,444 to aid hunger relief efforts in the horn of Africa.

[Via Kickstarter]