[THOUGHTS]: the many hats of a small press publisher

I tell people I’m a comic book writer. But the truth is, there’s so much more involved when you’re a small press publisher who publishers your own books. Writing is just the tip of the iceberg.

It’s just the beginning. You start with the writing.

Then comes the roles of Talent Scout. You need the best artist for the story at hand. Maybe it’s someone you’ve worked with before. If not, you may spend countless hours scouring social media, Connecting Comic Book Writers and Artists on Facebook, or looking through countless Behance and DeviantArt portfolios.

Coinciding with that is the role of Chief Financial Officer. How much can you afford for the project? Does their page rate align with a number you feel you can make back on Kickstarter? Are they willing (probably not) to accept payment from crowdfunds? Maybe they’ll split it.

How will the artist interpret your script? Will they even be on the same wavelength? Maybe they have another angle to add to your story that you never thought of.

Then you find somebody. Now the fun begins.

Next comes your job as Project/Production Manager. You give the artist your script and poof, you have a complete comic by this time next month, right? …right?

Not quite. While your mileage may vary during the production process or you choose a different route, here’s what I choose to do more times than not.

• Work with the artist on layouts. Sometimes I’ll draw (very crudely, mind you) specific angles of a certain panel if I feel the story needs it. Otherwise, I ask the artist if they’ll do just as crude layouts to see where their mind is on the script. Positioning of characters, angles of actions, pacing. The like. We’re talking super crude stuff here, stick characters and the like

• Once approved, let’s move onto pencils. Refined layouts that begin to set the tone of the story. Pouring the concrete of the book’s foundation.

• Then comes the ink. The cured concrete.

Then the artist is done!

But the art is only halfway there.

You have to find a colorist. Then you have to find a letterer. All while wrangling multiple files of varying completion.

Shit starts to get pretty wild if you’re working on multiple titles at a time, like many of us are. Hence the whole Project Manage part of it, managing not only artists and contractors but also files.

But now the art is done. What next?

If you were lucky to get picked up by a publisher with direct market distribution, think Image, Dark Horse, Boom, Oni, or Mad Cave, some might consider the job done right here given the publishers will do handle the rest of production ahead of sending it to print, complete with a bit of marketing and publication for you.

Let’s assume this particular comic is going to Kickstarter. In that case, making the comic is only half the battle.

You’ve got to put on your Marketing/Business Development hat and think of what items you want backers to pledge for. Variant covers, bookmarks, prints, shirts, and other pieces of swag are all fair game. With the understanding that you should examine other campaigns and see what pieces work best with what genres.

And it’s constantly changing, so you need to keep abreast of best practices and trends.

Once you know what you’re doing item-wise, you need to put on your Graphic Designer hat and build out the campaign page. Any campaign should have images with each pledge level at bare minimum, and there should be some type of headers on the Story page to help break up the content. Most should also include mockups of the items being offered through the campaign as well.

Then once that’s ready you press the big green button that lets you go live. And you switch into the Publicist role. You book as many podcast interviews as you can, you e-mail as many comic news sites as the Gmail SMTP servers allow. You ask Barbra at Fanbase Press to pretty please include you on their weekly roundup. You pray Kat Calamia chooses your campaign for her monthly Kickstarter roundup series.

And you pitch your little heart out. Ad nauseum. The same stuff over and over and over and over. All in hopes a comic reader will see a video clip or an article and be driven to toss a couple bucks your way.

And then you refresh your campaign page day and night, hoping to see that little green bar fill up to 100% and more so you can do stretch goals.

Success! You’re funded! Now you get the Kickstarter funds and get back into project managing and production. You put together the files to send to print, you distribute digital copies, and you order all the additional items.

Once everything comes in, you spend way too much time throwing bags into boards so your comics will arrive to your readers with as little damage as possible. After all, you bought Gemini mailers instead of throwing your comic in one of those flimsy ass cardboard envelopes that a postal worker (or five) will inevitably bend in half at some underfunded post office in the middle of Oklahoma.

When you take the leap to make comics, you’re not just a Writer. You’re also a Talent Scout, and a Chief Financial Officer. You’re a Project Manager and a Marketer. You’re a Graphic Designer and Publicist. You’re even a Warehouse Foreman and Fulfillment Coordinator.

And then, for whatever reason, your brain tells you to start it all over again.