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Hi, Folks! Now it’s time to fill out your trade paperback’s contents.  It may seem a little unfair, because you’ve already spent the time to get all those comics created, but these are some of the considerations you need to take into account: 

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So, you are ready to collect your comic into a trade paperback.

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Hi, Folks—Scott Story here. I was going to write today about preparing your comics for a trade-paperback collection. Maybe I will tomorrow.  Today, I’m going to write about a subject much closer to the heart: Fine Art vs. Illustration.

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My co-guest blogger Scott Story (a pseudonym of some kind, surely) posted yesterday with some tips about long form comics on the web. While his advice has some merit for certain types of webcomics, I'm not at all in agreement that they are general rules or even good rules.

Some of his tips are all too focused on a webcomic that is based on the single episode/strip/page as the primary structure of the narrative. This is the traditional model that so many webcomics seem to work from, the comic strip model. Scott suggests each episodes have a "beat" and a "cliffhanger" the same type of advice you see in action when you read classic comic strips, particular those in the adventure genre: Roy Crane, Alex Raymond, Milton Caniff, etc. But I don't think this applies to webcomics working in more of a "graphic novel" mode where the work is considered as a single story/book not an series of episodes. Off the top of my head, I can think of a few webcomics that work in this latter mode, such as Family Man or Finder.

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(web to print, print to web, part 3)

I wrote about one of Jed McGowan's webcomics at ComixTalk back in September of 2008. After that he started posting a longer comic (which at the time he called "Bluesy Face") to his website that was an intriguing and slightly abstract mystery that had a wonderful visual style using light blue and grey screentones. (I wrote a bit about it here.) McGowan won a Xeric award for the finished work and now it is being published with the title Lone Pine. He has a pretty long preview up at his site.

McGowan recently posted some photos from the printers as his book was being printed. As of November the book will be available, distributed by AdHouse. And just today he added images of some test prints, pages that have been printed on twice.

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Comics in my Google Reader "Webcomics" folder between Monday night and Tuesday night (or thereabouts):

This must be my lucky day as far as online comics discoveries goes. Brian Chippendale's new webcomic "Puke Force" has it's first eight strips up at the Picturebox site. It's about what you'd expect from Chippendale's work if you've read Ninja. Thought the art is less dense that a lot of Ninja, the ubiquitous marks that almost define Chippendale's work is still to be found, as well as his might-as-well-be-trademarked snaking panel reading path.

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When I got into comics, I figured that I knew how to write and draw comics pretty well—I had years of print comics under my belt, after all.  But, I was wrong, because presenting a long-form comic on the web calls some special considerations into account.

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(Web-to-print, print-to-web, part 2)

I first discovered Jason Overby's comics as printed minicomics. His "Jessica" mini really impressed me when I read it (as have others of his minis). When he ran out of printed copies he posted a pdf of the comic on his website. He's done the same with some of his other minicomics (in the sidebar of his website). Minicomics really aren't about making money (they're about losing money in most cases), they're more about creating an object and exposure. Offering a sold out minicomic as a download is a great way to allow others to read the work (and people are surely more likely to download a pdf then send money for a comic they're not sure about).

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Contents of Webcomics Folder in Google Reader for Monday: 1 episode of Lewis Trondheim's Les Petits Riens, 1 episode of John Allison's Bad Machinery (Note to John if he's reading this: Do you realize the only place your name appears on your home page is in the copyright notice at the bottom?), Yeast Hoist #1 by Ron Regé Jr..

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Hi, Folks—Scott Story here.  You may know my work from “Johnny Saturn,” and if not I invite you to visit and check it out. Before I got into webcomics, I worked for a bunch of different print publishers, such as Amp Comics, Arrow Comics, Blue Line Productions, Digital Webbing Presents, Image Comics, Nifty Comics, Powerful Press, Rogue Wolf Entertainment, and Rorschach Entertainment. "Johnny Saturn" has been used as prop on a Nickelodian show, been reviewed in the "Comics Buyers Guide," and won two awards (1st and 3rd, respectfully) in the Webcomic Readers Choice Awards.

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(Web-to-print, print-to-web, part 1)

I've been making webcomics for a few years now (since 2005), but long before that I made minicomics. There is a certain pleasure in having a physical manifestation of your comic, and the turn of page, not to mention the multi-page spread just isn't the same online. So, I occasionally make non-web minicomics. I made a set of three this summer in preparation for the recently passed here, here, and here (Warning: abstract, experimental, and barely narrative comics)). I heard from a few readers that it wasn't the easiest thing to do: you needed to print double-sided, and the margins were such that you'd only get the full artwork if you printed with a laser printer. I ended up uploading a pdf version for screen reading too (at the same pages above). But I do like the idea of downloadable piy (that's "print-it-yourself") minicomics.

I'm not the only one doing such things. I was inspired by Warren Craghead's many piy minicomics, which he's been posting online for quite awhile. If you scroll down on his home page, you'll find links to a number of printable pdfs. Warren's books are often rather complicated to fold and cut (there's one that I never did get working right) but the work is worth the trouble, it's beautiful and mysterious, not your normal webcomic by any means. His latest piy comics is a series called "A Sort of Autobiography", which take the form of a six sided "StoryCube" for every ten years of his life (projected into the future up to 2060). You can print them out and put them together. The site hosting that series "Diffusion" seems to be devoted to different piy books and cubes. They even have a page of instructions and some pdfs you can use to make your own piy ebooks.

Claire Folkman has also been offering printable versions of her webcomics. I found this out when she gave me a copy of her printable mini about making a mini from a single page at PACC. She posts webcomics at her site and often includes a printable pdf version.

Why not try one too.

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Hello, I'm the forgotten guest blogger this week. My name's Derik Badman, long time readers may remember the column I wrote here for awhile. I also blog regular at my site Madinkbeard, where you can also find my comics (web and print), which lately have mostly been short and experimental/abstract/non-narrative/poetic.

I'm a structure guy, so I thought I'd give myself a theme or two to work with this week. I decided "web-to-print, print-to-web" would be an interesting topic to discuss, as I feel like I've seen an increasing number of works that transition one way or the other that aren't simply "printed book is made from webcomics series."

Not sure what else I'll write about. Perhaps just a run through the daily contents of my "Webcomics" folder in Google Reader.

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Our evening began in Peter Scharro's our comfortable study in his the beachhouse where the glowsticks were just right, the WiFi was in the background and the Red Bull was delicious...  Anyhow blogging from the beach this weekend, A big thanks to last week's guest bloggers: Harknell, Onezumi, Sam Costello and Steve Troop. 

This week (if memory serves, I lost my notes!) we have Brandon Carr, Scott Story and Derik Badman.  I'm going to let them introduce themselves but all have been making comics online and off for quite awhile now and I think you'll enjoy their contributions to the site. (Brandon will be blogging next week actually)

I've been on an undead horror kick lately.  Read World War Z, in the middle of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and just knocked off a bunch of The Walking Dead (not totally caught up yet though).  Heck I even managed to watch Zombieworld earlier this summer.  Any other recommendations for me -- comics in particular?

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In my recent post I spoke about how guests at cons should think deeper about their relationship with cons and how they can benefit by this, in this article I will reverse this situation and talk about how con staff should view and treat their guests.

I outlined in the previous article the basic economic truth that cons see guests as a monetary investment. Guests are there (theoretically) to draw more attendees and money to the con. So in many cases cons start to see and treat guests as "employees", or even as objects to be sold.

When was the last time you thought that being seen as an employee or as an object inspired you to greatness? Or really made you want to promote or work hard?

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If you attend a lot of conventions or simply leave your house, you might find that you get sick every once in awhile. Conventions are huge petri dishes of sickness because there are so many people in a small space. I used to get almost every time after a con. One time, I got such a severe bout of stomach flu, I literally thought I was going to die. All I remember is lying in bed being unable to even dial 911. It traumatized me so much that I made some changes in how I do things. I haven't gotten sick yet since making those changes, so I'm here to share with you my tricks to reducing the chance that you will catch the con crud.

Stop Relying on Hand Sanitizer: Hand sanitizer cleans your hands, right? Well...kind of. It doesn't kill viruses. I used to be a hand sanitizer devotee. I used hand sanitizer religiously before I got the stomach flu from hell. I still got the stomach flu because it didn't kill everything that was on my hands when I went to eat. Since then I haven't even bothered carrying hand sanitizer. It does help somewhat, but it doesn't do enough.

Consciously Wash Your Hands: This is a no-brainer, but I do not want to go into how many people I see at the con ROLL ON OUT OF THE BATHROOM WITHOUT WASHING THEIR HANDS. It's nasty. I thought we learned this in Sesame Street, but geez, a lot of people do this at cons! Wash your hands every time you use the bathroom. Use a paper towel to open the door on your way out so you don't touch the doorknob where the non-handwashing people have touched - especially if you are about to eat.

Don't Touch Your Face: Don't rub your eyes or mouth without immediately washing your hands before doing so. Disease can enter the body via your eyes and mouth. Don't put the germs inside you!

Don't Share Communal Bags of Unwrapped Snacks: It's always the people reaching into the communal bags of chips or pretzels that seem to get the con crud. Guess why? It's because people who haven't washed their hands have stuck their hands in there and contaminated everything. Bring wrapped snacks to your con table so that you can open one and eat it without putting your hand on the food before doing so.

Don't Touch Your Food: Like I said above, bring wrapped snacks. You could also use a napkin to pick up and eat the food. Basically, don't touch anything you are about to eat before washing your hands.

What I am saying is - don't rely on hand sanitizer, don't touch your face, don't touch food you are about to eat, don't share communal snacks, and make sure to wash your hands really well before you eat. Doing all of these things are annoying, but it works. Imagine you are doing surgery and your orifices are open wounds. Sure, that's a bit extreme, but I have not gotten sick at all since I started doing this. The less sick you are, the more comics you can make and the more cons you can go to.

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There are basically two kinds of support webcomics creators need: moral/emotional and financial. Making webcomics can be a tough slog. It can seem, especially in the early years of a comic, that we're working in a vacuum and that maybe no one's reading. But, when you do get that occasional email from a fan - whoa, what a feeling! But when traffic stats are low or merchandise isn't selling or we get a terrible review, we need support and encouragement that keep us going.

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The old truism is there are 2 sides to every story--and this is no different for guests and conventions. In today's post I'm going to discuss the situation from the side of the guest--and what you can do to be the best possible guest for a convention (and why this should be very important to you).

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It's a tough time to be in the entertainment industry. Our Internet-enabled, digital environment has led to more things than ever competing for our attention. And a lot of those things are entertainment, be they movies, TV, video games, websites, Twitter, Facebook, or whatever else.

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In many ways, webcomics are primarily online (I mean, hey, it's right there in the name). The comic's there, interactions between creators and fans are there (though offline, too), revenue is generated by ads, even the physical products are sold online. As a consequence, a lot of webcomics tend not to have a physical presence beyond merchandise and con appearances.

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Social media like Facebook, Twitter, and whatever else that is popular this second are pretty awesome. However, the very thing that makes it awesome can also cause some issues for the modern day webcomic professional. There is now a higher amount of information available to us than before. This means that there are more avenues for us to get our brand recognized. YAY!

Unfortunately, the thing that makes social media such a great tool is also burying many new creators. The noise on the internet is so high that I believe it is harder for a new creator to be heard today than it was 10 years ago. Back when there were only a handful of creators online, it was a no brainer to run into everyone at least once. Now, it is not the case. I have met rabid webcomics fans who have never heard of Penny Arcade.

Today, readers like for information to come to them, rather than checking physical sites every day. We have reached information overload. A high number of people I speak with have told me that they and most of their friends now use RSS aggregators or get their information from Facebook and Twitter. I have fans who read my site every single day that missed the GIANT banner on the top of the page and frequent blog posts about the fact that their favorite creator is running AN ENTIRE WEBCOMICS CONVENTION.

Following this relevation, I conducted an informal experiment where I would post happenings on my Facebook and Twitter. Later that month I would strike up conversation with specific people who were very big fans of my work to see how much they had engaged with the information. I had found that most people would ignore the passive postings and almost all of them would engage, support, and spread the word about things that I spoke to them directly about.

The catch, is, you can't be fake about it. You have to love what you do and care about who you are speaking to. I always ignore automatic and sterile messages. I will always reply to people who are genuinely saying "hello".

The best way is to really believe in what you are doing and to treat everyone like you would want to be treated. This in itself stands out in stark contrast to the firehose of information that is today's internet. As corny as it sounds, it seems that today's best weapon is to love the journey, make some new friends, network with your peers, and never give up. I wish I could give an easier recipe for success. The unfortunate truth is that it is not easy, but it will happen if you don't give up! :D

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