Friday, March 6, 2009

PCDW: Wanna make a comic book?

Of course you do, who doesn't right [well, particularly those of us in this crowd]?

But with Marvel's joining DC in no longer accepting outside submissions, who is going to publish that awesome Woodgod mini-series you've been working on all these years? (Actually, I'd argue Marvel hasn't really had an open submission policy since the 80's, and it's always been a matter of just how much work is involved in evaluating such submissions.)

Anyway, You can't afford to put up a booth in the San Diego Comic Con? New York? Emerald City? Wondercon? Stump Town [well ok, the Portland con isn't that expensive]?

Well then how are you going to get a comic book made?

Here's how:

Online self-publishing services

PCDW Points 50,000

Services like LULU , CafePress , and Createspace allow you to publish your own content online. Some are limited to books, others do not.



Some have lots of features, while others are scaled down. While most of these are aimed at those writing novels and or full sized books there are other services on the Internet that cater to Comic Books such as:

MyEBook



After uploading your jpg files onto the site you've got a flash based comicbook that anyone can read from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection.

Is it perfect? No. For one thing, there will always be those comic book fans who like to read their comic book in their hands printed on paper. Is myebook.com the only service out there aimed at comics? Probably not. But here is the thing.

Another outlet to consider - ComicsXP



From the comicsXP website - getting published there is just 4 steps...

Download the contract

Go to the DOWNLOADS page, and download the comicsXP contract pdf. View at your leisure, and contact us if you have any questions, or refer to our FAQ page.

Sign the contract

Once you're ready to jump on board, mail fax or email your signed contract to us, and we'll start processing.

Prepare your files

Refer to the DOWNLOADS page for documentation on how to prepare your files for comicsXP. Once your files are ready, they can be burned to CD and sent to us, or contact us for other options. (More information available shortly.)

You're Ready!

Once the contract, and the files are recieved, you'll be listed on comicsXP, and available for readers to purchase and download in our easy to use store. comicsXP is dedicated to making this process easy and painless.

You can get more details at their FAQ's page...


So, what does this all mean?

Online self publishing services lift the veil off the comic book industry.

There will, in the near future, be no need to "Break In" and get published by Marvel or DC in order to be a comic book writer, artist, or publisher.

If all comic book publishers are producing work online [as one day they all will], isn't it also the case that by producing comic book work online then you too are a comic book publisher?

Yes.

PCDW Points 1,000,000

Have a nice weekend,

Caine

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm sure that there are those that feel the downside to anybody being able to publish a comicbook is...that anybody can publish a comicbook.

But I think it will be better for the creators, better for the medium, better for the genres of the medium and better for readers. I say this because though it means more rough through which to search for diamonds it also means that now there are no limits for an artist and their dreams save for ones own limitations.

The barriers between the creator and their potential readership are knocked down and that, is a beautiful thing.

Jim Shelley said...

I agree with you Matt. I sort of look forward to the day when all comics are *equal* in the eyes of the buyers. :)

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