How to Form a Comics Collective

How to Form a Comics Collective

Yesterday, I shared thoughts on rethinking a concept from the early days of webcomics — the collective. Today, I have...
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Rethinking Comics Collectives

Rethinking Comics Collectives

In the first decade of webcomics, collectives were king. Pseudo-syndicates like Keenspot and Modern Tales helped to kick off the...
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NCS Awards — Call for Entries

NCS Awards — Call for Entries

The National Cartoonists Society has released its call for entries. Here's what you need to know: Divisional Awards DEADLINE: January...
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Estimated taxes are due next Thursday!

Estimated taxes are due next Thursday!

If you pay estimated income taxes on a quarterly schedule, The deadline for your fourth-quarter payment is approaching. Q4 payments...
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ComicLab Ep 491 — Why don’t you do MORE?!?

ComicLab Ep 491 — Why don’t you do MORE?!?

What does it really mean when someone looks at your career and says, “You should be doing more”? In this episode...
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Networking — a guide for cartoonists

Networking — a guide for cartoonists

Since 2013, I've advocated that independent comic artists quit exhibiting at cons. That's nearly ten years. And since that very...
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The 2-2-1 Rule: My Promotional Strategy for 2026

The 2-2-1 Rule: My Promotional Strategy for 2026

At the end of every year, I do something that used to feel a little scary—but now feels absolutely essential:...
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My Predictions and Goals for 2026

My Predictions and Goals for 2026

Every January, Dave Kellett and I sit down on ComicLab and do something that is equal parts tradition and therapy:...
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Comicraft’s New Year’s Day Sale

Comicraft’s New Year’s Day Sale

If you've always wanted to build out your comics-font library, today's the day! Comicraft traditionally holds a sale on Jan 1...
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ComicLab Ep 420 — Predictions and Goals for 2026

ComicLab Ep 420 — Predictions and Goals for 2026

Cartoonists Dave Kellett and Brad Guigar make their predictions for 2026 and share their goals for the new year. Also...
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Archive Dive

Friday Archive Dive: Ames Lettering Guide

Today’s Archive Dive is from when we discussed the finer points of the ubiquitous Ames Lettering Guide.

The Ames Lettering Guide is a little daunting when you begin to use it. For general use, I’m going to suggest ignoring the holes on the left-hand side of the tool as well as the metric measurements.

Typography terms

Before we get started, let’s cover some typography terms.

Read the entire post and comment there.

 

by on September 19, 2014
Posted In: Archive Dive
Microphone

Podcasting tips

Out of the many ways that webcartoonists can help brand themselves and build their community, podcasting may be one of the most powerful — and most overlooked — method. If you decide to launch a podcast, here’s a few things you’ll want to know going in.

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by on September 18, 2014
Posted In: Marketing / Social Media
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Speed up your Mac

There’s nothing — nothing — more frustrating than trying to beat a deadline with a slow computer. So, what do you do if you can’t afford the best and newest hardware? You’d be surprised, but a little time spent cleaning up the hard drive you’ve already got will yield impressive returns in terms of speed and useability. Here are some tips for both Windows and Macs that you can do right now to turbo-boost your hard drive.

As always, before futzing around with your computer, please make sure you’ve backed up any and all important files to a safe place!

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by on September 17, 2014
Posted In: Tech
3 Comments
Hot Seat critique

Hitch It / Ditch It Hot Seat: Open Call

It’s been a while since we’ve done a “Hitch It / Ditch It” Hot Seat, so let’s kick off a round this month.

The rules are simple: I go to your site and point of one thing you’re doing well, and one thing that might stand some improvement. The discussion goes on from there are the members join in with their thoughts.

To participate, please give me the following in the Comments below:

• Your name

• Comic title

• Your comic’s URL

by on September 16, 2014
Posted In: Hot Seat critiques
10 Comments

Amazon Affiliate ads

I have always held a pretty low opinion of affiliate advertising. And, to be honest, it’s still not my preferred form of ad revenue.

However, as I have grown my site, I have found the value in devoting a certain percentage of my site’s advertising to affiliate advertising — specifically those from Amazon’s Affiliate Associates program.

Here’s how I incorporate Amazon’s affiliate ads into my site — and why.

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by on September 15, 2014
Posted In: Advertising
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Archive Dive

Friday Archive Dive: Character Tags

Today’s Archive Dive dates back to September 2012, when I discussed how Characters Tags are implemented in both Comic Easel and ComicsPress.

Since switching to Comic Easel, I’ve become a big fan of character tags. Using character tags, I can give readers more information about the characters that appear in a specific update. You can see it in action below.

Read the step-by-step tutorial (and comment) here.

by on September 12, 2014
Posted In: Archive Dive
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Book Cover Hot Seat: NPC, Love is in the Blood

This is the last installment in a series of Hot Seat critique posts that will focus on book-cover design. As with all of the Hot Seat critiques, this is an opportunity for us to discuss real-life issues in cartooning. I’ll open with a few remarks, and then please feel free to join the discussion with your own thoughts.

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by on September 11, 2014
Posted In: Hot Seat critiques
11 Comments

Using PayPal to collect Sales Tax

Sales tax is a state-mandated tax on goods and products. Since sales-tax guidelines vary from state to state, please take a moment to check out the Web site of legal-guide publisher NOLO, which has an excellent state-by-state breakdown of sales tax agencies. To help ensure you’re complicit in your home state, be sure to go to the proper sales-tax agency and familiarize yourself with its procedures and expectations. You may be required to register for a sales-tax license or a seller’s permit.

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by on September 10, 2014
Posted In: Business, Merchandise
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4 Comments

Book Cover Design: Subject Headings

If you look at the back cover of almost every book you’ll find in a bookstore, check out the lower left-hand corner* and you’ll see something like this:

ART / Business Aspects
COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS / Superheroes
 HUMOR / Form / Comic Strips & Cartoons

They’re so ubiquitous that many self-publishers take them for granted, but they’re worth a little consideration — especially if your plans for publishing include distributing your books to bookstores and other retail outlets.

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by on September 9, 2014
Posted In: Merchandise, Print publishing
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2 Comments