Self-publishing comics: Part 1
So you want to make comics? Really?
Great! Do you want to be a publisher too?
Haven’t thought about it? Well, now’s the time to start thinking.
One of the struggles in doing comics over the last few years has been balancing the creative process of making the comic with the challenge of getting the book out there to your potential fans. Actually, in comparison, making the comic is in a lot of ways easier than the publishing aspect of it. Sure, it takes a lot of energy and time, but publishing costs time, energy, MONEY, and is to a certain degree up to people who you don’t know that decide just how widespread your distribution is.
Now, granted you can increase the likelihood of your book being distributed widely by approaching retailers of various types yourself, both in and outside of the traditional comic shops, but then the amount of money you spend increases. Soon you’ll reach the point of diminishing returns and possibly take to brooding and creating your own version of Identity Crisis…only not has up-beat as DC’s.
So what’s the answer? That’s a good question and one that I’ll be exploring (not answering, because the answer is an elusive one) over the next several posts as we work through our own potential solutions and failures. To start off, however, I’d just like to list a few things we’ve noticed over the last few years hacking our way into the industry.
- Make sure your story and art is solid.
- Make sure you come up with a CONCISE and REPEATABLE way to convey the substance of your story. (Other people should be able to walk away with the ability to tell their friend essentially what they’ve just heard.)
- Find an affordable printer. This will depend on how wide you want you distribution to be. Start small.
- Make the convention rounds and get a website.
- Think about doing your own merchandising. T-shirts, buttons, whatever. People like to collect things associated with books and characters they like, and the profit margin on individual issues is slim.
That’s enough to get us started thinking about this. In the next post I’ll start working through this list in more detail.