Tag: Independant Publishing

So Long and Thanks for the Fish, Man #007: Indie Comic Book Publishing 101 Part 7

So Long and Thanks for the Fish, Man #007: Indie Comic Book Publishing 101 Part 7

If you google my name, and “Kickstarter”, “Crowdfunding”, or “Needs Money”, you will undoubtedly find a plethora of articles I’ve penned detailing my complicated thoughts on the matter. But, time has passed, and as such, it’s time within the context of this series to imbue you, the newly-minted would-be comic creator, with my hot take on all of your fancy IndieGoGoKickStartGoFundMe’ing. In short:

Crowdfunding is the blessing and bane of the indie comic movement.

Let’s just go ahead and lay out the forest before inspecting the trees, shall we? The good part about crowdfunding is that it offers the chance to level the playing field when it comes to raising funds before a project is ready to go—allowing successful campaigns to have a honey pot from which to build a budding empire. With the toolsets of all the major players set, crowdfunders enjoy having a working platform to process payments, organize purchasers, and promote their project both socially as well as natively to the crowdfunding site itself. And when a creator is extra good at creating a buzz? Well, sometimes those crowdfunding sites will organically promote those on-the-rise campaigns which can snowball a project from funded to stretch goals in a matter of hours. It’s exhilarating.  Continue reading “So Long and Thanks for the Fish, Man #007: Indie Comic Book Publishing 101 Part 7”

So Long and Thanks for the Fish, man #004: Indie Comic Book Publishing 101 Part 4

So Long and Thanks for the Fish, man #004: Indie Comic Book Publishing 101 Part 4

Onward Comic soldiers… marching on to cons! I hope you read that like the little ditty from Sunday school. Further down the rabbit hole of comic creation, we find ourselves at a foothold that will define you and your brand for years to come. One misstep could lead you from indie darling to worthless sham artist in a matter of swathes of a brush. Hyperbole? You bet. But we absolutely need to discuss the matter at hand:

Your Product is Your Brand.

Take a stroll down the aisles of artists in the alleys of comic cons (aka “Artist Alley”) and you’ll soon find that they all fall into one of a few basic categories: Book Pushers, Famous-Enough-Not-To-Need-To-Sell(ers), Original Artisans, and Mad Merch Guys. Now, everyone (of course) is a unique snowflake — so they will all be a certain percentage of one, and another percentage of another — but these categories all basically define not only what we sell, but how we sell at a comic con.  Continue reading “So Long and Thanks for the Fish, man #004: Indie Comic Book Publishing 101 Part 4”

So Long and Thanks for the Fish, man #001: Indie Comic Book Publishing 101 Part 1

So Long and Thanks for the Fish, man #001: Indie Comic Book Publishing 101 Part 1

Indie Comic Book Publishing 101

Part 1: Trust is Earned

For those (few) who know me, I sincerely welcome you back to the Snark Show. For those uninitiated? Allow myself to introduce… myself. Oy.

My name is Marc Alan Fishman. I have been in the indie comic book publishing game now for about ten years. My studio, Unshaven Comics, has been slinging pulp and paper in the trenches of comic cons from our home base in Chicago, to as far east as New York, to as far west as Denver. Over my decade of work — as a writer, artist, designer, letterer, colorist, marketer, salesman, and company chauffeur— I have amassed a sundry sack of salacious sapience for the would-be indie darling. In addition, I’ve also become quite adept at useless alliteration. Natch. So, you want to make comic books? I’m going to take you on a journey over the next ten weeks dissecting what could have been a nifty listicle, and expanding each of my ten points into full-fledged advice columns.

Let’s start with the single most important thing I’ve learned in my decade (and change) of comic bookery:

Trust is earned. Continue reading “So Long and Thanks for the Fish, man #001: Indie Comic Book Publishing 101 Part 1”