VOODOO NATIONS LAUNCH MAY BE THE MOST IMPORTANT LAUNCH IN MY CAREER AND ITS FAILING!!!

Lets talk about it

I’m going to be honest with you.

The launch for VOODOO NATIONS may be one of the most important launches of my career.

And right now… it’s struggling.

I’ve spent a lot of time asking myself why.

Is it the economy?
People are stretched thin right now. Bills are higher. Groceries are higher. Everything feels more expensive.

Is the book bad?
That’s a hard question to ask as a creator, but if I’m being honest, it crosses my mind.

Did I not promote it enough?
Maybe I assumed people would show up because this book means so much to me.

Am I losing my audience?
Have I launched too much?
Am I asking too often?

These are the thoughts that creep in when a campaign doesn’t move the way you hoped.

And if you’ve followed me for any amount of time, you know I try to be transparent.

So here’s the truth:

I need this book to succeed.

Not because I need a win for my ego.

Because I need closure.

I need to put a bow on this chapter of my life and this chapter of Orange Cone.

I recently secured a publishing deal with Source Point Publishing for VOODOO NATIONS, which is huge. But I still need to cover the printing costs myself. That means this launch matters in a very real, practical way.

But the financial side isn’t even the main reason this book matters.

This book is personal.

Very personal.

VOODOO NATIONS is dedicated to my wife, Heather.

This story wasn’t born from, “Hey, I have a cool horror idea.”

It came from grief.

It came from loss.

It came from one of the darkest periods of my life.

When my mother died, something in me broke.

Anyone who has experienced real grief knows exactly what I mean.

You don’t just feel sad.

You change.

Your mind starts searching for relief, for comfort, for anything that can fill the hole left behind by someone who mattered deeply to you.

I was lost.

I didn’t know who I was becoming.

And during that time, Heather—who was my girlfriend then—stayed.

She stood beside me while I grieved.

She loved me when I wasn’t easy to love.

She helped rebuild the man I am now from what felt like ashes.

That’s what VOODOO NATIONS is really about.

Yes, on the surface it’s horror.

It’s voodoo.
It’s monsters.
It’s supernatural darkness.
It’s faith versus evil.

Ministry versus Monsters. Faith versus Despair. Good versus Evil.

But underneath all of that…

It’s about grief.

It’s about belief.

It’s about spiritual warfare—not always the supernatural kind, but the kind that happens inside us.

The battles no one sees.

The quiet ones.

The ones where you decide whether you’re going to get back up… or stay broken.

What makes this story different to me is that it isn’t told through the perspective of the broken person.

It’s told through the perspective of the person trying to help heal them.

The person carrying the weight.

The person trying to hold everything together.

The person who refuses to leave.

That was Heather.

And that’s why this book matters so much to me.

This series fought me every step of the way.

Rewrites.

Delays.

Damaged print runs.

Lost files.

Setbacks.

Moments where I honestly wondered if this book would ever be finished.

There were times it felt cursed.

But some stories don’t let you quit.

This was one of them.

Over time, the art evolved.

The team changed.

The book got sharper.

What started as a horror comic became something more honest than I expected.

A reflection of real darkness.

Real pain.

Real love.

And now I’m here.

At the finish line.

Or at least what should feel like the finish line.

And instead of celebrating, I’m worried.

What makes this harder is that this isn’t normal for me.

Many of my past voodoo nations campaigns have brought in 150+ backers, sometimes much more. I normally launch with a little under 100 backers

So this launch has been a hard pill to swallow.

It’s hard not to ask yourself tough questions when you’ve seen people show up before, but now so few seem willing to add this book to their bookshelf.

That hurts.

Not because of pride.

Because this book matters.

I believe in this book.

I believe it’s good.

I believe it deserves to exist.

And I believe the people who read it will connect with it.

So I’m asking for your help.

Not just to buy the book—though yes, I absolutely need that support.

I’m asking for your perspective.

I want honesty.

I want feedback.

I want to understand what’s happening.

If you’ve supported me before, thank you.

If you’ve backed a Kickstarter, bought a comic, shared a campaign, or encouraged me when I needed it—you helped build this career.

So I’m asking one more time:

Help me finish this.

Help me put VOODOO NATIONS to bed the right way.

Help me close this chapter.

If you can back the campaign, here’s the link:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/orangecone/voodoo-nations-trade-paperback

And if you can’t back financially, sharing this post or the campaign helps more than you know.

But I also want to hear from you.

Tell me in the comments:

Do you think I’m launching too much?
What makes you decide to back a campaign in today’s market?
Is it the economy, crowdfunding fatigue, timing… or something else?

I don’t want this post to be about defeat.

I want it to be about community.

About figuring this out together.

Because that’s what we’ve always done.

— Travis Gibb