Just a handy reminder: If you pay estimated income taxes, your first-quarter payment is due today.
In the same spirit of last week’s Q&A with Robert Khoo, we’re now accepting questions for Scott Kurtz to answer. Here’s your chance to pick the brain of a guy who has an incredible breadth of experience in webcomics. Where Khoo handled questions from the business side, here’s a chance to explore the topic from the creative side.
Post your questions below.
Q: I’m wanting to launch my webcomic this fall and i’d like to incorporate it into my existing art blog rather than having a separate site. I suppose it would be a layout similar to you, Kurtz or maybe Kris Straub with the strip at the top and and blog underneath it. What I’ll be posting in the blog is other work on top of stuff relating to the strip. So my question is: Would it be wrong to post pages I’ve colored for DC (or anybody else) as well as art I’ve done for other people on the same page (or even site) I host my strip on? Assuming of course im making money off of ads.
This is an excellent question. We all know that a blog adds considerable value to a webcomic, but one of the most perplexing hurdles for a new webcomic is: What do I blog about?
The answer to the above question, in my opinion, is yes. With an asterisk.
See, the reason the blog is so powerful is that it’s one of the strongest tools you have in building your community. In the blog, your choice of topics tells your readers what this site is about, who you are, and most importantly, what this community is about. Your choice of topics will make members of your community feel welcome, intrigue them, and encourage them to become more active on your site.
So, you certainly can post work of your own that is unrelated to the strip itself. After all, it’s your work. And you’re sharing something that helps describe who you are.
However, this cannot replace or stand in the way of the overall community-building effort you’re making in that blog.
So, if the coloring samples are sprinkled in among a liberal sampling of other posts that help to focus your site, then I say go for it.
However, if these posts are part or a jumbled mess of “I don’t know what else to do” posts, then you have to do a lot more thinking about who your readers are — and what do you have to do to make them feel like your site is their home.
This thread about con pitches got me thinking about the subject.
I think the key to a good con pitch is to think like a reader — not like a creator.
For example, when we talk about comics we use words like the following:
Not surprisingly, these words don’t carry the same weight with our intended audience as they do among us. We use those words and phrases to communicate thoughts on a certain level, but our readers… they just want to be entertained.
No reader describes himself as a devotee of slice-of-life family comedies.
To write a good elevator pitch, you have to first understand whom your audience (intended and/or actual audience) is.
Getting into the mindset of your readers allows you to use the words that have special meaning to that community.
And one of those words might be one of the words listed above for your audience.
But it’s probably not.
Two sentences. Tops. The best pitch is one sentence. And a short one at that.
Editing a pitch means being absolutely brutal. Every word that doesn’t help deliver significant meaning is actually blocking the meaning.
“It’s like the ‘Addams Family’ meets ‘Lost in Space.'”
We hear these kinds of pitches used all the time when people describe selling ideas for movies and television. And, to be sure, if the mash-up is chosen accurately, you can build off the concepts carried by each component to communicate your idea.
But beware, every once in while, you’ll meet someone who didn’t like “Lost in Space.”
Use active, expressive words. You’re trying to generate a little interest here. Your vocabulary should reflect that.
Once you’ve honed your pitch on paper, start repeating it. Memorize it. Rehearse it. The more you say it, the more you’re going to erode the corners off it, wearing away exterraneous words and phrases. It’s also a great way to lock it into your subconscious, where your brain can continue to work to improve it.
Last week we announced an open call for questions to be answered by Robert Khoo, Business Guy for Penny Arcade. Today, he’s here with answers to roughly one metric ton of inquiries.
I split Robert’s responses into two posts since he covered so much ground. This is the second half. The first updated yesterday.
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Last week we announced an open call for questions to be answered by Robert Khoo, Business Guy for Penny Arcade. Today, he’s here with answers to roughly one metric ton of inquiries.
There’s so much information here that I’ve decided to split this post into two parts, the second of which will update tomorrow.
The content you are trying to access is only available to members.
Wanna see a webcartoonist sweat? Ask him about his retirement plans.
The fact of the matter is that so many of us are working so hard to simply grow our businesses that we can’t even fathom putting away extra money for retirement.
But time marches on, and we’re each going to be dealing with this issue sooner or later, so let’s take a few seconds to tackle the subject.
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While I was exhibiting at Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC, a Webcomics.com member noticed part of my table display and remarked about its usefulness. It occurred to me that I may have never shared that particular tip, so here it is now.
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Wibiya has developed a javascript-based tool that allows you to combine several forms of social-networking media with some very useful, all-purpose Web-site usability applications into a toolbar that appears at the bottom of your site.
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For the next piece by Robert Khoo, he’d like about 10-15 questions to answer. This is the chance to ask the Business Guy of Penny Arcade to address specific topics.
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