Self-Publishing Your Own Comic Book

[delekkerste]

Was wondering if anybody out there has ever given any serious thought about self-publishing their own comic book? I think Jens might have mentioned some ambition in this area and it's a business idea that I have kicked around in my head from time to time (along with feature film production, which I have explored more in-depth, taking a short course at a film school last year). Anyway, I received an e-mail recently from someone who was looking for backing on starting a new comic book publisher and it got me thinking again.

 

I read a book on comic book self-publishing last year and did some preliminary due diligence before concluding that I didn't have the time (it really has to be a full-time endeavor) and that the chances of making any money were slim to none. I was also very discouraged after seeing all the starving artist types trying to make it in indie publishing at last year's San Diego Con.

 

Still, does anybody have any different thoughts on the matter? Areas of untapped opportunity? Or is the Marvel/DC stranglehold just too tight? Have the economics of the comic biz degenerated to the point where you need revenue from selling film rights to keep the 32-page pamphlets afloat?

 

Gene

[jens25e]

I will do my own comic one day but frankly, I am too bad of an artist and too bad of a writer. My only hope is that if I invest five times the time of other artists that I can produce something comparable. I am very sure that it will probably cost me a lot of money and I am 98% sure that I won´t generate profit even if my writing and drawing abilities enhance significantly.

 

Anyways, I am thinking a bit about that every day and maybe in 3 or 4 years I will have a finished 32 pages product.

[aardvark88]

Someone ppl just need to see their work in print. Try udoprinting.com for print on demand comic price quotes. This means if u just need 100 copies or less, u can order exactly what u need.

[comicwiz]

The wisest thing in creating anything these days is to keep it digital. A few years ago, I had a writer (a brilliant 16 year-old kid -- I mean absolutely brilliant writer); and an up and coming artist who were helping me work on an online comic.

 

At the time, bandwidth constraints, and extremely long workflow cycles to produce a one-minute animated piece (which in some cases took anywhere from 2-3 weeks) were reasons why the project never flew. I was using approximately 12 different applications. 3 different 3D animation apps (Maya, 3D Studio Max, Softimage), 2 cartoon rendering apps (Vecta 3D, Illustrate) Macromedia Flash, and a few other graphic design programs. I would take the artists rendering of the character, and build a 3D model of the character. With the model built, the next step was to animate it, and finally, to combine those sequences with CG created backgrounds, or use live-action sequences from video stock.

 

Once the sequence was completed (usually about 30sec-1min), I would render the animated sequence using the 'toon' renderers listed above -- these renders would basically turn a 3D animated model into a 2D animation -- which kind of looked like a cartoon and it would export it in a shockwave flash format. This meant taking a hulking 30-150 MB animation sequence in its raw format, and bringing it down to about 600KB-1.5 MB for internet viewing. Still a problem for people on dial-up though, and I had to put the project on hold. I still have all the assets from the project, and with the prospects of more people on high-speed, it would seem a little more fruitful an endeavour today. How would someone make money doing this? Well, for some money isn't everything -- but even if you were to use a cost-benefit approach to taking on such a project, it would be difficult to justify the cost of putting an online production together. Just ask Stan Lee why his stanlee.net bombed so badly.

 

I could however see someone puttting together a project like the one I propose for a film festival. Its one of the things I aspire towards doing sometime in the future. As for a real money-making endeavour -- not the best way -- extremely time consuming and labourious. Even if I were to break the 1 in a million odds of getting commercial success from a festival showcase, there just isn't anywhere near the money unless a studio in hollywood decides to turn the internet production into a film.

 

Going back to my first point about keeping things digital, I could in theory take enough stills from the animated bits which I've produced already, and put together a layout for maybe 3-4 printed issues. One could even publish a project like this at home, provided they wouldn't be pushing out more than a few hundred copies. In which case, I would take odin88's advice about getting them professionally printed -- it will cost much less for higher volume stuff.

[delekkerste]

Thanks for sharing your insights and experience. Very interesting reading. I hope you are able to take your online project to the next level.

 

 

How would someone make money doing this? Well, for some money isn't everything -- but even if you were to use a cost-benefit approach to taking on such a project, it would be difficult to justify the cost of putting an online production together.

 

I've worked in finance all my life, but I've been slowly developing a creative itch that will need to be scratched at some point (hence, my research into both comic self-publishing and feature film production over the past year). So, it's definitely not all about the Benjamins, but then again, with the economy and markets in a terminal death spiral, I don't exactly want to flush a lot of money down the drain either.

 

 

there just isn't anywhere near the money unless a studio in hollywood decides to turn the internet production into a film.

 

It seems as though the economics of doing your own comic, online or printed, relies on film & merchandising rights in this age of withering circulation. I can't tell how the scores of indie publishers that show up at the conventions manage to stay afloat...they must work second jobs to pay the bills.

 

An idea struck me, though, on how one might start a successfully self-published comic book. What if you invested some bucks up front to distinguish yourself from the competition? While it would be a stretch to hire a top writer or penciller, what about hiring a talented freelancer like Greg Horn to do just the covers for the first 3 issues? My guess it would cost you an extra few thousand per issue, but you'd almost certainly get some fanboy buzz and maybe get a critical mass of retailers to stock your book. You'd lose money for sure on those issues, but you may just get enough momentum to last the critical first year.

 

Anyway, that's my entrepreneurial thought of the week...

 

- Gene

[aardvark88]

Most independent small press talent have day jobs. Could be teaching art classes or bagging groceries at the supermarket. Would take a tremendous amount of energy & coordination to publish 6 bi-monthly issues if u have a staff of 3. Writer/editor/promoter, artist/inker/promoter & separate cover artist/painter.

[blowout]

An idea struck me, though, on how one might start a successfully self-published comic book. What if you invested some bucks up front to distinguish yourself from the competition?

 

Thats exactly what happened at CrossGen was it not?

A comic fan who had the hard currency to hire the best staff and market the [!@#%^&^] out of his product.

[delekkerste]

Thats exactly what happened at CrossGen was it not? A comic fan who had the hard currency to hire the best staff and market the [!@#%^&^] out of his product.

 

Yeah, though that is taking my idea to a 7-figure extreme. It just seems to me that most small press creators are trying to get by on a shoestring and that by investing a little extra (not CrossGen-size figures, but I'm assuming this can be done for a few thousand per issue) to hire a name freelancer to do your first few covers, you could increase your Previews orders by orders of magnitude as well as your chances of success (from "virtually none" to "a little more than slim").

 

I don't know, just a thought. Me and a friend of mine have given more serious thought to trying to produce a feature film, which would have more of a defined budget & timeframe. A friend of a friend shot a film last year in Holland on a shoestring budget and entered it into a festival, where it was noticed by a distributor who financed the conversion to 35mm film and it is being released in theaters in the Netherlands this month (or maybe it already was last month). Just shows you that dreams can and do come true!

 

Gene

[delekkerste]

Well, looks like someone else had the same idea I did - I just picked up the latest Comic Shop News letter which profiles a new upcoming miniseries from a trio of small press studios/publishers (X Concepts, Morpheus Forge & Digital Webbing)...they're getting Kaare Andrews to do the cover for issue #1 of "S.K.U.M.M." and Greg Horn to do covers for issues #2-4!

 

However, this particular series looks far from interesting. I think to make this strategy succeed, you need to create a book with interesting characters (particularly a nice female or two that someone like Greg Horn can really showcase on the covers), not a bunch of armored soldiers where you can't see anybody's face.

 

Gene

[blowout]

However, this particular series looks far from interesting. I think to make this strategy succeed, you need to create a book with interesting characters

 

This is the key in the long run.

Its all very well spending money and getting great artists to work for you, but you have to have the material for them to draw!

Concentrate on creating great characters first before you even think about the business side of things.

The big guns have lasted so long on the strength of a few great, well crafted characters.

[aardvark88]

Tim Vigil (Faust, EO) is a freelancer in the San Diego, CA area. He could be hired to draw a few covers for u & also has experience creating a Faust movie straight to video that was shot in Europe.

[comicwiz]

It seems as though the economics of doing your own comic, online or printed, relies on film & merchandising rights in this age of withering circulation. I can't tell how the scores of indie publishers that show up at the conventions manage to stay afloat...they must work second jobs to pay the bills.

For the most part, you are correct; most indie artists and projects are financed by second jobs. In most cases, these are projects that are gradual in progress mainly because the money is being raised through scraping together enough savings. Its not surprised to hear that some of these projects are 5-10 years in the making. I have intentions of taking my own projects to the next level, but not in the immediate future. I like doping at creative stuff like that; I have the artistic knack, its just difficult to find enough time in the day over a consistent enough period of time... mine may well be the 10-20 years in the making.

 

I wish you all the very best in your endeavours -- and if you ever end up publishing anything, you've got my support