Just How Many Independent Publishers Are There In The US -and do they NEED publicity?

I was watching a video by collector Captainstrangelife the other day (you'll find a link on the blog roll to his You Tube channel) and he mentioned how difficult it is for Independent publishers because, obviously, all the publicity goes to Marvel, DC, Image and that other company.

He mentioned Tim Tyler and his comic, Engine, and showed some art.  Lovely black and white art.  Horror comics in particular should be in black and white.

But it got me to thinking: these Indie publishers all have a hard time trying to get people to realise their books are out there and I know that a lot of American Independent Comics publishers read CBO -I've pimped their books in the past until they became successful and then it was the same old story of "Well, we don't send review books out now" and my response? "Okay, but if you ever need a push, more publicity in future just remember to never ever contact me again".

I am am sooooo subtle!

CBO does not accept pdf, links to file share sites or discs or flash drives.  Firstly, a hard copy -a printed book- shows it exists and what it looks like.  A good few times in the past CBO promoted books and info on how to order them based on pdf....books that I later found never appeared. People lost money and, of course, I told them about the book so who do they blame?  As for links and so on -a few former bloggers will tell you about virus and other nasties uploaded to these sites and you open a file -WHAM! System infected.  Had that twice and made it clear never again.

But, people do not do what was standard any more.  They do not reckon on sending out review copies.  So their books get ignored.  Oh, and the other trick I never fall for now is the "Here's a press release and some images and I'll send a review book out next week".  Piss off. TWELVE time I got caught with that in 2014 -two of those occasions by McFarlane Entertainment and once...actually, three times, by that company.

You do not want to send out review books then,okay.  That is voluntary.  I don't publicise books I've not seen -that is mandatory.

Here are a few stats regarding views of CBO from the United States:  411,081 all time views,  last month 8,425  This week 1,964....now, as anyone who is honest will tell you, your book will be seen but that does not guarantee sales.  Thousands see each item posted to CBO.  You don't want thousands to see your book reviewed?  Fair enough.  You do?  Then the book has to be sent to the UK.

The same applies to any country.  Language may be a problem but....

I have no idea how many Independent publishers there are currently in the United States -does anyone?  Unless a registered company how would anyone find out?  But Independent Comic publishers need as much publicity as they can get -it's why CBO (and me) is here.

Contact me via the usual email to let me know who you are, your web site and to get an address to send review books to.

hoopercomicsuk@yahoo.com