Here is the first spread of Chapter 2. More text below.
Sorry to give you a simple spread after leaving you hanging for 2 weeks. Don't worry, actual art is coming very soon.
Here's an update of things I've been thinking about.
- I have 47 more spreads before I have all of reMIND Vol. 1 online.
- With a spread every Monday, my last page will go live on February 7th, 2011.
- I've been told by CrossBlue that March is the best time of year to print in China. (right now)
- That leaves me exactly 1 year before I need to find about $10,000 to cover the printing.
- I finally just called Regent and talked to some very nice people who were very helpful and are getting me a quote ready.
- I've officially received 2 donations for $20.
- If I put away $100 a month I could save $1200 in a year. (gulp)
- If I sell some of my originals then I could help pay for printing too.
- I need to set up a donation page for people interested in sponsoring reMIND to get their name printed in the book.
- I even submitted this project to Kickstarter.com because a few people suggested it.
- I still need to finish coloring Chapter 3.
- I have about a week to finish getting my package ready for the Xeric Foundation.
I keep having a battle in my mind if I can pull this off or not. 10k is a lot of money. I spent 14 thousand on a new car over 10 years ago and it took me years to pay that off so what makes me think I can gather 10 thousand in less than year. I know what your thinking, I should have started saving three years ago when I started this thing. The problem is, I had no idea what it cost or what I was doing three years ago.
When I talk about this kind of subject, I've noticed there are usually two kinds of people and two different responses to what I'm trying to achieve. Either I hear:
- WHAT, ten thousand dollars!
- That's crazy!
- Your crazy!
- That's a huge risk!
- You can't get that kind of money in a year!
- It's impossible!
Then their are the (sometimes) surprising reactions of people saying things like:
- Good for you!
- 10K sounds like a reasonable price.
- It's a good thing your doing it all yourself so you can own it all!
- You'll find a way to get the money!
- Very Smart!
- I bet you could get it paid for by investors or something.
Now, over the years I've had many pipe dreams that seem impossible at the time. Believe it or not, many of them have turned into a success stories. The thing that makes them successful (in my mind) is all about attitude. If you think the world sucks then the world is going to suck for you. If you think that there is plenty of opportunity just waiting to be found then many opportunities will find their way in front of you. More precisely, you will notice the opportunities that others missed because they are to consumed with how badly the world sucks.
Now I have to admit, I've read a lot of motivational books and if you have trouble getting past your own negativity then I'd strongly recommend a few off the top of my head that still stand out to me.
Lead the Field – Earl Nightingale (my personal favorite)
Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill
Rich Dad, Poor Dad – Robert T. Kiyosaki
and even The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss
So to sum this all up. I am very nervous about this whole thing but I'm dedicated to pushing forward and trying things like the Xeric Grant as well as Kickstarter.com. I don't know which road will work out in the end or if I'll have to figure out a completely new way of getting reMIND printed but I believe it will happen one way or another. In the meantime I'll just keep focusing on getting the final pages colored.
Once again, please vote at TopWebComics and tell your friends to come see reMIND!
I’m not sure if I’m going to say something really dumb or if it’s been asked before. But why don’t you try getting a publisher? I mean your art and storytelling is really good, much better than the majority of comics that are sold today (and is published by publishers!). Can’t believe that there’s nobody who would want to publish this.
Anyway, I really like what you’re doing here and it’s good to hear that you want to get it out the there no matter what.
Keep ‘m coming!
Not a dumb question at all. In fact I've thought about that so much that it makes me sick. I go back and forth between self-publishing and finding a publisher.
The problem I am having with finding a publisher is getting someone who is 100% on board with what I want this book to be. There are many American comic publishers who would love to publish it on their own terms and without any real marketing. Most of them want to do serials first then if that sells they print a trade. Trades are usually printed softbound too.(unless it's popular) I hate the idea of printing serial issues of reMIND or softcover. Plus, I figure if I have to do all or most of the marketing myself then I might as well do it for my own book company rather then someone who is not concerned about if my book sells.
If I can first prove that my numbers can be really good then it will be easier to convince a good publisher to spend the money to print my book right. (or the way I want it printed) This would be more of a door to better opportunities. I'm hoping the second printing can be printed by a real publisher.
My ideals may be a little high but I figured after spending 10 years of my life on this story I might as well finish it the way I want. After all if I add up the amount of time I've spent on this over the years and figure out how much my time was worth (like an hourly rate) that would add up to a price that dwarfs any printing costs. Plus, if I can get help funding the printing then it's a win/win situation I think. Plus I love having a booth at conventions.
Then again, I haven't really looked into all the publishers out there other then a few American ones. You are probably right about someone wanting to print reMIND somewhere. Where would you suggest I look? Should I would look into some printers in Europe since this is more their style. I'm just clueless about where to go. If you are anyone has any suggestions then I would love to hear your thoughts.
You might look into these guys, they only publish Graphic Novels. http://www.insomniapublications.com/
Thanks for the suggestion. I looked at their website and it might be a good place to talk to.
My problem with all this is when I look into other companies I realize they are just average guys like myself who just decided to publish their own work and eventually got bigger and bigger until they have a company like this. And part of me likes the idea of starting my own publishing company and in turn being able to publish other peoples work too. Wow, that just opened up a whole new can of worms.
It seems like a lot of the market right now is actually heading away from serials and going way more towards trades. I think if you look away from the big guys like Marvel and DC and look more towards companies like Slave Labor Graphics, Oni Press, etc. you'd have more luck. Image seems to publish a really wide range of stuff, so you might even be able to sell to them.
http://elae.livejournal.com/619381.html Here's a great list of literary agents who represent graphic novelists. Not sure how that whole process works, but it might be worth looking into.
And figuring that spending $10k on publishing 2000 copies, selling each for a profit of at least $10 would net you $20k. You could only sell half and break even. Up the price to earn a $15 profit and you're looking at $30k back. It seems scary, but in reality that could be a really amazing investment.
I like your mentality of this all. It really is an investment in the end. You might be right about raising the prices a bit. I think $25 would be the max I want to list it at because anything over that price is kinda hard for me to pay for a book so I don't want to assume anyone would want to pay that for my book. I could always have the cover price be $25 but sell it for $20 at Cons if I'm having trouble moving it.
I've seen that agent list before and have been meaning to link to it but never got around to it yet. Plus there is so much info to look into regarding getting a good agent that I need to study the subject more.
I can definitely understand that you want your graphic novel to be printed exactly the way you want it. I guess it's all about finding someone who believes in your work as much as you do, so they will help you make it the best graphic novel it can be. And if that person happens to be you than I can’t see why it wouldn't work out just fine.
I'm sorry I can't offer any practical advice, I have not yet have any experience publishing a graphic novel/comic book.
I think it was maybe Bill Cosby who said something like, 'don't share your dreams with people who haven't achieved theirs. All they can teach you is how to fail.'
… actually, that sounds a little harsh. But my point is there are many people dissatisfied with their lives who love to tell you you can't do something. Even if you don't get the 10k I'm sure something good is going to come out of all your efforts.
I look forward to the ride. Keep blogging… ;)
sam
Thanks for the encouragement Sam! I love the quote and totally agree with what you said.
Add my voice to the encouragements, Jason. We have a phrase in French that means "where there's a will, there's a way," but it sounds so much more poetic in our language: Vouloir, c'est pouvior: To Desire Is To Have The Power. I firmly believe that. Hell, if I didn't, I wouldn't be doing the same thing. And it's not just about a book, of wanting to draw or whatever, it's about living life on your own terms. People like to sneer at each other. Schadenfreude is part of life. But I think you have every reason to be optimistic about reMind – the art is strong, the story is well-written, the concept is whole and you are remaining true to it, you don't treat your art like a larf and you don't relate to your fellow-artists like a douchebag, and most of all, you have the passion to pursue it to the end. Go for it.
–M
Thanks buddy. The French version does sound so much better. "To Desire is to Have The Power." I love that!
I believe Bone was self published in the beginning and then it was picked up later.
Just off the top of my head here but, another thing to consider is not printing a huge 300+ page graphic novel, but 3 middle ground 100 page books. That way it's not such an investment for the reader, but it's more than your traditional 25/32 page comic.
Another thing that might be worth thinking about (I'm not sure you've mentioned it yet, but I may be wrong) is submitting portions of your book to Anthologies. They can be a great way to promote your book and get it so that people know about it. Just one example: FLIGHT, is pretty much an institution nowadays and a lot of the creators went on to make very popular books of their own. Though I think they are stopping it with the newest volume. But, now there will be a big hole in the market for something new.
The new page looks really great. Love the mood it sets up for the second chapter.
You know what? That was exactly what I decided when I first started making reMIND. I was going to make 3 book that were 2 chapters each at around 70 pages and still hardbound. I'm still thinking this way but instead of 3 books I now plan to make 2 books that are 136 pages. My main reason for this decision is because the end of Chapter 2 didn't seem like a good point to leave people hanging. The end of Chapter 3 is perfect however. But I still really like this approach. It's kinda a long European format or something. (which I think would be awesome)
I was also thinking about the Flight book. I started a submission but never finished it yet. It was just to complicated of a story to tell in 10 pages. But I never thought about submitting some of reMIND. I'll have to ask and see if they would be into that. Great suggestion!
I can completely understand the exciting/worrying/nauseating conundrum. Big risks/steps always seem to feel that way. I'm excited to see you pursue it though, it's been wonderful watching the story as it unfolds with such a distinct style. Looking for a parallel track, you might take a look at http://www.monstercommute.com/ for some thoughts. Daniel has been working hard to get a book put together too, and has blogged most of the steps along the way, I imagine he'd be happy to share tips if you were interested too. Anything to make sure this book gets made.
That is a great resource link Aaron! I looked through MonsterCommute last night a bit and subscribed to his blog. I really need to read it all and take in as much as I can because you are right, he would be a great person to talk to about all this. I really appreciate the link!!!
Lots of great stuff here man, real food for thought. You know, I can think of two comic companies that would go for your book and leave it untouched. Obviously, if reMind takes off, they're going to make a lot of money. But, for the sake of argument, if it didn't take off, with a publishing company you wouldn't be making anything but you wouldn't be losing anything. That seems to be the case with a few friends of mine who are publishing a webcomic and printing it through a distributor and they end up making their money buying the books at cost and selling them at cons.
You seem to have the intention of footing all of this without ever making a dime from it, which isn't a bad way to look at it. However, do you have a solid plan for distribution? I figure spending that much $$$ you probably already do.
Out of curiosity, what two companies were you thinking of?
Distribution? What's that? ha Joking. To tell you the truth, I don't have a solid plan yet for distribution other then selling copies from this blog and at Cons. I've read up on distribution through Diamond a bit and I still don't know if I want to try it or not. My worry about Diamond is if they order more copies then I have in stock at some point. I guess that's a good problem to have.
Any information on making a solid plan for distribution, like you said, would be super helpful though. Any suggestions?
Oh yeah, and now I'm starting to see the mirage of hope that I can somehow get enough money together through grants or pledges or donations to cover the printing. It's still a long shot but if this is really possible then I'm in turn risking nothing other then my time. Which I am going to be risking anyway.
Fantagraphics, and Dark Horse came to mind and depending on how you build up your fan base through the webcomic, IDW. Image is an option too. Have we talked about that yet here? Image, should they accept you, will list and distribute you through Diamond. Then, they get paid first off of sales, plus they get an extra fee for you using the giant I logo.
I don't think Diamond is too hard to get accept into, at least with your comic in mind, but I think you can't stop there. Get an ISBN on the book and make sure you're carried at Barnes and Noble and Amazon. It wouldn't hurt to see if libraries would be interested in your book too. Local independent book stores LOVE local authors, even us comic book guys!
Great advice. I do plan of getting an ISBN for the book but I don't understood how to get into Barns and Noble or Amazon yet. The local book stores will definitely be on my list. I never thought much about libraries and don't quite know how to go about that yet either.
I should really look into Fantagraphics though. I've heard a few people talk about them but I don't know much about em myslef. I have a friend at Dark Horse so I might get more info on that as time goes by.
I think we did talk about Image a bit before. I don't really like Image much anymore unlike when they started. I feel like I would be paying for a logo that only represents average books anymore. It seems like they just accept anyone now but I could be wrong. But they don't really appeal to me anymore.
Thanks again for the advice!
I'd buy a signed print of one of your pages and I'd pay at least $50 for it. Find 100 other peoples like me and your halfway there. $10k in a year is do able.
Oh man, but I don't have a hundred other friends who I grew up with who are rich.
Which page would want like if you had a choice?
So far? The last page of chapter 1.
But, if you do anything more "dynamic" with boobs, blood, and stuff, I want that one! You'll just have to trust me for the payment…
Some day I'll find a Youtube video of you getting knocked out.
Word balloons or no word balloons?
I have been reading the graphic novel and I'm so super impressed. The familiarity of the artwork is kind of weird. It feels like I've already read your work.
Story telling is awesome too. It feels like this is a web series of an existing graphic novel.
I for one will be buying a copy when you get it printed. 10K is not too bad a target to get in 1 year. It seems like a lot now but I think if you dedicate yourself to that target, you'll discover opportunities that will help you get it.
.. I had a bit of trouble commenting on some of the graphic novel pages, the comment got submitted and just went to the comment-post.php blank page. There are some things to try on this post (and some solutions in the comments of it) http://www.techpavan.com/2008/12/17/blank-page-co…
have you thought about adding some 'advertise here' banners? the ones on my main site have brought a regular extra dollar bonus at the end of the month.
If you had originals to sell, I would buy one!
Andy!!! Sorry man, I just dug 3 of your comments out of my spam folder. I don’t know why it shuffled them there but hopefully it will approve them next time you post something. Sorry about that.
I’ll look into that link you gave me. I had no idea the comments thing was happening. Thanks for the heads up.
I think I will sell some originals soon but I’m still debating how I should go about it. I’ll let you know when I figure something out. Thanks for being persistent in your comments even though they were not coming through.
Balloons with text in the balloons. I like it because it would look good on a wall, and it's the pivotal moment of the story thus far.
I see. I'll look into methods of making nice prints.
I am also doing a fundraiser on my site to raise money for a tablet. I will use the tablet for upcoming projects, but people are buying existing art to fund it.
This could be useful for you as a tactic if you have other art you want to sell or even character drawings available. You would not have to wait until the end of your development process to 'give' anything to people wanting to contribute.
Hmmm, I like this idea. But I don't have much stuff that is worthy to sell except for the panels from reMIND. I started preparing a kickstarter.com campaign the other day trying to figure out what a good price is for things. But sadly, I have a really limited amount of art that I can sell that's not from some lame job. Even that is rare because the companies always want to keep the originals. Oh! But I could sell some of my Vampire the Masquerade originals. Now you got me thinking.
Thanks for the suggestion man. Your circle drawings look really cool. Good luck getting a Cintiq! They are so worth it.
Yeah, thats the thing I guess is having stuff laying around. I do a ton of work in sketchbooks with the intention of printing it later (collected books, etc) so I have about 3 books full of the circle drawings. I wanted to keep them for myself for the longest time, but lately the need for a Cintiq is outweighing that.
But maybe you could post a few of the older originals you mentions and see what people say. People are pretty vocal on your site, so you should get some feedback on what would be good pretty quickly.
Also I send your printing details over to my friend and she is going to look into options. I will send you over whatever info I get.
Also do you have a stand alone image of Victuals? I wanted to do more of a proper link to your blog in my sidebar and I dont think a text link will cut it.
Thanks for talking to your friend about the printing info. Much appreciated!
I've been really trying to keep this blog about reMIND only, so I have a hard time putting up images from a past job like Vampire the Masquerade even though it's to help me pay for printing. It's a good idea though. I DO have a DeviantArt account which has a few of them up so maybe I can direct people there to see if they would be interested in buying an original. Another great suggestion!
I do have a few stand alone images of Victuals I think. Is there a specific size you need or want? I need to get busy getting some image links for my Links page soon. I keep putting it off. I appreciate that you are linking to reMIND as well. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Ah no problem. I just hope I get some useful info back that does not end up being something you dont already know.
I guess if you want to you can email me your Victuals standalones and I can make a link out of whatever works best in my sidebar. I am in the process of redesigning it a bit in general so I would try to make it fit in well with the changes.
I just uploaded some link images into my links page. I used some standard sizes that most other webcomics use from what I've seen. I still want to add some alternate versions but that will have to wait. If you still want something else then let me know and I'll gladly send it over.
One of these may work, but if you still would mind sending over some uncropped Victuals that would be cool.
No problem. I'll try to remember to send something tonight.
Is 2,000 the smallest run you can buy? Is it possible to buy a smaller run, say 500-700, that, if sold at $20 each would then fund the 2,000 print run?
1) I think, that with this being your first project, 100% self-ownership will be the most rewarding way for you to go.
2) Publishing companies NEED good content. Deliver the goods and they'll find you. And then you'll be in a better position.
3) Working your ass off to sell your first project customer by customer will give you a great understanding of what it takes to move units. When you talk to a publisher for your second or third piece (and you will want a publisher for them because you'll be tired of working the fields yourself. The goal is to be a creator, not a publisher, right?) you'll immediately know if they're for real or not.
4) (In regards to the "what do you have to lose" argument for going with a publisher) If you sign to a publisher now and they drop the ball you lose the rights to your book for 10 to 20 years and that SUCKS. That is a lot to lose.
5) Start building your (Remind's) off-line image NOW! Make prints and go to cons NOW! People will buy your work. People will remember you. Print out 800 black and white flyers for $37 (8.5×11 sheet quartered) at staples and pass them all out at the next con you go to.
The good thing about spending $10,000 on product stock is that it translates into a tangible item with value, even if it takes you 10 years to sell them all you will be able to. Imagine spending $10,000 to $100,000 on the process of making something that ultimately might not have any resale value.
for what it's worth, I think you're on the right track and you will succeed.
Okay, so the thing with 2000 copies is that my friend who printed a high quality GN last year said that him and his friends all agree that 2000 is the perfect number. He said that you should be able to unload them all in about a year if you work at it a bit and it's a good quality. So I'm kinda taking his word for it. Also, the cost for something lower then 2000 printed with a 4 color press and hard bound would be way to expensive to make it worth it. I would need to do a POD printing to make that worth it and I don't like the idea of doing that for this book. If I printed 1000 copies then I'd be loosing money if I sold through Amazon unless I raised the price to like $35 or something but I think that would make me loose lots of sales too. Plus if Kickstarter or the grant comes through then it's not really a matter of money anymore and I just focus on printing the best books I can.
I want to talk more about your great points but that will have to wait until tomorrow. I gotta get some work done tonight. I'll continue tomorrow…
Okay so here we go…
1) I agree 100%
2) I see what you are saying here. But I still think I will need to wave it in front of them before they come knocking. I can't wait to see anyway.
3) Yeah I like this too. Although part of me thinks I will like being a publisher and a creator. This might just be my ignorance to the situation talking. I suppose I will find out if I want to be a publisher after this first one comes out. I'm sure I'll get burned out working the fields but I might still like it. Who knows. Your probably right.
4) Agreed!
5) I never thought of this before. I do have tickets to the Comic Con this year but no booth. Maybe I should start asking if someone will want to share one with me for a few days. But your saying to just go and walk around handing out my pliers or postcards with my art on it right. I like the sound of that! Great suggestion man.
By the way – Alizarin Crimson? That's in my watercolor box!
Most useful color…
–M
I was wondering when someone would bring that name up. hehe. Of course it had to be an artist! Thanks for your support on the 1000 true fans post too!