If you’re not a member of Webcomics.com, here are some of the topics you missed out on last month. If you’re curious about joining, we’ve just made it easier than ever with a $5 trial membership. You’ll get full access to the site for thirty days so you can see what you’ve been missing. At the end of the trial, you can choose to re-subscribe ($30 for 12 months of access) or walk away with no strings attached. You will not be re-billed unless you choose to subscribe.

The links will lead you to content that is “subscription-only” content, but I like to link to it for the people that see something intriguing, join, and then want to delve into what they missed using this and other Best Of posts.

Best of the site

Evolve or die: Earlier, a blogger made the rounds with a post titled “Advice To The Mid-Career Cartoonist Who Has Failed To Build An Audience.” I started to respond in the forum, but my thoughts turned more into an essay on a larger, broader topic, so I decided to post it as a standalone entry.

Setting Shipping Preferences in Paypal: If you’re not doing this correctly, you could be losing a lot of money.

Hot Seat critiques: We wrapped up a critique series on convention flyers, and we launched a new one that focuses on book-cover design.

Square for an online store: Square is awesome as a point-of-purchase credit-card processor, but is it the right choice for an online store?

Gumroad unveils percentage-based discounts: The digital-merchandise store solution has included the ability to offer customers a percentage-based discount, in addition to its flat-price discount function.

Gumroad offers streaming for… books? Here’s an overview of how it works — and how you might use it to encourage sales.

Twitter: Use the Mute: Smart use of social media including knowing when not to respond. Here’s a case study based on personal experience.

Kindle Direct Publishing —Pre Orders: KDP now includes the ability to release pre-orders for your ebook. Here’s how to implement it.

Troubleshooting WordPress – “My Scheduled Post Won’t post!”: Here’s what to do if it happens to you.

6 Common Mistakes Webcartoonists Make: This is my response to the popular post on IO9. This is actually more than 20 useful tips categorized into 6 sections. And most of them are points you can address quickly and easily to improve your webcomic right now.

Busting 5 Myths about Creative Professionals: Many creative professionals carry around at least one of these myths that pervade their profession. In this video presentation, I talk about why they’re untrue — and why, sometimes, that’s actually good news.

Mailbag: Should I Sell My Domain Name? A Webcomics.com member was presented with a unique offer for his URL, but should he engage?

Best of the Forum:

“The Internet Destroyed the Middle Class” — That was the title of the article on Salon.com. We discussed its veracity.

Search Engine Optimization: What are some best practices?

Handy Kickstarter Calculator: It is.. but it’s missing something that could cripple your Kickstarter campaign if you don’t account for it.

Opentype or TrueType? Which version should you choose when using a font? Would you believe it actually matters?

Cintiq on a budget: Can it be done? Here’s a few ideas…

Suffering Story Regret: He’s mid-way through a story that’s just not working out the way he had it planned. Now what?

“The Power of No.” It’s a new book that stresses the importance of declining certain “opportunities.” We discuss it from both sides.