How much would you need to raise to get Bunnybirds 2 done? Because I've got a daughter on the spectrum who is hyperfixated on bunnies, and this has been one of the first books she's gotten excited REALLY about. She's even going to be a bunnybird for Halloween! Can I help raise the funds or is that off the table?
OH MY GOSH WHAT?! SHE'S GONNA BE A BUNNYBIRD FOR HALLOWEEN!?!?! ;W; As an autistic bunny lady myself, I'm SO honored. It means the world to me that your daughter has found joy in Bunnybirds!
As far as funding goes—Bunnybirds took 2.5 years to script, thumbnail, draw, and digitize. Currently, I edit video advertisements full time for $4,000 a month. With rent and student loan payments and such, I couldn't really afford to live off less. So if I wanted to make Bunnybirds II my full-time job (the only way I'd be able to finish such a demanding project within three years), I'd need $4,000 a month for 2.5 years...
Or around $120,000 altogether.
[INSERT DISTANT SCREAMING HERE]
I ran a Kickstarter back in like 2018 for a comic project—and while it was a good learning experience, I didn't get anywhere near my $1,000 goal.
I don't think I've ever seen a graphic novel Kickstarter go for more than $20,000. Before I forced myself to like, face the reality that I couldn't afford to make Bunnybirds II, I'd already sent my editor the first version of the script—so that foundation should save me some production time. But even if I hired assistants or cut the story from two hundred pages to a hundred-and-fifty or something, I'd still need way more time than $20,000 would allow.
Since this post from December 2025, my plan has been to keep my current job and work on Bunnybirds II between video editing assignments, releasing the story one page at a time as a webcomic. Problems with this plan include:
I still owe my publisher a book! So I need to finish Meredith the Horse Girl before I can afford to work on Bunnybirds II.
WILL THE AVALANCHE OF VIDEO EDITING ASSIGNMENTS EVER CEASE?
I love my video editing job, but I don't really get weekends. It's like, I either have a project to work on or I don't. I used to be able to rely on a week-long gap between assignments to catch up on sleep and other work, but for the past couple months the assignments have been relentless. I've finished the line art for 20 out of Meredith's 28 pages! But progress has been slow enough for me to side-eye my "make Bunnybirds II between video assignments" plan. At this rate, it may not be realistic for me to expect to put out even four comic pages a month while employed as a video editor.
At the moment, I think I'm gonna focus on finishing Meredith. Once that contract is fulfilled, I can stop and reassess the viability of making Bunnybirds II "on the side." If this video assignment avalanche proves to be a permanent fixture, maybe I can start looking into secret third options for comic production*. Until then, I'll keep y'all posted on my Meredith progress!
Thank you so much for this message. And please pass on my well-wishes to your daughter as well! I hope you both have a fantastic rest of your summer.
*I've wondered if Holiday House would ever consider relinquishing the Bunnybirds IP to another publisher, for example...but six-figure advances are super duper rare, and the first book only sold around 5,000 copies
