Advertising: Why the HELL isn't anybody doing it right?! Article by aviewaskewed, 12:44 AM 05th Apr Disclaimer: The following column is entirely the opinions of the author (even at that we aren‘t sure), any similarity to the opinions of any other staff or affiliate of theendlesscrew.com is entirely coincidental and unintentional. Unless specifically noted otherwise, all creator comments have been gleaned from other sources and no creators have actually endorsed any aspect of this column. Remember how I said last week this column was endorsed by Speakeasy? Yeah, that’ll be pulled after this week… So since we last saw our hero, he had just done a column reviewing V for Vendetta (or actually, he had done a column about collecting, but since he’s trying a new policy of working a week ahead of schedule with most columns so as they won’t be late, you’ll see the V column before you see this one…it’s a brain bender I know, but still not as confusing as Wonder Girl’s post-Crisis origin), and had missed throwing his two cents into the collapse of Speakeasy because of said column…and that week where his lazy nibs couldn’t get a column together. But this week, he wants to talk about it…or rather, he wants to use their collapse as a backdrop for what he sees as a failing of many publishers and creators these days, and how to fix it. Had enough of that third person opening? Me too. Two weeks ago, Speakeasy comics shuttered it’s doors, like so many other publishers before it, the money just ran out. There’s been a lot of talk and analysis about why they collapsed, all of it quite good, and all of it the same old song and dance. Too many books, and not enough knowledge of what they were publishing. I cannot think of one single book Speakeasy published other then Rich Johnston’s Flying Friar, and that’s only because Johnson plugged the hell out of it in his own CBR column for weeks and weeks leading up to it’s release. Speakeasy fell into the trap so many publishers are falling into these days: They put out “lines” of books before they have any earthly idea if they can sell even ONE book as a lasting property. Not to mention they put marketing of any title dead freaking last, after the initial press releases to tout their company…nothing, the news only seemed to come as they were shutting down the door. Speakeasy never developed a brand, and that’s a problem a lot of publishers deal with. I’m not saying you only need to publish one kind of material to be successful (though Marvel and DC certainly show it’s a sustainable model…if you have a library of characters that have been in the American consciousness for so long), but I AM saying you need to have an identity to the company, you need to put books out that make people say “oh, well, they specialize in this sort of thing” Speakeasy never had that, you never could peg what they did. Being all things to all people has never really worked for others in business, and has proven a disastrous model for a comics publisher. What new publishers need to do is firstly get into this business with one goal in mind: Don’t be a fan boy with a “Yippee! I’m gonna make comic books!” mentality, it’s great to love the business, it’s how Marvel and DC were built in the first place, and sustained through the bad times. Love is not the issue here, but you also need to have the mind of “I am here to make money, I am here to publish material that is going to sell, and create a company and a brand that will last”. That means you need to find talented people to bring you good ideas, and you need to sell those ideas. Push them, advertise them, look at people like what Stan Lee, and other successful publishers have done. Have a critical eye to say “what was that magical thing that they were doing to get the reader to give that book a try?” Because let’s face it publishers, you have a lot to worry about being the man in charge, but when it comes to actually selling the book, all you have to do is facilitate getting the word on the product out. The creator’s need to keep the quality high, so people will keep coming back. Which brings us to the creators. Frankly, publishers have a ton of things to do, management things, like making sure your book gets produced and out on time, they may not always have the time, nor the money, nor even the inclination to advertise your stuff. Sometimes these are cold and distant business figures. So what YOU need to do, is work your butt off getting the word out. Spend money to make money people. If you can buy some ad space in a literary magazine do it, if you can beg Wizard for a write-up, or pay to get one…do it. I know of some people who are buying ad space in Previews to keep their books being advertised, not to mention it’s a better way to get noticed then being a little blurb somewhere behind the major publisher listings. If this is your baby, if this is something you want to be the next big thing, that you can keep on writing, or drawing, or whatever, you need to get the stardust of actually being published out of your eyes, and work at keeping it alive. Make your publisher see what you see firstly, but there’s another form of advertising that can actually be free, and I think can be moderately effective, yet I don’t hear a lot of people talking about it. Internet forums, seriously. Internet forums have become prevalent in a way letter columns could have only hoped to be. Instantaneous access between creator and fan. Now, I realize that the cost of opening a web site, maintaining and running it may daunt some (hey, I’m a website owner, so I know exactly how much it can cost), but it’s a good way to promote yourself and your works if you can get it off the ground. Remember, spend money to make money. Of course, if totally free is more you’re route, here’s a suggestion: Join an established creator’s forum. You’ve got jinxworld by Bendis, Millarworld from Millar, you’ve got Peter Jenkins, and the list goes on and on. Most of these guys are tolerant, if not encouraging of people plugging their work. The trick though is that you plug responsibly. Here’s where we get into my direct experience with this form of advertising. I’m the principal administrator for The Endless Crew forum, I am a moderator for Newgrounds.com, a substantially bigger forum, and hold mod positions, mostly ceremonial, at other forums. Just saying that by way of saying “this is why I think I have some right to say ‘I know what I’m talking about’”. What you need to do when you come onto a forum you do not own and you’re looking to advertise your work is you need to remember that you are a guest. You don’t own the place, you have no vested interest in it’s success, and likewise the folks running it have no vested interest in your success either. You are entering into a relationship which is symbiotic in nature. Most forums will provide you avenues for you to use to promote yourself, usually a profile space, and a signature space. These are your areas to promote. Trying to post a thread to promote your stuff is a bad idea for a lot of reasons. Most forums have rules against that, and any forum that has rules against it is going to have moderators to enforce that rule. I personally hate like nothing else people who do threads promoting their own stuff. I think it is disrespect to the community, and I will delete and ban such offenders ON SIGHT on all sites I have a position to do so at. Forums are a wonderful tool of community, and it’s a completely boneheaded maneuver to attempt to use them to plug yourself over all else because it won’t work. Your thread either gets deleted, or ignored, and if it’s a high traffic place, it’s pushed to the back end anyway. So if you’re going the forum route for some press, you need to use your designated promotional areas, then you need to just participate, make friends, mingle, interested people are going to click your stuff, and you’ll be able to get your friends to try it. There you go, free promotion and plugs. But it requires effort. That’s all I’ve got in terms of suggestions for you aspiring, and current pros out there. If you want to be the star of tomorrow, you have to get the work of today noticed. Too many creators and companies seem to think that they’re just going to hit on a concept that sells itself. That is absolutely not going to happen, even the most successful properties like Spider-Man had to, and continue to need to be, marketed so that they can maximize their exposure, and earning potential. If you just want to be published, fine, go find a publisher willing, and just put out an issue or two and say “ok, I’m published”. But if you want a career in comics, then you need to do the hard work of keeping yourself working, this goes for publishers too. If you’re trying to run before you can walk, you’ll stumble every time. -------------------------------------------- As I've said elsewhere, the lateness of this column, and lack of updates is due to our new puppy at home (his name is Bo for the curious), and the constant attention needs that such a creature incurs. I will try to get something more like back on schedule as we get him more adjusted and housebroken and such. But until that happens, updates from me are going to be erratic at best. I thank everyone who has stuck by us, and continues reading this space whenever a new column hits, you put up with a lot of crap from your humble author, and he appreciates it muchly. Back to Rants