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USDN podcast is run by the USDN_Chairman and the Council of Nerds. We strive to bring you the all the latest news and rumors from the World of Nerds and consolidate it right here at USDN. USDN is for the people, by the people and of the people.
what is up everybody it's
the chairman of the united
states department of nerds
where we are for the people
by the people and of the
people you are listening to
the usbn on the dfpn
Thanks for watching!
All right, welcome back, everybody.
Let's welcome in my guest for today,
and that is Bruno Caterino.
Am I pronouncing that right?
Yeah, close enough.
Yeah, thank you.
Tell me how to pronounce it.
I want to know how to pronounce it.
I kind of given up on trying
to get people to pronounce
it right because, you know,
it's like... To me,
Caterino sounds so damn cool.
I know I'm probably butchering it,
but it sounds cool to me.
Bruno is correct, though.
Yeah, pretty much.
I mean,
if you say it with proper
Portuguese accent,
it would be something
like... I can't even get my
Spanish accent right.
I don't want to butcher the
Portuguese on top of it.
It's okay.
It would be something like Bruncaterino,
but, you know, it's... Yeah, it's cool.
That's awesome, man.
Don't worry about it.
I mean,
that's... Say it like you would say
Tarantino.
You know, it's kind of the same, you know,
ending, so it works.
Well, today, my friend,
you are the Tarantino of
the USDN podcast.
That's how you're going to
get treated today, buddy.
So let's dive into this.
Give us a little bit of
background on yourself and
how you got into writing
comics or wanting to just
like write comics in general.
Yeah,
so do you want the long version or
the short version?
It's up to you, man.
It's all about you and your new book.
So I want to make this all about you.
So if you want to give us a long version,
you can.
uh now I'll try to keep it
like the the fifty fifty
version so yeah uh hey
everyone and yeah thanks
for having me but um yeah I
mean um how I got into
comics was kind of uh you know uh kind of
Sorry, with was kind of, you know,
a different path because I started.
So I'm a software engineer,
that's kind of my day job.
I kind of started writing for film and TV,
you know, like, well,
I say this,
it's like I had something produced.
Not really, I made a few short films,
but I was writing screenplays for film,
for TV for a few years.
That was actually great
because that's kind of how
I learned to write.
And there was like a huge community around,
from screenwriters.
you can actually learn quite
a lot about storytelling,
even if it's a different medium.
And at some point I went to,
so I used to love comics as a kid,
but then I kind of stopped
reading around the two thousands for,
I don't know, almost two decades.
Yeah.
I was the same boat.
I loved comics as a kid.
And then for me,
I left home and got busy
with life and it wasn't until like
a few years back that I got
back into it as well.
So I know exactly how you feel there.
Yeah, and it was kind of the same.
And I was kind of going back
to comics and thinking, hey,
this is actually a good way
to tell some stories.
Those projects that are a
bit more expensive to tell
in film and that I can't do it on my own,
I could probably do it as comics.
Uh, and I happened to go to a comic con.
There was like this, um, um,
there was like this, um, what's workshop,
um, about, you know,
writing comics and I attended.
Uh, so the, the guy was, um, uh,
Neil Gibson is a writer as well.
And he's a publisher.
Uh,
he writes a lot of like horary kind of
stuff.
That's up my alley.
I love some, I love a good horror comic.
Well, then get this.
He's now officially writing
the Black Mirror comics.
Oh, nice.
Check it out, yeah.
Do you have a date on that?
Or what's the time frame
looking like on that?
I don't know.
I just... Yeah, the last...
Yeah, the last time I saw him at the con,
he had like a big banner
and all from Black Mirror.
Yeah, really cool.
But yeah,
so I after at the end of the workshop,
he kind of told everyone, hey, just,
you know, just get writing, you know,
send me a four page comic
and I'll read it and I'll
give you my thoughts and all of that.
And, you know,
I did send it and he liked
it to a point that I met
him by accident a few
months later and the
It pitched my story to
another guy that was with him, you know,
and they still remembered.
So I was like, OK,
it does come from that book
or from that story.
Did it get published or anything or?
Not yet, but that story is,
I kind of expanded the
story a little bit.
That story will be in a
sci-fi anthology that I'm working on.
Okay.
So yeah, it will be published.
Okay, good.
If you sign up to my newsletter,
you'll actually get that story for free.
Oh, nice.
So yeah.
It's sent to everybody to
sign up for his newsletter.
As a matter of fact, when we're done today,
I'm gonna go do it, cause I missed that.
So yeah, it's, yeah,
so that was the first story that I wrote.
And after that, I kind of just started,
you know, writing more stuff for,
you know,
in comics and adapting some
short screenplays into comics and yeah,
just start writing original
comics and stuff like that.
So I don't know,
how is that for a origin story?
Everybody starts somewhere.
I like that, actually.
I really do, especially, you know,
getting to meet somebody and then,
you know,
you sending them a story and
them actually, like, liking it,
you know what I'm saying?
Because I know that feeling
with writing that I do and
getting that praise for something that,
like, okay,
this is my first time writing anything,
really, and them going, dude,
you've never done this before?
That feels good.
Like, knowing that they were, like,
He's got something,
so that's a good feeling.
Yeah, I mean,
I wouldn't say I've never done it before.
I mean, the format was new for me,
but I had been writing for like ten years,
just not comics.
There was a period of adaptation, you know,
it's a different format.
But yeah, I wouldn't say that I would just,
you know,
I just came up and wrote something and,
you know, people liked it.
It was really not like that.
First thing that I wrote was awful.
Awful.
We all start somewhere.
Yeah.
That is, that's good.
So take people through your
writing process.
Like, how do you start?
Do you start with an idea, a character?
Like what, what,
like walk me through that.
Like, how do you do that for your,
for you?
Well, we asked the deep questions here.
no I mean the answer is very
simple it's very chaotic
and it's all over the place
it depends I once looked at
um a bathroom sign and I
came up with an idea it's
as simple as that I I see
something like completely dumb
and I come up with an idea
other times you know it's I
have like this very
specific image you know the
beginning of bereavement
that you know that uh
jupiter that pays in front
of jupiter that was a very
specific image I had in my
head now that's a very cool
scene in that book I'm not
gonna lie I love that first
like those urban pages
where the ship is flying into the base
remember the name of the
artist that you had doing
this book but he did
fantastic on those opening
pages with the with the
ship flying in amazing yeah
samuel is amazing and geo
who did the the colors is
also fantastic and those
guys did a phenomenal job
the book looks gorgeous because of them
It really is.
It's a very vibrant book.
Even like the medical spaces
within the pages are very
vibrant and very futuristic sci-fi,
which I'm absolutely loving
about the book with that kind of stuff.
But let's talk about your influences.
Are there any particular
writers or artists who have
impacted your work personally?
I mean, the obvious references, you know,
straightaway Rod Serling, Twilight Zone,
you know.
Yeah, pretty much everything I, you know,
I write tends to have a
little bit of that.
But then, you know,
specifically for this book,
I kind of do mention some
of them in the Kickstarter page.
And you can see, you know, Spielberg's AI,
you know,
wally was one of my favorite
ones but I've seen the
wally on there I was like
this might be something
yeah wally so you know
there's all these these
references that are much
closer to this book but
then there's you know all
over the place I mean black
mirror definitely is a
reference as well you know
there's quite a lot yeah
okay okay so let's dive
into this project um see
Give us a little bit of a
background on how this particular story,
Bereavement,
came about because that's
what we're here to talk about today.
So let's jump on that.
We know who you are now and
what your influences are.
Talk to us about Bereavement
and what this book means to
you and how did it come about?
Yeah.
I mean, it's – give me a second.
Yep.
Sorry.
No, you're good.
You're good.
It's going around.
Trust me.
I've been off and on for the
last couple of weeks with something.
Yeah, it's been weird.
But yeah.
So, yeah, I mean,
the question was sorry
about bereavement and the hub.
So just take us through how
you got started on this
project and kind of like
Because we know Wall-E,
AI were some of the
influences on this project.
But how did you get started
with this project?
And what made you go,
bereavement is my next project?
Yeah.
OK.
Yeah.
Thanks.
Sorry.
No worries.
The things of the live show.
But yeah.
So bereavement was
originally I started writing it for...
not really on commission
because you know it was not
like um a paid gig but it
was you know someone else
hey do you want to to write
the story for you know this
anthology and there was
some connections with the
book so I kind of started
um uh writing with that in
mind and it was much
simpler then because it was
based on something that
existed there was a little
robot so that you
that kind of, you know,
that element existed.
But then the whole
bereavement part and that
kind of came from me.
So the story kind of came
from me in this other world.
Ultimately, we couldn't really kind of,
you know, make it work for the ontology.
So I kind of just asked the guy, hey,
do you mind if I use this, you know?
myself it was okay with it
and uh you know um so yeah
I kind of just replaced all
the elements that you know
I did not own so uh so zara
was initially not a
therapist uh I mean there
was no zara really yeah uh
yeah so uh I kind of just
changed the the elements
and to tell the story and
to be to focus it more about uh
I don't know,
the grief and the loss and all of that.
I kind of focused more about that in,
you know,
the version that was actually published.
But I don't know, in my mind,
it was always kind of about that,
of the...
I don't know I I this idea
that um you know what what
makes uh something human
right and yeah that was one
of my favorite elements of
this book to be fair
because I had an idea going
in of of what it was but
when she actually walks
down those stairs and down the tunnel
And when you see the first
time who's actually the story is about,
really, I was like, oh, damn,
he threw me a curveball on this one.
I'm like,
because it's not what you're
expecting because she that
the it was referred to as
her husband or her partner.
So I'm like expecting there to be an angry,
upset, grieving human, you know,
at the bottom of the stairs
and down this hallway.
And that is not at all.
what was waiting when,
when she got down there and
you could like Samuel,
I believe did the art, like the way he,
her face said everything
when she got to the bottom
of the stairs on that was like,
but just this shock and like,
wait a minute,
you said this was for a grieving spouse.
This, this is a robot.
And I don't want to give too
much of the story away, but
Unless you want to, but that, to me, like,
brilliant writing, first of all.
So kudos to you, good sir.
But the artwork that Samuel did,
and he sold her facials,
the hysteria on the robot,
him diligently trying to
figure out how this could happen.
was brilliant to me just I
enjoyed that part immensely
and I can't thank you
enough for allowing me to
read it first of all but I
was like when you're
reading a comic book you
expect the element of
surprise maybe a good twist
somewhere a backstabbing
you know depending on what
what you're reading
But that was something
unexpected and brilliantly
done in my eyes.
So, sir.
Thank you.
Brilliant.
I loved it.
Oh, wow.
Thank you so much.
I mean, that's a raving review.
Thank you for that.
I gave you a raving review.
The moment I literally finished it,
I was like, dude.
And I was all over it.
Like, it's hanging up right now.
If you go to ddfpn.com, go to comic books,
a review of your
Kickstarter is on that page
with the link to the Kickstarter.
Because I took the review I gave you,
wrote it over there,
and expanded on it a little bit.
So, I enjoyed it personally.
So...
Well, thank you.
I mean, yeah, I'm speechless.
I really am.
No, I mean, yeah,
the reception to the book has been,
you know, absolutely amazing.
People are loving it.
You know, people love the story,
people love the art.
And yeah, I mean,
it's been really great to see that.
uh but yeah it always
surprises me you know when
someone you know when you
come and say you know why
you love it and it's like
this specific and it's like
oh man so yeah you know
with the art on it it when
I first seen it I'm like
man this kind of looks ai
but I know it wasn't like
he he he did the art
himself but like a lot of
the modern comic books now
I know there's some
companies who are just
using ai and I'm not
I don't too much care about it.
I'm not going to pick it up, basically.
It's not my cup of tea.
I mean,
I do use AI to create thumbnails
and stuff like that for my podcast,
but that's only because I
don't have a lick of
artistic abilities within
my soul to draw something, nor the time.
So for me,
it works out for creating
thumbnails and that kind of stuff.
But I love the modern art
that he brought to this
story because it's very vibrant.
It's it's God,
it's hard to explain without
like like if you look at
the cover that I posted,
that's very much the art.
It's very modern.
and very vibrant cult use of
colors even though it takes
place in kind of like a
medical bay it's still
those vibrant colors
because you can see that
outside and they're in
outer space so you can
still see that stuff and
it's really cool to me so
thank you yeah it's
yeah I mean again I'm still
speechless I don't know
where to go from that from
here that's all right I got
this because this is where
we're going next with it so
how did you approach your
your artist and your
colorist for the book now
is this a team you've
worked with before in the
past or how did you go
about selecting samuel and
I can't remember who you
said was the colorist on
this book like how did you
go about selecting them
yeah the the colors was was
geo and yeah um uh so
samuel introduced
introduced him to me okay
so they had worked together
I had never worked with
them and um yeah I just you
know I found him I uh I
found samuel on you know
facebook groups and uh okay
comic books and um yeah I
really like this art I
asked him you know if he
was free we kind of started
working on this
he recommended Geo and
because they worked together,
they actually worked really well as in,
you know, I mean,
they were incredibly fast.
Like, they would finish a page, you know,
he would send me to me to
approve and if everything was okay,
we would just, you know,
send it straight to Geo and
Geo would start working on
the color straight away.
Like,
they were complementing each other
really well, working really fast and
So what was the time like on
that from start to finish?
Would you say from you?
I'm pretty sure you already
had the whole story written
out and you sent that over to Samuel,
I'm guessing.
Then Samuel kind of took
your words in and put it on paper.
Don't know.
I can't remember how long it took.
I probably would be lying if I said,
you know, a number,
but it was comparatively
low compared with other
projects that I've done.
Yeah.
Okay.
I mean,
I don't think it took more than two
months to do the whole thing.
Probably a lot less.
Okay.
Yeah.
It was really fast.
Yeah, that was moving right along.
Sorry?
So I say he was moving right
along with that.
Yeah, I don't know.
It was probably a lot less
than two months.
I mean,
I'm just putting that as a cap
because I can't remember
exactly how long it was.
I just know that it was
relatively fast with other projects.
Yeah.
Okay.
No, that's interesting because, I mean,
it is a very well-done book.
And to me, it looks like, you know, they
like a passion project was
poured onto the paper, you know,
where everybody took their
time in doing their element of the story,
of the drawing, of the colors.
So very well put together story,
very well put together
artwork that matches the
story brilliantly.
So my hat's off to y'all in that.
So let's talk about the
Kickstarter itself.
So it is currently up and running,
and we are at the, I say we,
y'all are at the halfway point with this.
And how are we looking so far on that?
Like, are we going to hit the goal or?
I mean, I know the numbers.
I looked before we came on live.
I wanted to see how it was looking.
I think we can get it there, man.
I really do.
No, I think it's doable,
but we are I think it's
twelve days left and still twelve days,
probably eleven by now.
And there's still quite a bit to go.
So we're under fifty percent
at the moment.
So, yeah,
it's going to be right until the end.
I think it's possible.
But but yeah,
it really needs people to be
aware that it exists and to
I mean, you heard, right, you know,
all the reviews.
It's a great book.
It really is.
I gave it my seal of approval,
and I don't give that often.
Okay.
Literally.
If it's got the stamp on it,
it's good in my eyes.
And like I said, I don't give that often.
And you, sir, have it.
Oh, thank you so much.
So, yeah, I mean, you heard it.
It's a great book.
So go and back it because, yeah, I mean,
it's right now the most fun.
Well,
not most funded because it's not
funded yet, but it has done better than,
you know,
my previous couple of projects already.
Of course,
it needs to funds for that to
mean anything.
But, yeah, it's...
it's definitely doing well
it's still far from the the
goal uh but uh I think we
can get there if you know
if people look at it and
yeah what are some of the
uh rewards for backing the project
yeah I mean um so with any
level with any tier you
basically get um five books
by other creators in
digital formats so you know
at at the minimum uh if you
just pack it with you know
one pound or you know one
dollar a little bit more
than that you'll get five
five books straight away
and those are included in
every one of the other tiers
And then, you know, for the book itself,
you have, you know, the normal tiers,
you have digital formats,
you have a digital deluxe,
you have the physical
formats with three different variants.
And then you have some
deluxe packages that are printed,
that have the book.
uh you have and I think this
is probably one that is uh
maybe more worth it for
people you know outside of
the uk which is um um the
bundle that has all my
three books that's the one
I did because if I'm gonna
spin I think it was like
ten pounds on ship and I'm
like I'm gonna make sure
that box is full yeah
exactly yeah to me that's
the way to go with projects
that are out of the us is
if you're gonna do it
get the money because don't
just order the one book and get,
it's because the shipping is the same.
So if there's something else
you like on there, personally,
I wanted to read portrait
of a soul and pray.
And there was a couple of
covers on there that I
picked on those that were
like phenomenal covers to
go with the story.
So I'm like, I'm going to do this.
I'm going to get that in that as well.
So that's what I did.
uh yeah and I I think you're
right I think it's the way
to go with uh with
international projects and
I mean even you know you
mentioned ten pounds I mean
it's it's a little bit less
even that it's even a bit
less than ten pounds but if
you compare like something
if you compare that with
most kickstarters it's
still quite low um because
we're in the uk and
fortunately we have royal
mail and they have
know I'm not going to say
cheap prices but cheap
compared with you know most
countries so yeah so you
can you can get you know
books for a relatively
cheap price and if you get
the bundle with multiple
books I think this one each
if you get the three books
you get shipping to be like
three dollars for each book
which you know that's really good
like even if you're like if
I know a lot of people who
get their books off of
other apps like whatnot and
that kind of stuff and they
have flat rate shipping no
matter where like you could
buy a comic book from your
neighbor you know ten miles
up the road and it's going
to be eight dollars flat
rate period well just to go
you know a few miles down
the road so ten bucks or
eight bucks period flat
rate well and it goes up
from there per pound
That is a lot.
Wow.
Yeah,
so what you're telling us is the
shipping is great.
Yeah,
the shipping is really... In
comparison to other ways to
get comic books.
Yeah, the shipping really is great.
I mean, honestly,
I'm kind of a bit afraid
that when I actually start
shipping things, you know,
things might be a bit more
expensive because of, I don't know,
tariffs, whatever.
But, you know, I don't know.
At this point, I'm like, okay, cool.
I think we're all kind of
hanging out and waiting to
see how that's really going
to make an impact on Danes
when it comes to that kind of stuff.
So I'm hoping it doesn't really,
but we'll see how that works out.
So, I mean, that's some great perks there,
man.
Like I said,
I was really interested in
your two other books as well.
And my daughter has messaged me,
so I'm getting Dean's in my ear.
No worries.
Oh, I say not high school.
She's in college.
But let's.
Yes, she she does this.
She'll intentionally send me
a message when she knows
I'm in the middle of something.
But.
Let's see.
We've already covered that.
We already answered some of
the questions as we went.
So here we go.
How has crowdfunding shaped
your approach to how you do
comic books in the creation process?
Because to me,
Kickstarter has really
changed how this can be done.
Because before you would
literally have to do a book,
pay to have it stapled,
print it and everything else,
send it to a publisher or
multiple publishers,
which means now you've had
to print this book multiple
times and then send that on its way.
to different publishers to
see if they would be
willing to pick up the book.
And they're not just going
to want the one book.
They're going to want, oh, hey,
we love this book.
Give us three more to go with it.
Yeah.
Because what I've noticed
lately is most books are
getting four to six issues
for indie type stuff.
It's four to six issues is
why publishers are requesting it lately.
And they could be expanded for more.
I mean,
there's plenty of other books out
there that have started out that way.
And I know books that are
now like issue twenty, twenty one now.
But they started out as a
simple indie campaign that they just said,
hey, have a look at my book.
And the publisher goes, hey, great, cool.
Give us three more.
But Kickstarter has changed
that for people.
Now you can literally lay
out an entire book in digital format.
never having to send it to a printer,
never have to pay to ship
it anywhere and then get it
personally funded through a
campaign on Kickstarter.
Now, how has that changed your process?
Or have you just always been
like idea on and then use
Kickstarter to back your projects?
Well, I mean, because I started, you know,
making comics after, you know,
Kickstarter was already a thing.
Okay, yeah.
I don't have much of a comparison,
but I think it did make it possible,
right?
Because before having Kickstarter, I mean,
it's the whole process that
you're talking about.
And I mean, the book is finished.
So, you know,
I kind of paid for it myself.
And I'm hoping that what
Kickstarter does is, you know,
put some of that money back
in my pocket so that I can
make more books.
But, yeah, it's still a lot cheaper than,
you know, I didn't have to print it yet.
And I can print based on, you know,
whatever people, you know,
how many units people back it.
And I still very much like
the printed version, if I can.
Obviously, you know, if it's international,
sometimes you can't really do that.
But it's
But yeah, I mean,
I think the simple way that
it gives you a platform to
reach potential readership.
And one of the things that I
really enjoyed was
I mean,
I have some people that back the
first and the second
Kickstarter and they came
back for the third one, right?
So it's you're really building, you know,
a group of people that
actually enjoy your work.
And that's that's really great to see.
Yeah.
And so how has social media
shaped that as well?
Because it does give you a
larger platform.
Yep.
You have the Kickstarter,
but now you also have
social media to go to say, hey, guys,
I know a lot of you don't know who I am,
but I have this great project out there.
Could you please go give it a look?
Yeah, I think it has.
I was never very good at social media.
I feel like for me,
things kind of started to
change with Blue Sky
because I do feel like Blue
Sky kind of opens up.
I don't know.
A lot of people there are comics people.
Yeah,
there's such a huge... And I mean
this honestly.
For me, I don't write comic books.
I don't draw comic books.
But I read them.
I collect them.
And I have a podcast about them.
So for me...
And I'm speaking honestly here, like,
it has doubled, like,
what my access is to other
writers who actually write comic books,
artists whose covers I collect.
So for me in, like, let me, like,
Ghost Machine.
So this is Rocketfellers.
It's one of my favorite
books out right now.
And I think the guys over at
Ghost Machine are absolutely killing it.
They don't have a bad
project out right now.
But I post that cover up on Blue Sky.
And, you know,
I think that one is done by
Thomas J. Tomasi and
Francis Manipal does the
art and the covers for it.
And I post that on Blue Skylight.
Hey, guys, check out this book.
I highly recommend this book to you.
And they hit in Francis and
Tomas are all like, hey, dude,
thanks for supporting our book.
We appreciate it.
And here I am,
just a peon who just wanted
to share what I'm reading
with people and saying, hey, guys,
I think this is a great book.
Check it out.
And those guys are like, hey, man,
thanks for supporting our work.
We really appreciate it.
And I'm here like,
they just recognized me.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah,
I think it definitely increases a lot
that reach and it puts you
in contact with some of
those people as well.
And yeah, that is amazing.
I felt like
I feel like, you know,
I never invested that much
on Twitter because I didn't.
No other reason.
I just didn't, you know.
It was a toxic environment, period,
for everybody.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
Fair enough.
Just saying.
It's very toxic over there.
Yeah.
I never used it much.
You know, it was not even the toxicity.
I never had it.
I never used it much.
Yeah.
For that exact reason.
I mean, I never used Instagram much,
which I should, you know, even though,
you know.
I would say, yeah, for Instagram.
Instagram, for me,
I've had the podcast now
just over a year.
And I'm really just now
getting traction on Instagram.
And I think a lot of that
was me learning how to make reels,
how to properly share
things and put together something.
that I think people would want to see,
especially when it comes to
the comic book side of things.
So when I post a cover,
I don't know if anybody
ever really realizes how
much I actually put into
the covers that I post.
Yeah, I didn't do the cover,
but I always give credit to the artists,
the writers, the colorists.
And then when I actually post it,
the music that I attach to
the comic book,
is also something that plays
on the comic book.
So I literally,
in the search section of the music,
I will type in keywords of
the name of the comic book
and see what comes up.
And that's the music I select.
Because you'll be surprised
how many songs are out
there that are related to a
comic book some way or another,
not intentionally,
just because it's just how life is.
There's not a lot of words
and not a lot of names of
things to go around.
So things get reused.
And some, like Spawn, for instance,
has a movie.
So it had a whole soundtrack.
So you can go to the music,
select Spawn soundtrack,
and find the song that you
like and put it to the cover.
So when people click that
reel and they get that
cover and they get the
music from the Spawn soundtrack,
I don't know if anybody
ever really realizes that I
do all that stuff.
Like I select the music that
goes with that and I match
it to the comic book itself.
So it just, it's another creative outlet,
you know, and eventually like people go,
Oh, this guy over here,
this guy calling himself
the chairman of USDN is
he's doing good things.
He's putting our work out there and he's,
he's given us praise on our work.
So then they, you know,
It works that way.
I'm sure it works the same
way for you as well because
that's how I found you on Blue Sky.
I'm guessing you've seen me post and go,
hey,
this guy's doing stuff with comic books.
Let me talk to him.
I'm thankful for it.
That shit means the world to me.
Yeah, but it's really that it's, you know,
you, I mean,
I wrote like this thing about
things that I learned about Kickstarter.
And one of the things that I
put was exactly that is that, you know,
when you're thinking about
cross promoting, don't think just,
you know, other creators think about,
you know, YouTubers, podcasters, you know,
because, you know, if ten people are,
you know,
pushing you know their own
I'm saying you know a lot
if um if ten creators are
pushing people towards a
podcast for example uh the
next time that podcast is
talking about your book it
has access to you know ten
times more audience so it's
yeah you're kind of reading
about each other yeah book
literally went from blue sky
to my Facebook group, my podcast page,
my Instagram, my personal Instagram,
to threads,
which I don't do a whole lot
with on threads.
The audience isn't there for
certain things, in my opinion,
on threads.
So, yeah, I use it,
but my audience on Blue Sky
is growing daily, and
with comic book people and
writers and artists and podcasters alike.
And if I, you know, like I said,
put my syllable approval on
something or if I'm pushing something,
they see that and go, oh, well,
if he's he knows what he's talking about.
So let me push that as well.
So then your audience just doubled again.
So I get exactly what you're
saying on that one.
And that's what I really enjoy.
And even like my I just
started my YouTube channel.
And most of it is like other
podcasters who are
following me now and they're sharing it.
And eventually, hopefully,
they'll catch on one day
and I will have a bigger
following like some of the
other guys do who I feel
don't do as much as I do.
But they're more popular than me.
And that's OK.
There's a niche in an
audience for everybody.
And someday I'll grab mine.
And that's what I've been
trying to do with your book
is just I get it in front
of as many eyes as I can.
I tell people how much I
enjoy it because I really did.
And I'm not just going to
blow smoke up people's ass
if I didn't enjoy it.
I would have told you, you know,
I can't really do this one.
And I've had to do that before.
And I think it's the right thing to do,
right?
I mean, you don't have to like everything,
right?
I think being dishonest about, oh,
I love this, and then try to,
I don't know,
try to sell something that
you're not sold on.
It kills your credibility.
You see it through it, yeah.
And it's like I said,
I've turned them down.
Like, hey,
have a look at my Kickstarter
and let me know what you think.
And I'm like, I can't do that one.
Sorry.
You know?
Which is fair.
I mean, there are, you know, super popular,
you know,
filmmakers that everybody loves.
And I'm like, yeah, okay.
You know, it happens.
I think it's normal.
You know, you don't like everything.
And everybody has their opinion.
So.
Yeah.
So let's see,
because we're answering
questions as we go on this.
I make a list of questions I
kind of want to tackle,
and then we kind of tackle
it as we go and just like
talking to each other.
But so here's a good one.
What kind of advice can you
give other aspiring comic
creators who are
considering Kickstarter or
some other form of crowdfunding?
What advice would you give
them when it comes to running a campaign?
Because there's a lot of
work that goes into this
that I don't think a lot of
people really realize the
amount of work that you do for this.
So what's some advice that
you have for people out
there who are looking to do this?
Yeah, it's a loaded question, man.
How long do you have now?
Hey, we got all the time you want to take.
So, yeah, I mean, here's the thing.
I've run three Kickstarters.
My current one is, you know,
still far from funding.
So, you know...
it's worth what it's worth.
This is based only on my experience.
So, you know, but yeah, I mean,
like I said,
I did wrote like that article
about things that I learned
and that was a part one.
I'm going to write the part two,
but I would say.
Where can people find part one of that?
Like,
is it somewhere where people can go
and read it?
It's a medium.
So if you search for B Caterino,
you'll find that.
But yeah,
I can send it to you if you want.
Perfect.
If you want to send it to me,
I'll post it up where
people can find it if
they're interested in doing that.
Yeah, but in any case, I can kind of just,
you know,
talk about some of the things
that... I mean, one is, yeah,
definitely social media,
which I'm not very good at.
I think I'm... It's like you say,
I'm getting better at it.
I think the game changer for
me was when I was recommended, you know,
Publr, which is just, you know,
like a buffer.
You know,
it allows you to schedule posts
and to just...
I think that is a life-saving tool.
The ability to schedule your post.
For me, I make a video.
I take my comic book videos
that I do weekly.
I cut it up.
I make the one, you know,
ten to twenty minute video.
And I'm able to cut that up into,
depending on the book I'm talking about,
a one to, well,
I'd say between thirty
seconds and two minutes.
I'm able to cut that up and
then schedule the
individual videos on YouTube.
Facebook has a professional
dashboard that allows you
to schedule posts as well.
Only thing I don't like
about that one is you can't tag.
So that's kind of one of the
not cool things about it,
but it does allow you to
schedule posts to go out on Facebook and
Instagram and threads all at
the same time.
And you can schedule multiple ones,
which is a lifesaver.
And I'm learning to use that
more and more and more
because it's a time saving
thing that I can give my
time back to myself.
Yeah,
I think it's more about also sanity
because you're not,
I think with the first
couple of Kickstarters,
I was thinking about it all
the time and it's really not healthy.
And with this, I'm like, you know what?
I plan my posts one month in advance,
you know?
I'm still refining and I
still go you know their
schedule stuff and every
once in a while but I'm not
in promotion mode all the
time I can take some time
because I know that you
know especially you know
with backers from or
potential backers from the us
I don't have to be posting
at three a.m right I can
just schedule it and I can
it's just a lifesaver and a
sanity saver really so
definitely you know get one
of those things for your
social media because it's
it's worth the money it's
sure it's worth the cost
yeah I mean the other stuff
is you know don't have too
many rewards and I should
listen to that advice myself
because like you say uh you
know creating these tiny
things takes a lot of time
and I was hoping I was
thinking that it would take
me about a week to create
all the graphics for about
a day to create all the
graphics for my campaign it
took a week yeah that's
it's insane so I don't know
um I would say the advice I
would give another one is
if it's the first one keep
your goal very low just to
make sure that you fund
just to make sure that you
go through the entire
process once yeah that
makes a lot of sense right
there yeah just simple
exactly yeah the first time
you know keep it really
simple make sure that you
can go through the entire
process I mean if you can
afford it obviously I mean
yeah if you spend you know
a certain amount of money
and you need to get it back
then you need to get it back so yeah it's
I don't know.
All of this is kind of common.
I don't know.
I don't know if this is helpful.
Well,
common sense ain't so common no more.
Well, yeah.
And to be fair,
it took me three campaigns
to learn some of it.
And I even got it wrong in my current one.
There's things that I'm saying,
don't do this that I'm doing.
Yeah.
We live and we grow every single day.
Exactly.
so we'll we got one we got a
couple more um so if this
one manages to reach its
goal what's next for you
sir oh I have a very packed
twenty twenty five assuming
I've seen something you
were working on and it
looked really good again
and I was like because it
was up on the kickstarter
and it's like hey if
know and it was there with
it you know like your next
little project I think it
was I was like okay was
that in the updates yes
okay okay so yeah so that's
the next one that I'm
working with samuel and geo
so which is it's kind of
it's just some basic
drawings on there but they
were in very intriguing
yeah very intriguing on that one
yeah so crimson bay yeah
it's um it's like an homage
in a way to fighting games
from the eighties and
nineties so your street
fighters yeah yes yeah your
street fighters your
streets afraid that was my
first thought when I seen
it I was like oh this very
street fighter-esque I'm
like okay I'm like I'm liking it
yeah that's it it's like you
know think of it as you
know and a manga with uh
western style or you know
you know massive fights
with special attacks and
but there is a story and
there is obviously you know
a narrative uh going through it and some
Yeah, I mean,
I don't want to talk too much,
to spoil too much, but yeah.
Yeah, let's not spoil it.
I've seen it, and I was like, oh,
we gotta... That's gonna be a good one.
Yeah, and that's a longer series as well,
so it's not like, you know,
Wild Bereavement is a one-shot.
It was a one-shot with a...
cliffhanger, man.
I was just like,
how are you going to do that to us?
Because that was my first
thing I told you.
I was like, dude,
tell me you have another
one coming on this.
But I really like the way
you did the ending because
if you wanted to circle back to it,
it's open.
You can still circle back to
it if you wanted to.
So to me, that's brilliant.
I like, well,
not all one shots can do this,
but this is one of those
stories where it can do
that if you wanted it to
later on to do another one
shot off of it if you want it to.
yeah and I think that's it I
think the part there is if
I can think of something
that it makes sense to make
another one I will but I
don't think I will make it
just because people want it
because yeah no you
shouldn't I don't know it's
very easy to you know just
do your sequel because it's
popular and then you know
you make I don't want to
say this life but then you
make your joker too right
it's like yeah I don't know
I haven't I haven't won
this I haven't won when they use it
I haven't watched it.
I just heard people say that
it's not at all like the first one.
The first one wouldn't even
get on that one.
Okay, fair enough.
Yeah,
I do think that the first one was okay.
But the second one, I haven't watched it.
I just hear like, it's, yeah.
You ain't missing nothing.
Save yourself the two hours.
Exactly.
But yeah, I might do that.
If I come up with some idea that's worth,
you know, writing something else, I will.
But yeah, in the meantime,
working on regular series like, you know,
Crimson Bay.
uh which is awesome art for
uh I also have a superhero
series coming up which I
pitch it uh I didn't see
that one you did see it
yeah I seen it listed on
there okay I I pitch it
usually as a walking dead
with superheroes yeah in
the sense to me it's pretty
dope story yeah in the
sense that I'm a fan of the
walking dead and then you
throw superheroes on top of
it I'm like hey you had me
at walking dead man
Well, yeah,
but there aren't really zombies.
I take that back.
Don't give too much.
I take that back.
I was going to say there are no zombies.
That's not true.
But yeah, it's not about the zombies.
Let's put it like that.
Imagine a world where, you know,
regular world where you wake
up one day and suddenly
there are superheroes like
so it's that kind of
concept okay how does that
affect you know the world
and that sort of thing uh I
mean yeah I have a few I
have the sci-fi uh
anthology that I told you
about which is one story
away from being finished
and I'm really excited about
that one a lot of stories
there that I really like uh
yeah I mean like I said
quite a lot of I have
another one shot uh that is
more like uh medieval okay
historical drama think you
know the political parts of
game of thrones okay yeah
yeah so it's that kind of
thing um yeah I have stuff
for this year quite a lot
Sounds like it's a full year, man.
Yeah, which depends on this funding.
Yeah.
So let's see if we can't get
this funded the rest of the way, man.
One more time before before
we we close it down for the day.
Tell people where they can
find this current project
that on Kickstarter,
how they can find it and
also tell them where they
can find you on social
media if they want to give you a follow.
Yeah, sure.
So this project, yeah,
just go to Kickstarter and
search for bereavement.
I have a couple of other
projects there as well if you want to,
you know,
to look out and you want to follow them,
follow them right now as well.
But, you know,
right now live is bereavement.
And if you want to find me on social media,
Blue Sky right now is the best place.
And it's Bruno Caterino, I think?
It is, yep.
It is, okay.
And yeah, I'm trying out Mastodon and Vero,
but I don't know.
I don't see people using them.
So right there, it's B Caterino.
So, you know.
me a follow there but yeah I
don't see people going
there so blue sky really is
the the main one right now
sounds good that's it all
right I'll bring us home
then um all right everybody
If you're able to,
head over to Kickstarter,
search bereavement,
and give this project a
back in if you can.
I have personally read it already,
and it is a phenomenal read
and deals with grieving in
a way that you don't really suspect.
I will leave it at that.
It is a unique way to look
at grieving and really...
impact on an individual when
it comes to grieving and
how everybody is
differently when it comes to grieving.
Go find Bruno over on Blue Sky.
B, Caterino.
Bruno Caterino.
Yep.
There you go.
So what's coming up next for you, SDN?
We'll be back next week with
another new comic book day as always.
Hopefully I can get it out to you sooner.
Keeping in mind that
distribution is horrible
right now due to everything going on.
But with that,
I'm going to leave you with
my man over here and his new book,
Bereavement,
that is currently up on Kickstarter.
It is USDN approved.
If you tuned in to join us this morning,
I appreciate you.
With that,
I will leave you all with a thanks.