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Thanks for those.

Another one I've been eyeing is Broken Frontier who have reviewed a number of 2000AD trades and looked at Com.x's output so might be useful:
http://www.brokenfrontier.com

In the end I suspect you hit a law of diminishing returns, so I'm also interested in what people think the most effective venues are.

What came up in the discussion about pitching to Tharg is the idea you should be speaking to other companies but you could also think about self-publishing. It has certainly worked well for people like Garen Ewing, Andy Winter and David Hitchcock.

So once you have your comic written, drawn, coloured and lettered what do you do next?

One of the best general resources is:

The Poor Man's Guide to Self Publishing by Val Staples
http://www.mvcreations.com/articles/publish.html

Zarjazzer's link from another thread is handy here too:
http://calebmonroe.com/?page_id=42/#selfpub

I don't know how folks go about getting their comics printed but would assume they phone round local printers looking for quotes (as it is easier to pick up your box of goodies if they aren't far away) but I have no idea what are deemed good page rates, and that'd be very useful to those thinking of self-publishing.

There are also print-demand service which might be an option:

• Ka-blam - POD specifically aimed at making comic books
• comiXpress - ditto
• Lulu - good for larger volumes and has been used by Paul Von Scott for his Solar Wind collections
• Lightning Source - another POD book publisher and the guy I know publishing quite a few books recommends this one as the company take a smaller cut, they stock in Amazon (with an ISBN) and you get on the Espresso Machines (print-on-demand printers that go in book shops, meaning any book available to the printer can be done while you wait)

Of course, now you need to look at getting it reviewed and on the shelves.

However, I don't have any experience in getting things printed myself so I thought I'd get the thread started and then turn it over to people more knowledgeable than me, so fire away.

So you have your comic and you'd like people to have more than your word on how great it is, which means you'll be looking to get it reviewed.

John Freeman has summed up useful resources here:
http://downthetubes.ning.com/notes/Comic_Review_Sites

Drawing on information from here.
http://downthetubes.ning.com/forum/topics/promoting-your-comics-comic

I've been digging into this with an eye getting paragon reviewed and so far good venues include:

• Down the Tubes, John's site with a strong focus on British comics and so is well worth talking to about reviewing what you've got
• Comics Bulletin, one of the big comics sites and, unlike Newsarama and Comic Book Resources they do have good coverage of independent comics (so well worth trying to get your work reviewed here). They have reviewed Paragon #1, #2, and #4 and from what I've seen they offer pretty good coverage of British small press comics (I've stumbled across some first there). It also appears Kelvin Green is the one who does the bulk of these reviews (although I'm unsure if you drop him a note directly or not)
• SFX, has been a good venue for FutureQuake who have bagged fanzine of the month a few times and you can't beat getting into print and under the nose of a lot of potential readers
• Red Eye

The Forbidden Planet blog could be handy for news, interviews and reviews but we've yet to break in there so it might be trickier than it seems unless you catch the eye of one of the contributors.

So has anyone got any other ideas, experience, tips, etc.

So you've got your own comic in your sweaty fist, but how to get it out there and on to shelves?

Nostalgia & Comics in Brum are offering room for small press comics (and it seems if it goes well then they'll make it more permanent):
http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2009/do-you-make-comics-well-we-want-them-in-our-nostalgia-comics-branch/
http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.com/2009/08/nostalgia-and-comics-opens-doors-to.html

And there is a useful lists of possible shops here:
http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=6659

Online there is Smallzone (which I see has the first 3 Paragon):
http://www.smallzone.co.uk/

I know the FutureQuake boys have had some experience with this, anyone got anything to add?

On watching the trailers I came to the conclusion it was a bunch of hairy old boobs.

From the comments above it looks like I might have to give it a watch

Thanks for that.


Anyway lets have a look at the British small press as that is a good place to polish your skills. It is tricky as a lot of publishers are just set up to publish their own stuff.

A good place to start are anthologies.

So we have the FutureQuake stable of titles and I'm unsure we need to go into that in too much detail (although Rich or Dave can feel free to add more) as you surely know what they do, if not shame on you

There is also the Accent UK anthologies - this might be a tricky one as they work a long way ahead and have a lot of regular contributors so the 2010 one is filling up and I'm sure I've seen the run-down for the 2011 one (Victoriana) and that is filing up. I dropped them a line a bit ago but never heard back but I doubt they are in any great rush
http://www.accentukcomics.com/

Forbidden Planet's blog has a good list of British small press publishers:
http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/

I'm not sure  who there is looking for submissions.

There is also Orang Utan Comics who are looking for submission (although writers are invite only) but I hear good thins about their FTL anthology:
http://www.orangutancomics.co.uk/submissions.html

Hmmmm that all seems a little feeble. I was hoping for a more impressive list than that - it doe make the FutureQuake stable of titles look very impressive (but we all knew that already).

Anyway there are also some online titles you might be interested in:

Incoming, whose next theme is very interesting (worlds within worlds) but I doubt I'll get the time to get anything done for them this time round.
http://incoming.ning.com/

Temple APA is "quarterly digital showcase of British Comic Writers and Artists both amateur & professional" and have a real mix of strips, pin-ups and no theme so you should be able to come up with something for them:
http://templeapa.ning.com/

Wellll The Molch* has just spoken to Ron Smith and he'd be one of the folks you'd want to talk to on thi subject.....

*I'm working on it as a nickname, not sure how it is shaping up yet

[Droid in a Headlock]

Someone is going to have to get that droid in a headlock (great name for a band!!) and make him write a book. He is not just a great artist but is especially skilled in getting his thoughts over too.

Although, like the idea that he should be prodded into doing something on the architecture of Mega-City, this would mean it steals valuable time he could be artisticing so perhaps A Bad Idea. As I mentioned with the previous idea tough - Tharg has a lot of feature writing droids who could be tasked to winkling out nuggets of brilliance and doing the dull words-to-paper bit. In fact why not have a Megazine featuring D'Israeli's wisdom (D'Israeli's D'ispatches?), which could then be fancied up and collected into a glossy book.

Good point.  Imagine seeing this:

TONITE ONLY:
Droid in a Headlock
with special guests
The Yetti Inspection
&
Dr Rohypnol

at your local nightspot (as I believe da yoof are calling them these days).  You'd want to know more.  I know I would.

I think you'll find the support act is Yeti Enema with a selection of songs from their first album "Say That Fast (Ten Times)"

Someone is going to have to get that droid in a headlock (great name for a band!!) and make him write a book. He is not just a great artist but is especially skilled in getting his thoughts over too.

A couple of random links I found digging through my bookmarks:

Comic Boook Script Archive
http://www.comicbookscriptarchive.com/

Getting Things Written - Antony Johnston
http://www.antonyjohnston.com/gtw/

Excellent lettering masterclass!!

Not quite a lettering issue but looking closely at the lettering I suspect there is an over-use of ellipsis - you could probably save them for the end.

Aw jeez. I don't know whether to be chuffed or ashamed!

A mix of both is probably healthy

[Triumff: Her Majesty's Hero]

While on the Further Adventures of the Clones (might be worth a new thread, or not), he has also penned a deal for his first non-licensed novels:

The three novels for Angry Robot will allow Abnett to play to all his strengths as a writer. His penchant for wildly imaginative world-building and lovable characters comes to the fore in TRIUMPH, a ribald, swashbuckling alternate history set in a warped version of our present day ... only with Elizabeth the XXX on the throne, ushering a new Elizabethan age of wonder and exploration. This will be published, in both the UK and US, in October 2009.

Next year will see two novels set in the same stunning future-war setting. EMBEDDED sends a journalist into the frontline of a distant planetary war... chipped inside the head of a combat veteran. When the soldier is killed, the journo must use all his resourcefulness to get safely home again, reporting on a live feed all the way. No one writes future war as well as Dan Abnett, and fans of tie-in series such as "Gaunt's Ghosts" and his "Horus Heresy" novels will be blown away by this bold new move into original science fiction.

http://angryrobotbooks.com/2009/03/dan- ... bot-horde/

I was looking for something else and found his first book from Angry Robot listed on Amazon:

Triumff: Her Majesty's Hero

Sir Rupert Triumff. Adventurer. Fighter. Drinker. Saviour? Pratchett goes swashbuckling in the hotly anticipated original fiction debut of the multi-million selling Warhammer star. Triumff is a ribald historical fantasy set in a warped clockwork-powered version of our present day ! a new Elizabethan age, not of Elizabeth II but in the style of the original Virgin Queen. Throughout its rollicking pages, Sir Rupert Triumff drinks, dines and duels his way into a new Brass Age of Exploration and Adventure. FILE UNDER: Fantasy [An Age of Alchemy / A Dashing Swordsman / The Queen Must Die]

Out October 2009, ISBN 0007327692

Dan Abnett does a clockpunk Blackadder with added derring do? It'd be rude not to

I'm really looking forward to catching up with DnA and Simon Coleby's run on the Authority (and I'll dip into Ian Edginton's Stormwatch: PHD). I'm not completely sold on the World's End storyline and pretty much stopped reading the Wildstorm universe when the momentum died when Grant Morrison's titles stalled (although I will be keeping an eye on Giffen's finishing off of that story) but a combination of Dan Abnett and Simon Coleby is too good to turn down (and I only hear good things about heir work on the title, ditto Ian Edginton).

I am woefully behind on Dan Abnett's Marvel space books so will be picking up the first Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy trades at some point (with an eye to building up to the War of Kings storyline).

Cragside is know for its garden (and magnificent house) but no maze that I can think of.

Have a nose through these and see if they ring a bell:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Houses_in_Northumberland
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Gardens_in_Northumberland