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
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...
Read More
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...
Read More
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...
Read More

Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship deadline

The deadline for the Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholarship is Dec. 15. Applicants must be students at a 4-year college in the United States, Canada or Mexico who will be a Junior or Senior during the 2012-2013 academic year. Applicants do not have to be art majors to be eligible for this scholarship.

I’m still trying to get confirmation of what the winner will receive, but last year’s winner got the following:

  • $5,000 monetary award
  • Trip to the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben Weekend.

To enter:

  • 8 samples of your own cartooning artwork (copies only); noting if and where the work has been published — either in print or on the Web.
  • Print out the samples AND copy them to a CD.
  • Files should be no larger than 8.5×11″ and no more than 300 dpi.
  • DO NOT send original artwork.
  • Completed entry form.
  • Download the PDF of the entry form for more details.

Mail to:

The Jay Kennedy Memorial Scholoarship

National Cartoonists Society Foundation

341 N. Maitland Ave.

Suite 130

Maitland, FL 32751

by on November 23, 2011
Posted In: Events
└ Tags: ,
 Comment 

Kachingle: Member advisory

Scott Kurtz became aware of Kachingle when he received the following tweet:

You can now kachingle PvPOnline | Player Vs. Player . More at 

Kachingle is an organization that seeks to facilitate micropayments between users and the free information they access on the Web. Kachingle’s users — “Kachinglers” — place $5 a month into their Kachingle account, and they load a special extension into their browsers. At the end of each month, Kachingle adds up the number of days you visited each site you chose to support, and they distribute your five bucks proportionally among those sites. That is, after Kanchingle takes 15% off the top.

But Scott never registered his site with Kachingle. A “Kachingler” did. And Scott didn’t know his site was even involved until he had happened upon the notification — via Twitter!
The content you are trying to access is only available to members.

by on November 22, 2011
Posted In: Web site
└ Tags: 
7 Comments

Creating a PayPal Gift Certificate

As a member pointed out yesterday, you can create gift certificates through PayPal. However, the tutorial that he kindly linked to was specifically for users of the Big Cartel e-store software. Here are some more general instructions.

Find the form to create a Gift Certificate button, for your readers to buy and give gift certificates to your store, under “Merchant Services.” It will be listed under “Create Buttons.”
The content you are trying to access is only available to members.

by on November 17, 2011
Posted In: Merchandise
└ Tags: ,
 Comment 

Nov. 16: American Censorship Day – Stop SOPA

Today the U.S. House of Representatives is debating H.R. 3261, commonly known as the Stop Online Pirating Act (SOPA). The bill seeks to modernize “criminal and civil statutes to meet new IP enforcement challenges.” Wikipedia has a good representation of the pros and the cons of the bill.
The content you are trying to access is only available to members.

by on November 16, 2011
Posted In: Web site
└ Tags: 
2 Comments

Pibster… monetizing Twitter?

63Squares is the organization that created 14Blocks, an application that tries to gauge the best times for you to tweet based on the previous habits of your followers. I’ve been using a premium version of 14Blocks for a while now, so I’m on their mailing list for new announcements. Their most recent offering is intriguing.

Pibster

Pibster is an online application that boast the ability to monetize Twitter.
The content you are trying to access is only available to members.

by on November 16, 2011
Posted In: Marketing / Social Media
└ Tags: 
2 Comments

Ten Tips for Beginner Webcartoonists

We’ve been hitting a lot of mid-to-upper-level topics here lately, so I wanted to take an opportunity to do a post that addresses some concerns of our members who find themselves either starting out or withing the first two years of their webcomics. Here are ten tips that I would tell anyone starting out.
The content you are trying to access is only available to members.

by on November 15, 2011
Posted In: Advertising, Business, Lettering, Marketing / Social Media
20 Comments

Facebook to discontinue RSS-support through “Notes”

This week, Facebook released the following announcement:

You currently automatically import content from your website or blog into your Facebook notes. Starting November 22nd, this feature will no longer be available, although you’ll still be able to write individual notes. The best way to share content from your website is to post links on your Wall. Learn more about notes.
The content you are trying to access is only available to members.

by on November 10, 2011
Posted In: Marketing / Social Media
└ Tags: ,
9 Comments

Training readers to expect merchandise

It’s something I hear Scott Kurtz say quite often: “It’s really true… you can ‘train’ your readers to expect new merchandise every month.”

By offering something new in your online store at a predictable rate (for example, the first update of the month), your readers will come to anticipate the announcement. And that anticipation builds excitement and urgency — which are great things to have when you’re trying to generate a certain amount of impulse buying.

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

by on November 9, 2011
Posted In: Merchandise
└ Tags: ,
1 Comment