During the SS run, I exhibited at two conventions: Heroes Con and Wizard World Chicago. Within the first hours of each show it was clear that SS had been making an impact on people. Person after person approached me to thank me for “the great column”. Half of those, give or take, purchased my comics. Perhaps their purchases were signs of gratitude for “the great column”. Perhaps they were real interest in the story and art as I displayed it though SS. How can I really know?

As I confessed in Sequential Smarts #5 (Public Relations), my decision to write the column boiled down to one factor – my own self-promotion. Without that, I simply would not have had a good enough reason to go through with it. The end results were very inline with my expectations. I had no delusions that I would be some new exploding force on the comics scene, but I did expect (and receive) a very large marketing push, that at the very least, put me on the radar of almost everyone in comics.

Despite, my self-serving reasons for writing SS, I truly did try to write the best column I could, giving away the most honest, no-bullshit marketing information I know when it comes to self publishing comics. In the end, I wrote 22,500+/- words on marketing comics and if the hundreds of comments and emails full of praise and “give me more SS!” are any indication, my time and effort were clearly well spent.

So, the question is: What now?

Well, I intend to write more installments of Sequential Smarts, albeit on a much less frequent basis – maybe every six weeks.

Additionally, the encouraging response has me moving to collect these 10 articles, fill in some of the information gaps that may exist, and edit the whole package into a printed handbook/workbook of sorts. But… it would be dishonest of me to say that the idea wasn’t on my mind from the very beginning.

I’ll spill more info on this as I make progress. And at the moment I have more pressing projects to work on.

So, if you’ve been reading, thank you.

If you’re signed up for a free comic, it will be there soon.

And if you want more Sequential Smarts, just wait while I reload the cannons.

Last but not least, I want to thank my SS editor, comic collaborator, and friend Chris Arrant (his Livejournal and his website). Without him, SS would have never found its home at the comic-news-mothership, Newsarama, and very possibly might not have ever been written.

Congratulations. You’ve graduated.

Yes, this is the final installment of my initial ten-week run on Sequential Smarts (I’ll be back with more in the near future). I wish I had a diploma to hand out, but I guess just like my college education, it’s not the fancy piece of paper that matters – the real knowledge comes from the experiences you have and will have.

So, instead of a diploma, I have something better…

I am giving away 100 free copies of LACKLUSTER WORLD #1 (the first issue of my self-published comic series which I’ve mentioned repeatedly over these past 10 weeks). All you have to do is signup with your name, email and shipping address. I’ll even pay for the shipping costs. The only limitation is that you have to live in the US or Canada.

What’s even better is that once I’ve shipped it, your information will be permanently purged from my records, thus you will never get another email or message from again – that is, unless you choose to signup for my mailing list on your own accord.

Bottom Line: One free comic delivered to your front door. No strings attached.

How’s that for creative marketing?

The link to signup will be at the very end of this column. So, I guess there is one string… You have to finish reading this first…..

Read the rest at Newsarama.com

Keep your eyes open for it…

I want to give you my comic-cooties.

Really, I do. If I can infect you with the goodness that is my comics, then you will go out and infect others, telling them about my great works of graphic literature. It’s pretty easy too. All I need is a good comic coupled with ready-made story (bestowed unto you via good marketing) and VOILA! You have the bug.

It is not as dirty as it sounds. In fact, people love finding new things that they can tell their friends about. See, we humans are a selfish species and when we come across something new, unique, hilarious or just plain cool, we get to connect that something to ourselves, giving us a kind of social currency. Being the bearer of this great new thing is both a little ego-booster for ourselves, and a useful favor to those we know because we are informing them of something that we believe he or she will enjoy.

It’s commonly known as viral marketing or word-of-mouth marketing, and as comic entrepreneurs, you and I are not looking for a cure… we are cooking up a contagion….

Read the rest at Newsarama.com

One year ago, I returned from Wizard World Chicago with the largest profit I’ve ever made at any convention. Feeling jazzed-up about that whole thing, I was inspired to write about why and how my recent success came to be. The result was an article here on Newsarama.com and it was more than an answer to “Why did I do so well at this convention?” It was an answer to “How can anybody do well at a comic convention?”

The buzz that article created was actually my catalyst to writing Sequential Smarts. Anyway…

Seeing as how I’ve technically talked about conventions already, I don’t want to just repeat myself here, so I’ll try to hit some different angles, but I do recommend you give that previous article a read-through.

Preparing to market your comics at a convention starts with a question. What is your reason for going to a comic convention – your goal?

You basically have three choices: Research, Raising Awareness, and Sales…

Read the rest at Newsarama.com

You’re an ugly, fat-assed comic book reading loser.

Being stereotyped sucks. Comic fans aren’t the only ones getting it – Self-publishers get the “Oh, you’re… self… publishing” treatment too. Manga creators are often being treated as if they aren’t creating “real” comics. Even big name creators like Joe Quesada and Warren Ellis get the occasional label for being late on book releases.

Stereotypes are just brands-gone-wild and although stereotypes are typically negative opinions born in the social subconscious, the act of branding is an intentional engineering of a positive stereotype. Having a brand is having a pre-existing opinion that anyone can tap into and assume is knowledge. It’s a reputation. An identity.

In Comicland, there are thousands of titles and creators trying to create a positive reputation for themselves. Some of them are with publishers. Some without. Some write comics. Some draw them. Regardless, all of these people including you and me are competing for the adoration of comic readers. The only way any of us can stand out from the rest is to build a brand for ourselves. And not just any brand, a STRONG brand.

Without a brand we’re just another guy or girl who: “Oh, you’re… self… publishing.”…

Read the rest at Newsarama.com

Posts for SS7, SS8, and SS9 to follow. Eeeek…

Every comic creator needs a web presence.

Note that I didn’t say website. I said web presence. Using the Internet to effectively promote your comics and yourself goes way beyond putting up a few pages of text and pictures. Promoting online is a series of overlapping strategies and techniques, most of it focused on promoting your website, which is a promotion in and of itself.

Does that sound scripted? It is. I use that blurb of copy on nearly every new design client I acquire…

Read the rest at Newsarama.com

People don’t read Newsarama.com, The Pulse, Comic Book Resources, or The Comics Journal for the advertisements. They read them for the articles.

Sure, these outlets need paid advertisements to stay afloat, but marketing your comics is a difficult task, and as I thoroughly explained last week, advertising is not the best way to do it. You need to promote your comics through credible outlets that already have people’s attention. You need to transform your dreaded advertising into interesting content that people actually want. You need Public Relations.

The true concept of Public Relations (PR) can be a hard thing to grasp if you have never worked with it before. It’s intangible. It’s zeitgeist. It’s a philosophical concept like love or friendship or anger, but in its most basic definition, Public Relations is just that – your relationship with the public.

Building PR for you and your comics requires time and strategy. You have to constantly keep your master plan up-to-date by contacting media outlets, staying alert to what others are doing for PR and constantly brainstorming clever ways to seem more interesting than everyone else. It can become complex if you let it, but the basic steps of building it are simple. For example…

Why do you think I’m writing Sequential Smarts?…

Read the rest at Newsarama.com

Everybody thinks that advertisements are designed to trick him or her into buying something. And, well, they’re right. From a consumer stance, people want advertising to go away. Unfortunately, comics will never be able to rid themselves of completely of this horrible advertising thing because every comic has its most potent advertisement built right into it – the cover.

Since you’re stuck with this ad problem, you might as well do the best you can with it, right? Absolutely right, and we start with what NOT to do…

Read the rest at Newsarama.com

Pretend your comics are weenies.

Good. Now, before you run off proclaiming, “Hot delicious weenies for sale!” you need to have your weenies readily available for consumption by getting yourself a weenie cart and pushing it to the sidewalk. It’s called distribution and without it, marketing is pointless.

Besides, distribution is marketing. Bob sees weenie cart. Bob considers weenie for lunch. Bob buys weenie. Ergo, you just sold Bob a weenie simply because you were there.

Okay, stop giggling. Your comics are no longer weenies, but they are still products that need to be distributed simultaneously with the deployment of your finely crafted marketing plan. In the business of comics, distribution and marketing are linked…

Read the rest at Newsarama.com

Do your comics suck?

Well, do they? If so, marketing cannot save you. Marketing can tell customers that your comic exists, and if done well, persuade to them to check it out, but marketing cannot make them like it…

Read the rest at Newsarama.com