The Carver's House

Despite the post's title, there are really no sure-fire ways to boost the sales of your comics. There are, however, principles that govern this, and today's comics creator would need to be familiar with these principles and work on them. To me, it's basically hinged on two factors: Your Work and your Platform. And from these two factors, we look into Quality and Scope. Quality of Work: It Has To Be Good When we look at quality, we look at the level of excellence it contains. In my previous blog posts, I've emphasized the importance of a quality story in terms of both writing and art, but there's more to that. When we look at quality, we're also looking at how writing and art help each other in achieving a satisfying reader experience. We also ask if the writing and art are "meant" to work together. Looking at Japanese manga as an example: while there is a particular style that's inherent in manga art, there are many permutations. A horror mang...

[Note: The recent Push Comics Forward initiative launched by BOOM! Comics reminded me of this piece I wrote on January 18, 2013. Though the text below was originally written to talk about the Philippine comics industry, I figured it's also relevant to the current conversation about comics industries in other parts of the globe. -- 01/30/2015) Where there's smoke, there's fire. Over the past decade or so, many comic conventions have been organized around the country, attracting thousands of comics fans and featuring prominent creators and artists. These events have been covered in tri-media and seem to be helping the industry elevate itself in the public consciousness. The question is, has the industry elevated itself high enough? There may be fire, but is the fire big enough for people to take notice? We could use the analogy of a burning house. If there's one burning house, the people surrounding that house would be alarmed, but that's as far as it would go. ...

One of the few projects I've been working on and off on is a graphic novel workshop. I even had an alpha test session last year with six volunteers. The workshop primarily focused on story development and story structure, topics that I dived into while putting together the story of the Zaturnnah sequel. While it was a successful session, there's a lot to work out to make it better-structured and more practical. There are a few comics writing references, but most of them just skim the surface. The other comics how-to books spend more pages on the art and visual storytelling. Understandably so, because comics is a visual medium after all. However, without a sound knowledge in story development, that part that comes before scriptwriting and visual interpretation, aspiring comics writers may find themselves building derivative stories, or another version of a comics story/novel/movie they've encountered before. Stories are like signatures. They are personal expressions of...

updated 10/5/2013 1) Make a standee. A standee on your table can do lots in increasing your visibility, as opposed to just having your comics lying flat in front of you. Not only can a well-designed standee attract more attention, it can also help your fans find you in the sea of geek humanity. You can either use the cover of the comic book you're selling, or create an original "poster." Print one that's big enough to mount on a 1/4 or 1/2-sized illustration board. (For the larger board, be sure to secure the back so the standee won't bend.) But if you can find a way to place your standee higher, then the better. 2) Make a flyer. In comics conventions, many visitors are first-timers. Not only are they surprised by the number of people in attendance, but they usually have no idea what most of the comics on sale are about. The simple act of giving out one-page flyers to passersby is a good first step in connecting visitors to what you have to offer. The flyer...

Reprinted from an article written in 2007. Author anonymous. Story ideas are everywhere. You can 1) go over the news; 2) recall a special event in your life; 3) recall a special event in a friend's life; 4) go through history books, etc. Then you ask a lot of "what if" questions. Chances are, you'll find a story hook that'll interest you enough to expand into a full plot. However, not all story ideas will sell. Even the best-laid plans for Hollywood movies don't translate to record-breaking, not even modest, returns. So why invest all that time and energy on a story that's not going to fly? Of course, many aspiring creators have their dream projects. And there may be a chance that these projects can get them somewhere. But this post assumes that you're stuck and would really need a nice kick in the brain for a story idea that can get people interested. According to Amazon, the following magazines top their subscription sales list, in no particular orde...

There will be creative writers who may scoff at the idea of writing for a market, but it is the practice of the mainstream publishing industry to pour their resources on material that has a good chance of being picked up. While industry observers have noted that developing technologies (such as e-readers, electronic delivery, and the renewed interest in tablet computers) and business models (like print-on-demand) would eventually widen the opportunities for vanity and self-publishers, there still remains the question: Will a sizeable number of people buy this book? If you're a graphic novelist and you want your work to sell, it would be prudent to take your concept and see what kind of audience you're servicing. This is opposed to choosing a profitable market and tailoring a story for them. The latter case is the realm of commissioned work, or for those who are really into the business side of storytelling, but the former case can help you keep a tight focus on the boundaries w...

Concluding my talk at DLSU, I told the class that if there was a way (not the only way) for comics to regain a strong foothold in a society that has grown to prefer film, television and novels for their entertainment, it has to up the ante in some way. The three aforementioned media have their own unique and obvious strengths, and these strengths can easily trump the comics medium straight in the face. The three factors that influence the effectiveness of a medium are the comics creator's playground. However, the accessibility factor is dependent on cost, and the approval factor is dependent on an audience's specific tastes. So the factor over which a comics creator has the greatest control is content quality. Content quality. My thinking is that people generally don't really care much about medium as much as they do content, unless two media are pitted against one another over the same material. This has led to numerous debates over whether a movie was equal, if not superi...

In a previous post, we've listed down the three factors that gauge the effectiveness of a communications medium. Again, our current media-heavy environment has blurred the lines between what one medium can do over another, so the focus has shifted more towards effectiveness, with greater involvement of the recipient of the communications message. At the core of these three factors is audience, which is an integral part of the communications cycle. Without an audience, there is no communication. There won't even be a reason to communicate at all without the awareness of an audience. (Unless, of course, the audience is oneself.) The three factors: 1) Accessibility. There was a time when radio was the medium of choice. It was cheap, and you could get all the information you thought you needed over the lifespan of those 20-pound Eveready batteries. But radio gave way to television. Television evolved from a few channels to a few dozens on cable. Then the internet changed the media...

Last week was light at the office, so I took Thursday off to go to my alma mater and give a talk about the value of comics as a medium. (I had wanted to go to a talk at the UST, but it was scheduled for later this week--crunch time for Real Living .) The questions I was supposed to answer were, "What are the unique qualities of comics?" and "What can comics do that other media can't?" The first question was somewhat easy to answer, since it didn't entail any comparison with other media. The second question, however, gave me a headache. In today's cross-platform option-riddled multimedia world, I was hard pressed to come up with a strong case for the comics medium. Because, truth to tell, the web is a powerful medium in itself, boasting the capabilities of all media and then some. Through the web, one can watch videos, listen to music, read text of all kinds, play games, get an education, and fiddle with the loads of interactive opportunities thrown in. P...

A discussion recently erupted in Gerry's blog about a once great komiks publisher going the skin route with a glossy girlie magazine. The company is Atlas, and the magazine is Playhouse. Whatever it was that made Atlas peddle naked women is rhetorical at best. In many ways, putting together such a publication is easy. Plus, I am aware that a lot of people would be eager to contribute some intellectual content. The sales potential is a no-brainer, and companies are more than willing to plunk down money for ad space. I wouldn't blame Atlas for going this route if revenues are their primary objective. It's their business, literally and figuratively. Doesn't matter that I absolutely despise their bondage covers. Call me a prude, but that's something I wouldn't want my nine year-old niece to see. (Even if it was a hunky guy on a cover, I'd still wince.) But the topic at hand is comics, so here goes. Will comics sell in the Philippines? Yes. Will comics sell eno...