Hi, Folks:
I’m doing my best to avoid working on the next episode. And, since I’m a master of avoidance, I figured I would write a blog post.
This last year saw the passing of ComicsXP, a digital comic distributor; Webcomics Inc., a social networking site aimed at cartoonists; and my involvement in the Imagine FX community, because it wasn’t getting me anywhere. Comicspace appears to have gained some new life, but for the life of me I can’t remember the login! My fault, of course. Normally I keep a careful record of all those passwords.
This year, we saw the advent of the iPad, and Johnny Saturn is currently marketed through Graphic.ly and Panel Fly, both leaders in digital comic distribution. I tried every which way to make “Johnny Saturn” look good on the Kindle, but it did not happen. The screen is too small, the resolution is only 72 dpi, and I couldn’t make it legible. While Indyplanet keeps chugging along, Comics Monkey just didn’t happen for us—it’s too bad, because it seemed like a good idea. My guess is the price point was too high for comic shops to order comics, but that’s not an informed opinion.
Comic collectives appear to have fallen out of style. Webcomic Planet, which offered great hope at first, gave up the ghost. Are Palace in the Sky and the Indy Webcomic Group the only ones we have left? Huh, I guess so.
We saw Wowio return, this time not owned by Platinum Studios, and it’s a promising platform. Unfortunately, the wonderful payment scheme they once had, which drove them deep into debt, has been replaced by a much more sustainable payment scheme. That means we don’t make much money from it. Yet, I feel it’s a good advertisement for “Johnny Saturn.”
In advertising, this last year saw Google Text Ads, Facebook Ads, and Myspace Ads produce nothing for us. At this time, the only advertising tool that seems to work well for us is Project Wonderful. I still haven’t dug into Deviant Art yet, and continual additions to TV Tropes have been a good referrer. Being linked from the guest list of shows I attend also seems to bring in some good traffic.
As you can imagine, bringing new readers to the comic is a challenge. At one time or another, we’ve run giveaways, contests, and sales to promote readership. We offered daily content, and the strip itself running three times a week. The extras don’t seem to account for much, yet determining how to attract readers has remained a bit of a conundrum. We are good at retaining readers once they get here, but getting them here is the mystery, is it not?
During this last year, I tried every which way I could to figure out how to advertise on City of Heroes/Villains, and Champions online. These are closed systems, apparently, and they do not offer any advertising opportunities for a small publisher like us.
I can say, with some pride, that reader’s comments have been a high point of this affair for me. We seem to attract some pretty smart readers, and their range of knowledge and ability to discuss it is astounding. Benita and I follow the comments every day, and many of the posters have come to feel like “our people.” It’s uncanny how well some readers can intuit what’s about to happen, especially because we make constant left turns in the plot and love to kill clichés. Bravo, folks, well done.
So, why do I bring this up? I mention it specifically because this is the type of stuff a small publisher has to handle. Day in and day out, I have to search for new sale venues, control my advertising budget, and package and repackage previously released materials. It’s all very rewarding, but it’s also a lot of hard work.
Strangely, I still feel happy to live in this period, and have this opportunity to tell our stories and distribute them to so many people.
Scott.
