Ideas for self-publishing?

[cray55]

Hello fellow creators,

I'm asking for your help. I'm currently working on a comic that I would like to have published as an on-going B & W comedy series about a group of kids who believe they have one year left to behave like children, so they try fulfill a bucket list of childish things before the school year ends.

The lettering for the 1st issue will be done by tomorrow. And I wanted to know if any of you knew any reliable sites, companies, etc. whom I could seek self-publishing help. I want to 'push' this book locally & see the feed back I can get while I'm sending out submissions to larger comic publishers like Image, Dark Horse, etc. I figured that would be a good strategy to go by. I currently work with children & have already received good feed back from them.

You can check out images on the book on my deviant gallery

http://jcray.deviantart.com/gallery/

You can read the 1st 16 pages of the 1st issue here

http://jcray.daportfolio.com/gallery/445542

-Jason

[paul brian deberry]

You just asked the billion dollar question. To be truthful it all depends on you. You have to do the leg work. If you think Image or Dark Horse is the right company for your book then find away to get your book into their hands. Go to conventions. Hand out free copies to editors and creators. If they like it you'll know. Shoot for the stars but don't be afraid of the fall.

My suggestion create a two year plan.

Start locally (The Tick and Teenage Mutant Turtles started out locally.)

Create a web comic/web site -- and this is key -- that has bi-weekly or better yet daily updates. It doesn't have to be a new strip everyday but you HAVE to be able to update the site often.

Be dedicated. Everyday it's gonna be a struggle.

Grow a thick skin. You're gonna hear shit that's gonna piss you off. You're gonna hear people (potentially your readers) say awful stuff about your hard work. There's two thing you need to remember... no matter what is said, no matter how awful their words are, it's their opinion and they're entitled to it and finally ask "Why?" Why does this person feel this way?

I'd like to type some more but I'm sure there are smarter people than me that can help, besides my baby isn't feeling well an he needs his daddy.

[drowemos]

Create space has worked well for me:

https://www.createspace.com/

good quality books and ok prices.

I disagree with the work locally philosopy but I am a webcomic guy so that's not a shock.

[GuyVerona]

I've got to say personally I think the days of starting locally are over. As an indy producer you are already facing an uphill battle just getting into various local comic shops, let alone actually getting those shops to display your stuff in a good location and pimp it out to their clients.

You will make literally nothing whilst self producing floppies and selling them to a few local comic shops. In my opinion the time is better spent putting the same material up for free online and promoting it in order to grow a fan following. One you've got 4 issues or so worth of material (100+ pages) and a reasonable number of fans sell them a limited run trade paperback of the stuff they've already read + some extra material, then use what didn't sell + your fanbase + cons to get noticed by the big guys.

Though I'm also not convinced about handing over my IP to the big guys either but thats another story.

[arseneau77]

Originally Posted by GuyVerona

Though I'm also not convinced about handing over my IP to the big guys either but thats another story.

Then don't. I'm assuming that you mean exclusively Marvel and DC, since Image and, to a lesser extent, the rest of the smaller of the 'big guys' do creator-owned projects (as do the 'Big 2' from time to time, if you're a big enough name).

So let's assume you have an IP that has enough market potential to warrant the offer of a major publishing deal: are you going to front the costs of paying the art team and all marketing out of your own pocket? No? Then a creator-owned deal is not for you. That's the advantage of 'handing over' some of your IP. At the end of the day, what's more valuable? Having a creator-owned project and being so in the hole that you can't afford to market it properly, or giving up partial ownership to a company that will make you a household name?

The short answer is, of course: it totally depends on the situation and the project in question. My only point is, if you are that concerned about holding onto one IP that you've been hoarding for years, then save your pennies and do it yourself. No one's making you sign away your IP.

[GuyVerona]

Originally Posted by arseneau77

So let's assume you have an IP that has enough market potential to warrant the offer of a major publishing deal: are you going to front the costs of paying the art team and all marketing out of your own pocket? No? Then a creator-owned deal is not for you. That's the advantage of 'handing over' some of your IP. At the end of the day, what's more valuable? Having a creator-owned project and being so in the hole that you can't afford to market it properly, or giving up partial ownership to a company that will make you a household name?

Depends on the company, but no one apart from Marvel or DC are going to make you a "household" name. On top of that very few companies apart from Marvel or DC are going to give you any significant push marketing wise either, especially as a new writer. From where I'm sitting it looks to me that its the creators who do most of the "word of mouth" style advertizing at cons, on forums, social spaces, fanzines etc.

Paying for artists and physical publication can be an issue sure, probably the best reason for people just starting out to try and get in with an established publisher. But from what I've seen recently a lot of publishers want to essentially see a mock comic sample/minis before even considering a concept.At which point if I've already gone to the trouble of sourcing and securing a hungry young artist I would probably be more inclined to try and bank roll the project myself.

I mean at the end of the day if I don't have faith in my IP then why am I trying to sell it?

edit: Forgot to mention getting into brick and mortar stores via established distributors, which is of course huge, but not when your making a tiny % of a tiny sales figure (a % of which may be going to your agent depending on your situation) due to just being another random floppy on the shelf.

The short answer is, of course: it totally depends on the situation and the project in question. My only point is, if you are that concerned about holding onto one IP that you've been hoarding for years, then save your pennies and do it yourself. No one's making you sign away your IP.

Yea of course I wasn't suggesting otherwise, all I said was that I'm not personally convinced automatically handing over your IP to a publisher is the best route to go. Of course if you get an awesome publishing deal with marketing thrown in and the royalty percantages are right then fair play god speed. I don't think many new writers can claim they've ever been offered such a deal.

Actually I'm really interested in knowing what constitutes 'marketing' a new book from the POV of the major comic publishers (inc Avatar, Boom, etc). If anyone could detail it out I'd be much obliged. Do you get mainstream marketing for comics in the US? Cos we dont in the UK or the rest of the EU as far as I can tell.

Are we talking about POS displays in comic stores ? Ads in other comics and trade mags? Because if that's all we are talking about there are other (possibly better) ways to promote this kind of product. Though good POS displays for cons and shops is always a good thing no doubt.

Anyway my only real point is that self publishing when done properly, can present an opportunity to make very good money on your early work when compared with traditional publishing deals. Obviously it depends on peoples individual situations, but my feeling is that with the way publishing is at the moment (not just comics but with books as well), your better off becoming a publisher yourself (properly not some random vanity publisher / print on demand promoter) at least for the short term.