This is a modified introduction to the book I plan to release this summer called The Business of Independent Comic Book Publishing. It attempts to explain the problem in the comics industry I’m trying to solve, provides an overview of the contents of the book and, what it can and can’t do for you.
If you have specific questions about this project, please feel free to let me know.
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The business of comics is chaotic, complex, and on a certain level, crazy. Few other industries transform fantasies and nightmares into potentially profitable products.
So having a career in comics isn’t like becoming a doctor or a lawyer. There is no license you can obtain or a standard path for you to take to superstardom. Everyone who works in comics has a unique story on how they got to their position. Everyone in the industry used some combination of talent, perseverance, connections, and luck in order to succeed.
Some people find their way into comics through other forms of professional illustration or visual art. Some began their careers in theater. Some have been found through art portfolio reviews at conventions or through a formal story submission process.
There have been people who learned their craft in staff jobs at established publishers and some who broke into the business working at retail stores. There is no one door that you can open to get into comics. Everyone has to find their own key.
But if there is one common thread I’ve heard from successful creators, established publishers, and industry watchers, it can be summed up by a statement Matt Hawkins, President of Top Cow:
“You need to self-publish and get work out into the public. Many good creators never get anywhere. You have to be good, but you also have to be persistent and lucky”
The problem is that there are very few ways for an aspiring creator to learn the business and legal aspects of publishing comics. There are dozens of amazing books on the artistic craft of writing and drawing comics, but the nuts and bolts of the industry hasn't been explored in depth… until now.
The Business of Independent Comic Book Publishing (ICP for short), is designed to help you understand both the comic book publishing industry in general and the needs of your comic book in particular. While ICP can’t guarantee your story will be good, it can facilitate your persistence and help you capitalize on your luck. It can’t teach you how to create comics, but it can teach you how to become an independent comic book publisher.
How is the Book Structured?
I'm an attorney. A big part of that job is asking and answering questions (See What is Comic Book Law?), so I’m going to stick with what I know. In each chapter of the book, I’ll pose basic and important questions about various aspects of independent publishing. Then, I’ll attempt to provide information and ideas you can use to create your specific publishing program in order to help you get books out the door.
The book is broken down into twelve sections:
The Foundation: Understanding your overall goals for making comics
Intellectual Property Management: Turning your ideas into legal assets
Investment: Finding the funds to pay for your book before it is published
Business Management: Securing legal and financial protection for your idea and investment
Talent Management: Finding the best team possible for your book
Marketing: Finding the right readers for your book
Distribution: Finding the best way to get your book to your readers
Production: Making the best comic you can on time and under budget.
Advertising: Informing your readers about your book
Sales: Generating revenue from your intellectual property
Revenue: Managing the money your book makes
Growth: Deciding how to use your book to create a life in comics
But ICP is not all questions and answers. Publishing comics is not a one size fits all process, so the book tries to explain the different options you have at each stage of your story’s development, as well as the positive and negative aspects of each choice so you can decide what is best for your unique situation.
ICP also includes ideas, theories, aspirations, and possible outcomes in a multiverse of futures for you and the industry. You can use this book not just as a guide to what is, but also what might be possible. After all, comics are about exploring your imagination.
How Should I Read ICP?
ICP is one part instruction manual, one part reference guide, and one part inspirational program. I’ve combined practice and theory to create something you can use from the moment you decide to publish comics to the point your business is running like a well-oiled machine. Because of the range of topics it covers, this is a book that needs to be read, consulted and questioned.
I wrote ICP under the presumption that the reader has no business or legal background, so MBA’s or a hedge fund investors reading it to understand the comic book industry will have to forgive the time I take explaining the fundamentals.
You might not agree with the ideas and concepts in this book and I'm not trying to claim any authority as the absolute truth when it comes to publishing independent comics. As long as you understand the options I offer in this book and why you might reject them for your own projects, ICP can still be helpful to you.
What Can This Book Do for Me?
A book on independent comic publishing isn’t necessarily a book you’re going to read for fun (although I hope you’ll at least find it interesting). If you read this book and follow its process to a reasonable degree, here’s what you’ll get for your purchase price and time spent reading:
Intellectual property (in terms of characters and stories) that you own
A business plan for publishing comics
Experience in the comics publishing industry
Contacts within the industry
A market for your ideas
A process you can replicate with other books
A finished product
A little cash left over...maybe.
What Can’t This Book Do for Me?
This book is not the Infinity Gauntlet. It can’t do everything for your independent comic. As a general concept, this book does not guarantee:
That your book will be profitable
That your book will be popular
That your book will be successful (depending on your definition of success)
That the things you read in this book will be applicable outside the United States.
Specifically, while I cover a lot of legal concepts in this book, this isn’t legal advice. If you have particular questions about your situation or a project you’re working on, you need to contact a legal professional.
Finally, this book shouldn’t stifle your creative impulses. There is no contradiction between being creative and understanding the business of creativity. Some comic creators feel that they need to avoid business and legal issues to focus on their art. Others feel that treating comics as a business will suck the fun out of comics. But in reality, it is the creators who have the opportunity to turn their publishing into a viable full-time business that can have just as much fun as the part-time publisher. In fact, gaining a grasp of the business of comics can remove doubt and frustration from the process and make the experience of comics more enjoyable in the long run.
If you want to publish comics and possibly create the next generation of modern mythology, you need to learn the business as well as the art.
ICP is scheduled for release in the summer of 2020. If you’d like to keep up on developments, pre-orders or other news in the comic book industry, feel free to join my mailing list or Facebook group.
Have fun with your comic
Gamal