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 registration
- Website creation
Ongoing Operating Costs: This is the annual cost to keep your publishing empire afloat.
- Accounting fees
- Legal fees
- Website maintenance
Creative Costs: This is the cost to pay your creative team to make the actual book:
- Editing
- Cover design
- Line art (pencils and inks)
- Flatting
- Coloring
- Lettering
- Production design
Marketing Costs: This is the cost to build a community of people to read your comic.
- Competition research (aka buying comics)
- Email campaigns
- Comic shop events
- Bookstore events
- Library events
- Convention attendance
- Influencer fees
- Publicist fees
- Marketing labor
Printing Costs: If you decide to distribute a print version of your book, this will be the cost to print physical copies.
- Single issue printing
- Trade paperback printing
- Graphic novel printing
Distribution Costs: This is the cost to get your book in the hands of readers.
- Sales labor
- Crowdfunding fees
- Single issue shipping
- Trade paperback shipping
- Graphic novel shipping
- Storage fees
- Digital download fees
Advertising Costs: This is the cost to let your readers know that your book exists.
- Advertising creative fees
- Digital advertising
- Print advertising
- Social media advertising
- Sponsorship fees
Sales Costs: The money you have to pay to make money
- Royalties
- Sales fees
- Taxes
Of course, the actual amount of each one of these line items will vary depending on your goals, your financing options, and the type of comics you want to make. Every comic does not require every type of cost. As a comic book publisher, you can choose to reduce your costs by scaling back or eliminating any expense based on your goals and your budget.
It makes sense to have a clear idea of what it costs to publish a comic, and then decide not to pay for certain things. It makes less sense to jump into comic book publishing and then get blindsided by fees and expenses you didn’t consider.
Did I leave anything out? What does your comic book publishing budget look like? Share your thoughts in the comments and let us know what you think.
Have fun with your comic.
Gamal