Content exchange: Cross-promotion made simple

Content exchange: Cross-promotion made simple

With social media on a steep decline, many of us are scrambling to find ways to replace its benefits. One...
Read More
Incorporating an oddly shaped panel into a vertical-scroll comic

Incorporating an oddly shaped panel into a vertical-scroll comic

Building an audience on the web means adapting to the vertical scroll. But that doesn't mean giving up innovative page...
Read More
Webcomics Confidential: Draw larger

Webcomics Confidential: Draw larger

I took a question on Twitter recently: "Would it be wrong to draw my comics on A4 paper? I find...
Read More
November To-Do List

November To-Do List

It's time to get started on (*choke*) the penultimate month of 2024.If you plan to offer new merchandise for the...
Read More
ComicLab Ep 359 — Should your readers be your writers?

ComicLab Ep 359 — Should your readers be your writers?

BlueSky is beginning to feel like Twitter did ten years ago! Engagement is up, conversations are genuine, and follower counts...
Read More
Understanding social media

Understanding social media

Social media is among an independent artist's most frustrating elements. We struggle for engagement, wage constant battles with "The Algorithm,"...
Read More
Writing humor

Writing humor

Writing comedy is a challenge that is made even more daunting by the fact that humor itself is completely subjective...
Read More
CMYK vs RGB

CMYK vs RGB

If you're saving your comics in RGB mode, you may be making a potentially expensive mistake. The content you are...
Read More
ComicLab Ep 358 — “Help! I’m not funny anymore!”

ComicLab Ep 358 — “Help! I’m not funny anymore!”

Cartoonists Dave and Brad share some thoughts with a young humor writer trying to find their Funny. Also: Is BlueSky...
Read More
ISBN — a beginner’s guide

ISBN — a beginner’s guide

An ISBN is a 10- or 13-digit number used to identify a book from a specific publisher. Once your book...
Read More
Hot Seat critique

Hitch It / Ditch It Hot Seat: Open Call

It’s been a while since we’ve done a “Hitch It / Ditch It” Hot Seat, so let’s kick off a round this month.

The rules are simple: I go to your site and point of one thing you’re doing well, and one thing that might stand some improvement. The discussion goes on from there are the members join in with their thoughts.

To participate, please give me the following in the Comments below:

• Your name

• Comic title

• Your comic’s URL

by on September 16, 2014
Posted In: Hot Seat critiques
10 Comments

Amazon Affiliate ads

I have always held a pretty low opinion of affiliate advertising. And, to be honest, it’s still not my preferred form of ad revenue.

However, as I have grown my site, I have found the value in devoting a certain percentage of my site’s advertising to affiliate advertising — specifically those from Amazon’s Affiliate Associates program.

Here’s how I incorporate Amazon’s affiliate ads into my site — and why.

The content you are trying to access is only available to members.

by on September 15, 2014
Posted In: Advertising
└ Tags: , ,
 Comment 
Archive Dive

Friday Archive Dive: Character Tags

Today’s Archive Dive dates back to September 2012, when I discussed how Characters Tags are implemented in both Comic Easel and ComicsPress.

Since switching to Comic Easel, I’ve become a big fan of character tags. Using character tags, I can give readers more information about the characters that appear in a specific update. You can see it in action below.

Read the step-by-step tutorial (and comment) here.

by on September 12, 2014
Posted In: Archive Dive
└ Tags: , , ,

Book Cover Hot Seat: NPC, Love is in the Blood

This is the last installment in a series of Hot Seat critique posts that will focus on book-cover design. As with all of the Hot Seat critiques, this is an opportunity for us to discuss real-life issues in cartooning. I’ll open with a few remarks, and then please feel free to join the discussion with your own thoughts.

The content you are trying to access is only available to members.

by on September 11, 2014
Posted In: Hot Seat critiques
11 Comments

Using PayPal to collect Sales Tax

Sales tax is a state-mandated tax on goods and products. Since sales-tax guidelines vary from state to state, please take a moment to check out the Web site of legal-guide publisher NOLO, which has an excellent state-by-state breakdown of sales tax agencies. To help ensure you’re complicit in your home state, be sure to go to the proper sales-tax agency and familiarize yourself with its procedures and expectations. You may be required to register for a sales-tax license or a seller’s permit.

The content you are trying to access is only available to members.

by on September 10, 2014
Posted In: Business, Merchandise
└ Tags: ,
4 Comments

Book Cover Design: Subject Headings

If you look at the back cover of almost every book you’ll find in a bookstore, check out the lower left-hand corner* and you’ll see something like this:

ART / Business Aspects
COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS / Superheroes
 HUMOR / Form / Comic Strips & Cartoons

They’re so ubiquitous that many self-publishers take them for granted, but they’re worth a little consideration — especially if your plans for publishing include distributing your books to bookstores and other retail outlets.

The content you are trying to access is only available to members.

by on September 9, 2014
Posted In: Merchandise, Print publishing
└ Tags: , ,
2 Comments

DFP: “Weighting” line items

I strongly endorse using Google’s DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) for webcartoonists who want to sell their own ads, serve ads from a network and mix in house ads. Ads are served in order of importance (from most to least):

  • Sponsorship
  • Standard – high
  • Standard – normal
  • Standard – low
  • Network
  • Bulk
  • Price priority
  • House

Be careful… “Network” in that list above refers to a network of publishers — not an ad network. For example, if three different webcartoonists had formed a collaboration in which ads were shared among the three sites, this would be the Network that DFP would distribute the ads among.

Ads served by ad networks can be found in the Price Priority category.

Weighting an ad in DFP is a way of determining how often a certain type of ads shows up in relation to the others. This is especially useful for managing house ads. Luckily, DFP makes it pretty easy.

The content you are trying to access is only available to members.

by on September 8, 2014
Posted In: Advertising, Web site
└ Tags: , ,
 Comment 
Archive Dive

Friday Archive Dive: Send a mass e-mail from a spreadsheet

Today’s Archive Dive brings us to a priceless tutorial for anyone who has ever had to deliver several different types of e-mail to a large group of people. This is especially helpful in fulfilling different digital rewards to a large number of Kickstarter backers, for example. With very little set-up, you can send a mass e-mail from a spreadsheet.

Here’s a down-and-dirty step-by-step guide!

 

by on September 5, 2014
Posted In: Archive Dive

Book Cover Hot Seat: The End

This is the next installment in a series of Hot Seat critique posts that will focus on book-cover design. I’ve left the Open Call open, so if you’d like to get in on this one, please follow the directions in the Original Post. As with all of the Hot Seat critiques, this is an opportunity for us to discuss real-life issues in cartooning. I’ll open with a few remarks, and then please feel free to join the discussion with your own thoughts.

The content you are trying to access is only available to members.

by on September 4, 2014
Posted In: Hot Seat critiques, Print publishing, Uncategorized
└ Tags: , , ,
5 Comments