TIME FOR A TOTAL CHANGE

There will be some profanities for which I semi apologise.

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I have been publishing and selling in the UK since 1984.  Don’t panis –I am not going into all that again but if you missed the post:

http://hoopercomicart.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/the-french-laugh-at-british-at.html

I’ve mentioned what I am about to write to a few and the response has been veiled anger –at me.  Well, if you have a high paid job or other income and comics are not your sole business but a pastime (even if you love it) then okay.  Dilettantes.  But if it is your sole business then what you decide to do with that business is your decision.  No one else has a say in it.  You want to complain or moan at me then my response is simple: fuck off.

You see, the criticism comes from people who have never supported Black Tower, never purchased a copy.  Never forwarded links for new books on their Face Book page or websites.  Yet they get all of that and far more from me. 

They have absolutely no say in my business.

Every news item of their that gets posted goes to my Face Book, Google+, Twitter and beyond that –sites re-using my reviews and posts count for several thousands per day.  CBO is getting close to 2 million views and daily views here are 2500-3000 (sometimes far more) .  Google+ posts have achieved 967,448 views with around 3-4,000 per day.  Excluding all of those extra “feeds” it means CBO has been viewed well  over 2, 698,049 times.  I am told that if I included all the “Spider feeds” the total well exceeds 3 million.  However, I do not count these as they are not under my control.

But it means news and posts get seen by a lot of people.  My reward for this?  Grief and total lack of ‘industry’ support.  Oh yes, they will  get in touch with me when they need to use myself and CBO for their own ends.  Support the site with advertising?  Please, I have heard every excuse under the sun as to why people “just can’t” take up very cheap advertising space….”Oh, by the way, our new book is out next week if you could mention it?”

The same applies to events.  Even though I made my position clear on this and here is the link:

http://hoopercomicart.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/no-event-is-exempted.html

I moved over to the the European comic album (A4) format in 2007.  The quality of the printing is top notch.  The covers are solid and also top quality.  I have promoted the online store, gone to events but people will not even pick a book up to look inside –if they stop at all.  The reasons why I have gone into (see first link).  

However, there are other aspects.  I have mentioned before that entries on my Small Press work and also British/overseas comic work –entries written by others- have all been deleted from Wikipedia within 48 hours.  Because, despite everything I have done in almost 40 years –pushing and promoting the UK Small Press and the UK SP invasion of the US, publishing and getting some well known names into comics plus much more is “not having made any contribution to the field”.  Whereas I am on several US University data bases and a number in Europe.  The all time (CBO Blogger figures ONLY) views of CBO total 56,003 for the UK views.  Outside the UK, where the main views come from the total is 1,469,628.  Apart from China and the USA my main viewers are from Europe.

Before I ramble on…..I had the worst event ever at the October Bristol Comics and Small Press Fair where I was, to be honest, the only comicker and it has been made very clear that my books “look absolutely nothing like anything else here” and it did not help that it’s mainly friends of dealers or people who head for certain dealers (whose smaller, lower quality books were more expensive than mine) –dilettante Small Press buyers.

Then, last weekends totally unforgiveable disaster of an event. “Were we conned?” I’ve been asked.  And now I find out people walked past the hotel thinking they got it wrong because there was nothing to say “come into this posh hotel there’s a ‘comic’ event on the fifth floor”!!

As far as I am concerned artists such as Ben Dilworth and Gavin Stuart Ross have provided top-quality work and so I feel I have let them down.  Their books should sell. I see that as my failure.

Now, I purchased over £300 worth of stock (sorry if that upsets you but the books are stock because Black Tower is a business and not a hobby).  I was promised an “international book fair and comic expo” –totally misleading and downright false description.   Take into account that the events were in Bristol where support for comic and Small Press events is always high, my travel expenses were not that big. But table costs and books put me at a loss for 2014 of £400.

If I wanted to attend other comic events in 2015 then, the prices I am quoted for a table are £65.00, £75.00 and near to £100.00 and to this I will have to add travel costs as well as bed and board at two events. Right there I am looking at over £500 before more stock to sell.

Am I seriously going to travel for hours to stand behind a table where, unless I’m someones mate or selling Marvel or DC comics I am just going to watch my money flow into a drain?  No.  That is not business that is being so stupid you want to just throw away money.  I have bills to pay, I need to eat.

So, I have decided, yes, I will publicise your comic event. But I get a free table out of it –seriously, you are getting publicity and reaching an audience that is worth a few thousand pounds via promoters and if I promote and publicise an event I go all out.  Big convention: “Why should I give YOU a free table?”  Quite right. It’s within your remit to do or not do so.  It’s within my remit to ignore all your press releases and mark you as Spam and if you keep spamming me I report you to your ISP. See how it works?

I’m nice with nice people and a bastard with bastards.

People have used me too much.  Time to give something back.

I can actually feel the seething anger.

But the UK has done me no favours.  As a business, Black Tower either adapts or dies.  No one –no web sites or blogs- in the UK will offer support or return favours of posting news of new BTCG books and even those who got asked for review books but never bothered reviewing, then I’ll go where I do get support –where people know my reputation from the 1980s on.

Europe.

I have already begun looking for outlets for Black Tower books and a few preliminary events.  UK shops will not touch any Black Tower titles “People just want Marvel and DC” (fuck your shop and fuck you for using that as an excuse because you have your head stuck up your asses and just want to keep selling shit and not let your customers have a chance to see what is out there.  Image and Dark Horse are NOT “independent comics” you jack-asses.

So, I will publicise UK events but only for a free table –welcome to the world of business choice.  No free publicity.

The last two events and the utter shit heap that the Bristol Comic Expo became before dying has hit me with the truth.  I get no thanks and shat on.

This is business. If after 14 years of CBO you do not know the work I put in through it to promote new comics and events then I have to return to the “fuck you” response.

Ask me to look at a pdf or file share link you get marked as spam.  You know the policy.  Want to criticise me in comments? Do so –you’ll be deleted and marked as Spam.

There is a change that needed to be made years ago but I was so stupid and trusting in people that all I got was to be treated as the dirty rag used to wipe dog shit off boots.  No more.

Oh, and as an ender –yes, I will keep praising Chinese comics.  I love Chinese comics and Chinese people and if you don’t then that’s your own ignorance.

My sincere apologies to readers –you make this site what it is and my comments are not aimed at any of you! xxx