Just one week left before I pull the trigger and finally start posting a new spread every Monday again. I can’t wait to get back into this because I really miss the experience of being able to share my progress with anyone who cares.
Just so you know, this was the original first page layout for the beginning of Volume 2. But I felt like it was just too dark for the opening of an entire graphic novel so I threw it out and started over with a more happyish feeling as you will see next week. I decided to post it here as a nice filler page between the books with a super quick color pass.
What’s really crazy is exactly one year ago on February 20th is when I posted the last page of Volume 1. I had no idea I would be taking this long to get the next book ready to post but, yeah, that’s what happened. I’m pretty confident that I won’t get too stressed out posting new pages because I have a years worth of mostly finished pages now. The thing that keeps changing is the dialogue and it will probably keep changing all the way up until I go to print with the second Volume.
Speaking of going to print, as I said last week, I am starting to run low on copies of Volume 1 and I’m not really sure what I should do just yet. Part of me wants to start another Kickstarter to see if I can raise money again for a second printing and part of me wants to let it go out of print until I am ready to print the second Volume, which will be over a year from now. I’m getting more orders now that reMIND is on the Great Graphic Novels for Teens list 2012, and the last thing I want to think about is how many sales I will loose if I don’t have the book available for a year. On the other hand, it will give me a break from sending out books every week and I will finally be able to just focus on finishing the second Volume.
I’m still unsure what to do. Any thoughts?
How much time would it take out of your life to do a Kickstarter campaign for a second printing of Vol 1? I think that would be the first question to ask yourself. You don’t want to devote too much time to maintaining the past when you’re trying to move forward. Of course, keep in mind that I am biased here. I’m eagerly awaiting Vol 2 so factor that in as well ;)
It will take a little time to put together a new video(maybe a few weeks), but I could use part of what I had last time. In the end, it shouldn’t slow down the speed of Volume 2 though because it will still take more than a year for it all to go online. It’s always good for me to be able to jump around on different aspects of the project too. It keeps it all fun.
No really, reprint. I’m just a reader, but I suspect that your base is going to grow even more once you start publishing vol 2, and vol 1 will be in demand. Great storytelling endures, and you have a great one here.
I didn’t think about part of it, about more new eyes seeing reMIND when I start posting new pages. It is a good opportunity to keep books moving to new viewers.
The more copies of volume 1 that are out in the world, those people will come back for more copies of subsequent volumes. You could make it a paperback release (not necessarily physically paperback). A Kickstarter would help see if you have the purchase base for it. Or you could just wait until you are done with volume II and have REMIND as one HUGE graphic novel book instead of two separate.
I don’t want to do a paperback anytime soon because in my opinion, the paperback version is the online version. On the other hand, if I print it without the cloth part then it saves me a lot of money on the print run and less books will have defects too.
My only fear with doing another kickstarter for Vol 1 is I don’t think I have enough of a new audience to fund it. If I DO do another kickstarter for a reprinting, then I will probably have to offer new rewards like original art, getting your name printed in the second printing, maybe even a sketch book option.
Now, as far as a HUGE book that holds the whole story, I will save that for the 10 year anniversary or something. haha Part of the problem with being a small publisher is having enough books published to be even considered legit. For instance, one of the major book distributors will not even consider a publisher until they have 10 books in circulation. I’m not saying this is my goal, but I do want to keep things separate until I can have a good amount of products in my catalog.
Thanks so much for your thoughts!
It really doesn’t seem like a year!
I know! It flew by.
I second your idea of reprint Jason. I followed your kickstarter effort and actually missed it and had to buy it when it was over. Having a reprint would (1) get a new crowd (2) remind the old crowd that book 2 is still alive and in progressing (3) make a great transition to book 2 in another couple of months when you start kickstarter again.
If you could add some part of teaser of book 2 to the rerun that would be awesome or maybe a new in the making. I think the advantage is there and it gives you motivation to keep it going. (I know you probably have more than enough motivation.)
I like your points for doing a new kickstarter. Especially now that Kickstarter is getting some MAJOR exposure with million dollar projects. Not saying I will ever reach that, but there are way more people aware of that site now than when I used it.
I think I will change a few things (like 2 typos that I found) and then probably offer the ability to get your name printed in the book again but other than that I don’t want to change too much or I will have to publish it as a second edition instead of just a second printing. BUT I do want to print it with a different cover coloring.
There’s really lots of discussion going on. But generally I think you’ve probably thought through most of it and wanted to have a conversation to see if the pros and cons you’ve stacked up would make the reprint worth it. I’m rooting for what you’re pushing and your thoughts on paperback. Hopefully when you start your second kickstarter, you’ll document it with your thoughts and idea of this. I always felt that keeping the books selling is way tougher than doing the first run. Your “grassroot fundings on kickstarter” really pave the way for some of us. I benefited from your statistics and ideas and its keeping my current kickstarter going.
Its funny that I replied to you posts just a few days and today I met Skottie Young. We were talking about kickstarter and how reMIND had been a huge influence and inspiration for me and he told me you are a close friend of his and I was like… WOW!
I assure you, your reprint will prove to be another inspiration to many of us just purely to your dedication towards your craft. Many of us just draw and we don’t even think through the business side of it.
Skottie is great! It’s good that you were able to meet him because he has some great insight.
By the way, GREAT looking kickstarter project and congrats on passing your goal so quickly. I just tweeted it. :)
Wow thanks, I’m not sure why I don’t get email notice of your reply. He is really awesome and he came to SCAD to give a portfolio review. He told me he got to see a few pages of Book 2 and its super awesome!!!
I’m actually doing all the work for the kickstarter and it is really tough. (Both managing a group of artist and thinking of the sales strategy.) This anthology will be completed in a few weeks and when the book is printed, I’ll ship you guys a copy each!!!
I totaly agree with ALIVE: For every volume 1 u sell, you will sell get another volume 2 pre-order. You worked hard to get your current momentum, don’t let it slow down yet!!!!!!!
Yes, very true. It’s hard to get momentum and so now that I have it it would be kinda dumb to let it go. Thanks for your comment!
you run into the problem that many comic shops have with indie comics. “no i don’t have it in stock…but i can order it for you”…the person has cash in hand and wants to purchase now…not in 2-3 weeks. When you miss a sale is tough to get em back.
And i agree…with V2 pages being posted, you might sell more volume 1s.
Comic shops have been good for one small bulk orders but after that it’s rare that they reorder. Well, several have reordered reMIND but it just wont keep happening over and over. Also, there are only a handful of good comic shops that try to find new stuff like my book. So even though comic shops are one method of getting reMIND, my main sales have been online. People usually hear about reMIND online first so it’s rare that they will go to a comic shop to find it first.
Do you plan to ever print the 2 volumes in one book?
I always love the super heavy books so I would like to see one of those.
Not for a long time. I will save that for the 10 year anniversary or something! :)
I see you have stated already being against a “paperback” version, but I think with the notice of the Great Graphic Novels for Teens list 2012, having a cheaper version available would only be a benefit.
Please do not get me wrong, the hardcover I have is BEAUTIFUL. It’s the best made book on my shelves. Yet I would have loved the story just as much if it was a standard TPB.
Seriously though, the story and art are wonderful enough to not need the “fancier” (not an insult) presentation to enjoy it.
That said, I also understand the hardcover is a sign of all the hard work and passion you have put into the story, and as an independent publisher, you have the ultimate freedom of how your work is presented, which is awesome.
Regardless of your decision about a hardcover, more copies seems like a must do. Face it Mr.Brubaker, you have a story people love, they just haven’t read it yet. :)
He has a good point.
I’m super happy that I have your Comic as a hardcover, but $25 for kids or teenagers is quite some money.
I fully understand what you are saying and in fact, when I buy books I usually get softcovers that are used on Amazon. The only books I want to be hardcover are the ones that I want to look through many times.
BUT here is my unique situation and the main reasons why I keep wanting to make hardcovers. Obviously, the main reason is because, as you said, it is the best way to present a quality book. But there are more reasons beyond that and I’ll try to break them down.
1) Softcovers are generally the cheapest way to get a mass quantity of books into as many hands as possible. With my situation, I am not selling in mass yet because I am self-publishing. If I were to have a print run of, lets say, 10,000 books then a paperback would probably be a good option. But with my situation I still would have to put in the same amount of work to pack up books and send them off to stores and Amazon and what not whether it’s hard or soft cover. The difference is, I would only be getting about $2 a book for a softcover sold through Amazon vs. $6 (that I get now). This is a big deal to me because it takes so much time to invoice and pack books weekly. I would prefer to sell 2500 books at six dollars profit each over 10,000 books at two dollars profit each. Because in the end, with all the extra time I spent packing those extra 7500 books I would have eaten up all the profit in the time it took me to move and store the extra books. And in a lot of ways, I value my time more than I value my money.
2) Since my book is best seen in spreads and it is easier to follow if you can open the book all the way flat, a standard perfect bound softcover will loose too much information in the center gutter. So I would have to side stitch a softcover book which is more expensive then a standard perfect bound TPB that you see.
3) Since I’m not going to be printing more that 2500 copies again, if I were to print a softcover it would only knock about 60 cents off the cost of each book (production cost). So in other words the cover price would still have to be around $20 for me to be able to make a profit if I sell it on Amazon or in Comic shops. I just don’t think a $19 to $23 softcover would be appealing to anyone who can’t afford a $25 hardcover. But I could be wrong.
These are all just general numbers but they are pretty close. On the other hand, I should probably contact Image at some point because if they can print it and take care of distribution then I will not care how much work it is to store, pack and ship lots of books for little in return.
I hope this doesn’t sound like I’m only in this for the money. In actuality, every penny that I am making with these books is going right back into the company. I haven’t kept any profits yet. :(
So I need to make sure I am doing things that don’t take up too much extra time. Hopefully that makes sense.
Seeing the details all laid out it makes perfect sense to keep the hardcover.
I still think not running out of stock is a good thing in the end.
Thank you for being so open and honest with this information, it is very interesting and informative.
It’s a fun discussion! Thanks for making me think more about why I am doing what I am doing. :)
If things continue to grow and progress with my publishing, there will come a day when I will need to hire someone to fill orders part time. At that point, I probably will change a few things with my strategy.
Now after reading your post I see too that it makes perfect sense to stick with the hardcover. I also appreciate your inside info and how it does affect your “marketing” decisions.
It’s also good to know that some people still care about quality above quantity…
But please don’t let it run out of stock, it’s a great book!!! ;)
I can barely wait for Monday (probably a first for Monday.) I say stay the course in terms of printing small batches exactly the way you want to. I think that it marks the finished product as absolutely your own. I personally treasure my copy of Vol 1 as one of my book collection. There are three reasons why it is so highly valued: The story and art, the signing and numbering (not to mention the original painting) and the book’s manufacture. The cloth binding, hard cover and grapic design all testify to the hard work and creativity that went into the finished product. again, I look forward to Vol 2!
Thanks Steven!
I’m for a reprint.
I agree with you on the hardcover. Although the last note you made about the storing, distribution and packing being done by the printer/distributer/publisher sounds good. The profit might not be much there but you still have a sale point in the exclusive images/pages for Volume 1 beyond the hardcover quality and as someone else pointed out, for each volume 1 you sell, you can pretty much put them down as a pre-order for volume 2 and they’ll have the physical copy to remind them in a few years time when it becomes available (along with a new Volume 1 hardcover).
With the Kickstarter, I’m also worried about just how much you’ll make since your readership and coverage is probably quite low right now. However I did like the idea that someone noted that it may even attract new readers through it’s posting in Kickstarter, right when the updates are returning. The other thing is if you’re planning to go on an advertising spree for the re-launch then you kill two birds with one stone by getting people in to start reading the comic AND to sponsor the Kickstarter project.
Any thoughts about other merchendise as well? There are a number of mobs out there which will do print on demand of images onto items such as cafepress and ookoodook. If you’re looking to do any yourself you likely want to think of unique products that’ll sell well. Like a Victuals plushie or custom playing cards (nothing like 54 unique images at $10 a pack to get sales and they do great at conventions apparently).
I really should contact Image, if anything, to see if it’s even an option. One of my only concerns if I print the second printing with Image, is that it will most likely look and feel slightly different than my version. So I kinda want to keep it in house until I have both volumes complete. This will give everyone a chance to pick up a matching pair before I start printing reprints with different companies.
I am also a little worried if I have enough new readers to fund another printing on Kickstarter. I think it will be all about the new incentives I offer more than anything. But you have a good point that advertising for the launch of Volume 2 on my site could bring in traffic for Kickstarter too. And kickstarter could bring in traffic for the site.
As far as merchandise goes, I have never been a very big fan of the POD merchandise. Mainly because there is such a low profit margin that it’s a bit too risky for my taste. I guess it’s fine if people order it on my site and then the POD company makes it and sends it off but even so, I just don’t really want to use that model if I can avoid it. Once again, very little profit margin if any. And to my experience trying it in the past, you don’t make very many sales if they are just listed on you site.
Does that make sense?
I do love the playing card idea though! That sounds wonderful. But designing 54 unique cards is a massive amount of work. hahah!
Well, I think most people just pull an image out of their actual comic. You’d surely have enough to fill 52 cards i would think. I recall seeing a couple of comics around who did playing cards, one who had several different decks, but I’ll have to look around or try to remember who. They might be able to guide you better on how well they do.
Yeah, the print on demand was more for you to get some sales to readers who want merchandise while not bogging you down with the work of ordering, storing and delivering. You’ve got some great art in the comic and even someone who’s completely unfamiliar with the comic may want an item or two with ReMind’s images on them.
I could definitely pull images from my pages for the cards. That makes sense. Maybe I could hire someone to put something together too so I don’t have to stop working on the book.
Good point about the POD option. It’s still on the table. I kinda like the idea of not offering too much random merchandise so that when I actually make something it will have a better chance of selling. This is all still pretty new to me so I will probably keep experimenting with my approach. Thanks again for your thoughts!
Yesterday I took a look at my copy of the 1st volume. And I almost forgot that it is one of the best comic hardcover I ever bought. (It has a much better quality as my ‘The Incal’ hardcover, for which I paid $50). It DEFINITELY makes my TOP3 Hardcover list!!!
So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE: Don’t give the first hardcover printing of the 2nd volume to any publisher, and do it yourself!!!!!!!!! ;)
I will never give the first printing to another publisher. Don’t worry. If anything I want all my first printings to be very special. My goal is to be able to announce a new book each year and have it be a limited print run of like 2000 to 5000 copies and be able to sell them with preorders because everyone knows that they are top quality and potential collectors items. Then the second and third printings will be more standard printings.
That’s my dream goal anyway. I think it can happen if I always make those first printings very appealing and limited… and numbered. :)
Is Volume 1 sold out?
I waited too long for my next Amazon purchase and now there are no more copies available:/
No, it hasn’t sold out yet. Amazon just keeps running out. I just sent them another box of 16 books this morning. They try to guess how many they will need each week and order what they think they will sell but since I announced that I am running low, everyone has been buying them as soon as they get the stock. So it’s good and bad. But I’m sure in a few days when the new batch gets there, you will have plenty of time to grab one.
I just bought a copy – hooray!
thanks for the info, Jason.
Oh good. Looks like there are only 2 in stock now. It’s crazy how fast they have been going.
I meant that Amazon has 2 in stock. I still have plenty. :)
My heart is clenching in such a painful way. I CANNOT WAIT. It’s like a second Christmas!
Haha! Oh man. But it will only be the first page! :)
Which ever way you decide to go with this, make a decision based on your hopes not your fears.
That is a great way to look at it! Very well put, Kirk! Thanks for chiming in here.
Back yourself! Do another print run.
If they keep selling at the current rate they’ll all be gone in a year or so by which point you’ll have book two ready go as well for the next time you head back to the printer. It seems after all the work you’ve put in to create and market a graphic novel that is selling, you would be mad to just let it lapse. And it will give people something they buy hen they come to check out the pages for book 2.
Ive been slowly gearing up for a graphic novel of my own and your whole blog and journey over the last year has been very inspirational/educational for me. thanks
Hey Jason! Brand new fan, via the Making Fun podcast. I think what you are doing is really great!
As for the topic at hand… I once got a chance to work with Paul Chadwick (creator of Concrete) and over lunch he gave me this advice- “Create something, get it out there, and ALWAYS keep it in print…” He emphasized the third point especially, saying that becoming self-sustaining in comics is a long marathon, and it takes a while to get there, but you can only do it if you keep books circulating and selling. Better to have interested sales you can fulfill rather than turning people away… one is growing the audience, one is shrinking it. So, I’ve always kept to that philosophy, at least, I plan to try it out once I can finish a story haha…. well, for whatever that’s worth, my two cents!
That’s really solid advice! Thanks for sharing it with me. In fact I seem to remember reading something like this before on Colleen Doran’s blog too. I think I just got burnt out and questioned my original plan but thanks to all the comments like yourself, I know that I really just need to push through and do it. It’s already a dream come true to have a finished book that people are buying. Now I just need to keep it available. Thanks again Skullbaby! By the way, great artwork on your blog!
Oh, to be clear, my point was that I think it’s a good idea to do another hardcover print run of book 1. :)
I’m so exitied!
Yeaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh ReMINDs back!!!
So, glad you’re back posting these pages up! I hate that I’m just now getting around to reading them again. Second baby and all, you understand.