This time of year you’re going to find a lot of people writing about their 2013s. We’ve done our lists (with a few more coming), as have other sites, and everyone under the sun is going to take the time to reflect on their previous year and see how what they’ve learned shows the path to their future. It’s a nice time if you like introspective writing, which I do.
But out of all of the things that have been published on blogs and tumblrs, the one I have found most interesting is Becky Cloonan’s essay about her year self-publishing her work. Cloonan, if you’ve somehow been living under the biggest rock imaginable, is one of the most talented artists in the industry. No stranger to self-publishing, Cloonan is perhaps most recognizable for her work on “DEMO,” “American Virgin,” “Killjoys” or — and this is pretty big — as the first female artist to draw “Batman.”
So even if she may never say it — Becky Cloonan? Kind of a big deal.
As such, her write-up on the past year and her efforts in self-publishing are a really intriguing eye-opener into the work that she’s done to get these comics done and out, as someone who has past experience in xeroxing her own comics and bringing them out to cons on her own:
If you have a copy of WOLVES, go ahead and open it up. Now take a deep breath- smells good, right? HAH. That’s the smell of desperation and insecurity! A lot of people ask, “Wow Becky, what made you want to self-publish in the first place?” The truth is I was desperate to tell my own stories, but too insecure to be able to follow through and get them published. I love working with writers, but I hadn’t written for myself in years, and WOLVES was basically an exercise in writing a short story. I had to prove it not just to other people, but mostly to myself that I could write something worthwhile, and be happy with it. I’ll leave the process stuff out of it since this is just about self-publishing. Let’s just say the process wasn’t pretty.
On self-publishing as opposed to going through Dark Horse or Image:
I can’t say there is a specific advantage to doing it yourself vs. taking your book to a publisher like Image. My mini comics are hard to get ahold of, and more expensive than regular comics. It takes months to do and I don’t get an advance or a page rate. I have to figure out how to finance the printing, and learn how to put all this shit together, and then do a zillion conventions to sell them. It’s hard. It’s stressful. It’s confusing. It’s depressing and solitary. You’ll never have enough time, you’ll start obsessing over it. And to top it off, you’re almost guaranteed to lose money on the first print run.
On the other hand, there is nothing like opening a box of your own comics for the first time, breathing in that first sweet breath of toner and paper, and whispering softly into the cardboard, “All of these books… ARE MINE!!” If you are a control freak than I guarantee* you will LOVE self-publishing. (*I actually don’t guarantee anything)
On living under comics:
You can imagine my old apartment in Brooklyn: comics in the closet, comics under the bed, comics in the kitchen, comics in the pantry, comics in the hallway— you couldn’t even use the hallway, it was full of boxes of comics! It was insane. I would dream about my floor collapsing. No joke, I had this dream several times.
Guys, this is not a way to live. It sounds funny, but it was out of control. Even my UPS guy would make fun of me. If I could do it all over again, I’d just suck it up and move to a bigger apartment, try to be more organized about all this shit.
On digital pricing and Comixology Submit:
Continued belowMy print comics cost $5, but I price the digital comics at .99 cents. I’ve had a few discussions with people who think I’m underselling my books- especially because with ComiXology I’m only guaranteed 33 cents on every dollar if it’s bought through the Apple store. But 99 cents makes sense (see that?) because it makes the book more accessible. It’s an incentive for someone who is unfamiliar with my work to take a chance and hopefully be pleasantly surprised. There is no overhead for me, so it just seemed like, why not? My Q2 sales from ComiXology submit were over 6,000, way more than I had expected from a few self published comics. I don’t know that I’d ever go all digital, I enjoy turning pages too much. (Sorry Dr. Spangler, print is not dead!) I also don’t think the perfect digital reader has been made yet- and aside from people who make comics specifically for the digital medium, print comics being formatted for digital consumption in particular have a long way to go yet.
Cloonan also talks a bit about what she has in the future, including an upcoming graphic novel from First Second:
Looking forward to 2014 is dizzying. There is so much I want to accomplish- First is a graphic novel that I’m slowly plugging away on for First Second (A book that I’m adapting and drawing! More on that in the months to come.). I’m also self-publishing a limited edition collection of Wolves, The Mire and Demeter. It’ll come with a sketch section and a bunch of extra illustrations. I’ll be printing only a limited quantity, and it will be available only through pre-order. I’ll put more information up about this in February.
and
And a lot of people have asked, will I be doing more? The answer is decidedly YES. I have two more stories planned, both follow-ups to WOLVES, and a few other ideas that may or may not make it to paper. I’m unsure if I’ll print more mini comics, or if I’ll just unleash them upon the world in a huge omnibus in 2016. WHO KNOWS WHAT THE FUTURE MAY HOLD. (I do actually, I have even more plans. I’m just being mysterious.)
I’ll say this: I have, in my possession, one of the collected editions of Becky Cloonan’s “Minis,” which isn’t something she mentions in the post. It’s a nicely put together little trade collecting all of her pre-“DEMO” minis, and it is one of my favorite books that I own — but as a creator, as an artist and as a publisher, it is without a doubt that Cloonan has grown in talent exponentially over the years since that was released (2007). I personally have copies of all of her recent minis, but when Cloonan re-releases these in a single edition, it is without a doubt in my mind that you should pre-order it as fast as you can conceivably can.
It’s a great read regardless, so head on over to her tumblr and give it a look.
In the meantime, we’re looking forward to everything and anything Becky is working on next. COMICS OR STFU!
