Get out your calendar and start circling dates. It’s time to do a little webcomics planning.
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Emerald Comics Distro, an independent comics-distribution company, is currently open for submissions. Originally focused on the American northwest, Emerald Comics has opened an online catalog for retailers — widening its potential reach to brick-and-mortar shops everywhere.
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Cartoonists Dave Kellett and Brad Guigar are talking shop! Dave dives in on his full experience at ECCC this year, including some wonderful critters he met and his interaction with a rep from Nickelodeon. Dave answers the burning question — Did he do well enough to justify going back next year? Following this, Brad shares his thoughts on the recent success of Nathan “Strange Planet” Pyle. Next, the guys answer the questions on options in going digital.
BUT FIRST, Dave tells us about his lovely ECCC roomie, Inktober’s Jake Parker.
I attended the Patreon On Tour conference in New York City, and I strongly advise you to take advantage of this opportunity if it comes to a city near you. It was packed with great data-backed information, like information on which Patreon rewards work best.
At one time in the presentation, the topic of promotion came up, and the data they had gathered floored me. I’d been thinking about patron-acquisition all wrong. Here’s what I learned…
According to their research, about 40% of new Patreon backers arrive through social media — less than half!
Think about it. If you’re focusing on social media to spread the news about your Patreon rewards, you’re missing sixty percent of the other avenues! Here are the other ways patrons find out about the Patreon campaigns they back:
Let’s talk about a few of those…
If you’re like many of us, you’ve seen your advertising revenue decimated by ad blockers. You may have even removed advertising from your site entirely. But that space is still has value — even if it’s not currently delivering on that value. House ads have long been promoted on this site as a way to bolster that undervaluation. The application to this instance is simple: Replace the paid-advertising space with self-promotion space. If you code it directly into the page, you can even bypass ad blockers. There’s no better place than your site to find the people that are most likely to back your Patreon campaign. Use that old advertising space for outreach.
This is a great way to promote a Patreon campaign. Consider this post from last October for one way you could approach this:
Sending out a monthly e-newsletter is a great way to keep in touch with readers — and an awesome way to get the word out on new information about your webcomic. It takes a little time to prep, but it’s a well-targeted message to an interested audience is incredibly valuable as you build your community. Webcomics.com has tons of handy resources to get you started.
As far back as 2012, I was wondering aloud whether Google Plus was dead in the water. And in 2015, I shared that Google was divesting itself of its “Facebook killer.” The Internet giant, of course, announced earlier this year that the ax was finally falling. If you have content over there that you’d like to save, you have until the end of the month. From Google’s announcement:
This is a reminder that on April 2, 2019 we’re shutting down consumer Google+ and will begin deleting content from consumer Google+ accounts. Photos and videos from Google+ in your Album Archive and your Google+ pages will also be deleted.
Downloading your Google+ content may take time, so get started before March 31, 2019.
No other Google products (such as Gmail, Google Photos, Google Drive, YouTube) will be shut down as part of the consumer Google+ shutdown, and the Google Account you use to sign in to these services will remain. Note that photos and videos already backed up in Google Photos will not be deleted.
For more information, see the full Google+ shutdown FAQ.
You want to write longform stories that are brisk and engaging, and yet you also want to optimize your comic to use social media to build an audience? It feels impossible to write a quality story and succeed on social media at the same time, doesn’t it? It’s not. Welcome to a publishing method I’ve developed called Mutli-Channel Publishing. MCP helps you to do both.
Here’s how it works…
The content you are trying to access is only available to members.Cartoonists Dave Kellett and Brad Guigar are talking shop! Going back to the discussion of publishers vs crowdfunding: What really brings you success? THEN, selling Patreon rewards on different platforms. ALSO, answering questions about background and comic structure WHILE bringing up the more modern characters seen in comics today compared to years ago. FINALLY, figuring out when it is beneficial to hold on to old domains or cut loose.
BUT FIRST, “F*** Voltron!”
• 00:00 — F*** Voltron
• 6:33 — “Artisanal Success”
• 23:17 — Is it OK to sell Patreon rewards elsewhere?
• 28:29 — Stretch Break!
• 29:19 — Backgrounds
• 43:35 — What is an idea best for? Longform? Shortform?
• 50:43— 4 panels comics, then and now
• 52:48 — New-age characters
• 01:00:55 — DAVE! See a doctor!
• 01:01:42 — Holding on to old domains
Earlier today, Patreon announced that it will unveil a three-tier system later this spring. The three tiers will be Patreon Lite, Patreon Pro and Patreon Premium. All creators currently using Patreon will experience no changes. They will be grandfathered into Patreon Pro. Here’s an analysis of the day’s announcement:
The content you are trying to access is only available to members.During the recent Patreon on Tour conference in New York city, a discussion arose about promoting Patreon at personal appearances. It was tough, one creator complained, because setting up a laptop to process pledges was cumbersome — and expensive. And, it didn’t always work so well.
“Why are you bringing a computer to a show when literally every one of the attendees is walking around with their own in their pocket?” replied another creator.
Why, indeed?
Let’s talk about two ways to convert Patreon pledges at comic conventions and other personal appearances…
We first talked about QR codes way back in 2011. In fact, I shared a handy tip on using QR codes to promote Patreon campaigns in 2014. However, it hasn’t been until recently that both Android and iPhones built QR-scanning into their cameras. Now that this particular hurdle has been crossed, this technique should run smoothly.
Simply build a QR code to point to your Patreon page. When an interested person uses their digital device to read the code, they’ll be taken directly to your page. If they sign up, you can even give them a reward on the spot — in person!
Think of what a powerful enticement to drive Patreon pledges this could be at a comic convention!
Some printing companies — like Moo — are offering NFC business cards. This is a business card with an NFC chip embedded in it that will trigger a digital action when it is tapped on the user’s smartphone. Android phones have had NFC capabilities for a while now, and Apple’s iOS 11 has finally brought iPhones into the game.
They’re expensive, but remember — you don’t have to give these away in place of regular business cards. You can keep one or two at your table and re-use them. Best of all, the chip can be programmed and then re-programmed. So, you can use them in several different ways — from opening up your Patreon page on the smartphone’s Web browser to, say, downloading an app.
Dave Kellett and Brad Guigar are talking comics! In this episode, they discuss the secrets of Instagram tagging. THEN … if a backer asks you to add a crowdfunding platform to Patreon, should you? ALSO… what’s the danger of waiting too long for success? AND FINALLY… Rob Salkowitz from Forbes drops by to discuss the changing comics industry.
BUT FIRST… Dave tells Brad about the time he ate his whole wedding cake.
Show Notes
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