Creating Comic Success – and the Birth of a BLOG

Hey There, thanks for stopping by. Welcome to the site dedicated to helping you, the comic book creator succeed in your creative ventures. Here you will learn valuable skills including, but not limited to: Creating, Marketing, Branding and Promotional Tips to help make your comic creation soar in a very competitive field. Every week I will post 2 topics: one from an application approach, the other from an encouraging, philosophical point of view.

So you know, I never really had an intention of producing a BLOG. It seems nowadays everyone and their brother has a BLOG of one variety or another –– as well as they should. The “Blogasphere” has become a regular bastion of ideas and thoughts; A virtual cornucopia of creativity. That said, I had always felt the website (www.akacomics.com) updated regularly would be sufficient information for fans and creators.

Then in 2007, WIZARD magazine – one of the leading comic industry magazines – tapped me to kick off a new series of articles entitled “Independent Insights” dedicated to helping other Independent Comic creators with the marketing and promotional side of things. As soon as that first article came out the comic community began clamoring for more. My email inbox was flooded with requests. People would come up to me at conventions, sit through the panels on was on, all asking for me to elaborate on the limited information I was able to provide. You see, WIZARD only gives me 250 words to tell independent creators like yourself how to market, brand, write press releases, attend conventions, etc. 250 words are simply not sufficient to adequately covey to you the important aspects and intricacies of what it takes to develop the techniques to make your comic successful. Thus Creating Comic Success was born.

So why should you listen to me? It’s a valid question. Tell the truth, I’d be asking the same thing. Aside from the above mentioned articles, what have I done that would warrant your attention? After all, it’s possible you may have never heard my name, or picked up a copy of my comic The Miscellaneous Adventures of STYKMAN™. What matters is the invaluable information I have learned through hard knocks, speed bumps, pitfalls, and just some really stupid mistakes.

Take a little trip with me back a few years to 2004. Like you, I had a dream of creating a comic book. I had an idea that had been swimming around in my head for close to a decade. My dream was to put that idea into print and put it into retail shops and “fanboy’s” hands. I set out to learn all that I could about what would make a great comic – not good – but great. I sat through panels, talked with retailers, even put set up at conventions to see what the fan reaction would be to my characters and comic idea (I’ll address this tactic in a future post.).

In the beginning there were plenty of people offering to help me learn the “right” way to do things. But when the time came to, they were nowhere to be found – Emails went unanswered, phone calls unreturned. I figured it was one of two things: Either they really didn’t know what they were doing and they were making it up as they went. Or, they simply did not want to share for fear of me taking away a piece of their market share. It’s possible you’ve run into this same wall of nonsupport. To me this is silly. Competition is a good thing. Without competition complacency sets in. Competition makes you, me and everyone else, produce, say or provide everything just a little bit better. Again, we’ll get to this point in particular at a later date

So in July of 2005 I rolled out with issue 1 of The Miscellaneous Adventures of STYKMAN™. At first, very few Industry folk took notice. In fact, Diamond Comic Distributors, inc – the comic industry distributor – rejected my first solicitation. Although disappointed, I understood – unknown creator, unknown comic. But you know what’s cool? The fans noticed! With my background in sales and marketing I was able to sell out (hundreds of copies), or come close to, at every convention. And in a very short period of time I was able to garner the attention of Comic Buyer’s Guide, Silverbulletcomicbooks.com – where we received 4 out of 5 silver bullet reviews for each issue –, Brokenfrontier.com, and the aforementioned Diamond Comics Distributors, inc – who this time not only picked up the book for solicitation but stamped it with their seal of approval “Certified Cool.” To top it off, STYKMAN™ has been placed on WIZARD Magazine’s top Independent Comics list of 2006, 2007 and 2008.

My reason for telling you all of this is certainly not to brag. It’s to prove to you that I do indeed know what I am talking about when it comes to not only Creating, but Marketing, Selling and Branding comics. Like you, I had a dream. I fulfilled it. Now it’s your turn. And it would be my honor to help you along the way.

If you haven’t done so, please enter your email address in the top right side of the Page. Although this BLOG will be filled to the brim with a wealth of information, I will be provide some Exclusive material for those on our email and newsletter list. Don’t worry, I will not rent, sell, trade, or give away your information. I hate SPAM too.

The road to success is always under construction. It is filled with potholes, speed bumps, gravel and a wild animal or two. Believe me, I hit just about every one. My goal, and commitment to you, is to help provide you with a road map that will show you how to go around, avoid, or drive right on through most, if not all, of those obstacles.

Thanks again for stopping by. I’m looking forward to playing with you.