Can You Put A Comic Together and Can You Sell It?

 

The question is not "Can you put a comic together?" but more "How can you sell it?"

The lie of "the internet is your market place -that is where you will sell heavily!"  Out of the companies and small businesses who do you think made the money?

The "consultants" who were pushing the internet as a marketplace. In recent years a number of surveys have shown what is called "the myth of internet selling".

How have I sold better? At a table at a comic event.  Big comic conventions are a con in that paying £150-300 for a table where the organiser decides you will be and that is usually out of the way so that attendees only see the toys and other big merchandise.  You also need to sell £150-300 worth of books to just get your money back on the table and if you say you sell enough to get the table money back  as well as your travelling, hotel room and a big profit.... I will be checking to see if your pants are on fire.

I have over 200 comics, comic albums as well as graphic novels and prose books on the online store plus an international audience who should know by now that books ordered are printed and posted in their region (no international postage) but walking through lava is easier than selling.

A few years back we had people organising their own small press events but the idea of comics (I think they missed out on what the small press was) was shocking to them. I was having a nice conversation with an organiser at a swanky small press event and she asked me what I did. I told her; I write, draw and publish comics. She almost fainted. Suddenly "Oh there is someone I have to catch up with!" (side note: she walked off to get a cup of tea)

At another small press event someone looked at my books (a small presser) and said "These shouldn't be sold here they are too professional!"  I heard that several times.

Another way of losing money is the "Send us five of your books and we'll put them on the shelf and see how they sell. If they do sell it will be at our price and then we'll take more copies and if those sell we'll decide the percentage to send you".  No, that is genuine and I've had that ten times in the past. I pay for the books and shipping and they decide what the cover price will be in their shop. If the books sell it's the same deal but you have no idea what they will decide to give you (if anything) which means no money will be made AND they make it clear they will not return unsold books unless you pay for that as well.  It is a con and they know it so do not fall into that trap.

You need to understand that whether it is a major comic company, distributor or shop the creators are always the ones who will get ripped off and treated as crap an d it has always been that way going back to the 1920s (yes, there were comics then and no I was not buying them at that time). Basically it is a David versus Goliath situation but if you can sell and make a profit stick with the method you use because there are no "friends" in companies.