Self-Publishing and Webcomics, or “Haven’t We Been Here Before?”

[ursulav]

Sometimes you sit with your fingers over the keyboard, and you KNOW somebody’s gonna get mad at you.

Ideas are like potatoes. No matter how many ways you turn your idea around, looking for the best possible angle, it’s got lumps and somebody out there wanted cauliflower.

I’m gonna talk about self-publishing for a bit. And webcomics. Because, as my

Comments

[blythe025]

Fantastic post. And while, as you said, no one can tell the future, this sounds about right.

[ursulav]

Don't worry about it, I unspam all the good ones. It's LJ and the lunatic spammers hitting recently.

[ursulav]

Wow! You managed to break it in a new and exciting way--I've re-approved it, and it's still listing that I have a "suspicious comment" although it has VANISHED and cannot be re-approved.

Impressive!

[selenite]

One of the things I've noticed about going indie is that there seems to be a need for a critical mass of content from the artist before people pay enough attention to start buying. So the money comes in with the later volumes. A traditional publishing deal cuts a check for the first book.

So my plan to become an SF writer has the following steps:
1. Finish novel.
2. Submit to publisher.
3. Write next novel. Possibly two.
4. Receive rejection.*
5. Start putting indie books up on web.

* Yes, it could go the other way, but the odds seem slim in the current market.

[maladaptive]

I know folks who've done this - even established authors who have books that don't sell to traditional markets. You just need a way for people to find you first, then they'll get your self-pubbed stuff.

I'm wondering how a bunch of traditionally published short stories --> self-pub novel might go since you do have your name out there. I've got a short story that went up this month and the #1 thing I hear about it is "where's the novel!?" Folks I have no idea, but if I did I still think "internet dating for spaceships" is probably not a big seller in trad publishing right now....

[dogmatix_san]

I did I still think "internet dating for spaceships" is probably not a big seller in trad publishing right now....

You never know - Anne McCaffrey's Brainship series was basically that.

[dragonsong]

The Ship Who Sang can still make me bawl.

[kevinbunny]

Yeah.. the Webcomics Surge was a lot like the Internet Bubble in microcosm. Lots of hoopla, various exciting things... then folks realize that it's good for certain things, but not others, and isn't freaking magic... and a lot of folks lose their shirts while a handful of others became household names.

If you told me fifteen years ago I would 'google' something every day, I'd smack you with a trout. But by the same token, I was genuinely surprised when ordering groceries online didn't work out.

[helen_keeble]

But by the same token, I was genuinely surprised when ordering groceries online didn't work out.

... it didn't? Grocery shopping online is very popular over here (UK). Advantage of being a small island I guess.

[t_c_da]

It's also working well enough in New Zealand that I regularly see folk wandering around our local supermarket wearing a bib stating that they're filling an online order, and there are billboards advertising online apps for iOS & Android for the same supermarket chain. It probably helps that we're A) a heavily urbanised country, and B) prolific early adopters of technology as a nation - e.g. EFTPOS* is almost universal, even among itinerant and kerbside vendors, and I rarely carry any cash.

*Electronic Funds Transfer at Point Of Sale for those who don't know the acronym

[orv]

I suspect there are two problems here: One is that grocery stores in the US are businesses that operate on very narrow margins, which deliveries would eat into; and the other is that Americans are very keen on handling and examining things before making a decision to buy. This is not limited to the produce aisle, either. ;)

[blaisepascal]

The one thing I disagree with is the idea that there are fewer web comics these days. I think there are more than ever, but that the hype is gone.

[jayblanc]

I don't have exact figures, and it'd require database diving to do so, but I do think we're down on new submissions to the Belfry Index since a peak sometime between 2005-2008.