Wednesday, 14 April 2021

Independent Comic Books Are Beginning To Sell More -Here Is Why You Are NOT Told This

 


If you go to You Tube, which is where a lot of people go for comic info as it involves no reading (I am not joking -ask thje professionals) you will see "Hot New Books" and "New Comics To Invest In" -how those people still get views almost puzzles me because everyone knows those claims are BS and I knew people who invested in every "hot" title of the 1980s and today they are mostly worth a couple £s more.  No one got their college paid for, bought that Ferrari or became super rich. Its a Con.

But look for info on Indie comics and you will find it hard to come by and You Tube will show you videos from 8, 5 or even 11 years ago that have no 2021 relevance. You have to keep digging and then you find the "presentations" for Kickstarters. "How to publish an Independent comic" tends to literally be "here's my advice and on Patreon you learn more" or it is the basic "Get a story. Get the art" and you are then told to get the book printed.

Marvel, DC and to an extent Image are the main topics in all of the videos. Why? Because YT knows that mentioning these companies gets more views and that by and large they are safe while Indie comics can cover all sorts of topics and that might include the "M" (murder) word in the title or a book may be looking at trans, gay, racial or other issues that YT finds distasteful because they do not attract ad revenue and there are some strange right wing, religious types who find anything "deviant" such as a gay character, a radical black character or (something that gives them religious seizures) gay or trans. The Big $ speaks to You Tube loud and clear.

Anyone who seriously posts videos on Independent comics may often wonder why there are very few views or why notifications of a new video have npot gone out.  As others have found out recently this ios all a 'technical problem that will sort itself out in 3 to 30 days"!!! The hope isthat the You Tuber will give up they do not generate revenue for YT so push them away.

In a way this deters a lot of bloggers from covering Indie comics regularly because they see the low view videos or hear all sorts of rot from people who do not really know about comics so steer clear (unless or until they feel the need to wave their "Indie Comics Credentials" and Image is NOT an Indie company).

There is another problem; the Indie publishers. In decades I have grown weary of hearing them (and zine/small press publishers) whne about no one will rteview their books or takle npotice of them. Offer them the chance to send books for review and they won't. If you BUY them they will but that is not how reviewing works. 

You'll notice bigger companies including Titan, Cinebook etc use CBO. Up until around 2015 CBO had a strong mix of reviews -Indie, mainstream and Small Press.  Small Press dropped out and most Indies also. I know they sold books because of reviews but the problem is that many of them saw a good review, talked about it and saw some sales and expected everyone to then know psychically when the next book was due out! I even had three small pressers at one time ask why I had not mentioned their new books?  Well, it took a year (in one case 2 years) for the new book to appear but the fact that they never told me about it or sent a review copy can be added to that!

You cannot just sit back and do nothing waiting for that big break because if you do not push or promote that VERY rare "big break" is not going to know you are there!

Indie publisher then produce some videos -not just begging for Patreons or money for a kickstarter- about your book(s) and creators. Get review copies out there. Unless you do then all people know is out there are Marvel, DC and Image.

And I predicted this very situation over tewn years ago. Sadly I was not wrong. Small Pressers check out the Zine Zone blog

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