Should you do a 2026 calendar?

Should you do a 2026 calendar?

As we head into December, you may be considering a 2026 calendar to sell to your audience. We'll talk about...
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Webcomics Confidential: Understanding Writer’s Block

Webcomics Confidential: Understanding Writer’s Block

How often are we presented with the image of tortured creative souls, staring plaintively at the tools of their craft,...
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ComicLab Ep 417 — Print on Demand… When There’s No Demand

ComicLab Ep 417 — Print on Demand… When There’s No Demand

Cartoonists Brad Guigar and Dave Kellett discuss the nuances of print-on-demand services. As Brad says, "It's a good place to start,...
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Maximizing the potential of Bluesky Starter Packs

Maximizing the potential of Bluesky Starter Packs

If you've been sharing your work on Bluesky, you're probably becoming familiar with Starter Packs. This was a significant innovation...
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Webcomics Confidential: What size should your webcomic be?

Webcomics Confidential: What size should your webcomic be?

Beginning cartoonists often ask what size they should make their comic. Many are looking for "standard" sizes. The answer is...
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Give Yourself the Gift of Time Off: Low-Impact Holiday Content Ideas for Cartoonists

Give Yourself the Gift of Time Off: Low-Impact Holiday Content Ideas for Cartoonists

The holiday season has a way of sneaking up on us — and suddenly we’re juggling year-end deadlines, family commitments,...
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ComicLab Ep 417 — Special Guest Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott from “Baby Blues”

ComicLab Ep 417 — Special Guest Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott from “Baby Blues”

Syndicated cartoonists Jerry Scott and Rick Kirkman share their journey of collaboration that spans over 35 years, focusing on their...
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How Many Social-Media Posts Per Day?

How Many Social-Media Posts Per Day?

According to a Very Popular Influencer, one should post on social media six to eight times daily. I disagree, and...
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Social media and behavioral modification

Social media and behavioral modification

B.F. Skinner's research showed that rewards and punishments can alter a subject's behavior. We can use those same simple techniques...
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Webcomics Confidential: You’re wasting money on advertising

Webcomics Confidential: You’re wasting money on advertising

Unless you have a granular knowledge of advertising, demographics, and much more, you're probably wasting money on "plug-and-play" advertising and...
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Tracking Downloads using Google Analytics

One of these days, I’m going to re-name this site “Being Dumb So You Don’t Have To Be.”

Here’s what happened. I offered a recent storyline to my readers as a digital download (PDF and MOBI versions) to test the waters for an idea I’ve been knocking around in my head.

Remembering Rich Stevens’ impressive success with a free iBooks offering recently, I rushed to my Web stats the morning after I launched the project, eagerly looking for the section in which I could find stats on the downloads of those two files — onlt to find that no such section exists. No worries, that’s what Google Analytics is for, right? Nope.
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by on February 20, 2012
Posted In: Digital publishing, Web site
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Art 101 — Sizing Original Art

Recently, I offered a post answering a question about formating a comic for print and the Web. And I shared that, in my next book, I’m filling out the layout in key areas with extra panels to smooth out bumps in the reading experience. That has required me to draw extra panels at a predetermined size — so I can “fill the holes” on the page (like the one below).

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by on February 16, 2012
Posted In: Art
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Using Calibre to create multiple digital-download files

Calibre, a free app from Centresource Interactive Agengy, is intended to allow users to process the files their e-book library so they can be uploaded to any number of readers/tablets the user might have. So if they have an entire selection of EPUB-formatted books that they’d like to read on their new Kindle Fire, it’s a small matter of using Calibre to convert the EPUB into a Kindle-friendly MOBI file.
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by on February 15, 2012
Posted In: Digital publishing
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7 Comments

Sending personal documents to a Kindle

As I’m researching digital-download possibilities, I’ve come across Kindle’s Personal Document feature. I’m looking into whether this could potentially be used to deliver comics to a user while bypassing the Kindle store. If I determine that this is a beneficial pathway, I will be posting more. In the meantime, here’s a quick primer on using this Kindle feature.
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by on February 13, 2012
Posted In: Digital publishing
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Mailbag: Color vs …humor?

Q.: I find humor often works better when something is absent or uncomfortable. For example “Life in Hell” or “Chainsawsuit” often work because of what’s not there. The imagination has to fill in the details. Just like when the audience has to connect the dots to get the punchline, the laugh is greater.

On the flip side, drama works better with details and mood. For example most superhero comics are highly illustrated and noir pictures use shadow to create danger.

The main question is, how do you color so as not to kill a joke?

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by on February 9, 2012
Posted In: Mail Bag, Writing
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Mailbag: Flexible format?

Q: You mentioned before your opinions on formating comics: that different mediums demand different layouts. I agree, but I spend a lot of time drafting flexible layouts. What has been your experiences with the Evil Inc. books? How do you maintain an efficient process? What pitfalls have you encountered over the years?

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by on February 8, 2012
Posted In: Mail Bag, Print publishing
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