phrases. - The Official GlobalComix Blog

Welcome back everyone, I've got some more Tips and Tricks for you all regarding lineart. We'll be covering how to make use of textured brushes, custom brushes and how to use color to your advantage when working with lineart!

With that intro out of the way, let's get started!

1. Use appropriate brush for YOUR style!

There is sort of a joke among artists, where viewers or fans will ask “What brush do you use?” This question is met with enthusiasm or dread, but the answer really does matter. What pen DO you use? In the last article I talked about line weight and texture. Going back to that, you want to be sure you use a brush the aligns with the look that...

School might be ending, but you'll see them again soon. Until then, read these recently popular titles on the adventures of these friends for today's Popular Last Week, featuring:

1. Living Heroes, 30 pages - Published by Steph Williams, (cc/ @swilliams)

Living Heroes is a fancomic that blends the '90s sitcom Living Single and some of my favorite Marvel characters. Misty Knight, Storm, Monica Rambeau, She-Hulk, Sam Wilson, Wyatt Wingfoot, and special guests are just trying to get by in a superhero kind of world. You can buy a physical version Living Heroes here: https://ko-fi.com/s/14c323c572

Story and Art by Steph Williams

 

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2. Eternity'...

Tales of deep sea kaiju, new powers, otherworldly creatures, deadly diseases: if you crave the mysterious and supernatural, today's What's Trending has you covered!

1. Tales From the Dispatch, 240 pages - Published by SnowyWorks, (cc/ @snowyworks)

Tales From The Dispatch is a new anthology series from SnowyWorks and Indie Comix Dispatch. Featuring stories of alternate futures, paranormal activity, wishful thinking, crime fighters, campfire tales, and much much more. There’s sure to be something for every comic lover!

Story and Art by SnowyWorks

 

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2. The Resistance, 153 pages - Published by AWA Studios, (cc/ @WillGraves)

J. Michael...

Welcome to the second issue of GlobalComix Creator Wednesday, where we curate suggestions for creators to follow. This week we saw a surge in new creators joining GlobalComix, so we wanted to give them a formal welcome. You can explore the list of creators, sorted by join date, here.

For today's article we have a mix of new creators, those rising in popularity, and those that have been invaluable members of the creator community for some time now.

Let's get started - we have a lot of names to cover this week!

Hexapus Ink We can't have a trending list of creators to follow without mentioning the creative duo at Hexapus Ink. Their...

Wednesday's are traditionally the main day for new comic releases, and while that isn't necessarily true on GlobalComix -- creators release updates and new titles all week long -- this is still a special day for the comics industry.

But rather than talk about new releases, we felt it's the perfect time to celebrate the creators behind those new releases. With that in mind, welcome to a new weekly series here on GlobalComix, where we'll provide recommendations for creators to follow.

Why follow them? You'll get notifications any time they release new content on GlobalComix. Let's get started with this week's list.

Andy...

Lineart is one of those things that seems to be something artists love or it’s the bane of their lives. It can be hard to find the right type of lineart for you and gain the steady hand to make it just the way you want it.

Today, I am going to go over some various tips for digital and traditional artists to help get a better quality of lineart. Most of these tips apply to both digital and traditional, but if something is specific to one group, I’ll be sure to point that out.

With that out of the way, let's begin!

Finding the Right Resolution

One of the number one ways to get cruddy lineart is to use a resolution too low. Going too low can create pixelated...

Have you ever thought about doing a crowdfunding campaign?

Launching a campaign is a large commitment and can have a lot of pitfalls. I'm here today with a special guest, Cody Fernandez, Founder of Ironverse Comics. You might recognize him from his primary series Jack Irons: Steel Cowboy, a story about an Immortal Jack who has lived many lifetimes; and Kactus Coyote, a different story set up in the same universe. Ironverse has gone through multiple crowdfunding campaigns, and at the time of writing, Issue #4 is nearing completion.

With that intro out of the way, let's sit down with Cody from Ironverse! The following summarized transcript has been taken from an...

 

Hatching, you either love it or hate it as an artist. For some people, it can serve as a soothing doodle technique or become their secret weapon to a beautiful comic or manga page. What exactly is hatching?

Hatching is a drawing technique using lines or linear strokes to create value and texture throughout an image. They don't always have to be straight lines, and they don't always have to be neat and consistent either. There are multiple types of hatching, each providing their own texture that you can add. In comics and manga, it is used both as a shading technique and a texturing one. It's really very versatile!

With that out of the way, let's start...

A great story and beautiful art are easy things to identify as part of what makes a good comic or manga. However, have you ever thought about the simple turning of the page? It’s something we do dozens, or a hundred of times when reading a single comic or graphic novel. For large omnibus editions, it can be a few hundred pages turns! I bet you didn’t even notice you were doing it!

One important factor in building great pages is the page turn, how to KEEP readers reading and make them want more. There are a few tricks that we can use to make our readers to engaged that they don’t even notice they are turning pages. The smoother your reading flow is, the better off...

When the idea for this article about the impact of women on the comic industry came up, I couldn’t think of more than a handful of names right away. I was pleasantly surprised to discover the actual number of contributions women have made.

Comics have been, traditionally, thought of as a boy’s club industry. At least that has been my impression since I was a young girl in the 90's and 2000's. While it is true that comics have been predominantly male-centered in terms of creators, women have played a hand in many well known series. I’m going to be completely honest here, I knew it wasn't necessarily true that women couldn't make comics, but why...

In our last article, we covered some of the basics of Komawari and paneling for manga, such as reading direction, manga’s grid systems, sandangumi and yondangumi, gutters, the concept of rough and dense pages and misegoma, having one panel as the main focus of the page.

Today we are going to dig deeper into the less common aspects of paneling manga: the primary manga layouts, Oblique panels and Ma panels. None of these are “unique” to manga and can be used in western comics, however their use is more common in manga and can really help yours stand out from the crowd.

With that intro, let's dig in!

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Basic Panel Layouts

Using the basic knowledge of the...

So what is Komawari?

Paneling for manga is done in the same spirit of western comics: creating a smooth experience for the reader. However, the thought process behind how it is done is a little different. “Koma” themselves are the panels. Komawari refers to the layout as a whole, and its flow.

From san-dangumi to wakusen there's a lot to cover. With our intro out of the way, let's get started!

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Reading direction

The most notable difference between the two is the reading Direction.

Most manga does read right to left, traditionally. However, there is a movement of “Manga-inspired comics” that are in a manga style, but read left to right like...

In our last Creator Tips and Tricks article, we talked about the basics of paneling and flow. This week, we are going to dig a little deeper into this flow idea. Understanding gutters, panel layouts, and how to make your pages easier to read. A confusing page could cost you a reader, and nobody wants that!

With that introduction, let's dig into Gutters and Panel Layouts!

Looking at a standard comic page as a reader, you might not know that these pages are very carefully crafted to keep you reading. As a creator, you might know the pages take some time to plan and create. Now that we have some understanding of comic flow from our last article, visual narrative, and margins...

Whether you're looking for work yourself, or building a team for your next comic or manga project, the GlobalComix Talent Marketplace is an invaluable resource to make it easier to get into the fun of creating a title. Skip the long search by utilizing its features to land role-specific jobs, or list your project to find your perfect team members.

If you want to learn more, GlobalComix's @EricTapper put together a handy video that walks you through every step of the process and options available to take your search to the next level. You can watch the video on the GlobalComix YouTube channel, or simply hit the play button below.

No matter the format we use to tell our stories, be it comics, manga, comic strips or koma, we need to understand the flow of a page. By flow, I mean panel to panel, bubble to bubble, and eventually, page to page. A good flow is very important, as it keeps the reader reading. Any type of disruption in that flow can knock the reader out of the experience and possibly cause them to stop reading. That's obviously the last thing that we want.

With that flow we need slower times and faster times, this is called pacing, or timing. You don’t want to speed through a moment that needs to be slower, but you don’t want to drag out something that isn’t interesting or...

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Along with Camera angles and positions, the last look at Cameras that we’ll take are camera shots. These typically refer to how much and/or how many subjects appear in the shot itself. Just like with angles and positions, the shot or depth of field you choose can impact your storytelling.

Different depths of field have different uses:

• Long (Wide): Often show the subject from a distance, putting the focus on the environment, location within that environment and scale.
• Medium: Fall somewhere between and act as a hybrid of a Long shot and Close Up. These allow the reader to focus on the character while still able to see the background.
• Close: Close shots focus on...

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We learned about Camera Angles in our last Tips and Tricks Article, today we are going to be focusing on Camera Position and the 180 Rule. These two topics go hand in hand, and it’s very important that we understand where to put the camera and when.

Camera Position refers to where the camera is placed -around- the subject. The 180 rule is an imaginary line storytellers use to help keep continuity when doing a multi character / multi subject scene. This helps with any back and forth interaction that may be occurring to help keep things clear and easy to understand. Like any rule, it has times it can be broken for great effect, so take this rule with salt.
 

With...

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Cameras aren’t usually something comic and manga creators think about when we are story boarding, doing layouts or pencils. But why is that? In my personal experience, a lot of those who seek mentorship in this way, especially writers, don’t tend to THINK in this way. We see the story in our own heads, typically as a film or animation. We tend to just replicate what and how we see it and call it a day. But how often do we sit down and critically think about what would be -BEST- for the scene we have versus how we see it in our own minds.

Being able to separate your own personal wants from the work and do what would be best for it, even if what you initially imagine is...

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Visual Narrative is the term used to refer to the art of storytelling with visuals as a main communicator. It includes mediums like comics, manga, commercials, marketing and advertising, soap operas, film, documentaries, reality TV, cartoon shows, TV journalism, and more. It’s a very wide field that encompasses one main task:

Show, don't tell.

This phrase you have probably heard over and over again if you are experienced in the visual narrative fields. If you are not familiar with it, let me explain this concept:

Show the audience / reader what you wish to communicate, what you want them to know, instead of using narration or dialogue to do the heavy lifting for...

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What ARE Trims, Margins and Bleeds?

Simply put, the trim is the line where the comic or manga paper will be cut. The Margin is the area inside of the trim line that will remain and the bleed is the area outside of the trim, specifically the area that gets cut off.

Working digitally do we even need to worry about these margins anymore?

It depends on what your final purpose is and if you want to prepare for all possible future possibilities. Whether you are printing or not, you should know these areas and it is in your best interest to use them should you ever decide to print your digital comic or manga. Traditional artists can use these as well! A lot of Blue Line Paper made...

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Welcome to our new Community Series: Creator Tips and Tricks!!

AhkwardKat here! I've got a great new series for you!

In this series we'll provide you with advice on how to grow, level up, and get new skills as a creator. These tips and tricks don't just apply to GlobalComix, these are the nitty gritty, the real work, the meat of what we do. We create and any way that we can improve that process is going to be a game changer!

Think you can't improve? You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great!

In our first installment of the Creator Tips series, we are going to cover the Story feature in Clip Studio. I have spent time...

Paul Cornell has had an illustrious career writing for television, film, comics and authoring a number of novels. You might recognize his name from Doctor Who, Action Comics or Wolverine. One of his most recent works is The Modern Frankenstein, published through Heavy Metal's Magma Comix imprint. Get the recently-released trade edition of The Modern Frankenstein just in time for Halloween, and keep it safe by reading it on GlobalComix.

With Paul's recent work in horror with The Modern Frankenstein, we felt it was a great opportunity to find out what some of his favorite horror comics of all time are. For the list of five of his favorites, I turn the rest of the article over...

Frank Forte is an accomplished designer, storyboard artist and comic book artist whose credits include Lovecraft Country, Heavy Metal Magazine, Bob’s Burgers and more. Influenced by classic cartoons and comic books, Frank’s work is an assemblage of inspiration from what he grew up watching on TV and reading in comic books.

Frank is also the publisher of Asylum Press, which produces premium comic books and graphic novels within the horror, science fiction, and action genres. Featuring original, character-driven stories and cinematic artwork by top creators and new talent, Asylum appeals to an audience that might not normally buy traditional comic books.

Over the last...

 

Halloween brings with it a slew of supernatural stories of suspense, terror and horror. For over two decades, Joe Harris has been bringing monstrosities to life with his work on films like Darkness Falls for Sony Pictures, Suneater for Heavy Metal with Dylan Sprouse, and X-Files for IDW. Now he’s teaming up with the German heavy metal band Helloween for “Seekers of the Seven Keys” — a new comic from Incendium that promises to deliver plenty of thrills of its own. 
 
GLOBALCOMIX: Judging by the cover art, Helloween’s “Seekers of the Seven Keys” feels like an outrageous celebration of fantasy, humor, and mad science. How did...

 

The Romero name has become synonymous with the horror genre; George A. Romero, the legendary film director known for Night of the Living Dead and a number of iconic horror movies, is famous for bringing zombies into pop culture and modern monster lore. His son George C. Romero, a prolific horror storyteller, is now exploring the world of Night of the Living Dead further in his Heavy Metal comic book series The Rise, a prologue to the film which is currently being published in monthly issues of Heavy Metal Magazine.

We're excited to kick off a weekly series in October called Frightful Friday with a guest post by George C. Romero, the renowned horror author, filmmaker and...

 

After last year's fully virtual event, New York Comic Con is returning to in-person programming and a full roster of outstanding creative talents. Headed to the show this year? Here are 10 Creators You Must See At NYCC! 

 

Jamal Igle

 

One of the exceptionally talented creators behind Resilience, Jamal’s detailed pencils have graced books as varied as The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglas, the all ages action miniseries "Race Against Time" as well as mainstream hits such as G.I.Joe, Iron Man, Spider-Man and Green Lantern. Jamal has served as the series artist for Firestorm the Nuclear Man, Nightwing and Tangent:...

 

From horror to sci-fi, indie comics cover a wide range of genres and themes. One of the genres that is often overlooked is the pantheon of indie superheroes. For decades, comic creators have been putting out some of the best, dynamic superheroes comics have to offer. Here’s a list of ten indie superhero comics that we think you should be reading right now - many of which you can read on this site!

 

Cyber Force

 

In a modern world where humanity is defined by the technology it creates, a terrorist strikes at the heart of human progress. One of the few survivors, a man named Morgan Stryker, finds himself in the center of a war between man, magic,...

The only thing we love more than reading comics is watching YouTube videos about reading comics! But with literally hundreds of channels on the platform to choose from on the subject, how do you know where to start? 

Here are ten of our favorite comic book-themed YouTube channels, perfect for both the comics aficionado or newbie!

 

ComicTropes

Whether he’s talking about the comic book origins of current Marvel TV series or taking a deep dive into the history of obscure-but-influential Golden Age auteurs, ComicTropes host Chris Piers offers something for everyone. Done in an entertaining and well-researched style, each episode of the channel is like a fun...

 

There may be a few times in your life when you can’t read GlobalComix. We get that. You might be out driving, training for a marathon, swimming at the beach or enjoying the company of friends and family. For all of those times you can’t read GlobalComix in an appropriate venue, we’re here to offer you the next greatest alternative: PODCASTS!

At GlobalComix, we listen to a lot of comics-related podcasts. We love hearing passionate fans talking about the things that really, truly invigorate them. While there are oodles and oodles of comics related podcasts out there, here are five of our absolute favorites:

Super Serious 616

 

Sup...

 

BHP Comics tells us, ‘Be BOLD!’ Their stories and thrilling artwork deliver on that promise. We are delighted to share some of the UK’s finest comics with our readers, and find ourselves captivated by their catalogue.

While their work spans the gamut in terms of dark and edgy with titles like Maximum Alan, and perhaps preoccupied with the end of the world with many titles focused on post-apocalypse (notably Tomorrow), they also have work for younger folks in titles like Plagued: The Miranda Chronicles.

Their most well known series Killtopia is now being made into a full animated series by Studio Voltaku! Click the link to read the first...

Cover art from Year Zero, AWA Studios

 

Over the past 18 months or so, we’ve interfaced with many of the industry’s best and up-and-coming creators and publishers. In doing so, we have learned the most common reservations and misconceptions about digital publishing in general, as well as specific to GlobalComix. And we know more broadly that the digital world can feel like a puzzle within western comics.

With all of that in mind, we’ve compiled an informal FAQ-style breakdown here for anyone thinking about publishing with GlobalComix, but who still need a more information.

 

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1. What if I don't have the time?

Cover art from Aeonian,...

 

Marketing a comic is not just spamming your audience with constant variations of “BUY MY COMIC!” It’s about connecting with the right people and communicating with them in a way that makes them receptive to your message. It is not a demand for compliance. It is a display of value. 

 

But comic book marketing in the United States is also unique because there are additional hurdles that prevent a publisher from attracting prospective readers and transforming them into long-term fans. This post will use the GlobalComix exclusive comic Welcome to Mina’s from Cloudscape Comics to explore both the challenges facing modern comics and offer some...

Last week, we analyzed the Cloudscape anthology Welcome to Mina’s to build a story synopsis, define an ideal reader and identify the competition for the comic. 

This week, I’ll suggest some tactics for how a book like Mina’s can find the right audience and build a strong following without spending a lot of marketing dollars. 

Keywords: Any words used to classify or organize digital content or to facilitate an online search for information are referred to as keywords. Because people gravitate towards groups and communities online that reflect their interests, you can use keywords to find the specific group you are trying to reach. And because every comic...

 

Earlier this year, GlobalComix had a chance to sit down with Rylend Grant to discuss crowdfunding. Rylend invites you behind the curtains of his upcoming campaign for THE JUMP 1-2. He walks you through and show you how he built his campaign, and explain in depth why he made the variety of choices that went into it. He follows up the demo with an extended Q&A.

 

Marketing comics is not a one size fits all process. Because each comic tells a unique story, and that story has a unique audience, then the relationship between the publisher and the reader needs to be tailored to give the book the best chance of success in the marketplace. Unique stories require unique marketing.

This case study is designed to walk you through the marketing analysis and execution for a single comic. Hopefully, you can take some of the insights and ideas presented here and apply them to your own comic. As always, if you have questions, please leave a comment and let us know.

Welcome to Mina’s Marketing Analysis

Story Abstract

Because the story is the...

GlobalComix is proud to announce Resilience: Creators Against COVID, our first original anthology. Resilience has helped us to adapt, mourn, and persevere the changes during the pandemic.

We wanted to do our part to help the comic community continue to persist and stay strong, and teamed up with exceptional, well known, creators to share original stories of perseverance and hope. 100% of the revenue for Resilience will go straight to the creators to donate to causes or comic shops of their choosing.

The Anthology contains 7 chapters which will be released twice a week starting on Tuesday, May 18th, for the following three weeks. Here's the full list and credits:

• Perse...

One of the things that sets GlobalComix apart from the competition is our commitment to creator development. We strive to educate, inform and support comic book creators at every level through our educational blogs, webinars, and consultation sessions. We plan to continue this service to our community this spring with a special in-depth marketing analysis.

Last fall, we introduced the general concepts of digital comic book marketing theory with two comprehensive webinars (Click here to see the video). Now, we plan to apply those ideas to a specific comic and walk you through each step of the process.

This will help you apply sound marketing principles to your own comics and...

In this panel, star creators and industry pros discuss the ins and outs of crowdfunding a comic.

Panelists:
● Adam Lawson is the writer of The Kill Journal and The Eighth from Failed Superheroes Club. He is also the creator of the TT RPG Asunder, and writer/director of Escape the Night, Sagas of Sundry, & Spell Slingers.

● Honor Vincent is the multitalented writer and creator of Andraste, and writes for a variety of platforms as well.

● Rylend Grant is the Ringo Award-winning creator of comics like Aberrant, Banjax, The Jump, and The Peacekeepers. He’s worked for 15+ years in Hollywood, developing film and television projects - mostly big, poppy action movies -...

Hey there and welcome to GlobalComix! This video is designed to give you a quick introduction to the platform and illustrate the experience of readers and publishers at a glance.

In this video Eric takes you step by step through how to publish a release on GlobalComix. All you need are your files and you're ready to go!

Publish your comics now: https://globalcomix.com/publish

Pro-tip: We accept most file formats, though you can always click "File Requirements" on your 'Releases' page to break the details down more specifically.

Learn the ropes of making your comic more interactive to greatly improve the reading experience for your stories.

Money. In one way or another, you need it to make your comic. And we're here to open up that discussion in more detail with you.

We'll go over the economic realities facing comic makers right now, how to understand the tools and options at your disposal, how you can get others to invest money into your comic, and what the tradeoffs are.

Learn to use the GlobalComix analytics tool so you can get the most out of promoting your comic to grow your audience.

GlobalComix presents a Digital Marketing Webinar Part 2, comprehensively covering the basics of what it takes to bring your work to market, specifically geared towards comic and graphic novel creators.

Are you a creator or a publisher? Create your free account on www.globalcomix.com in seconds, and have your uploads ready for your fans in minutes.

Are you a comic enthusiast and reader? Create your free account on www.globalcomix.com to start reading instantly!

GlobalComix presents a Digital Marketing Webinar, comprehensively covering the basics of what it takes to bring your work to market, specifically geared towards comic and graphic novel creators.

Our recent comic book crowdfunding webinar offered a lot of information, insight, and inspiration. The only downside to the evening was the little time we had to cover all of the insightful questions you asked. I’ve collected ten of the most relevant questions here and answered them as a resource for you. We had 99% of attendees request a follow-up, so we will be announcing one shortly so be on the lookout. In the meantime, happy crowdfunding, and wishing you success. Thanks to all the participants who asked questions.

Before we get into it, next Tuesday, March 23rd @ 8pm, panelist Rylend Grant will be taking you behind the curtain of his newest campaign for THE JUMP 1-2. And...

This Thursday evening, GlobalComix is hosting a crowdfunding webinar with Kickstarter superstars Adam Lawson, Honor Vincent, Rylend Grant, and Oriana Leckert. You can use this link to register, but if you want to prep for the event, check out these four posts I put together over the past month.

Why Should You Consider Crowdfunding Your Comic?

What Are the Elements of a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign?

How Do You Prepare for a Crowdfunding Campaign?

How Do You Manage Your Comics Crowdfunding Campaign?

Our panel of experts will share their experiences, suggest best practices, and answer your questions. Until then, have fun with your comic.

Gamal

Last week, we talked about the elements of a campaign and how you can put your book in a position for a successful Kickstarter in preparation for our upcoming crowdfunding webinar. This week, we’re going to wrap up our discussion of comics crowdfunding by walking through the management of the campaign.

Your ultimate goal is to combine your talent and your story with your marketing and advertising to inspire your target market to support your campaign before the end date.

How Do You Create Engagement During the Campaign?

Just before the campaign begins and on the launch date, try to draw as much attention to the campaign as possible. Treat this like an event, similar to a movie...

Last week, we talked about the reasons you should consider a crowdfunding campaign for your comic. This week, I’d like to explore the elements of a campaign and how you can put your book in a position for a successful Kickstarter.

There are resources you’ll need to manage and decisions you’ll have to make before you start your crowdfunding campaign. This checklist will walk you through some of the major things to consider.

• Talent Management: Determine who from your comic book team will be able to assist in the campaign. Figure out what their schedule is going to be during the time you plan to crowdfund, and how you are going to compensate them for their work.

•...

By Gamal Hennessy

Last week, we talked about the reasons you should consider a crowdfunding campaign for your comic. This week, I’d like to explore the elements of a campaign and how you can put your book in a position for a successful Kickstarter.

What Can You Use to Reach Your Crowdfunding Goal?

There are five common components you’ll need to create a compelling campaign. 

1) The story in your book: You need to be able to explain how your comic will benefit your readers. Take a good long look at your characters and your genre so you can give details on why this story is unique enough for them to support.

2) The story of your team: The narrative of how your book came...

While an enterprising comic book creator can use monetization or direct sales to make money from their comic, crowdfunding has gained popularity at all levels of the industry. Kickstarter alone has generated over $127,000,000 for over 10,000 comics. This post is an introduction to our month-long exploration of crowdfunding and how it can help your comic be successful as a lead up to our crowdfunding webinar on March 4th, 2021.

What is the Secret to Crowdfunding?

Crowdfunding is the process of raising money from a large group of people online in what is often referred to as a campaign. As an independent comic book publisher, the secret to a successful crowdfunding campaign is hidden in the...

By Gamal Hennessy

When a potential reader is interested in your comic, one of their first logical questions will be “how much does this cost?” Your answer to that question involves a delicate balance of conditions that is more art than science. While you could sell your comic for any price you want, some prices may prove more beneficial than others depending on your situation.

How Are Prices Determined?

Price theory is an economic concept that states the optimal market price, or equilibrium, is the point at which the total number of products available for sale can be reasonably consumed by potential customers. As an independent comic book publisher, your equilibrium price is the...

by Gamal Hennessy

There are several ways to turn your comic into revenue. As we saw last week, you can use indirect monetization in the form of advertising or affiliate marketing. Next month, we’ll start to look at the crowdfunding phenomenon in comics. Today, we’ll look at the basic concept of trading your comic for cash. Specifically, I want to discuss how sales funnels allow you to take advantage of your marketing and maximize the financial potential of your book.

What is a Sales Funnel?

A sales funnel is a theoretical, multi-step process that transforms prospective browsers into long-term buyers. As a comic publisher, your sales funnel can transform ideal readers into true...

It might seem counterintuitive to try making money from your comic by giving it away. If you spent a lot of time and investment dollars to bring your book to market, why would you offer it for free? The answer is monetization, or turning a non-revenue generating asset into cash.

Traditional broadcast television in America makes money from selling the eyeballs of their viewers to advertisers. People don’t have to pay money to watch networks like NBC, but they do have to deal with commercials, one way or another. One of YouTube’s business models is similar, where short ads are placed in front of or inside videos to generate revenue. Many mobile apps use the same monetization...

Most comic creators want to sell as many copies as possible of their work, but they might not know when or if their book is profitable or not.

To answer this important business question, it helps to understand the financial condition of your book before and after it goes on sale.

The three basic economic questions you need to answer for each of your comics are:

1. How many copies do you need to sell to make back the money you put into it?
2. How do you know if your comic is profitable?
3. How can you keep track of your comic’s financial performance?

Answering each of these questions involves understanding a few basic definitions and formulas that I’ll try to walk you through...



Last month, we started talking about creating a budget for your comic book publishing (See How to Create a Budget for Your Comics). Now that we’ve taken a few weeks to look at the different financing options, I’d like to expand on that discussion a little bit here by highlighting the different types of things an aspiring comic book publisher needs to consider when allocating limited resources.

Publishing comics requires more than just paying for page rates and printing. There are at least seven different categories of expenses, each with smaller subcategories.

Initial Costs:  Getting your business off the ground

Company registration
Intellectual property clearance and...

As part of the lead up to our free financing webinar on October 29th, I’d like to explore the fundamentals of creating business management as it pertains to your aspiring comic book company.

What is Business Management?

Management is the organization and coordination of business activities to achieve defined objectives. As an independent publisher, this means finding the best ways to use your time, energy, and resources to achieve the milestones and goals for your comic.

Now as a creative individual, you might consider business management a subject to avoid. If your goal is to make comics, then dealing with budgets, contracts, and schedules might be the last thing you want to do....



Last week, we started talking about finding outside investment for your comic (See How Can You Get Others to Invest in Your Comic?) I’m going to finish off the list of different types of outside investment this week, but keep in mind we’ll go more in-depth in on this list during our free comic book financing webinar on October 29th.

1. HELOC
a. Description: A Home Equity Line of Credit Loans (HELOC) is a loan that provides a line of credit using your home as collateral . The amount of money available to you depends on the amount of equity you have in your home and your credit rating.

b. Advantages:
i. HELOCs are similar to credit cards in that you only pay interest on...

After you figure out how much you can invest in your comic (See my earlier posts on self-financing), you may find that you don’t have enough to fully fund your publishing based on your initial budget. That’s when it’s time to go out into the world and find more money.

Before we go into details about getting investors and the different types of investment, we should understand that in many cases, it is very difficult to convince anyone to invest money in an untested comic book idea. The three economic realities of comic publishing we discussed earlier reduce the risk tolerance of most potential investors to the point where your offer isn’t attractive to them. From...



Tony Stark money isn’t the same as Peter Parker money. Different people have access to different levels and sources of personal finances. Each circumstance has unique advantages, disadvantages, and factors to think about in relation to your comic. As you review these self-financing options, keeping mind that these are broad overviews of complex financial instruments and they shouldn’t be used without understanding the risks and rewards. (See What are the Risks and Rewards of Financing Your Own Comic?)

1. Savings
a. Description: This is the money you already have in the bank. It could come from money you save over time, tax refunds, or selling Vibranium on the black...

So far this month, we’ve taken a look at the three economic realities of comic book publishing and the basics for creating a comic book budget. Now that you have an idea of how much money your comic needs before the idea can become a reality, the next logical question is “where will the money come from?”

In general, there are two sources of money: your money and someone else’s money. Let’s look at your potential as an investment source first, before we go reaching into someone else’s pocket.

What Are the Advantages of Investing Your Money to Make a Comic?

It is not unusual for an independent publisher to dip into their own pockets to publish their comic....

Before you sell your house, beg your grandmother for money, or rob a bank to publish your comic, it helps to know how much money you need in the first place. It doesn’t make any sense to spend a lot of time stressing about cash when you don’t have a clear idea of the costs you’re trying to cover. Of course, prices change and unexpected expenses are more common than you think, but if you have a basic idea of your costs, it will help you focus your revenue collection efforts.

In general, there are seven types of costs you need to consider when you decide to publish your first comic:

1. Initial Costs: This is the money to get off the ground. It includes the costs to set...


Now that the summer is over, we’re going to shift gears away from marketing and discuss another facet of comic book publishing that doesn’t get much attention. We’re going to spend the next few weeks discussing how you can pay to get your comic out into the world. But any discussion about financing comic book publishing has to begin with a disclaimer:

What you are going to read in the next few weeks isn’t financial advice and or legal advice. These are concepts you can consider when deciding if and how to fund your project, but before you do anything concerning money, consult your financial advisor. You should also speak to anyone in your life who might be relying...

There are a lot of things you can do on social media to market your comic (See How Should You Market Your Book on Social Media?). There are also a few things you should not do if you want to give your book the best chance to succeed. This isn’t as easy as it sounds. Every year, dozens of companies and brands stumble on social media in ways that damage their image. While no one is perfect, these six concepts can add to the previous list of tips to help keep you out of trouble.

1.  Avoid Targeting the Non-Market: You have a specific story to tell to a specific group. Everyone outside that group isn’t ready for, or interested in, that message. While you need to reach out to...

Earlier this week I started listing concepts that can help you market your comics using social media (See How Should You Market Your Comics on Social Media?) This post continues that discussion, with more advanced techniques.

9. Consider the potential backlash your book/team/ marketing could create. In the current social environment, any story can be seen as offensive to one group or another. Because your story will inevitably stand for something, it is likely to stand against something else and the people who support that "something else" can quickly undermine or overwhelm your marketing efforts. While you can't predict every possible attack on your book, think about how things could go...

Last week I introduced some ideas for engaging with your target market for your comic (See What Is an Example of Social Media Engagement?). This post (and the next one) will go into more detail in terms of tips you can use to improve your engagement and connection with your potential readers.

1.  Consider keeping your personal social media separate from your comic book social media: Because your friends and family might not be a part of your target market, they might not be interested in your antagonist character design survey. At the same time, your target market might not want to see your foodie posts or your vacation photos. Social media profiles are free, so it only costs you a...

It is not enough to have a comic that you want people to read. It takes more than understanding your ideal reader and your competition. The process doesn’t end when you find out where your target market gathers together. You have to interact with readers in the right way, or all your marketing efforts could be wasted. We’ve been using my Blood Bond comic example for a few weeks now. Let’s look at the broad concepts of social media engagement and then walk through the steps with our imaginary comic.

The first and most important thing to understand is that social media marketing is not an exercise in aggressive selling. Think about your own time on social media and the way...

We’re working on the digital marketing plan for the fictional comic Blood Bond.

We know what our story is about (See What is an Example of a Story Synopsis?).

We have a theoretical model of our ideal reader (See What is an Example of an Ideal Reader?).

We’ve even figured out how to find our competition for this comic (See What is an Example of Competition Analysis?).

Now we’ve reached the point where we can start to find and connect with ideal readers to create a market for our comic. This post will focus on finding your people using social media. The next one will discuss what you want to say and how you might think about saying it.

What Social Media Platform Should You...

Last week, we began an exercise designed to explain the four parts of developing a digital marketing plan. I offered a fictional vampire crime graphic novel called Blood Bond to use as an example. (See What is an example of a digital marketing story synopsis and What is an example of an ideal reader profile?) Today, I’m going to walk through how you can analyze a competing comic that appeals to your ideal reader.

If competition is the effort of two or more parties acting independently to secure the business of a third party (See What is the Competition for Your Comic?) then the competition for Blood Bond is any comic that appeals to the reader who likes supernatural criminal...

Earlier this week, I put together a story synopsis for a story called Blood Bond. The purposes of the exercise was to provide an example in developing a digital marketing case study (See What is an Example of a Digital Marketing Story Synopsis?) The next step in the process (See Our Video on the Fundamentals of Digital Marketing) is to use the synopsis to define the ideal reader.

Form 2 of the Global Comix Digital Marketing Materials is Ideal Reader Profile Analysis Form. This breaks down the ideal reader into four segments: demographic, psychographic, genre and generation. Because the characteristics of an ideal reader can be found in your story (See Who is the Ideal Reader for Your...