Welcome to my official DA page, home of the original "Hallow's Eve". I have received professional training in the arts and, in 2011, I began authoring/illustrating the "All Hallows Eve" series for young readers (11 years before Marvel debuted a similar character). Currently, I am doing an indie comic series about Dell's public domain version of Dracula, who is a superhero.
Find me on Amazon: www.amazon.com/David-Eveleigh/…
Hi! Since you do web comics and since I'll be using all of your Open Source PD characters for my comic book universe in the future, I wanted to get your advice on something. I've heard from people online that doing web comics to build up an audience and readership prior to doing a physically published comic is a good idea and a good path to take and that also, while it IS, still a lot of work, that it's still less work and MUCH less expensive than doing a physically published comic( especially with self-publishing and printing copies of the book) and that it's much less of a roll of the dice than self-publishing a physical comic book with no fanbase( it worked for Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird , of course but that was the exception and not the rule and that was lightning in a bottle and as even they themselves have said, one of those ''happy accidents'').
So, would you agree with that? I'm considering doing a few one-shot and mini-series-web comics for some of my characters first to build up an audience/ readership and ''test the waters'' before I start sending in submissions to all of the independent comic book publishing companies.
Because I even heard from one comic book creator on YouTube how unlikely it is for someone like Image Comics( who is one of the publishers that I'll be sending a submission into) to accept a submission for a comic from someone who has never done anything at all before and not even a self-published comic or nowadays, a web comic, too( which is my situation). He did say that there's still a chance that they will accept submissions from people with zero experience in the comic book industry( because after all, one way that people will get that experience is if they're given that chance by someone) but that it's a very small percentage of one. Do you think that doing some one-shots and mini-web series for some of my characters, would be a good idea prior to sending in submissions or prior to self -publishing my own comic( as self-publishing is another option that I have on the table IF none of all the different independent comic book companies that I'm sending submissions in happen to accept them)?
Part of my reply got cut off. I meant to ask where you intend on posting your webcomics.
Thanks very much for your response! I really appreciate it! It was very helpful and informative and I'll take your great advice! Print-On Demand services are a good option for me to consider, especially since keeping all of the rights to my own work is very important to me.
Also, for where I intend on posting my webcomics, that's still something that I've been looking into and researching. I've heard that sites like Webtoon, Topas, Global Comix, Tumblr, Twitch, Patreon and even Facebook are good options for posting web comics. Any one of those are all good options for me to consider. Do you know of any other sites that you might suggest as good options for posting webcomics?
You're very welcome. I'm always happy to help.
I don't know of any other sites other than the ones you listed. I'm told that Webtoon is the best, but have no personal experience with it. As you probably noticed, I've just been posting comics here on DA for the past while, but that's because this has become more of a hobby for me lately. If you want to sell or give them away for free as ebooks, Draft2digital is a good service. I don't know if they're doing comics right this second though, but I'm sure they will in the future once their merger with Smashwords is finished.
Absolutely! The more exposure your characters, concepts and situations get, the better, no matter what form that exposure takes. In fact, I always tell people that yesterday is the best day to start promoting your title. The sooner your prospective audience hears about it, the better. Even if you haven't written a single word yet, get that idea percolating in your readers' heads. So yes, get started on a webcomic or two to get your feet wet. Luckily, DA has a great indie superhero community. Also, while I know this isn't the ideal printing option, have you considered using print on demand services like the ones on KDP, Indie planet, Lulu, etc? They don't typically sell as many copies, but they never go out of print and you keep all the rights to your own work. It also ensures that the book gets printed, unlike crowdfunding which is a gamble. Just something to consider.
So, the first order of business is to make announcements on all your social media accounts, including DA, that you are undertaking these projects. Second is to get creating.
BTW,
Belated Happy Birthday!
Thank you