Comic Bits Online -2015 Is THE Decision Year

You know, I've re-appraised my future in comics and decided what I do after 2015.

I've also had to re-think the future of Comic Bits Online.  From Yahoo 360, temporarily MySpace, Freeservers, WordSpace and now Blogger.  Total views (this is since 2012 up until which I only posted a few "in case" items due to tech problems with WordSpace) jumped from a very -but not surprising, 85 views  in 2012 to 1906116 today.

In total, Blogger, Google+ and all the sites taking feed or re-posting items from CBO has, according to the nice fellow who did this for free but usually deals with internet traffic appraisal as a job, over 6 million views. 

Gary gave me a link to all the sites but, honestly, I am not going to go double-checking.  Mainly because, as I keep pointing out, I cannot vizualise numbers -they are just a jumble to me.  Impresses some people but really infuriates a few others!  Show me that many people and I might be impressed (I would be!).

So, Comic Bits Online was going in 1999 but it was an "aside" to the printed version -Comic Bits.  I wonder how many views in total if we added all the numbers from Yahoo 360, Freeservers and WordPress?  Well, the total for all of them combined was 998, 897 and I know that because it's written down.

Over 15 years, world-wide audience and you get to see occasional photographs of me.  What more could you ask for?

Titan Books, Cinebook The 9th Art and other publishers know the value of getting their books on CBO. Hey, some posters, T-shirts, etc., would be nice...if you have XL Ts?

But CBO is unpaid work.  It brings in no income.  I can usually work on CBO between writing or drawing but other days it can be 8-10 hours and reading books for reviews is a job even if fun ay times (and a chore at others!).  I have tried offering advertising but even at what I've had called "give away prices" no takers.  Free publicity -yes.  Help the site that supports and promotes your books/company -no.

CBO is my blog and you have no right to demand that your news or PRs are posted here. I decided that as owner-editor.  In the past publishers have taken extreme -extreme- liberties and thought that because they were "big" I would never refuse to cover their news.  Ask how that turned out.

I may be poor but I have integrity.

After ten years of trying I am giving up trying to get CBO to earn money or paying advertising -that spot with the text and Green Earth could have been yours.

And so, I need to ask whether CBO continues into 2016?  Quite seriously I have made no decision but dropping CBO would give me many, many more hours of 'free' time to work on other things -I could start war gaming again!!

It all depends on several things.  I gave up on trying to get visitors to leave a comment ("T-aerial" has left some interesting information under the Buck Danny reviews).  So, what is the difference if I never posted but kept all this crap in my head?  None. I'd just not have to look at a ridiculous number.

More companies and publishers -particularly the Small Press which I have supported since the 1970s (when I initially started) -need to support CBO. Review books, event booklets -the rules are all laid out here:
http://hoopercomicart.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/the-rules-and-you-need-to-pay-attention.html

I remember when I gave up the news, reviews, previews and interviews publication Zine Zone (International) because there was near non-existent feed-back from creators/publishers -within a month 50 -50- letters (the Post Office profits went up that month!) demanding to know why I had stopped publishing ZZ?  Wouldn't I reconsider -"We're really missing it!" they wrote.  No. I had made a decision after repeated warnings that things were headed that way but everyone thought "Oh, he'll never stop publishing it!" and several later told me to my face "You and Zine Zone were such an integral part of the Small Press no one thought you'd just quit!"

Meh.

Really, CBO needs to get a lot more support because, as I've written before, you see how many UK, European or US blogs carry the same mix as CBO -if they were there CBO would not be getting this many hits.  Just to rub it in the face of a certain person who DOES keep checking this blog despite denying it(!), I'd like to quote him: "A no name comic blog -Comic Bits Online..."  Your Mother says "Hi!"

So, 2016 -CBO closing or remaining open?  Up to December I'll be unsure but once I decide it is a fact and will not be reversed (and you can probably guess from that the way I'm thinking).