#ACME Comic Con Spring

[akinari-kashihara]

I'm going to be tabling alongside @duskdragonxiii at ACME Comic Con Spring on March 9th and 10th! It's our first time in Comic Village rather than Artist Alley so come by and give us some support while we sit among the big publishers!

We'll still have our usual stock plus some new stuff!

[waytray]

ACME Comic Con Spring 2024 | Genshin | Vlog

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Good Omens graphic novel update: August 2024

This time last year, the Kickstarter was in full swing, what a journey it’s been since then! Colleen is still working hard to complete the graphic novel and we have some incredible pages to share with you.

There have been many merchandise updates in the past few months and whilst a number of backers told us they loved these, others wanted to hear more directly about the graphic novel itself. So, for this month we will focus 100% on Colleen’s work, and how the various editions of the book are coming along. Everything is shaping up rather nicely, if we do say so ourselves!

You may have seen some of the sneak peeks Colleen has posted recently, such as this wonderful scene between our heroes:

And our favourite angel and demon on the road.

Collen has recently shared a rare view from her drawing board with us. "Working on pages 75 pages apart at the same time" she explains. The joy for us is that these pages arrive similarly out of order, so the graphic novel is unfurling like a magnificent jigsaw.

The reversible alternative covers by Rachael Stott and Frank Quitely are coming together beautifully. Different vibes, both ‘heavenly’ and we’re delighted to share them with you:

Moving inside. Here's an introduction to your introduction: our favourites include: Dog: Satanical hellhound and cat-worrier. Everyone should have one!

With the pencils mapping out the story almost completely in place, here are some samples from across the book – don’t worry we’re not giving too much away. It is always interesting to see these images come in, then watch them evolve over time

As we enter the latter stages of inking and colouring, we're also getting glorious new artwork by the bucketload. Colleen has been working diligently and it’s simply wonderful to see the story coming to life so vibrantly.

We shared this a few updates ago in its inked form. Now here it is in full glass-shattering colour.

A jaunty moustache and some 'definitely not-bad-news' being delivered in the middle of a birthday party.

A prior inked piece we shared before. Crowley venting his frustrations, oh so subtly.

And here's a closer look at some of the Horsemen in situ.

...of course you must also have some snippets of Aziraphale and Crowley having a fine time with books and wine.

And this rather lovely panel ends the previews of our main duo for this update.

But one final thing before we leave our heroes for this month... feast your eyes on this absolutely gorgeous celestial piece.

And now to the admin.

If you have a query, please check the Good Omens graphic novel FAQ page at terrypratchett.com. Some key recurring questions:

The Good Omens graphic novel was listed to publish in July 2024 - why have I not received it? We shared an update on April 16th 2024 introducing the new timeline and full context on why dates had to be moved. You can read that here. We appreciate that some didn't catch the timeline update and had been expecting items to arrive across July and August - the graphic novel and surrounding items are due to arrive in Spring 2025 to align with the new publication date. Thank you for your patience. We promise that it will be worth the wait!  

I've been in touch with a query about my pledge but have not heard back - what should I do? We have been dealing with a significantly increased number of messages recently and our team are working through them as best we can. If you have messaged over a week ago and are yet to hear back, please get in touch again, either via the message thread on Kickstarter or your previous email chain. Rest assured, we are reading and working through all messages as quickly as we can and appreciate your patience.

If your question is not answered in the FAQ, please don't hesitate to contact us and we can get back to you as soon as possible.

Events

We announced in our June update that Crowley's S2 Bentley would be appearing at ACME Comic Con in Glasgow. Unfortunately, our team will no longer be attending, so the Bentley will not appear at this event. We wanted to let you know as soon as possible in case you have booked tickets expressly to see it, or to meet the Good Omens HQ team. Maggie Service is also no longer attending the event, however Quelin Sepulveda, our beloved Muriel, is still appearing on the Saturday, and there are many filming locations around the central belt of Scotland if you are visiting, so you can still make your trip a little more ineffable. We apologise for any disruption to your plans.

Colleen has also had to cancel her appearance at the upcoming DragonCon, as she explains here.

[kelkilou]

It's time!! Acme Comic Con  is upon us, come find me at Table GG11 in the Artists Alley!❤️✨

[stede-bonnets]

ACME Spring Comic Con Day One!

Unfortunately, Vince's phone was out of charge so he didn't get many photos of me as Aziraphale. Enjoy lots of photos of him as Crowley instead djdjsj

[sophira-lou]

Table from this weekend at ACME comic con spring. Hoping to come back for the September event as we had such a blast!

Onto the next con Megacon Birmingham

[peterinpa]

Two years ago, plus one day, this Apprentice assumed office in spite of losing the popular vote nationwide. In 3 states alone, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, less than 40,000 voters pushed the electoral college to him. He had said all along that the system was rigged.

He said it so many times, combined with a clear message that he would not accept the results, that the Obama Administration sought the cover of no one less than Mitch McConnell when they had irrefutable evidence of Russian meddling. He refused, and promised to skewer any announcement of tampering. I doubt Obama knew of all the things going on, independently at Putin’s direction, or in concert with Trumpettes. But they knew Putin didn’t want Hillary to win, and wanted to embarrass America by showing us how fragile our election system is. He never forgave Hillary for calling the Russian elections a farce while she was in Red Square when the comical election of Putin was taking place.

If you’ve read this far, you’re likely thinking “Wow, Peter has some sour grapes to dole out”. And you’d be partially right. Partially. I was not a Hillary fan. I supported Obama from the start of the primaries in 2008, and found her campaign then to be void of inspiration. But I thought she handled herself with grace and class once it was clear that Obama would gain the nod. And I thought she was as effective Secretary of State as one could be. So, yes, I was all in with her two years ago, and once it was clear Trump would be the nominee, broadcast warning bells from the spring onward that he would win if we let our guard down. So I was more personally invested in a campaign since I left Connecticut in 1993.

Clearly, the animosity many felt towards Hillary made him viable. And the venom many people felt toward her, friends and relatives included, was, in my humble opinion, misguided and based on spin the Repuglicants had woven around her for two and a half decades.

I do understand the anger and reality many feel towards being left behind during the last 30 years. Our economy transformed from making things to doing things. The blue collar jobs my parents generation thrived on, and which motivated my grandparents to emigrate here are gone. As are the labor unions that brought them safety net benefits and a pathway to the middle class. You just can’t raise a family working as the greeter at WalMart, or the cash register at Acme.

And as importantly, we lost the sense of hope that our kids would have it a little easier, a better way of life perhaps than we would. Once hope is lost...

So, in retrospect, I understand why the would be a undercurrent of backlash towards Obama policies that attempted to shore up the safety net through things like Obamacare, or lay the groundwork for seamless economies world wide through trade agreements. He published “The Audacity of Hope”, and Bill Clinton was the man from Hope. They both sowed hope when Hope was dwindling. What they failed to realize that hope does not put food on the table, pay the mortgage, or send someone to college. The policies they did espouse were more visible to those on the bottom rung. Those a few steps up, but falling behind, didn’t see anything tangible.

It’s no coincidence that Bill and Hillary failed in 1994 to achieve their national health insurance program, and Obama took intense heat and and was tarred and feathered forever by passing a modest version of one.

What I don’t understand is how Trump got and gets a free pass. Confirmed misogynist and degrader of women all his life. That’s ok, they said. Everyone does it. A con artist who ran shell games with other people’s money, and created a mystique with smoke and mirrors. They looked the other way. Tax evader and embezzler. “He’s a genius” was Giuliani’s rebuttal.

“I’m the only one who can do it. Only I can drain the swamp. And only I can bring you better health insurance for less cost. It’s going to be beautiful!”

“I’m the deal maker! The most brilliant and successful businessman in the world! Yeah, I got a small loan from my father, but I paid him back, and it really wasn’t a lot of money!”

And in spite of the facts we knew, yes we did, he garnered enough votes and just enough votes in key states to have the pretense of the Electoral College place him in an office he was unfit for. The very electoral college written into our constitution to prevent the very type of candidate from becoming president: a despot controlled and installed by a foreign power.

Claire McCaskil, in one of her final interviews before vacating her senate seat, said Trump was an aberration. That this will pass, that we will survive this. She is right, I think. But much of the damage is already done. Rules that protect us from financial peril inflicted by faceless banks and corporations have been loosened or repealed or not enforced. We jump started global warming on so many levels it’s mind boggling. We’ve given huge tax cuts to those who didn’t need it, further concentrating wealth in the elite. And we’ve let them stack the judiciary with activist judges who have a clear agenda. Yes, activist judges who would like America to be great again. America of 1952, that is. And we’ve not only abandoned our allies and forfeited our leadership of the world, but we’ve spit in their eye doing so.

And Russia. He’s lied about his relationship from the start. He was and is in bed with the oligarchs and autocrats. And shown out democracy to be available to the highest bidder.

He lies, cheats and steals.

I doubt we will ever find out about how incestuous he and his family have been with the Russians. But let’s be clear: there are lots of smoking guns here.

I hope the Democrats won’t impeach unless it rises above high crimes and misdemeanors. The Repuglicants simply are not going to convict. His “Art of the Deal” skills, always a farce, hopefully will open the eyes of the 40%. And what’s up with the evangelicals? Seriously!

We can throw this despot and wannabe dictator out in less than two years. We can. We must.

I don’t know which of the Democrats will emerge from the field of 50 currently assembling. But I’ll be going all in again. We we’ve seen the results. We are better than this. My advise to those Dems: tell the truth. Embrace the progressive cause. Tell us we need higher taxes on the rich, that it’ll fund a strong public education and public works infrastructure. Have an honest discussion of the safety net FDR hoped for, and the one LBJ started to put in place. And the one Repuglicants have been chipping away at since.

It’s not magic. Trump slid in on a message of dividing us and tearing things down. It’s easy to tear things down. Far harder to build and achieve.

At the end of the 4 years, as he departs office having been severely rejected, perhaps history will reuse him to a catch phrase:

“Nobody knew {insert text} could be so complicated!”

Oh, we knew, Donny. We certainly knew.

[clarencenicholsonata]

How to Create a Successful Sweepstakes (A Complete Guide for 2017)

Social media marketing has changed dramatically in the past 10 years.

The way we interact online, the advent and then spread of social advertising, the growth and fall of organic reach on Facebook and Twitter…

The list goes on, but suffice it to say that marketing on social media isn't what it was.

So what is it? What's the value of social media?

Ultimately it comes down to a single idea: your business' target market IS on social media. All you need to do is get them from there to your website and then get them to buy.

I mean, right?

So if that's the case, creating a successful sweepstakes is the answer.

There is no more effective tool to turn those social media users who are within your target market into contacts and sales leads.

This article will walk you through how you can create a modern, successful sweepstakes online.

Let's do it!

Step #1: Decide your Sweepstakes Theme and Format

The best way to ensure a successful online sweepstakes is to attach it to something that your target market is already thinking about.

Our most successful sweepstakes are always ones that coincide with a holiday, a current event, or an industry-relevant celebration (like Comic-Con, or the 50-year anniversary of Ben & Jerry's).

People don't need a reason to enter your sweepstakes, but believe me when I say that grabbing onto a theme is like grabbing onto a runaway train. You'll get where you want to go a lot faster than on your own two feet.

So your first step to creating a successful sweepstakes is to identify something you can attach your campaign to. This can be as simple as "Get ready for beach season! Enter for a chance to win six-months free personal training!"

Or, it can be as complicated as "Back-to-School season is coming fast! Enter for a chance to win a brand new AcmeFace backpack stuffed to the zippers with school supplies. Prize valued at more than $350!"

A few more awesome themes include…

Grand Opening

Get Fit for Summer

Back to School

Holiday (Christmas, Halloween, Valentine's Day, National Donut Day, etc)

Seasonal Change

Wedding Season

Spring Cleaning

New Album Drop

Comic-con or another industry-wide, well-known event

Of course your sweepstakes doesn't have to tie directly into a theme. If you're just getting rolling and want to create a simple, giveaway-style sweepstakes on Facebook or your website, just focus on a great prize and leave the themes for later.

Here's a recent example of a successful, themed sweepstakes run by one of our clients which drove over 2,000 entrants.

For more tips on choosing the right theme for your next sweepstakes, check out our article on “50 Fun Contest Ideas You Can Use Today.”

Step #2: Choose your Sweepstakes Prize

Who are we kidding? Most people don't enter an online sweepstakes because they love the brand or are super excited about giving people their contact information. They enter because they want to win the prize.

So, you have a quick brainstorm session and you come up with something that people will love. But it's a bit more complicated than that…

The characteristics of a great sweepstakes prize:

Valuable enough that substantial numbers of people will want to win it

Cheap enough (for you) that you'll get a positive return on your investment

Relevant to your business so that only your target market will want to enter (no point in getting contact details of people with no real interest in what you do).

Is it just me, or are we talking about one of your products, here?

It's true. The best possible prize you can give away in your sweepstakes is your own product or a gift card so people can buy your product.

"Prize valued at $500" is great, because (to you) the actual prize value is significantly less. If you give away a MacBook, the prize value is actually what you spent on it… Plus, everybody will enter and nobody will care about your totally unrelated product.

Here's an example of a prize from one of our recently-run sweepstakes:

And here's a prize package offered a year or so ago by another of our clients:

For more tips on choosing your sweepstakes prize, check out our article on “101 Best Prize Ideas to Give Away in Online Contests & Competitions.”

Step #3: Create your Sweepstakes Page

Sweepstakes Page Best Practices

Ensure your prize, and its value, are front and center in your sweepstakes' headline. The dollar value, in particular, should be featured.

Your sweepstakes' image is about 50% of how you communicate professionalism and value. Feature a picture of the prize (or, if you use a gift card, a few products people can buy with it). Most businesses, including our own, create a single image in Photoshop and then adapt it when creating social media posts, for the campaign and for the newsletter mailout.

Make sure it's obvious where people can enter your sweepstakes. Contrast the button color against the page's design.

Don't use paragraphs. As much as possible, break your "how-to-enter" and "why" into bullet points so people can quickly and easily understand.

Use a countdown timer to encourage people to enter now rather than down the line. Often with online marketing campaigns, a big part of getting people to convert is more about combating their laziness than whether they're sold on your offer.

Here's an example from one of our recent fully-managed campaigns. This is a sweepstakes designed by our professional design team and UX experts. It features all of the best practices above and converted about 65% of visitors:

For more on designing your sweepstakes, check out 30 successful examples at 30 Amazing Examples of Branded Facebook Contests. For a walkthrough on choosing the right sweepstakes app, check out "The Leading Facebook Giveaway Apps (Ultimate Guide 2017)."

Step #4: Add Share Incentives

Promoting and getting people to your sweepstakes page is a big part of driving success. Your page might be optimized and awesome, but if nobody sees it, there's no point.

Now, you can promote with social media posts and with your newsletter (and you should) but those people are already your contacts. What you need is a strategy to drive new, prospective customers who haven't yet bought from you.

These are the valuable leads - the people who will give you a positive ROI from your marketing campaign when they buy something down the line.

The best way to drive new people to your sweepstakes is by encouraging your existing contacts to share the campaign on your behalf. And the best way to do that is with a Share incentives.

Here are a few examples of share incentive popups:

These work by delivering bonus sweepstakes entries to people who share with their network. And, because they're prompted right after they click "Enter," they're never more motivated to share.

Many businesses give more bonus entries for different actions (like a share might be worth less than a Page Like, or a Linkedin Share might be worth more than Tweet). Determine how you really want people to share, and give more bonuses for that action.

For more tips on creating a social share-oriented sweepstakes, check out our article on “How to Use Incentives to Get More Fans & Followers.” You can also check out "How to Run a Facebook Share Contest: A Step-by-Step Guide."

Step #5: Share and Promote

In order for the share incentive strategy to work, you need to get some people to visit in the first place. And that's where social media and your newsletter come in.

.

First strategy is to target your previous customers who haven't bought in a while (your CRM should be able to filter people based on last time they bought). Create an email focusing on the dollar value of your prize.

Create another email for everybody else which focuses on entering and then sharing with their friends - even to the point of writing "Have a friend or family member who you think would love a pair of Acme Socks? There's never been a better time for them to try!"

Here's an example of a newsletter mailout we sent for our most recent sweepstakes:

Then, of course, you need to spread the word on social media. Use your social media management tool to schedule three to five posts over the course of your two-week contest. In the last couple, remind Fans that there's a limited time to enter. And, if you want, use the same messaging in your Fan-focused posts as you do in your customer-focused emails ("Have a friend...?").

Here's an example of the Facebook post which went with that same campaign (see how we duplicated the same graphic?):

For more on sharing and promoting your successful sweepstakes, check out "How We Run Online Giveaways: A Step by Step Guide."

Step #6: Advertise

The benefit of advertising your sweepstakes is that you're able to target exclusively those social media users who aren't already Fans or customers. This means that every dime you pay (and you only pay when people click on your ads) means you're reaching a new prospective customer. This is, of course, in contrast to your social posts and newsletter.

And social media advertising can be extremely affordable, but you have to do the math before you put down a single dollar…

The first thing you need to know is the average customer lifetime value: How much does someone, on average, spend when they buy from you. And how many times to they do it?

Once you have that number, you need to consider how effectively you can turn your sweepstakes entrants into customers. What percentage of entrants do you need to convert to get a positive return on your ad spend and prize value?

And how many people do you need to have enter to break even?

If you'll get a positive return on investment by only converting 5% of your contest entrants, then I'd recommend you do dive into social media ads.

if, however, you realize that spending $500 to drive 500 contest entrants (which is on the good side of average) and then only converting 25 of them (5%) doesn't actually give you a positive ROI after you subtract the prize value and $500 ad budget, then I'd either focus on strategies to convert more of your leads or increasing your customer value.

Here's an example of a recent social media ad campaign from Lucille Roberts (you saw their campaign above). This ad campaign targeted active women in Manhattan, and drove about 340 people to enter:

For more on advertising your sweepstakes on Facebook, check out "How to Ensure a Successful Online Contest with Facebook Ads." For a complete guide to Facebook advertising from beginning to end, check out The Complete Guide to Facebook Advertising.

Step #7: Choosing a Winner and Turning Entrants into Sales

Hopefully you've chosen a sweepstakes app which enables you to quickly and randomly select a winner.

As soon as you've emailed or direct messaged that winner and they've accepted the win, reach out to your other entrants to let them know.

This email is the most important part of the entire campaign.

After all, unless you have a strategy in place to turn your sweepstakes entrants into paying customers, there's little point. Your ad spend, your prize value, the time you spent… It'll all have done little more than create a little buzz around your brand and maybe some awareness. And those things are great, but they don't put food on the table.

The best strategy for turning entrants into sales is with a limited-time discount exclusive to them. Be sure the discount or coupon is valid specifically for what they wanted to win (if your prize was a women's shopping spree, don't create a coupon for a men's wallet). And be sure, as well, that the discount is actually available for a limited time.

Send another email a couple days before the credit/coupon expires reminding your sweepstakes entrants that they only have a few hours to take advantage of the discount.

Here's an example of the follow-up email we sent after our most recent sweepstakes:

And here's the email sent by Lucille Roberts Women's Gym giving away a 2-week free trial:

Top Tip:

Ensure your sweepstakes entrants are in their own email list/segment. You want to be able to contact them specifically next time you have a sweepstakes or when the product they wanted to win goes on sale.

For more on announcing and notifying your sweepstakes winner, check out "5 Best Ways to Announce & Notify Contest Winners (With Examples)." For more on converting entrants into leads, check out "How We Run Online Giveaways: A Step by Step Guide.

Final Thoughts

Hopefully this walkthrough has given you a better idea of how to get rolling with creating a sweepstakes.

Focus on the best practices I listed above, choosing the right prize, attaching to a theme (if applicable) and then following up with a complete post-sweepstakes strategy.

And if you have any questions about getting set up, don't hesitate to reach out in the comment section below!

Related Reading:

25 Sure-Fire Facebook Contest Ideas

Social Media Marketing Plan: An 11-Step Template

24 Amazing Facebook Giveaway Examples

30 Amazing Examples of Branded Facebook Contests Done Right

25 Creative Facebook Contest Ideas You Can Use Today

Instagram Marketing: 20 Excellent Examples & Ideas from Top Brands

30 Terrific Instagram Tools for Business

The Ultimate Guide to Instagram Marketing for Retailers and Brands

The 2017 Guide to Instagram Contest Rules

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[akinari-kashihara]

At ACME Comic Con Spring in Glasgow next weekend? I'll be with Dusky at table BB2 and here's the catalogue of the stuff I'll be bringing with me!

If you would like, you can now place an order to be picked up at the con!

You will need a ticket to enter the con

You will need some proof of your purchase (confirmation e-mail, order number, or similar)

Your purchase will be kept safe until you collect it

Things marked "PWYW" on here have prices on the site because that's how the shop works - please accept these as reservation costs

We look forward to seeing everyone there!!

List of fandoms under cut

Shin Megami Tensei

Persona

Mo Dao Zu Shi/The Untamed

Scum Villain Self-Saving System

The Dumb Husky and his White Cat Shizun

Genshin Impact

Link Click/Shiguang Daili Ren

 Everything for Demon King Evelogia

Devil Survivor

Kamen Rider Zi-O

Kamen Rider 1971

Kamen Rider 555

Kamen Rider Kabuto

Kamen Rider Amazons

Ultraman Mebius

Ultraman Taiga

Hypmic

Ace Attorney

Saint Seiya

Pokemon

Uuultra C

Breaking Bad

House MD

Neopets

Hatoful Boyfriend

Air Gear

FNAF

Timeranger/Power Rangers Time Force

Gundam Z

Beyblade Metal

Buddy Daddies

Beyblade Burst

D. Gray-Man

Caligula

Caligula 2

Digimon

Yu-Gi-Oh Vrains

[akinari-kashihara]

My little Bunhe, I love him so much ❤

If you're at ACME Spring Comic Con in Glasgow this weekend, we're at BB2!

[Shop | Etsy]

[akinari-kashihara]

I've no plans to reprint my Menace to the English stickers and we're already sold out of the plain Scottish ones but there's pride flags for anyone who feels like being a menace

These ones as well as the B-grades will be available at ACME Spring this weekend! Table is BB2!

[Shop | Etsy]

[akinari-kashihara]

Hit sticker from last Rai Con! I love you autism sticker This was inspired by me trying really hard not to info dump about Doctor Who and failing so bad cause I'm... real normal about it

They'll be returning for ACME this weekend! Find us at BB2!

[Shop | Etsy]

[stede-bonnets]

Acme Spring Comic Con day 2!

OFMD group cosplay with me as Stede, Vince as Izzy, and Skye as Ed! We even found Alastair as Sexy Tommy Shelby while we were there

[stede-bonnets]

Acme Spring Comic Con day 2!

OFMD group cosplay with me as Stede, Vince as Izzy, and Skye as Ed! We even found Alastair as Sexy Tommy Shelby while we were there