Quotes of the Week: Donation Jar

Every successful webcomic has the equivalent of a donation jar. Everything from the literal "donate" button to Penny Arcade's elaborate web-based nerd empire. They are all saying the same thing: "I have busted my ass to create this thing. If you like this thing and would like more of it, please think about making a donation." Internet artists are like subway performers. They toss out a hat and play their asses off.
--Scott Wegener

...the gentlemen at FPI blog present a barfaroo-looking superhero comics cover and would like to know if DC remembers what it's like to publish comics for kids -- or comics that you could at least sell kids without an 80 percent chance you're going to see a parent in front of your register 24 hours later giving you the stinkeye.
--Tom Spurgeon

...we can't easily say, "As a Christian, I love everyone." Because, really? You do? You love everyone? Are we talking about a John 3.16 love - the benevolent wish - or a 1 Corinthians 13 love? Is this a cheap or costly love we are talking about?

See, the fact that Christians are so quick to say, "I love everyone" means that something is very, very wrong with how Christians are thinking about love. Because love isn't a wish. Love is how you treat people. Love is costly. In John 3.16 love cost God his life on earth. And if you want to identify with that love, great. Just know that the price tag hasn't changed.
--Richard Beck

Writing is Hard: How to run a webcomic and be an editor

This is another selfish, bookmarking post because I don't want to lose these links for when I need them later.

Wizard has a really useful collection of notes from some of the top web comics creators on the nitty gritty of running a successful web comic. They talk about their hosting, the software they use, how they promote it; all that stuff.

Once I get Cownt Tales wrapped up (it's getting really close, you guys; I'm very excited) I need to start concentrating on the prose anthology I'm editing. To that end, this article by First Second editor Calista Brill on the role of an editor will be something I want to keep in mind.

Writing is Hard: Webcomic Hosting

I totally see a webcomic in my future. I'm not sure yet which project to try it out on, but I know I want to try it. That's why I'm bookmarking this post by DJ Coffman on setting up a webcomic via Wordpress. Gonna need to refer to that later.

Writing is Hard: Digital Advice

Couple of quick writing links:

What's the story?

Robot 6 has a new contributor, Brigid Alverson, who's writing a webcomics column called Unbound. Her first article is up and it's really good. She talks about how a webcomic needs to catch its audience in no more than eight pages. It's a similar rule to editor Ray Rhamey's about prose novels needing to captivate readers in the first 16 lines of text.

I'm the choir listening to Brigid's sermon, but it's still indespinsable advice for anyone hoping to make webcomics. I'd add that it's also good advice for anyone hoping to make any kind of comic, but I don't think that's true. I'm guessing that you have even less room than that to catch an audience in a printed book you're asking someone to pay for. Webcomic audiences can afford to be more forgiving because they're getting the product for free.

Along with the excellent advice, Brigid makes an even better webcomic recommendation. It's not the kind of thing I usually talk about on the blog, but I'm already about half caught up on Dovecote Crest, a romantic comedy about Civil War re-enactment. It's excellent if you've got any kind of soft spot for good romantic comedy at all. I'm already a little smitten with the heroine myself.



That mad ebook money

JA Konrath talks about how he's been able to do very well selling ebook copies of unprinted stuff he's already been giving away for free online. I don't know what to do with that yet, but it's interesting to me.

Writing is Hard: Alternatives to Print

Building on Wednesday's post about the profitability of webcomics, I'm adding Fleen to my web-reading. I know absolutely nothing about webcomics, but I'm all kinds of intrigued now and Fleen seems to be a good place to learn more.

Take this recent post about knowing how to give your web audience what it wants:

To make a living from your website, you need a website that serves the needs of people who will give you money.

Web design, effective communication with audiences, community building … these are all skills that must be practiced and learned.

That's sort of terrifying, but it also sounds like a fun challenge.

Another option I'd previously dismissed and am now reconsidering is Print on Demand. I'm not quite as excited about it as webcomics, but I'm at least easing up on my resistance to it, especially as a potential way to publish collections of webcomics. I think I'll always rather have a publisher, but self-publishing is becoming more and more acceptable, even in the prose world.

I'm not completely sold on POD yet, but for my future reference, here's an overview of the most popular comics POD houses.

Atomic Robo vs. the Death of Indie Periodicals

Last week I commented on Diamond Distribution's deathblow to indie periodicals and said that it wasn't the end of the world. Atomic Robo's Brian Clevinger says the same thing, but has a lot more experience and insight than I do.

Which is also why I sit up take notice when he says that we should've all been heading to webcomics a long time ago anyway.

I’d been wondering when comics would go digital since around 2002 ... I started going to conventions and the difference between webcomic money and small press money was so obscene it made me feel bad. Seriously. I was making more money by giving away my comic online than everyone I ever saw who self-published their comics or who went through smaller independent publishers and Diamond

...Basically: there was no reason to go into print. The only difference is that it’s now official Diamond policy to laugh at you for trying.