Showing posts with label comments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label comments. Show all posts
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Lessons Learned in Self-Publishing 2: Details, Details!
If you're not living outside North America, you may not have noticed that the print versions of "The Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit" have not been available on the Amazon EU sites. Heck, I didn't notice until today, when my Createspace dashboard kindly pointed it out to me and walked me through the process of activating the books in that market.
So the good news is that if you now search "Bruno the Bandit" in any of the Amazon EU sites, you will find our print editions as well as our Kindle editions.
This is not the first time I've overlooked, or failed to think about, something like this, and it probably won't be the last. Frankly, sales through the Wowio page are so few that I hardly ever check in there, and I'm always forgetting to push our banners on DriveThru Comics.com, even though it doesn't cost me anything. I'm sure there's marketing possibilities over at Graphicly that I'm overlooking right this minute.
So today's lesson, boys and girls, is pay attention to detail. It's worth your time to investigate all the details of any service you partner up with in the production of your work. There may be markets you are overlooking, like my recent experiences with Amazon, or you may be leaving money on the table, like the time I gave up all revenue on one of our books for a month because I had the price set incorrectly. Oops.
I recommend taking each of your partner services one at a time and falling down the rabbit hole with them for a while to see what you may be missing. Investigate all the links on their websites. Check out their FAQ's and Howtos and even their user forums if they have them. Discover everything they have to offer and find out whether it's relevant to you, or whether you can put it to good use. Little by little, as you tweak out the services, you will open up new possibilties for making money and getting your work seen. While you're at it, don't forget to check out their competitors, and see what they're offering and whether you can turn them to your advantage as well. Maybe there's a whole other service you've overlooked, but you'll never know until you do your legwork, and dig into the details.
Now it's time to go use up some Publisher Promotion Points over at Drive Thru and see if I can get those banners running again....
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Brunatics: Make Yourself Heard!
I was reviewing our sales numbers yesterday, and while we're a long way from doing Scrooge McDuck-style swan dives into our money bins, it's nice to see that copies of our books are ending up in new readers' hands every month. I'd like to think that those readers will come back for second (and third, and fourth) helpings of our books; only time will tell.
More interesting to me today is the disturbing fact that not one of our books, across the various sites at which they're available, has received reviews. With all the people I know have tried out a copy of "The Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit", or even our free offering "Why Comics?", not one has had comments to make, be they good, bad or indifferent.
So I'd like to ask you...yes, YOU....if you've picked up any of our books, if you've liked them, loved them, hated them or used them to make paper hats....go back to wherever you bought them and please, let us know what you think. In this game, feedback is almost as valuable as a new sale. It's only through reviews that we can learn what we're doing right, what we're doing wrong, and what we should probably just stop doing altogether.
Even if you don't want to publish your comments in public for all to see, feel free to send them to me personally via email. I'd prefer to see an online review, but either way, I'll learn from it. With your input, books from AIM Comics will, hopefully, improve and grow. Thanks, and keep reading!
More interesting to me today is the disturbing fact that not one of our books, across the various sites at which they're available, has received reviews. With all the people I know have tried out a copy of "The Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit", or even our free offering "Why Comics?", not one has had comments to make, be they good, bad or indifferent.
So I'd like to ask you...yes, YOU....if you've picked up any of our books, if you've liked them, loved them, hated them or used them to make paper hats....go back to wherever you bought them and please, let us know what you think. In this game, feedback is almost as valuable as a new sale. It's only through reviews that we can learn what we're doing right, what we're doing wrong, and what we should probably just stop doing altogether.
Even if you don't want to publish your comments in public for all to see, feel free to send them to me personally via email. I'd prefer to see an online review, but either way, I'll learn from it. With your input, books from AIM Comics will, hopefully, improve and grow. Thanks, and keep reading!
Friday, March 2, 2012
Lessons Learned in Self-Publishing 1: Showing Up is Not Enough
February 1 marked the one year anniversary of the official release of the first volume of "The Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit" and, aside from the limited edition of that book, the end of AIM Comics's first year of self-publishing.
If nothing else, it's been an education. I've learned a lot about the mechanics of publishing, from formatting the books to meeting the technical requirements of the different stores, distributing, advertising and all the other aspects of trying to run this like a business.
When I first had the idea to repackage the Bruno the Bandit comic strips and sell them in this fashion, I definitely thought it would be simpler and quicker to get the books out there. I enjoy doing the work, mind you, but finding the time to get it done is sometimes more of a chore than it should be. But that's life, isn't it?
I also thought, quite frankly, that it would be more profitable. If I've learned nothing else in this first year, it's that the profitability I saw in the venture was based on a false assumption.
At the time, I looked at my own browsing and reading habits on sites like Wowio and Drivethru Comics, and saw that I enjoyed checking out quirky self-published books, one shots, anthologies and collections of material. My library, both real and digital, is like a cabinet of curiosities, with samplings from authors and artists famous and unheard of, all acquired because I saw something in them that amused or interested me.
I assumed that many of the other readers frequenting these services were open to the same thing. Digital comic stores seem to be built on the diversity of material they have on offer, and I thought that their customers would be looking for that diversity and that, due to the low cost of the products, they would be more open to trying something new than traditional comic book distribution channels.
In short, I assumed that all I had to do was show up to the marketplace with what I think is a decent product and I would attract enough readers, if only through their random sampling habits, to make this thing make money.
Not that I didn't put any sales effort in. I advertised through Project Wonderful, hitting some of the finer webcomic and gaming based websites. I promoted the books in forums, blogs and generally anywhere on the web I could get away with, short of being labelled a spammer. AIM Comics has a Facebook page (updated less frequently than this site, believe it or not) and a Twitter feed (followed mostly by bots), and a Scribd account. I've done news releases, held contests and done cross-promotion with other sites. Not to mention having a physical presence at Hal-Con 2011 with banners literally a-flying. So, I've certainly done the legwork, but it really hasn't paid off like I've expected.
Not that I'm giving up. As I said in a previous post, I'm in this for the long haul, mainly because I've got nothing but time to lose, and I still see the potential for a lot of gain. However, as the title of this post says, showing up is not enough. It's clear to me that I've got to do more to promote the imprint and the books if I expect to ever see any kind of real returns from this.
As I write this, Volume 3 of "Brutal Blade" is still coming together (remember that time issue I mentioned earlier?) I've got a really good cover artist lined up, and some of Ian's best work to include in the collection. My own book "The Journals of Simon Pariah" is creeping towards completion, and I've got other projects waiting in the wings to make it to my drawing table. So I think it's going to be a good year, creatively.
Problem is, I'm kind of stumped promotionally. All the sources I've read on marketing this kind of product tell me the same thing, and very little of it is new. What I need is ideas on where and how to best promote our work to make the readers sit up and notice. I know nothing's ever guaranteed when it comes to marketing, but there's got to be something that will work better than what I've done so far.
If you, dear reader, have any suggestions, any ideas at all on how to help promote AIM Comics, I'd love to hear them. Comment here or email me and share your wisdom. I may or may not take your idea and run with it, but either way, I'd love to hear from you.
If nothing else, it's been an education. I've learned a lot about the mechanics of publishing, from formatting the books to meeting the technical requirements of the different stores, distributing, advertising and all the other aspects of trying to run this like a business.
When I first had the idea to repackage the Bruno the Bandit comic strips and sell them in this fashion, I definitely thought it would be simpler and quicker to get the books out there. I enjoy doing the work, mind you, but finding the time to get it done is sometimes more of a chore than it should be. But that's life, isn't it?
I also thought, quite frankly, that it would be more profitable. If I've learned nothing else in this first year, it's that the profitability I saw in the venture was based on a false assumption.
At the time, I looked at my own browsing and reading habits on sites like Wowio and Drivethru Comics, and saw that I enjoyed checking out quirky self-published books, one shots, anthologies and collections of material. My library, both real and digital, is like a cabinet of curiosities, with samplings from authors and artists famous and unheard of, all acquired because I saw something in them that amused or interested me.
I assumed that many of the other readers frequenting these services were open to the same thing. Digital comic stores seem to be built on the diversity of material they have on offer, and I thought that their customers would be looking for that diversity and that, due to the low cost of the products, they would be more open to trying something new than traditional comic book distribution channels.
In short, I assumed that all I had to do was show up to the marketplace with what I think is a decent product and I would attract enough readers, if only through their random sampling habits, to make this thing make money.
Not that I didn't put any sales effort in. I advertised through Project Wonderful, hitting some of the finer webcomic and gaming based websites. I promoted the books in forums, blogs and generally anywhere on the web I could get away with, short of being labelled a spammer. AIM Comics has a Facebook page (updated less frequently than this site, believe it or not) and a Twitter feed (followed mostly by bots), and a Scribd account. I've done news releases, held contests and done cross-promotion with other sites. Not to mention having a physical presence at Hal-Con 2011 with banners literally a-flying. So, I've certainly done the legwork, but it really hasn't paid off like I've expected.
Not that I'm giving up. As I said in a previous post, I'm in this for the long haul, mainly because I've got nothing but time to lose, and I still see the potential for a lot of gain. However, as the title of this post says, showing up is not enough. It's clear to me that I've got to do more to promote the imprint and the books if I expect to ever see any kind of real returns from this.
As I write this, Volume 3 of "Brutal Blade" is still coming together (remember that time issue I mentioned earlier?) I've got a really good cover artist lined up, and some of Ian's best work to include in the collection. My own book "The Journals of Simon Pariah" is creeping towards completion, and I've got other projects waiting in the wings to make it to my drawing table. So I think it's going to be a good year, creatively.
Problem is, I'm kind of stumped promotionally. All the sources I've read on marketing this kind of product tell me the same thing, and very little of it is new. What I need is ideas on where and how to best promote our work to make the readers sit up and notice. I know nothing's ever guaranteed when it comes to marketing, but there's got to be something that will work better than what I've done so far.
If you, dear reader, have any suggestions, any ideas at all on how to help promote AIM Comics, I'd love to hear them. Comment here or email me and share your wisdom. I may or may not take your idea and run with it, but either way, I'd love to hear from you.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Digging Deep
Somehow, amongst everything else going on, I managed to miss the one-year anniversary of the AIM Comics website...almost two months ago. On top of that, it's my own birthday today, so bear with me as I bare my soul a little....
It's been an interesting first year at AIM Comics. We've managed to get out two volumes of our flagship title, "The Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit", with a second title, "The Journals of Simon Pariah" coming along shortly. There's been some reviews...mostly good, some not so much...and a small amount of attention from bloggers, retailers and comic pros. We've been able to get our books out in a number of formats, through some good storefronts, and done it without breaking the bank along the way.
Financially, I can't say it's been a success. As a matter of fact, you could almost say that readers are staying away in droves. Through ads that run intermittently on Project Wonderful, and through links from other sites, we're getting a fair number of hits, but not a lot of those are translating into sales. Yet.
If I was a less patient man, I'd probably call it done at this point, or at least be considering it. After all, why bother if it's not turning over the revenue? Well, I suppose to understand that, you'd need to understand something about the nature of AIM Comics.
First, you should know that when I say "we" at AIM Comics, I really mean me. I'm the publisher, the editor, the marketing department, the accounting department and public relations manager all in one, and that on top of being an artist and writer as well. It's my baby, which means if it flies, I take the lion's share of the credit, and if it sinks, I take the blame. That means that it's actually kind of creepy when I talk about myself in the third person plural as I tend to do.
Secondly, understand that I think of AIM Comics as being something more than a vanity press, and something less than a real business. Which means that, to be perfectly honest, if the books don't sell well, it's no skin off my nose. Sure, I invest some of my own hard-earned cash into this venture, but (as proven by the fact that our "site" is hosted on Blogger) I keep things as cheap as possible, and my investment is really no more than any person would put into any other hobby.
I started AIM Comics because I knew of good comic work...specifically my own and Ian McDonald's...that was not being handled as well as I thought it deserved. Ian's strip "Bruno the Bandit" had been recently discontinued and was lying fallow, while my own work had been given up for dead at Comic Genesis years before. I knew I had plenty of ideas for books that I wanted to see published, but also knew that there were not "marketable" in the traditional sense, and frankly didn't want to spend my time trying to convince other publishers to take my books on their terms. Plus, I'd done a few years as a freelancer, all the while chafing at the bit to be creating my own work, instead of meeting the, at times, impractical demands of my clients.
AIM Comics is my way of trying to bring this work to market, to see if I can help it earn the appreciation I think it deserves. It's also my way of giving myself some credentials as a real publisher, instead of another want-to-be; a dream I've carried since childhood. I'd rather be a has-been than a never-was.
I would like AIM Comics to succeed financially. Nothing could make me happier than to make this gig my bread and butter for the next few decades. As Ian has pointed out to me several times in the past, a bad day spent drawing is better than a good day doing anything else. Plus, I'd like to be able to pay shockingly large wads of lucre to the creative people I work with here; they deserve it, and I'd like to be the one to deliver.
Yet, I'm in no rush for it to do so. More important to me at this stage is that I have a creative outlet. I can publish my work, or work that I like, in my own way and in my own time. I get to learn about the business of comics from the inside and I get to correspond on a professional level with people whose work I've always admired, like Roy Thomas, Ernie Chan and Geof Isherwood. I get to communicate with those people who have discovered our books and become fans, and I get the good feeling of knowing that I've helped to create something people enjoy.
There's any number of things working against me so far in this venture. Lack of funds for advertising, lack of knowledge about marketing and lack of time to work on the books as much as I'd like being chief among them.
However, there's several things working for me as well. Patience is the big one. I've spent a lot of time dreaming about doing something like this, and relatively little time actually doing it. Rather than go back to not doing it, I can wait for results. A decent day job is another thing. While most people complain about theirs, I appreciate mine for giving me a decent living wage that allows me to even consider taking on a project like this. Then there's talent; not just my own, but that of the people I work with. Ian McDonald is foremost among that roster at present, but the pool is slowly widening. I couldn't do this if I didn't think the work deserves to be published.
What I hope for AIM Comics in the future, aside from achieving some measure of financial success, is to be able to present more and different books, and to help those books find an audience. I've got lots of ideas of my own that I want to get down on paper (or pixels, as the case may be), but I'd also like to do for others what I've done for "Bruno the Bandit", as I know from reading experience that there's lots of great comics out there that don't find the audience they deserve. Of course, in order to do that, I have to prove that I can cut the mustard. I have to be able to show that I can make the books sell, and that's where you come in, isn't it? How varied a selection I am ultimately able to offer, and the schedule on which I offer it, depends on how these books sell, in any format. So if you've read this far...thanks, but now how about jumping on a link in the sidebar to your right and grabbing a copy of one of our books...even the free ones...just to support this thing we do, and helping me live the dream a little?
Or, if you've already got our titles, how about helping to spread the word? A review, a blog post, word of mouth, a tweet, whatever you've got, we're glad to have it. It's only with your help that this thing can really take off.
AIM Comics, year one. Really, it's just getting started.
It's been an interesting first year at AIM Comics. We've managed to get out two volumes of our flagship title, "The Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit", with a second title, "The Journals of Simon Pariah" coming along shortly. There's been some reviews...mostly good, some not so much...and a small amount of attention from bloggers, retailers and comic pros. We've been able to get our books out in a number of formats, through some good storefronts, and done it without breaking the bank along the way.
Financially, I can't say it's been a success. As a matter of fact, you could almost say that readers are staying away in droves. Through ads that run intermittently on Project Wonderful, and through links from other sites, we're getting a fair number of hits, but not a lot of those are translating into sales. Yet.
If I was a less patient man, I'd probably call it done at this point, or at least be considering it. After all, why bother if it's not turning over the revenue? Well, I suppose to understand that, you'd need to understand something about the nature of AIM Comics.
First, you should know that when I say "we" at AIM Comics, I really mean me. I'm the publisher, the editor, the marketing department, the accounting department and public relations manager all in one, and that on top of being an artist and writer as well. It's my baby, which means if it flies, I take the lion's share of the credit, and if it sinks, I take the blame. That means that it's actually kind of creepy when I talk about myself in the third person plural as I tend to do.
Secondly, understand that I think of AIM Comics as being something more than a vanity press, and something less than a real business. Which means that, to be perfectly honest, if the books don't sell well, it's no skin off my nose. Sure, I invest some of my own hard-earned cash into this venture, but (as proven by the fact that our "site" is hosted on Blogger) I keep things as cheap as possible, and my investment is really no more than any person would put into any other hobby.
I started AIM Comics because I knew of good comic work...specifically my own and Ian McDonald's...that was not being handled as well as I thought it deserved. Ian's strip "Bruno the Bandit" had been recently discontinued and was lying fallow, while my own work had been given up for dead at Comic Genesis years before. I knew I had plenty of ideas for books that I wanted to see published, but also knew that there were not "marketable" in the traditional sense, and frankly didn't want to spend my time trying to convince other publishers to take my books on their terms. Plus, I'd done a few years as a freelancer, all the while chafing at the bit to be creating my own work, instead of meeting the, at times, impractical demands of my clients.
AIM Comics is my way of trying to bring this work to market, to see if I can help it earn the appreciation I think it deserves. It's also my way of giving myself some credentials as a real publisher, instead of another want-to-be; a dream I've carried since childhood. I'd rather be a has-been than a never-was.
I would like AIM Comics to succeed financially. Nothing could make me happier than to make this gig my bread and butter for the next few decades. As Ian has pointed out to me several times in the past, a bad day spent drawing is better than a good day doing anything else. Plus, I'd like to be able to pay shockingly large wads of lucre to the creative people I work with here; they deserve it, and I'd like to be the one to deliver.
Yet, I'm in no rush for it to do so. More important to me at this stage is that I have a creative outlet. I can publish my work, or work that I like, in my own way and in my own time. I get to learn about the business of comics from the inside and I get to correspond on a professional level with people whose work I've always admired, like Roy Thomas, Ernie Chan and Geof Isherwood. I get to communicate with those people who have discovered our books and become fans, and I get the good feeling of knowing that I've helped to create something people enjoy.
There's any number of things working against me so far in this venture. Lack of funds for advertising, lack of knowledge about marketing and lack of time to work on the books as much as I'd like being chief among them.
However, there's several things working for me as well. Patience is the big one. I've spent a lot of time dreaming about doing something like this, and relatively little time actually doing it. Rather than go back to not doing it, I can wait for results. A decent day job is another thing. While most people complain about theirs, I appreciate mine for giving me a decent living wage that allows me to even consider taking on a project like this. Then there's talent; not just my own, but that of the people I work with. Ian McDonald is foremost among that roster at present, but the pool is slowly widening. I couldn't do this if I didn't think the work deserves to be published.
What I hope for AIM Comics in the future, aside from achieving some measure of financial success, is to be able to present more and different books, and to help those books find an audience. I've got lots of ideas of my own that I want to get down on paper (or pixels, as the case may be), but I'd also like to do for others what I've done for "Bruno the Bandit", as I know from reading experience that there's lots of great comics out there that don't find the audience they deserve. Of course, in order to do that, I have to prove that I can cut the mustard. I have to be able to show that I can make the books sell, and that's where you come in, isn't it? How varied a selection I am ultimately able to offer, and the schedule on which I offer it, depends on how these books sell, in any format. So if you've read this far...thanks, but now how about jumping on a link in the sidebar to your right and grabbing a copy of one of our books...even the free ones...just to support this thing we do, and helping me live the dream a little?
Or, if you've already got our titles, how about helping to spread the word? A review, a blog post, word of mouth, a tweet, whatever you've got, we're glad to have it. It's only with your help that this thing can really take off.
AIM Comics, year one. Really, it's just getting started.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Step Into the Forum
In true bandit style, I've just hijacked the forum over at the main Bruno the Bandit website to solicit comments on the first volume of "Brutal Blade of Bruno the Bandit". I'm itching to get some feedback from the folks who have bought the book in any format, and since we don't have our own forum yet, I'm going to send you over to Bruno's site to render your opinion.
So, if you've bought the book, either in print or as a digital download, please take a minute to drop by the thread at the Bruno the Bandit forum and let us know what you think. Comment on the content, the format, the distributors, on anything you like. Tell us how good it is. Tell us how bad it it. Tell us what we can do to make it better. All are welcome, and complimentary soapboxes will be handed out at the door.
When we get a little bigger and have more books on offer, I'll no doubt have to look into setting up a forum just for AIM Comics; for now, this will do.
So, if you've bought the book, either in print or as a digital download, please take a minute to drop by the thread at the Bruno the Bandit forum and let us know what you think. Comment on the content, the format, the distributors, on anything you like. Tell us how good it is. Tell us how bad it it. Tell us what we can do to make it better. All are welcome, and complimentary soapboxes will be handed out at the door.
When we get a little bigger and have more books on offer, I'll no doubt have to look into setting up a forum just for AIM Comics; for now, this will do.
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