Hello everyone

Sorry for taking so long to post, but I’ve been busy writing new and strange things.

I was recently contacted by a collage student Monique Francis and she asked me if would be willing to answer a few questions via e-mail for an assignment for school.

She was looking for information concerning publishing comics and the process of creating them.

Here are her questions and my answers, hopefully some of them will help you, and please leave me any comments and questions you may have about the subject matter.

Publishing Questions:

1) What is essential to becoming a self publisher with an independent small press company as far as educational background?

None, although a Masters in business does help.

Seriously though if you want to really make it study what others have done, look at what other successful indy publishers are doing and have done.

2) What educational options would you recommend for someone wanting to pursue the route of self publishing who also wants a solid knowledgeable foundation in Copyright and trademark law?

The copyright and trademark laws in this country are fairly simple and going to [link] pretty much explains everything you need to know about it.

3) How did you start your own independent publishing company?

I began thinking about it when I was junior in high school and I began research at that point into printing and distribution. The information wasn’t easy to come across back then, but there was a comic called “How to publish Comics” these guys explained everything one needed to know at the time, it was an avalanche of info, and they told you of little tricks of how to get paid by distributors faster, who were the distributors and some of the does and don’ts of the business. It was very different back then, back then we had 13 distributors, not just the one and things were much better for indy publishers.

4) What does it take to run your own publishing press and when is the best time to establish the company?

Running your press can be as involved or uninvolved as you choose to make it. I personally don’t pay much attention to it. My main focus is on the work, my writing mainly. It all depends on what you wish to achieve, do you wish to run a company like Dark Horse, IDW, or Boom, then you’re going to really need to hustle and seek out creators to publish which is like herding cats, but it can be done.

5) What advice would you give to a future comic artist, self publisher and art entrepreneur on growing and surviving as an accomplished business and as a skilled individual?

Go listen to Scott Kurtz, and the guys from [link] and get “How to create Webcomics” which is a book that was written by that crew. I’m old school and I love my printed books, but the future really is webcomics for indy creators. Print is always going to be an option but it’s going to be one revenue stream as opposed to being the main one.

6) What makes or breaks a great company?

This one is tough because if we’re talking about indy publishers (and I’m talking about a single person or a team, not a publisher with multiple titles) there has only been a few of what I would call a great company and most of those guys are still around and doing well. Now if we’re talking about middle of the road publishers that were at one time great (Eclipse, First Comics, PC Comics, Now Comics, Arrow Comics, Comico, Blackthorne Comics, etc.) all of these comic companies failed because of one thing and that’s over extension. They over reached by publishing too many books, or crossing into other distribution markets that caused them to over extend their cash flow, ultimately causing them to collapse.

7) What are some great ways of establishing a company's image with the general public that also sets it apart from similar companies of the trade?

There’s only one thing you can do to set yourself apart and it’s simple create great books. It’s trite to say that but it’s true, the only books that have longevity are ones of quality, on top of that is consistency, you have to be able to produce the work regularly.

8) What kinds of business relationships are wise to establish early on or whenever various prospects of interest arise to benefit your company?

If you can establish contacts and good relationships with comic bloggers, and podcasters they can really help your cause.

Comic/ Personal Questions:
1) What is the process for self publishing and distributing your own comics/ graphic novels?

1. Produce the work.
2. Design the book.
3. Work out a marketing plan within your budgetary limits. A bit of warning you can dump tons of cash into marketing and never get anything from it. Be certain to focus your marketing to those individuals who will be willing to support you and your ideas.
4. Copyright your work. This one can be moved furthered up or down, just make sure you do it.
5. Start getting quotes from printers, both standard comic printers and book printers.
6. Choose how you want to distribute your book, either through the book market or Diamond distribution or both.
7. There are dozens of extra steps that can be added but many of those are individual to each publisher.

2) What are the most effective ways for promoting and exposing your works to the public to gain attention and support?

1. Currently the safest and most cost effective is social networking groups, like Facebook, Deviantart, Myspace and the myriad others that can be found through out the web.
2. Be active in trying to get yourself on comic blogs and podcasts.
3. Try to get yourself covered on some of the major comic sites, (This is difficult because Marvel and DC take up 99% of their space and time with their product.)

3) One of the biggest issues I seem to have with creating my graphic novels is getting started on the written internal material. I have no problems creating the back stories of places, characters and ideas for story arcs/ the purpose of the overall comic. It's putting it all together because there's so many directions to take it. I can't seem to grasp the concept of working with something that has become mentally bigger than life, playing out in my head, and then trying to transfer it to paper. What are some good methods, routines and/or sources of inspiration for creating comic scripts and future story arcs that when woven together, from the start to the finish of the series, will mesh well?

You have to remember that any story no matter how large is constructed from tiny events. The words spoken between two characters can cause the universe to explode in a galactic war. Now how you choose to present those words and their impact is based on your ability to execute your ideas. Execution is one of those things I’ve always felt has always been under discussed in comics and in the creative world in general. It’s extremely intuitive and everyone goes about it differently, look at how some one like Alan Moore tells the story of Watchman, or Neil Gaiman on Sandman, or Dave Sim with Cerebus, or Matt Wagner with Grendel. All of these creators have shown a unique ability to execute stories in unique and unprecedented ways. Of course they all have their own influences they draw from, but the way they tell their stories is typically unique to them unless they’re attempting to channel someone, like H.P. Lovecraft, which is one of the most channeled creators/visionaries ever imho.

Getting back to the question, focus on the smaller aspects of the story, what is motivating the characters to do what they’re doing? Are they hungry? Is that why they’re going about stealing rutabagas from their neighbors yard where they found an old wedding ring, from a woman who was reported missing thirty years ago. The mind can explode from there with that simple setup to dozens of ideas and conclusions, from the expansive to the mundane. It’s up to you to focus yourself and your mind to tell the story you wish to tell. It’s not easy, they say it takes an author 1 million words before he writes anything worth reading. So get at them write them words with reckless abandon and don’t stop because somewhere in there you’re going to construct a story that may work.

As far as methods for constructing stories and tying them together, it’s difficult, because we can all say a leads to b and then leads to c, now this is the easiest form of writing; you go from logical conclusion to logical conclusion and eventually to the end. Now like life not all stories have logical conclusions, because we’re all human and the last thing many of us are is logical and this can create some of the more complex work that’s going to require deeper thought as to the why of things, because things usually do happen for a reason. A pebble falling in a lake in Arizona can cause a flood in China, now does this make a great story, hardly, so be very careful when attempting to adapt this concept. You also have to be very aware of the fact that things just happening in a story for the sake of them happening is frowned upon by many, our minds tend to work in a very rational fashion and chaos is frowned upon, especially in the world of words, where order is king, but chaos can be wonderful if done sparingly.

I don’t really know if I answered your question here or just danced around it with some highfalutin ideas and concepts. But here’s something that is true, work on your stories and practice putting your stories together. The more you do it, the better you’ll get at it. I wanted to write that it would get easier with time but the truth is it doesn’t get easier and if you feel your story is flowing really easy and coming out effortlessly, I assure this is not a sign if pure genius, but more likely then not a true sign of a crap story that’s either going to have to be heavily reworked to make it work or just something that’s going to need to be scrapped. Look it like this, if it comes out easy, it’s probably going to read easy and that’s going to make the story predictable, which leads to boring and that’s absolute failure for any creator. If you bore me you fail and I will never buy your work ever again, it’s that simple.

4) What's the best way to get started on creating/ telling the story and presently focusing on getting one story of the series done at a time without becoming so wrapped up in the entirety of the series and trying to get ahead of yourself?

What works for me is just starting it, if I begin something I tend to finish it, and that’s the mentality you have to go in with, if you start, you finish. Again this goes back to a prior question all stories are comprised of smaller components and you should focus on those smaller pieces and putting them together. The other thing I would advise since you’re starting out is to just focus on one project before worrying about two or more. Get some work under you, accomplish something, then move on to multiple projects.

5) What advice can you share on attempting to work with multiple graphic novels at once? Weather it's actively producing a few at one time and/or developing others at the same time?

This goes back to question 4 and my answer still stands focus on one project before moving on to multiple projects. If one takes off and you feel you can do it for a second one and there’s massive possibilities, then go for it. Now if you have to work on multiple projects break them down into chapters so that they can be managed easier. This way you can pass on one chapter to artist A, while you have artists B and C working on other things.

6) What are the basic dos and don'ts of independently breaking into the comic industry?

The rules are very basic and apply to just about any working situation. Always keep your word, don’t be rude to anyone, and never take on more than you can handle.

7) I'd love to break into the idea of creating and distributing my own merchandise from my graphic novels, such as figurines and whatever other memorabilia of interest. How would I go about getting that started?

That’s easy have lots of disposable cash. You’ll find vendors and brokers that can get you just about anything and all it takes is money. Now the real trick is if you can get anyone to buy the stuff, now if you can do that, then you have something.

8) I'd eventually like to collaborate with other comic artists/ people within the industry and art community. How would I go about networking to gain these opportunities?

Go to cons and just start introducing yourself, cash also helps, if it’s a famous artist you can commission them, it also works for the non-famous artists as well.

Deviantart is also another great place to meet tons of artists as is Digitalwebbing.com

9) If you don't mind sharing, what are some of your personal struggles you've endured to becoming accomplished at what you do and having an independent publishing press?

Just keeping focused and staying the course. Just to let you know I don’t make tons of money doing this, this is a passion that allows me to travel around the country, sell some books and have a good time with my con buddies.

I did work professionally for a few years in the mid 90’s but I haven’t pursued it a career in it because I hate pitching ideas without knowing if I’m going to get the job.

*** This is the last question and my most personal:
10) Not only do I dream of a possibility of collaborating with industry folk and individuals in the art community, I someday hope to promote up and coming comic artists, like myself, the opportunity to house their work under my label. I'd like for them to retain full creative control and rights to their work but at the same time maintain a balance that benefits both me and my prospects to publish under my company. Basically I want to create close-knit relationships and partnerships to give artists like myself a starting point and that opportunity to really push off in the right direction. By doing this I hope to strengthen my future company, allowing it to grow away from the typical "just the money and business" image and really bring something personal to the art company besides my works of art. Do you think this something that can realistically be achieved and what suggestions can you offer that may help to fulfill this dream in the near future?

Can this be done realistically and allow you to hold your head high on the moral issue of rights retention and being the good guy, probably not. Slave Labor Graphics has started off a bunch of books in this business. Many of those creators who started off there have since moved their books to larger companies who can do more for them. I read an interview with the owner of the company who said that if he had taken a small stake in all of the books let’s say 10% he would be doing fine now, instead of hurting.

You have to remember when you want to have a company that reps, prints and markets other people your need to pay your rent, eat, and drive a nice car is going to run counter to that of your artists. You’ll ask for 10% and they’ll wonder why you can’t take 5%, while you’re considering bumping it up to 15%. It’s a vicious circle and there are many people more qualified than myself that can answer this question, since I don’t publish anyone other than myself.

In closing always remember that it’s the work that matters, because it’s either going to make you or break you. You also have to ask yourself what’s better for you creating a brilliant self satisfying piece of work or selling a million units of something? Believe me they do not always go hand in hand.

Best JD

* * * * *
Other places to see my work:

Epic anthropomorphic fantasy collaboration with *egoraven


My company where all my work is featured.


My main site featuring illustrated tales of urban fantasy.


Not Fanwork! This is an official collaboration with ~CD007 for Pioneer Comics