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Comic Blogging, and Asking for Advice
18 years ago
I am currently twelve weeks ahead on my backlog.
For those who don't have calendars sitting in front of them (or at least not one of the archaic month-by-month types), this means that I have now completed all of the strips until the very day I have to return back to college. This is a momentous time for celebration, indeed.
... partly 'cause it means now I get to focus on the strips that'll be going up during Convention-September. Especially if I have any intention of doubling-up for the month.
I'm debating what to do as far as September goes, actually.
Cons: I've got two conventions to go ahead and pre-order for, plus lodging ('cause let's face it, Dragon*Con via Marta four days in a row is a righteous hassle, and Anime Weekend Atlanta is so far off the grid it's a nightmare otherwise). Estimated cost is at LEAST $150, probably $200 once all lodging is confirmed. Total cost will probably jump to $250 once all is said and done, and by 'all is said and done' I mean I expect to spend $20-30 at each con with the vendors on top of everything else. Covering this myself is doable, just not preferred. Missing the conventions, while cheaper, is just plain stupid 'cause most if not all of my friends will be there anyway.
The biggest single expense is Dragon*Con Membership, at $70 — if I can find a way to whittle that down to even half by working a few panels, so much the better. Translation: If you know of a way to get on staff at this stage and save me some money, then I'll be one happy furry. I'm thinking of at least doing the webcomic panels, and I could probably help elsewhere (I'm looking at the Mad Scientist tracks and SubGenius goodness - and heck, EFF couldn't hurt either), so if anyone knows where the hook-ups are...
Cutting costs is one thing. Ideally, I want to make this cost $0 by convincing people to donate somehow. Since general begging on the internet's passe and I've only been doing the webcomic since April, this means I need to find incentives.
Merch: I currently intend on making another pamphlet with exclusive goodness, but when I last offered this for MomoCon, nobody bought any (okay, one person at the con itself did, but nobody else!) and it ended up just becoming bonus material for the website. Since I'm assuming I have a larger sphere of influence now, convincing at least a few people to pay up beforehand is doable, but pricing's a concern. $2 at the con itself is fine, but since Paypal swallows small purchases up, charging that much to do it online's pretty dumb. The more people buy, the more I can afford to do it in color (which costs 10x more to print) instead of black-and-white.
We're not talking a big operation, at least not for this convention pair — If you want it, I better be able to print it out of my own machine and still be good quality. Buttons are doable but they have extra costs, take up space and if I don't sell 'em, they're hard to move. Shirts aren't happening unless I get at LEAST ten orders (or whatever the minimum is), 'cause the print-and-press options are crap and that means I'm looking at some sort of professional printjob, if not Spreadshirt. For that matter, anything that can't come out of an 8.5x11 printer better have some online purchasers behind it, 'cause then we'll be talking outside assistance regardless.
Donations: I received $10 this month from random guys who liked what they saw, and it feels good. As I said, though, I wanna be able to recover at least some of that $250 number I mentioned above, and since we're talking about doing this through Xepher, that means I need to hit $330 in order to pay him his hosting and still hit that magic number. $10 a month is not going to equal $330 anytime soon, so this calls for an accelerator. My main ideas for doing this?
* Offering Bonus Comics (actually one of the worse options, seeing how on a good page I can get out a strip a day, but on a bad page it could take a week!)
* Offering Cameos in later strips (The one I want to do most)
* Merch Incentives (those pamphlets, whatever else I come up with)
As I said though, I'm open to any and all ideas y'all can send my way.
P.S.: And since I know it's going to come up: I'm not keen on doing commissions unless they either pay for plenty or I can help it, simply because they take away from my productive time (which is mostly being used this summer just so I don't choke on the pacing at college) and often can't be reused elsewhere, especially if they're of someone else's characters. It'll take a fair amount of cash to get me to go that route.
For those who don't have calendars sitting in front of them (or at least not one of the archaic month-by-month types), this means that I have now completed all of the strips until the very day I have to return back to college. This is a momentous time for celebration, indeed.
... partly 'cause it means now I get to focus on the strips that'll be going up during Convention-September. Especially if I have any intention of doubling-up for the month.
I'm debating what to do as far as September goes, actually.
Cons: I've got two conventions to go ahead and pre-order for, plus lodging ('cause let's face it, Dragon*Con via Marta four days in a row is a righteous hassle, and Anime Weekend Atlanta is so far off the grid it's a nightmare otherwise). Estimated cost is at LEAST $150, probably $200 once all lodging is confirmed. Total cost will probably jump to $250 once all is said and done, and by 'all is said and done' I mean I expect to spend $20-30 at each con with the vendors on top of everything else. Covering this myself is doable, just not preferred. Missing the conventions, while cheaper, is just plain stupid 'cause most if not all of my friends will be there anyway.
The biggest single expense is Dragon*Con Membership, at $70 — if I can find a way to whittle that down to even half by working a few panels, so much the better. Translation: If you know of a way to get on staff at this stage and save me some money, then I'll be one happy furry. I'm thinking of at least doing the webcomic panels, and I could probably help elsewhere (I'm looking at the Mad Scientist tracks and SubGenius goodness - and heck, EFF couldn't hurt either), so if anyone knows where the hook-ups are...
Cutting costs is one thing. Ideally, I want to make this cost $0 by convincing people to donate somehow. Since general begging on the internet's passe and I've only been doing the webcomic since April, this means I need to find incentives.
Merch: I currently intend on making another pamphlet with exclusive goodness, but when I last offered this for MomoCon, nobody bought any (okay, one person at the con itself did, but nobody else!) and it ended up just becoming bonus material for the website. Since I'm assuming I have a larger sphere of influence now, convincing at least a few people to pay up beforehand is doable, but pricing's a concern. $2 at the con itself is fine, but since Paypal swallows small purchases up, charging that much to do it online's pretty dumb. The more people buy, the more I can afford to do it in color (which costs 10x more to print) instead of black-and-white.
We're not talking a big operation, at least not for this convention pair — If you want it, I better be able to print it out of my own machine and still be good quality. Buttons are doable but they have extra costs, take up space and if I don't sell 'em, they're hard to move. Shirts aren't happening unless I get at LEAST ten orders (or whatever the minimum is), 'cause the print-and-press options are crap and that means I'm looking at some sort of professional printjob, if not Spreadshirt. For that matter, anything that can't come out of an 8.5x11 printer better have some online purchasers behind it, 'cause then we'll be talking outside assistance regardless.
Donations: I received $10 this month from random guys who liked what they saw, and it feels good. As I said, though, I wanna be able to recover at least some of that $250 number I mentioned above, and since we're talking about doing this through Xepher, that means I need to hit $330 in order to pay him his hosting and still hit that magic number. $10 a month is not going to equal $330 anytime soon, so this calls for an accelerator. My main ideas for doing this?
* Offering Bonus Comics (actually one of the worse options, seeing how on a good page I can get out a strip a day, but on a bad page it could take a week!)
* Offering Cameos in later strips (The one I want to do most)
* Merch Incentives (those pamphlets, whatever else I come up with)
As I said though, I'm open to any and all ideas y'all can send my way.
P.S.: And since I know it's going to come up: I'm not keen on doing commissions unless they either pay for plenty or I can help it, simply because they take away from my productive time (which is mostly being used this summer just so I don't choke on the pacing at college) and often can't be reused elsewhere, especially if they're of someone else's characters. It'll take a fair amount of cash to get me to go that route.
