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...
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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...
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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,"...
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Writing humor

Writing humor

Writing comedy is a challenge that is made even more daunting by the fact that humor itself is completely subjective...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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How to write a Halloween joke

How to write a Halloween joke

On Substack, a cartoonist was struggling with writing a Halloween joke. He was experiencing a common problem. He was stuck...
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Webcomics Confidential: Size doesn’t matter

Webcomics Confidential: Size doesn’t matter

when it comes to your audience, size doesn't matter. A small and engaged readership beats a huge, lukewarm audience every...
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ComicLab Ep 357 — Innovation fascination

ComicLab Ep 357 — Innovation fascination

Having wrapped up his 16th Kickstarter, cartoonist Dave Kellett shares some insights about setting realistic expectations, avoiding paid advertising, and...
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Mailbag: Sharing Revenues Among Multiple Authors

Q. How do you handle the division of profit from a co-authored book? When I buy “How to Make Webcomics” or “Hey World Here Are Some Suggestions,” is the seller keeping a tally of how much money is owed to the other contributor, or is there another way of handling that? Does the strategy change based on the circumstances or is there an established way that it’s ALWAYS done?

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by on March 7, 2012
Posted In: Business, Mail Bag, Merchandise
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Mailbag: Time management

Q. You don’t write much about one of your strengths as a cartoonist: time management. I’m curious about your schedule and how you maintain several long-term projects, family, and a full-time job.

For example, when you say yes to a new obligation, what criteria do you use to avoid overextending yourself? How do you estimate workload? Have you ever misjudged, and did you adapt?

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by on March 5, 2012
Posted In: Mail Bag
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March To-Do List

Get out your calendar and start circling dates. It’s time to do a little webcomics planning.
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by on March 1, 2012
Posted In: To-Do List
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Eisner Submission Tip

Every year I submit my daily comic strip, Evil Inc, to the Eisner panel for consideration under the Best Digital Comic category despite the fact that the rules that state that the entry must be a longform comic. I always argue that Evil Inc is a longform comic that’s presented on the Web as a daily strip. And my philosophy is always to submit it and let them tell me no, rather than not submit it and guarantee a “no.”
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by on February 28, 2012
Posted In: Events
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Harvey Award Nomination Ballots are now Available

The Harvey Awards ballots are now available at their Web site. The deadline for submitting ballots is April 16.

As a working webcartoonist, you are eligible to submit a ballot.

Download .txt Nomination Ballot (for email)

Download PDF (color) Nomination Ballot

Download PDF (b&w) Nomination Ballot

E-Mail submission to harveyballots@hotmail.com or mail them to the address provided on the PDF downloads.

Our own Scott Kurtz will be emcee-ing the Harvey Awards once again, which will be part of the Baltimore Comic-Con, Sept. 8-9, 2012.

Categories

1) BEST WRITER
2) BEST ARTIST
3) BEST CARTOONIST
4) BEST LETTERER
5) BEST INKER
6) BEST COLORIST
7) BEST COVER ARTIST
8) MOST PROMISING NEW TALENT
9) BEST NEW SERIES
10) BEST CONTINUING OR LIMITED SERIES
11) BEST SYNDICATED STRIP OR PANEL
12) BEST ANTHOLOGY  (ANY MAGAZINE, COMIC BOOK, OR BOOK WITH WORK BY  THREE OR MORE CREATORS, AT LEAST 50% OF WHICH  IS NEW)
13) BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM – ORIGINAL
14) BEST GRAPHIC ALBUM – PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED
15) BEST SINGLE ISSUE OR STORY
16) BEST DOMESTIC REPRINT PROJECT
17) BEST AMERICAN EDITION OF FOREIGN MATERIAL
18) BEST ONLINE COMICS WORK
19) SPECIAL AWARD FOR HUMOR IN COMICS
20) SPECIAL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN PRESENTATION (ART DIRECTION / PRODUCTION)
21) BEST BIOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, OR JOURNALISTIC  PRESENTATION (ANY BOOK, MAGAZINE, FILM, OR  VIDEO THAT CONTRIBUTES TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF  COMICS AS AN ARTFORM)
22) BEST ORIGINAL GRAPHIC PUBLICATION FOR YOUNGER READERS
by on February 21, 2012
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Tracking Downloads using Google Analytics

One of these days, I’m going to re-name this site “Being Dumb So You Don’t Have To Be.”

Here’s what happened. I offered a recent storyline to my readers as a digital download (PDF and MOBI versions) to test the waters for an idea I’ve been knocking around in my head.

Remembering Rich Stevens’ impressive success with a free iBooks offering recently, I rushed to my Web stats the morning after I launched the project, eagerly looking for the section in which I could find stats on the downloads of those two files — onlt to find that no such section exists. No worries, that’s what Google Analytics is for, right? Nope.
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by on February 20, 2012
Posted In: Digital publishing, Web site
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