Independent comic series or graphic novel

[Rorschachs_Journal]

Hey all,

Been wondering about this for a while and thought it might make a good discussion:

Say you've got your great story and you intend to go down the independent publishing route. The story is big enough to be split into say, ten 22 page monthly issues or you could just put it out as a one shot graphic novel.

What's best?

I suppose there's a few factors to consider, not least printing/publishing costs. But there's people on here who have had their work published and have taken on the goliath that is small press so those brave people would be well placed to be able to give us some opinions/advice/experiences.

[CrazyFoxMachine]

Personally I'd worry about finding an artist who can commit to that workload.

That's 220 pages.

There are people of all sorts in the small press, me - I choose anthologies and I only put out like, one a year. And there the artists have five pages. That's because - I can't pay anyone - I don't make enough money to pay anyone. Or even to pay the printing fees entirely.

So think about that first - that's the first thing.

- Who's going to draw it - how am I going to pay for it

THEN:

- Who wants to buy it - how do I sell it?

Surely the best template would be Lou Scannon (http://louscannon.co.uk)- I think they've got one core story and do new issues regular but it wouldn't be per-month if you're self publishing. There's NO WAY you could keep that up without a solid fanbase or a whatnotty whatnot, you know, an artist who'd be willing to draw 220 pages for a new independently distributed comic.

[radiator]

Scale your project into something realistic and achievable.

220 pages would be a serious undertaking for a pro, and they're getting paid to work full time on it.

[TordelBack]

220 pages would be a serious undertaking for a pro, and they're getting paid to work full time on it.

Aye, you're talking about something longer than Dark Knight Returns and not much shorter than Watchmen.  Or to put it another way, a 37-part Dredd epic.  I think even Carlos Ezquerra might ask for money up front on that one.

[Rorschachs_Journal]

Sorry guys, didn't mean to come accross like this was something I was about to try and undertake (not yet anyway!). I was just being hypohetical with the page counts, etc. But what you guys are saying is valuable knowledge and advice I think a lot of writers would appreciate. Myself included!

[CrazyFoxMachine]

I actually see this a lot - hanging around "help wanted" and freelance sites and even at the comic group thingywotsit that I came from -

"I've got a story - it's a dark take on superheroes/a zombie story/something vampires - I've got 100 or so pages of it, no one to publish it - how do I self-publish, who could draw it?"

Scale it down, submit to anthologies with smaller scripts or make your treatment a workable size (five or six pages) and get that to publishers. Or else - go the Lou Scannon route, accept that you won't be producing more than say (is it three?) issues a year AND BUILD UP BUZZ. Collaborate with lots of people on covers, pin-ups mini-stories and the whatnot.

[Bolt-01]

The fox types sense. The longest work we have had done for FQP is the excellent Neroy Sphinx, and that only comes to 60 something pages. It has taken us over six years to get to that stage and three different artists.