#ComicsBrokeMe

[Scott Gerard Ruhl]

Apologies an advance for linking to a Bleedingcool article (Ugh). This is in reference to comic creator Ian McGinty who died recently at the age of 38. The article goes on to discuss the pressure of working on comics with little reward and details personal experiences from various creators. 

IMO the only answer is publish your own work. You will have to either find someone to support you or have a day job. Luck is the key to making it all work and become fruitful.  


bleedingcool.com/comics/creators-tell-tales-of-comics-industry-use-and-abuse-comicsbrokeme/?mibextid=Zxz2cZ&fbclid=IwAR39Y5ZNl0T_jV5RMc6ryku-Psukrajhby04ETKXJEJzCjkZp8GQkFq0E0U_aem_th_Afk5tpRBxtqOztmnqPMCNp_rzvZyYVO4k6V8-1xQ_97Fj_ctAvgtG1RyYb3H4TJHurA

[owaddled]

I spent sometime following the hashtag on twitter and it was heartbreaking. I keep thinking about this tweet thread from Chris Sotomayor:

It's hard to not think that "publish your own books" is the answer, but then it requires everyone to be a salesperson and distributor. Having a stronger distribution ecosystem for self-published work would be nice though.

[jporcellino]

Jun 15, 2023 5:20:46 GMT owaddled said:

It's hard to not think that "publish your own books" is the answer, but then it requires everyone to be a salesperson and distributor. Having a stronger distribution ecosystem for self-published work would be nice though.

I have long felt that there's a place for a well-funded, rationally-led Indie Distributor... by indie, I mean self-published, small press. It would have to be someone who has the resources to rent the required space/hire the required staff and manage it through the early growing pains. Everybody who starts a distro and keeps at it eventually burns out because the workload becomes too much for a single person, but not really enough to justify hiring employees. (You'd need some kind of financial cushion to get you over that growth hump...) And they're usually run by people who are passionate but lack business savvy. For like the first five years of Spit and a Half I offered free shipping on every order (of fifty cent zines)! Duh. 

The right person/group with some warehouse space and a few employees, and a good website, would in my estimation find success with such an enterprise.

[tywhite]

Jun 15, 2023 14:04:11 GMT jporcellino said:

Jun 15, 2023 5:20:46 GMT owaddled said:

It's hard to not think that "publish your own books" is the answer, but then it requires everyone to be a salesperson and distributor. Having a stronger distribution ecosystem for self-published work would be nice though.

I have long felt that there's a place for a well-funded, rationally-led Indie Distributor... by indie, I mean self-published, small press. It would have to be someone who has the resources to rent the required space/hire the required staff and manage it through the early growing pains. Everybody who starts a distro and keeps at it eventually burns out because the workload becomes too much for a single person, but not really enough to justify hiring employees. (You'd need some kind of financial cushion to get you over that growth hump...) And they're usually run by people who are passionate but lack business savvy. For like the first five years of Spit and a Half I offered free shipping on every order (of fifty cent zines)! Duh. 

The right person/group with some warehouse space and a few employees, and a good website, would in my estimation find success with such an enterprise.

Was thinking about this the other day. In music, merch distro for “long tail” artists is the only surefire, consistent (but small) way to make $. Hellomerch has gone a step further. Wish I had energy to do it for comics.