Home

Well, the world is going to hell, or at least it feels that way. I’m going to talk a bit about COVID19, but first, for your social distancing, I’ve got a lot of stuff you can read for free. Reaver #1 (Just a single, alas) Spread Vol 1 Strode Vol 1 Urban Animal https://www.webtoons.com/en/super-hero/urban-animal/list?title_no=1483 That’s currently about eighteen issues worth of Urban Animal there. And, like, hundreds and hundreds of comics on Webtoon generally. Breaklands This one is conditionally free, unfortunately, but if you have Amazon Prime, Kindle Unlimited or Comixology Unlimited you can read the first trade for free. Get it on AMAZON HERE. I also posted this on my Facebook page, if you want to share this.  COVID19 Generally, I like to keep this whole thing fairly light, but I’m going to talk a little about this. It’s bad. Both the disease itself and the consequences of. On one hand, if we just let the Coronavirus spread, and we assume that we end up with 20% of Americans infected, then that’s 72 million infected. If we assume an optimistic, based on available numbers, 10% hospitalization number, that’s 7.2 million people in the hospital. And if we assume 1% mortality, which is South Korea’s rate, that’s an additional 700,000 dead people. Even if that’s spread out over a year, it’s going to have some catastrophic effects on the country. Which is why we’re not just letting it roll across us without action. But the flipside is that our economy and our country are not really up to the impact of us locking down for weeks or months. Our system is fragile. So barring something unexpected turning in our favor, this is going to be a hard year. Not many of us have the option of locking down our lives. I largely do, and I’m fortunate there, but it really is important to try and keep the spread down and try to keep the world ticking. My Cat As a palate cleanser, here’s my girl

Checkout the first 5 pages of BREAKLANDS #4 available on #amazon and @comiXology today : https://m.comixology.com/Breaklands-comiXology-Ori…/…/799203

 

Here’s your look at the first 5 pages of REAVER! Get it at a comic shop near your today or get a digital copy on Comixology: https://www.comixology.com/Reaver-5/digital-comic/805346

Here’s your sneak peek at the first 5 pages!

You can get all of BREAKLANDS on COMIXOLOGY or on AMAZON.

 

I am back from NYCC and kind of recovered. I haven’t gotten back to full working speed, but I managed to not get sick, so, excellent. A spin off is that this newsletter will end up being hyper long because I procrastinate by writing….stuff other than I’m writing.

Also, hey, I’m at Baltimore Comic Con at table 110 this weekend, if you’re in the area.

NYCC

I have a very distinct love hate relationship with NYCC. On one hand, I do love seeing people, I am a fan of the city, and I’ve got a pretty good routine down. On the other hand, you see most people for about twelve seconds, 200,000 people in one building is nearly crippling for my social tolerances, and the whole things tends to be grueling.

THAT SAID….

This was a great con. Honestly, I’m not sure I could have asked for better. I sold nearly all the inventory I had with me. I had a bunch of great meetings that will hopefully lead into proper work, I was relatively unstressed, and I didn’t get into a fight with Nikki and I managed to not get too exhausted or (and this is related) sick.

Well, mostly not sick. I did pick up a sinus infection but hey, life isn’t perfect.

Plus, for once, I actually managed to stay a couple extra days in the city and hang out with friends I don’t see much, which I think helped me decompress and manage. So that all worked out.

Reaver Issue Four!

Hell’s Half-Dozen has fought their way to the Anvil without losing a member… until now.

The hit series by Justin Jordan (LUTHER STRODE, SPREAD) and Rebekah Isaacs (BUFFY) continues!

Breaklands #2 is available on Comixology. Get your copy HERE today!

Aaaannnnd here’s your preview of the first five pages!

 

 

Basically, I’m building a virtual machine to sell comics. Or really, whatever writing I do, but that’s currently comics. I think of it as The Machine, but it’s really just a system.

The central idea is that if I’m selling books through Image, selling 10,000 copies an issue of singles and 10,000 copies of the trade is enough for everyone involved to get a solid living wage out of it.

On one hand, these are not actually huge numbers. I’ve hit them a decent chunk without much in the way of my own marketing. Of course, I’ve also NOT hit them a lot.

And while I use the Image stuff to model this, the ability to reliably do this is not JUST useful for stuff I do through Image. If I have a system where I can fairly reliably get an extra ten thousand sales on a book, I can also, you know, ask for a lot more money on work for hire.

Likewise, my long term plans involve more merch and direct sales on my own, so this is all meant to help drive that goal. Which, IF I can do it, I expect is years worth of work.

Basically, the core goal is to build my fanbase, and get as many of them as possible to sign up for my mailing list. The mailing list is both an actual thing but ALSO kind of short hand for just making sure I can semi reliably contact them.

I mention the semi reliably, because there are a LOT of roadblocks between me and them. Without pay for play, for instance, maaaaaybe 5% of my FB fans will see a post. Insta tends to do a bit better at 10%, and occasionally stuff does much better.

And while I’m not against actually paying for FB to show my stuff to more people, I am, and I know this is a shock to many of you, what with me working in comics, not actually made of money.

Beyond that, though, FB also makes the rules, and they can do whatever whenever. I don’t like that lack of control. That said, it’s not just social media.

If you get on my mailing list, there’s a decentish chance that despite you wanting to get those emails, your email provider won’t show them to you. I could get into my feelings about this kind of tech paternalism, but it’d be long and off topic.

But basically a way to contact people who like my stuff that isn’t pay to play. The biggest advantage I have there is that I actually DO have a lot of stuff I can just give away.

Not just for people joining the list, but I can run webcomics for years with just the stuff I already have. And I’ve got a couple new things I want to do where I can basically be putting out new free content five days a week.

That said, while it’s the core, it’s not the only thing. The reason I think of this as machine (other than an occasional flare for the dramatic) is that it all works together to do the actual end goal, which is selling my stuff.

The other parts are, in no particular order:

– A retailer mailing list. Which in an ideal world is also backed up by the ability to show them a lot of what I’m doing. I want to get to the point where I can have a full arc done before solicits for just this purpose.

– A librarian list. For the same purpose as the retailer list, although it would run different, because I’m selling them something different.

– A press list. So that I can at least attempt to get the word out through the media.

– A reviewer list. Similar to the press list.

– A larger social media platform. Essentially, growing my FB fan page, my Insta and my Twitter, and keeping on top of whatever else there is.

On one hand, this is a flawed system that’s not superuseful on it’s own, and not enough to devote a lot of time and money to. But it is useful, especially in synergy with everything else.

It’s also a selling point. Saying hey I’ve got an audience of X number of people does make people more inclined to back the books and such.

– Advertising. When I can, I am actually willing to pay for eyeballs. Like a lot of things, it’s hard to say for certain how well it works.

This is all predicated on putting out stuff people want to read. But I think, generally, the quality of my stuff is pretty high. The issue doesn’t seem to be that I’m putting out crap that no one would want to read, but getting eyeballs on it to begin with.

So all this is designed to fight that. It’s just an ass ton of work to get built.