Brad Guigar
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With all that said as a reader of comics I do go to ranking and directory sites to find genre comics that I haven’t read yet.
But you’re not a reader of comics. You’re a cartoonist.
I’d be amazed if those sites generate a whole lot of traffic among “civilians.”
I think those sites are worthless. I can’t imagine for a minute that anyone but other webcomics creators frequent those sites — and for most creators, I think that’s futile marketing at best. There are several members who participate and put energy (and link juice) behind it. I put it in the category of Things I’ll Just Never Understand. 🙂
I’m going to be asking all Webcomics.com members to get behind this film and push hard on April 1.
In a nutshell, we’re going to try to get this to #1 on iTunes on its premiere. That’s going to mean a lot when Dave and Fred take this to distributors to get it into wider circulation. And this is definitely work that belongs in wider circulation.
So, here are the details.
On April 1, webcomics creators will be blogging, tweeting, posting, liking and sharing our asses off about this movie.
I use MarketPress by WPMU Dev.
In the past, members have also recommended/endorsed the following:
*Philip “Frumph” Hofer warned me strongly against using WooCommerce. He said that using it tended to slow sites down drastically.
Why hasn’t Brad or Scott advertised this at all yet? http://survivingcreativity.com/
We’ve hit it pretty hard on social media. I’ll be doing a blog post soon and I know Scott’s planning something to run on his site. As for talking about it here, I try to hold myself to the same self-promotion standards I hold the entire community to.
Also, I was wondering if there would be a way to play these podcasts without using the soundcloud player on Patreon. I exclusively listen to podcasts on my ipod, so I need at least mp3 versions (although I would prefer just to download from itunes if possible).
Patreon patrons will have access to MP3 versions of the podcast. We need to chop that first podcast into two pieces to make this doable. But starting with the next one (this week), it should be a standard feature.
I’d love to hear some thoughts on getting through the period where your creative work is bringing in money, but also consuming every waking minute you’re not at the day job.
I’d love an episode about saying no to people asking you to do free work. It’s something I’m getting more comfortable with, but I’d love to hear the guys talk about this.
Great ideas! Keep ’em coming!
I haven’t had that problem, to be honest. My copyright notification always appears at the bottom of the image, and maybe my last name is unique enough that a simple flash of my driver’s license has been enough to assuage any concerns.
If you’re a Costco member (and if your Costco has a print shop), make that your first stop. I was blown away by the quality and the price.
It works!
OK, folks, let’s use this calendar to promote comic conventions that we like, events that take place in a physical location (as opposed to online “events”) and the like.
I won’t be loading the calendar up with low-level promotion (XYZ Comic posts it’s 100th strip), but do consider adding a comic convention you’ll be appearing at and mentioning your booth number in the post. We can always add other members (and their booth numbers) who are attending the same convention.
Yes, there is. And it works the same for both Comic Easel and ComicsPress. I’ll post this here and do a site post next week with images, etc.
- Make sure the image files for your comics feature the date (first) and then a couple of keywords. For example: 2014-03-15-ides-of-march.tif
- FTP into your site, create a directory off of the root of your WordPress installation and name it ‘import.’
- FTP the comics you want to import into that directory.
- In your WordPress dashboard, go to Comics -> Chapters and create the chapter (or make sure the appropriate chapter is already there).
- In your WordPress dashboard, go to Comics -> Import.
- Select chapter in the import section, modify any other values as needed. If you do not know what they are, do not modify them.
- Press the Import button.
Try not to do too many at once. I had hundreds of Evil Inc strips to move when I switched to Comic Easel. I pushed it, and sometimes paid the price with comics that uploaded incorrectly or not at all. I’d recommend about 30 at a time — maybe 50 if you have a great Internet connection and snazzy hosting.
Terry Moore was creating a book.
You’re doing a comic on the Web, and although it may end up in book form, it’s going to live or die by how it performs on the Web.
Sadly, those old episodes where by a different writer (me), and the new ones are by another writer. I’ve done what I can with them. If I had my way, I would’ve ended the comic at the end of the last story arc. Frankly, my current situation with it, and my inability to inject any of my ideas into it, has been a real low point for me.
I’m sorry to hear that, Scott. Keep your chin up. It gets better.
Zaki, if you don’t have a webcomic, I don’t see how you can quit your job to do webcomics.
No I don’t have a webcomic yet, as my art isn’t up to par right now, but I do come here hoping for some advice.
Here it is: Don’t quit your day job.
OK. Maybe you’re the .001 %. Maybe the job you’re leaving is a job that has given you the skill set that you’d need to do a for-profit webcomic. Maybe you’re lightning-in-a-bottle.
But the odds are overwhelmingly against that.
Quitting a job to start a comic is no way to make a living. Quitting your job to spend more time on a comic you’ve been developing for years is the much more sane option.
I’m in my mid-30s still living with my parents for accommodation.
I’ll add a little footnote here and add that I understand you might be living with your parents for a number of reasons. Perhaps they’re unable to take care of themselves and you need to be around in a caregiver role. If that’s the case, feel free to disregard what comes next.
Woof. Even more reason not to leave your day job. Listen, my friend… you are nearing your peak earning years. You are taking a serious gamble with your life — and it has real-life consequences. A person in his or her thirties is very likely to be near the apex of whatever job he or she has been pursuing since adulthood. The expectation is that you’ve entered the workforce in your twenties, you’ve been building up valuable skills and experience, and now you’re able to command a higher wage.
You’re at a crucial time in your life. You’re in one of two places. If you fit the model I described above, you’d have to weigh leaving what you’ve built very carefully. If you don’t fit the model described above, I would argue that it’s not too late to start.
Think the economics don’t apply to you? That’s fair. I mean, what I know about Malaysian economics could fill a thimble. So let’s talk art.
It’s not that I have a problem with an adult who finds themselves living with their parents. I get it. What I’m going to say has nothing to do with a value judgement. I’m talking about creativity. Part of what you’re trading on — as any kind of an artist (and especially as a cartoonist) — is your ability to tap into your life experience to tell compelling stories.
And if you’re living with your parents (unless you fall into a situation similar to the one I described above), I’m going to argue that you’re denying yourself valuable life experiences.
This is what I would say to a thirty-year-old living with their parents (without mitigating circumstances)… and maybe it applies to you: You need to sweat rent for a few months consecutively. You need to go grocery shopping. You need to start a relationship. End a relationship. Build a new relationship.
You need to live. As an adult. On your own.
My concern would be for someone like that would be that his or her comics are doomed to reflect a limited life experience.
Here are a few thoughts on creative plateaus.
Margaret, you may find these posts on Google Analytics from the archive to be helpful.
I can’t express to you more passionately that you’re on a fruitless quest.
Numbers mean nothing. It’s the community that matters. I’ve seen webcomics thrive with a relatively small number of readers — because those readers were passionate and invested. As a result, they supported their favorite cartoonist well. And I’ve seen webcomics that generated huge numbers but only monetized a small percentage of them.
This post from the archives sums up my thoughts a little more completely.
The time you spend obsessing over numbers is time you should be obsessing over the readers you do have.
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While you’re at it, did you read this piece from the archives in which I posed an entirely different business model for longform comics? It’s kind of an offshoot from the line of thinking from this post.
Today’s comic on your site is an excellent example of what I’m talking about. That update has almost zero potential to entice a reader who is arriving at your site for the first time. A person coming to your site today for the first time is probably not going to stay. In fact, I’d argue that few of your updates accomplish this goal. That’s a crucial problem with how you’re presenting your work on the Web.
I think it’s time for longform comics creators to re-think how they’re doing things. Right now they’re aping how shortform and gag comics present themselves on the Web— and it’s not working. The digital landscape has changed, and you have tons more tools than we all did in 2002.
Use them.
