Catching a Vision 016
Breaking Comics Out: Self-Publishing Part 3
Catching a Vision, the (sorta, kinda) weekly column on Comic Related from C. Edward Sellner, Founder and Creative Director of Visionary Comics Studio. CAV provides practical guidance on how to break into the comics industry, as well as insights into this medium we all love. With resources you can order online, interviews and debates with comic professionals, and online workshops, this is your best introduction into the wonders of creating comics!
This round we continue our trip through the big questions to wrestle with before going the route of self-publishing. First we defined WHO self-publishers were, then we tackled the question of WHY self-publish to begin with. We unpacked a lot of the intentions and plans behind someone launching as a self-publisher and looked at how that translated into their broader goals. Obviously some folks are just concerned with telling a certain story and enjoy the process for what it is. Others, however, invest because they hope for their self-publishing efforts to be the stepping stone to a career. We ended with the important note that ultimately each creator must decide for themselves if self-publishing is right for them. So, moving past that, we're now specifically addressing those who have decided it is a good step.
Once you decide you are self-publishing, the next logical question is WHAT is it you're going to publish? Obviously, you want to lead out with your strongest possible effort, featuring your best work. But what are the strategic issues one should weigh before deciding what material is the strongest and what should lead out the gate?
Let's first look at some general points that apply across the board.
Quality, Quality, Quality
I've said it before and will no doubt say it again and again throughout this series: the single most important factor every creator should consider is the quality of the material you are producing and/or being associated with.
Again, if your purpose is just to tell a story, then by all means, assemble the best crew you can, do it, print it and have fun. But if your goal is to get noticed by the established comic book industry or to create something that has commercial and market viability then you need to ensure that anything your name is attached to is the absolute best quality you can muster.
Let's be frank. I would say at least 80% of the self-published or small press material I see is nowhere near a professional grade. Again, many of those folks I'm sure know that and don't care, they are doing their own thing. But I also know some of those 80% are folks thinking a self-published book will get them their big-break or be something that really takes off and it won't.
For some folks the simple truth is that they, individually, don't have the talent or skills to make it in the mainstream comics industry either as a paid professional or a successful, marketable self-publisher. Some never will, some might take a long time to struggle and get in but not get far, some will take off and do well. "However, when you are trying to launch a career through a self-published book, you aren't just putting YOUR work out there for that consideration, but the collective work of your entire team and it will most likely rise or fall together.
Even the best reviewer or editor cannot help but be limited in their ability to evaluate any single creator's contribution to a finished book. They are not looking at the original, untouched creative effort, as they would in a portfolio or submission, but instead the result of a process. This goes even more so for retailers or any potential fans who need to support the book in order to make it successful to any degree. They look at the finished product and make their decisions to buy it or not based on whether they enjoy it as a whole.
A fantastic writer might start with a great script, but if the story is drawn poorly then the finished book will suffer for it. Likewise, a great penciler given a bad script is already starting at a disadvantage. Sure, maybe they can do great anatomy and perspective, but their storytelling skills are in part limited by the story they may be telling. Pencils are also harder to evaluate when inked or colored poorly. Same with inking or coloring over bad pencils. All these things present a challenge because someone who might impress on their own, loses that quality of impression when it's clouded over.
So, if you're going to invest the time and energy in self-publishing in order to get out there, then by all means, make sure it is your personal best. Make sure the people working on the book with you are good. Make sure the finished product is something that elevates your work and promotes you.
In other words, make sure you have a good editor, someone who can make judgment calls on various aspects of the book. If you're a writer but don't know anything about art, then find someone who does to help you pick an artist. Likewise, if you're an artist and don't know anything about writing, make sure you're working with a writer who knows their stuff. This is one reason many who have the funds to do it, hire established pros to fill out their teams. They then know that they have a team that will help them as a creator, and their property shine.
After all, if you go to hand your book to an editor but feel you need to point out "I only wrote it" or "I only penciled it" out of some embarrassment then your efforts were pretty wasted. Also, if you have any hesitation in your finished product you will never find support for it in any kind of market beyond your close friends and family.
Synergy, Synergy, Synergy
Make sure that when you are assembling a team for any self-published project that you are lining up people whose styles, personalities and interests mesh well.
You may get people who are excellent creators and craftsmen in their field, but if they don't get along, things won't work. If they lose interest, things won't work. Let's face it, if your self-publishing effort is like 99% of the rest out there, you aren't paying anything up front. So any creator involved is most likely there either because of friendships they've formed with the people they are working with and / or being genuinely excited to be part of the project itself. So, in other words, just as you are wanting to play to your strengths and do something you are thrilled to work on, respect that in them and look for that.
Likewise, make sure the styles of the various creators mesh well with what you're doing. Sometimes it's not finding a creator who is simply 'good enough' but one 'right for' the project you intend to self-publish. A lighthearted, all ages adventure should feature brighter, cleaner, even perhaps more cartoony art. A bleak, terror-filled, horror story should feature gritty, heavy, shadowed art. Can you picture switching art and story styles from these two examples? Of course not.
That may mean that the strongest thing you can lead with is not just based on your own personal feelings and skills but the available pool of other creators. For example, say your original plan was to write that all-ages, lighthearted adventure, but you get a fantastic portfolio from an artist wanting to work with you whose work is dark and moody, heavily shadowed and perfect for horror. You might decide to shift gears to a darker story in order to tap working with that artist.
If you want to see more on teambuilding and teamwork, check the previous columns that focus on those.
Creativity vs. Commerciality
One of the biggest let-downs for aspiring or new creators is when they first come face to face with the two-sided nature of the comics industry. Yes, it is no doubt a creative art form, however, it is also a commercial industry. Yes, it involves and requires a lot of creative talent, but it also requires some business acumen and strategy to make it successfully. Again, unless your goal is simply and totally to just tell the story you want to tell and have fun with it, then at some point as a self-publisher you are going to need to address this balance in what you do.
Don't get me wrong, you should always start and work from the creative vision. For any true creator that is always the starting point, that story that must be told, the fulfillment of creating material others can enjoy. But, it very quickly has to come to terms with the commercial realities of the industry aspect of the medium. Your job then, especially as a self-publisher, is going to be defining that balance between the two.
If part of your goal is to launch a self-published effort that is going to enjoy commercial success then you need to attract the fan-base and support of whatever retail infrastructure you plan to use to get your work out there. If your job is to get noticed by the powers that be of the established comics mainstream, then you need to create something that maximizes your chances of doing just that. There is no doubt that this is a sliding scale of value judgment and one that can be tricky to figure out.
As an artist you may not want to do anything you would see as compromising your artistic vision. However, if your particular vision breaks a lot of molds in the commercial industry then you're decreasing the chance that it will commercially fly.
Yes, there are folks who do something radically different from what has been done before and find success with it. However, those types of projects are very hit or miss and the percentage of hits is very small compared to the misses. For every radically different self-published book that made it successfully, hundreds of others never make it past the POD at the local shows.
Odds are even more challenging if your goal is to get your work noticed by the established comics mainstream. If you look at talents who carved a niche for themselves and enjoyed success in their own radically different, creator driven projects yet successfully transitioned into the established comics mainstream, the list shrinks very quickly. True, some may have been offered those opportunities and turned them down. But for many their work and style falls too far outside the parameters of what the established publishers look for. Or, if given the chance, their critical success that they saw as tremendous in their self-published efforts doesn't translate to the commercial success the larger publishers require.
However, there is a flip side to this coin. Some folks go too far the other way and create something that seems a pale reflection of popular books from established publishers. They come off as glorified portfolios in print, or obvious pandering to get attention.
This is why this is an important issue to consider. You want to ensure that if you are investing all this time and energy you want to create something of artistic value, something that has its own definition and identity, something that can stand on its own. However, if your goal is to do something that can have some commercial success, then you need to also consider the trends, interests and parameters that seem defined in the mainstream markets. You want to do something that will appeal to a fan-base, feel comfortable enough for retailers to pick up, and something that may put you on the radar as potential marketable talent to recruit. This is why finding a balance is important.
Now, as to how and where to define that balance? We'll explore that more next time as I focus on breaking things down a little more. We'll look at various strategies for specific goals, whether you're wanting to build a successful self-publishing venture, launch a successful property, or specifically launch a career as a creator.
NOW ON A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SUBJECT...""
THE INDUSTRY ROUND-UP will return next time!
Time got a little away from me this week, so no time to do a review of some big headlines, but if you want to know what's going on in comics, just read the main site for CR! D'uh.
Two small things this time...
Visionary has officially re-launched its main site, check it out at www.visionarycomics.com
We will finish updating all the content by the end of the week, but you can see all the new features and layouts now. Let me know your thoughts.
Also, check out the new COMICS! Catalog by Haven Distribution and Enemi Entertainment. This is the official alternative to Diamond's Previews and becoming more and more the central venue for indy publishing! The first issue is out now and chock full of goodies. As of issue 2 you can catch by new column, State of the Industry in every issue! Go, get it...now.
Next...
We continue further into the wonders of self-publishing!
Join the discussion and add your thoughts on this edition, or the column in general. If you have any questions or suggestions for resources, post them or email them to Sellner so they can be included in future columns. Are you an aspiring or up and coming creator and would like to share your story? Email Sellner and let him know who you are and what you've done.
C. Edward Sellner is the co-founder and Creative Director of Visionary Comics Studio, a studio that within its first three years has drawn high praise from the media and attracted the attention of legendary creators in the comics industry. They have been digitally and print published in the mainstream market and their creators currently work with over a dozen different publishers. Their work has been featured on television news shows, radio programs and internet podcasts as well as featured in every major comics news site online.
Contact him directly at cedwardsellner@aol.com
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