Building a Graphic Novel in Public. The Good, the Hard, and What’s Next.
What happens when you pause a launch to do it properly. The lessons, the artwork, and the road ahead.
Hi all,
This is a quick update on where we’re at with our first graphic novel, a few thoughts on crowdfunding, and what we’ve been learning as we build the foundation for launch.
A few weeks ago, we were close to launching Cimarron. The preview page was live, core artwork was coming together, and the calendar was marked. We were counting down.
Then came a flurry of emails with the team at Kickstarter — big thanks to them for all the thoughtful advice. I was spending hours buried in the Kickstarter Reddit forums, bouncing ideas around, taking notes, trying to understand what makes a campaign land. Gradually, it became clear: we needed to pause.
Not because the creative wasn’t there, it is. In fact, the story is stronger than ever. But we hadn’t yet created the conditions for success. We needed more awareness. A clearer sense of who our audience is. A stronger foundation of momentum. We needed to reach the people who might actually care enough to follow this journey through.
Making a graphic novel the long way round
This is our first graphic novel at Soi Books. We’ve made visual books before, but this is different. The story carries narrative weight. The images need to hold more than just style, they need to carry atmosphere, emotion, silence, memory.
We commissioned Shuning Ji early on. I happened to be in Glasgow last year and jumped on a train to Edinburgh to meet her for a coffee and we instantly vibed. With an architectural background, she has a brilliant way of building perspective and depth into her panels. Her Asian background also brings a Manga-inspired energy to her work and that was something we were keen to explore from the start.
Technically, she’s fast, sharp, and precise. She works with pace, and that rhythm is something we’ve really come to value. It brings movement and momentum to the project in a way that feels right.
As the script isn’t finished yet, Shuning took it upon herself to start studying and understanding Dwayne, who sits at the root of the story. We knew her illustrations could help define the tone, even before the words were in place.
She began by exploring Dwayne’s form, his body language, his environment, his presence as a boy and as a man. She drew streets and shadows, places that feel both intimate and slightly eerie. Some of it is grounded in real North London, but some of it drifts, into memory, into dream logic.
That drifting quality was something we wanted from the very start.
Sophie McVeigh, our writer, is someone I’ve known for a while. We used to share a co-working space in Finsbury Park, North London — a beautiful spot called Lydian. We sat just a few seats away from each other. Quietly, over time, we started to get a sense of each other’s work.
When we knew we wanted to build this project around a writer–illustrator pairing, it was clear we needed someone who could really connect with Shuning’s colour palette and almost mythic, dreamlike tone. That’s when Sophie shared a pilot script she’d written called It Could Have Been Us. It had layers. It was bold and precise in structure and leaned into the complexity of being human.
I know that might sound high-concept, but let’s be honest, we’re working with Dwayne Fields, and his story is rich, textured, and full of weight. And we’re not making an autobiography. The project has a mythical dimension to it, almost bordering on the supernatural.
So over the past few months, Sophie has had some pretty intense one-on-one conversations with Dwayne. She’s also read the transcript of his audiobook, which will be coming out later this year, and I know she’s already got a strong feel for what will work and what won’t. From my perspective, as the pseudo-producer in this team of misfits, Sophie has that rare ability to structure a scene with both tension and softness. She knows how to let the quiet moments breathe. That’s no small thing. And that’s exactly why I believe this will work.
What we’ve been doing this week (aka: how are we making this work?)
It’s been a big couple of weeks on the campaign side. And to be honest, this is the part that gets talked about the least but matters the most. From putting up posters around London to reaching out to schools, things are moving. We’ll always wish it were faster but it is moving.
Here’s what we’ve been up to:
Contacting press — from culture magazines to niche outlets, indie book editors to journalists covering social impact. A few leads have opened up. Others are slow burners. But we’re getting responses.
Reaching out to community organizations and schools in North London — youth groups, teachers, librarians. Because Cimarron isn’t just a book. It’s a conversation about identity, survival, and imagination. And we want young people to see themselves in it.
Writing personal notes — to artists we admire, past readers, collaborators, and friends of Soi Books. People who know what we’re about and how we work.
Planning AMAs and Q&As — we’re lining up sessions on Reddit, and hopefully one here on Substack too.
Backing and supporting other Kickstarter campaigns — not just for good karma, but because we believe in the ecosystem. We want to show up in a meaningful way.
This is the foundation. This is the part before the button gets pressed. It is not promotion. It’s preparation.
Why “Notify Me” Matters Now
Here’s the practical bit. The part where we ask for help.
Clicking “Notify Me” on our Kickstarter page doesn’t commit you to anything. But it does send a signal. It tells the platform — and anyone watching — that this is a project with energy behind it.
It directly affects how visible we are when we launch. It shapes momentum. It influences press interest. And the more people who click that button in advance, the better our chance of hitting the ground running.
Click “Notify Me” on Kickstarter
👉 Be the first to know when we go live
If you’ve already done it , thank you. If not, and you’re curious to follow the journey now’s the time!
If you know someone who might connect with this project, feel free to forward this on. Every new reader brings us one step closer to launch.
We’ll be sharing more art, more process, and more behind-the-scenes in the coming weeks. Stay close.
Thanks all!