24-Hour Comics Day is in a few days — October 7, to be exact.
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I was lucky enough to get a generous review on io9.com a few years ago. And in the comments section under the review, the response was overwhelmingly positive. I was being tweeted, and e-mailed and Liked.
It was a really good weekend.
Until I read this.
“I tried giving this comic a read, and it wasn’t funny at all.
What a waste of time.”
My pageviews were astronomical. People were clearly pouring through the archives. And the positive comments were kind to say the least. Obviously, I was doing something right.
But you know which comment stayed with me: “What a waste of time.”
This is where I’m supposed to say something wise and relevant and maybe even witty — something that puts a lightbulb over your head… something to either make you see things my way or solidify your opposition. It’s what I do, right?
Well, guess what? I can’t.
Let’s face it. We do what we do because of love — every last one of us. We put a lot of love into our work. We put a lot of ourselves into our work.
And “What a waste of time” feels just like being laughed at when you ask your crush to the prom.
Or… ahem… so I’m told…
We talked about this on Webcomics Weekly a long time ago. I remember Dave Kellett saying that he always tries to consider the motivation for a trollish comment. “A lot of people lead very, very sad lives,” he said. “And, let’s face it, as webcartoonists, we’re living out our dreams.”
Nothing makes a sad, angry person more sad and more angry than seeing a happy person. And it’s only natural to lash out.
“What a waste of time.”
Nope. It still stings.
OK. Try this. Maybe the guy is naturally a jerk. The io9 Web site lets me see all of his recent comments, and it’s clear, the guy has a track record of being That Guy who likes to yell Boo when everyone else is cheering.
So, he’s just naturally a crank, right? Can’t take a crank seriously, can you?
“What a waste of time.”
That didn’t help either.
In that same podcast, Scott said that if you automatically discount the mean comments, then you have to automatically discount the praise.
But I really liked the praise. I liked getting Liked.
And if I accept that, I have to accept “What a waste of time.”
It’s time to face facts. This guy just did not like my comic, and there’s nothing I can do about it. It was unreasonable to think that 100% of any audience was going to be completely enthralled by my work, after all, and he was in the percentage that was decidedly un-enthralled.
So then I looked back on what I had been doing since the review was posted.
I was re-assuring myself with Web site stats, re-reading tweets, re-counting Like scores, using my stats to project tomorrow’s figures, re-reading the comments in the io9.com thread, researching the negative poster for insights to why he didn’t like my comic, re-re-reading tweets…
Whew.
WHAT A WASTE OF TIME!
Because while I was doing all of that, I neglected to update my store to include the newest Evil Inc book! So, when a bunch of those new readers ordered book packages, they ordered four when they could have ordered all five. Some people just ordered Volume 4 when they could have ordered Volume 5 — which I think is the stronger book for a new reader. Updating that storefront would have been — far and away — the better use of my time.
Some people don’t like my strip.
But if I allow myself to pay too much attention to those people, I run a serious risk of not paying enough attention to the people who do.
Independent comics have been on my mind recently — specifically, how can we as indie comics artists better present our work to a comics-buying public that seems to be cooling on Marvel and DC?
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This is the next of a series of Hot Seat critiques in which we’ll be discussing members’ Patreon outreach. Next up…
The content you are trying to access is only available to members.
This is the next of a series of Hot Seat critiques in which we’ll be discussing members’ Patreon outreach. Next up…
The content you are trying to access is only available to members.
This is a follow-up to Episode 29, when we talked about decided when to quit webcomics — or, more appropriately, take time for a creative cocoon. We have the response from the person who originally wrote in, plus we’ll talk about a cartoonist who thinks that readers won’t buy indie comics. Correction: They won’t buy crappy indie comics.
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You’ve been doing your webcomic for over ten years now, and you’re just not getting anywhere. Worse yet, you have family obligations and other pressures that make it hard for you to devote time to your craft. It’s time to make the hard decision — not to quit — but to let your creativity cocoon for a more opportune time.
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There seems to be some misinformation going around about whether it’s legal to ship comics using the Media Mail service of the U.S. Postal Service.
Since misunderstanding this could cost you thousands, let’s get it straightened out now.
Here’s the passage on the USPO Web site regarding comics and Media Mail — with the pertinent passage in bold.
Media Mail packages may not contain advertising. Comic books do not meet this standard. Books may contain incidental announcements of other books and sound recordings may contain incidental announcements of other sound recordings. In accordance with standards in the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM), Section 170, Media Mail packages must have a delivery address and the sender’s return address and are subject to inspection by the Postal Service™. Upon such inspection, matter not eligible for the Media Mail rate may be assessed at the proper price and sent to the recipient postage due, or the sender may be contacted for additional postage.
So, if you’re shipping graphic novels that do not contain advertising, you can use Media Mail to do so — as long as those graphic novels don’t contain ads.
If you’re shipping floppies — i.e. monthly comics that contain advertising — then you may not use Media Mail.
If you pay estimated income taxes on a quarterly schedule, your third-quarter payment must be mailed today.
For more on the subject, go here.
Patreon introduced a lay layout feature today, and that’s great news for comics. Here’s what you can do to make the most of it…
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