(help) Making a Comic Book 0

[HighRadArt]

7 minutes ago, Reno McCoy said:

I've taken courses on Kickstarter and building email lists and all that, so I'm definitely interested in the subject. Making your own comics is painfully slow, but so rewarding when they're done and you start getting feedback from readers. If all goes well, or maybe even if it doesn't, this time next year I won't have a day job and I'll be making comics full time. 

 

Looks like you only wanted the printing costs ($1500)?

Edited October 6, 2017 by HighRadArt

[Reno McCoy]

1 minute ago, HighRadArt said:

Looks like you only wanted the printing costs ($1500).

Yep. I'm trying to build up to asking for more. I didn't want to launch my first campaign and ask for $10,000. I don't have the audience for that yet. Instead, I've been selling my beloved comic collection and saving money as much as possible so I could pay the art team. I launched the first one and paid for printing/shipping. Then with the next one, I asked for a little more, paid for printing/shipping, and got a little left over to help pay the creative team on the next one.

Now, however, I've learned from experience that selling floppies is hard. The margins are thin. I've polled my audience (small as it is, but growing) and asked how they'd prefer these stories, and the majority said 3-4 stories in a small tradepaperback. From those I've polled (readers and creators), it's easier to sell a 90-page book for $10 than it is to sell a 32-page floppy for $3 or $4. That means more up front cost, but I'm hoping for more sales and an improved margin. (Plus, if I do it right, I'll start getting into libraries, comic shops, and book stores.)

[HighRadArt]

1 minute ago, Reno McCoy said:

Yep. I'm trying to build up to asking for more. I didn't want to launch my first campaign and ask for $10,000. I don't have the audience for that yet. Instead, I've been selling my beloved comic collection and saving money as much as possible so I could pay the art team. I launched the first one and paid for printing/shipping. Then with the next one, I asked for a little more, paid for printing/shipping, and got a little left over to help pay the creative team on the next one.

Now, however, I've learned from experience that selling floppies is hard. The margins are thin. I've polled my audience (small as it is, but growing) and asked how they'd prefer these stories, and the majority said 3-4 stories in a small tradepaperback. From those I've polled (readers and creators), it's easier to sell a 90-page book for $10 than it is to sell a 32-page floppy for $3 or $4. That means more up front cost, but I'm hoping for more sales and an improved margin. (Plus, if I do it right, I'll start getting into libraries, comic shops, and book stores.)

Which program do you like the best for editing?  Also, best of luck.  It's not an easy business to get into.

[Reno McCoy]

I write my scripts using FinalDraft. A lot of people hate that program, though, but I've enjoyed it. When I edit others, I'll edit in whatever program they send me, which is usually Word. 

 

[Senormac]

4 hours ago, Reno McCoy said:

Sure, there are people who fit in with one publisher or another, but the more I learn about that, the more I realize it's who you know. Even small press like, say, Black Mask, don't take unsolicited material to consider.

There is a lot of truth to  "it's not what you know, it's who you know" 

[agro23]

1 hour ago, Senormac said:

There is a lot of truth to  "it's not what you know, it's who you know" 

If you're trying to get published by an existing publisher then this is a major rule. And yet, that's STILL not enough.

I'm a professional comic letterer and localization manager for manga and BD translations. We work with publishing companies all the time. I have a dozen plus creator friends making comics in the industry. I have written comics and published a mini-series through Image in the 90's. I know tons of editors, managers, and even comic company owners. I've worked as a comic journalist and interviewed some of the biggest names.

Yet I still can't get work as a writer based on just a -script.

You need to produce a complete product. You need to make a 96-page graphic novel structured as if it were four 24-page issues in a complete story arc. It needs to be written, penciled, inked, colored (usually), lettered, laid out, and practically print-ready.

And even then most publishers won't take it unless you have other published work! (And of course it has to be good. They have to like it.)

You might think you'd be better off doing it yourself through Kickstarter. But there are other perils on that path. Not the least of which is getting into stores or worse getting distribution from Diamond (I believe the threshold now is 5,000 copies.) Without a community of backers ready to pre-buy you cannot thrive on Kickstarter (unless of course your artist is the next <fill-in-the-blank-for-today's-hotness>. And even then you need publicity.)

This is what you need, in no specific order, to make it in comics:

1) Persistence

2) Hard Work

3) Talent

4) Luck

5) Connections

6) Money

7) Timing

8) Marketing

9) A compelling story or vision

It's not easy at all.

 

 

[catman76]

Hundreds of thousands of people make their own comics, just do it and publish it yourself. Its super easy nowadays with online digital printers or print it yourself on a copy machine or laser printer. Making comics is super easy. But I guess if you are going for the mainstream being published by marvel or dc and want to be rich, then I have no idea. But why would anyone want to do that anyway and have a corporation mess with your work? Self publishing comics or anything is easier than ever nowadays.

[Senormac]

13 hours ago, catman76 said:

Hundreds of thousands of people make their own comics, just do it and publish it yourself. Its super easy nowadays with online digital printers or print it yourself on a copy machine or laser printer. Making comics is super easy. But I guess if you are going for the mainstream being published by marvel or dc and want to be rich, then I have no idea. But why would anyone want to do that anyway and have a corporation mess with your work? Self publishing comics or anything is easier than ever nowadays.

Hundreds of thousands     

[Senormac]

Back to the end game.......   what is your purpose and goal, would be self published comic creator ?  Making money ?  Mine is not about that.  I am speaking to a city, and the only ones who might find my tale even slightly interesting are the folks who live in that city and can relate to the places and topics in my story.  And that is also the only place my comic is distributed.  If you happened to land one and live somewhere else......  then