Artist, Professor Details ‘Kickstarting’ Book Project

Artist Sean Fitzgibbon gestures during his presentation about using Kickstarter for his book project about the Crescent Hotel. (Photo by Nadia Moutria)

Award-winning author Sean Fitzgibbon started his book writing journey back in 2007 when he thought of this idea to write a graphic novel on the history of the Crescent Hotel. Fitzgibbon, who teaches at NWACC, presented as a part of Spring Arts & Culture Festival. He said that he’s always been intrigued by the hotel and its strange and seemingly recurring stories, so he decided to do some research on it.

According to the hotel’s website, there “have been hundreds of tales of paranormal experiences at the Crescent Hotel & Spa. Given its history, it’s not surprising. Besides being a popular mountaintop resort, the hotel has served as both a girls’ college and a cancer hospital–where ‘Doctor’ Norman Baker claimed to have the cure for cancer. Announced as America’s Most Haunted Hotel by the likes of Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures, an abundance of extraordinary experiences have always attracted the attention of paranormal investigators who have traveled to the property to study and research the hotel’s supernatural activity.”

Fitzgibbon’s idea to create a graphic novel came from his passion of storytelling or in other words he wanted to “marry my graphic design with storytelling.” To find inspiration for his book, Fitzgibbon dove deep into researching this hotel and wanted not to tell the story of the hotel itself but tell a story of his findings and what the process was like along the way.

To begin, Fitzgibbon takes us through the process of getting his book off the ground. At first, he believed that once the book was written he would be able to find a publisher, and with the help of his agent, to get the book in stores and print for a good cost. He would later be discouraged to know that none of the publishers would support him, leaving him to search for a better route. It was then that he decided to be a self-creator and print his own books with the help of the company PrintNinja. This company allowed him to print and publish his own books, which eventually led him to finding Kickstarter.

While at first crowdfunding may seem easy, it can be quite difficult to prepare for. He was able to plan for this in 2021 about six months prior to the release month for his book all with the help of Kickstarter. The Kickstarter company is a crowdfunding page that allows mainly authors (or people selling physical objects) to promote their projects. However, it wasn’t all easy steps along the way. To begin, he listened to numerous podcasts and two books to help him get his page started. Eventually, this would lead to Fitzgibbon creating 500 preview books to sell which in turn promote his book, but more importantly his Kickstarter page.

Fitzgibbon’s goal was that he “wanted to feel like you were discovering, digging through files” as you read his book. During the month of October 2021, Fitzgibbon released his book, “What Follows Is True: Crescent Hotel,” for purchase through Kickstarter and offered even tiers of purchases, each time going up in price and value of the items. Like any book release there are goals attached to each time. At the end of the month, he was able to sell out using his seven-tier method on his page as well as gain many supporters along the way.

Student Yuselly Escobar was among the students attending Fitzgibbon’s presentation on March 4. Asked about her thoughts were on crowdfunding overall and the presentation, Escobar said the speech was “interesting and gave good ideas on how to start and put things out there.” She said she is working on a book herself and Fitzgibbon’s talk provided good insight on where to begin.

Jody Hughes, a tattoo artist for King Yodeler Tattoo, also attended the presentation. Hughes said his main takeaway was “Preparation.” He said it’s important to think about the pregame well before finishing a book. Hughes praised the quality of Fitzgibbon’s work. He mentioned that some of the visual art that Fitzgibbon created was really difficult to pull off, and he also noted that it gives off an organic feel. Hughes says that he uses writing to get people to see his tattooing, and vice versa.