Episode 4: Indie Creators, a Black Man and a Peacock.

The second part of the interview Wonton and I did with Shawn Pryor and Jon Carroll for The Black Box podcast is now available. We talk more about digital comics, distribution, web comics, Jetta, Bushi Tales, my B/W art show and Comic Whore site.

Click here to go to the Black Box Podcast site.

I’ve got some news about mine and Nicki’s recent adoptions, last Friday’s art walk and George Hunt art show, Adam Shaw’s upcoming art show this Friday and more on my LinWorkman.com site. Check it out if you get a chance. Pics from last night’s Hernando Christmas parade will be up there later this week.

Type at ya later,

Lin

Tags: Adam Shaw, arts and crafts, Broad Avenue Art Walk, Bushi Tales, CGS, Comic Whore, Dave Beaty, Denny O'Neil, Diamond Distribution, digital printing, free, haunted house, HauntedWeb.com, Indy Planet, Jetta, Jon Carroll, Ka-Blam!, Lin Workman, Memphis, Morgan Printing, MSCA, Nicki, Phoenix Cactuscon, PKD Media, print on demand, self-publishing, Shawn Pryor, The PKD Media Black Box podcast, writing comics

Hey gang-

Last night at the monthly MSCA dinner meeting our guest speaker was cartoonist Sam Ray, MSCA member and creator of the “Business As Usual” comic strip.

Sam discussed how he got into cartooning, writing for “Hagar The Horrible”, and sending cartoons to the syndicates and magazines.

After I saw the above cartoon in the Commercial Appeal (the newspaper here) this summer I told him I really dug it and said that if he ever wanted to sell the original to let me know. He said, “Heck, if you like it that much I’ll give it to you.” and he did last night at the meeting! I asked if I could at least buy him a beer. He said, “Ok, you twisted my arm.”

Sam’s one of the original MSCA members and a great guy to talk toons with. You can read more about Sam here.

Something else I wanted to talk about is “The 7th Son”. I found out about this story and it’s author J.C. Hutchins on a recent Comic Geek Speak episode (episode 739). The novel is available in print and as an audio book podcast you can download and listen to (which is what I’ve been doing). If you like sci-fi and/or a good thriller be sure to check out this book. I’ll post a review of it once I’ve finished listening. I’m up to chapter 12…

Oh, don’t forget that the 1st Annual Broad Avenue Holiday Art Walk is tonight here in Memphis from 6-9pm. Blues artist George Hunt will be showing some of his paintings at my day job West Memorials. I’m a big fan of his work! For more info click here.

Hope you have a great weekend- see ya back here on Monday.

Lin

Tags: art show, Broad Avenue Art Walk, Business As Usual, CGS, comic books, Comic Geek Speak, comic strip, Comic Whore, comics, Commercial Appeal, free, Lin Workman, Memphis, MSCA, newspaper, Sam Ray, The 7th Son

Here’s the 10th installment of Denny’s writing blog

Denny’s favorite mantra-

“There is seldom any one absolutely, inarguable, unimpeachably right way to do anything.”

“There’s just the way, whatever it might be, that’s okay for here and now.”

A final observation from Denny: “Practice makes…well, not perfect, but maybe pretty good.”

Read more from Denny here.

I’ve got another Web Wednesday from Nicki for you, but I can’t find it on my computer. I’ll look again when I get home tonight. Stay “tooned”.

Oh, and don’t forget to check out the latest episode (#3) of “The PKD Black Box” titled: “Roger Corman & The Memphis Mafia Battle Ninjas“. You can get it at http://pkdmedia.com, http://pkdmedia.com/thepkdblackbox, or via iTunes. Since we discussed so much Shawn Pryor split our conversation into two parts.

Lin

Tags: comic books, Comic Whore, comics, Dennis O'Neil, Denny O'Neil, free, Lin Workman, Memphis, Nicki, PKD Media, pod-people, podcast, self-publishing, Shawn Pryor, The PKD Media Black Box podcast, writing comics

Well, sort of… PKD Media’s Shawn Pryor and Memphian Jon Carroll (The Oblivion Bar blog) give me and Antone Wade (Jetta:Tales of the Toshigawa) a call to talk about self-publishing comics, distribution, this site, ninjas, M.C. Hammer pants and more!

The PKD Black Box Podcast

Episode 3: Roger Corman & the Memphis Mafia battle Ninjas.

Oh, don’t forget to check out LinWorkman.com to find out more info on the First Annual Broad Avenue Holiday Art Walk featuring artist George Hunt!

Type at ya later-

Lin

Tags: Broad Avenue Art Walk, Bushi Tales, CGS, comic books, Comic Whore, comics, Diamond Distribution, digital printing, free, Indy Planet, Jetta, Jon Carroll, Ka-Blam!, Lin Workman, Martheus Antone Wade, Memphis, MSCA, Nicki, Phoenix Cactuscon, print on demand, promotional items, self-publishing, Shawn Pryor, writing comics

Hi, my name is Nicki Howe, the Dark Webmistress of the Sith for www.linworkman.com, www.comicwhore.com, www.memphisfanforce.com and www.midsouthcartoonists.com. I’m the person responsible for developing the websites,  and keeping them up and operational.

Almost a year ago, Lin mentioned that he’d love to have a website of his own.  I asked him why he didn’t have one, and he informed me that technology exceeding email, Photoshop or Microsoft Word made his head hurt.  He didn’t have a clue where to start.

I’m a tech geek at heart and have worked in or with IT departments most of my professional career.  My current employer is an e-commerce company, and our product is our website.  This means my paycheck (and my ability to pay my mortgage) is dependent upon our website.  Needless to say, my co-workers and I take that very seriously, and I knew that I could help Lin by applying some of the knowledge I have accumulated over the years.  So, I volunteered to build him a website, and the result is www.linworkman.com.  This site followed a few months later.

From time to time, I’ll offer tips, suggestions and tools to help you promote yourself and your work online.

Now that the introductions are out of the way, I’ll start off with providing general guidelines for developing your online presence.

The Plan Can (and Probably Will) Change, But Have a Plan

I’m a planner by nature and by profession.  I drive people nuts with my insistence upon having a plan, but a well-developed plan can save you a lot of headaches in the long run.

Before you starting building websites, sit down and determine what you are looking for in a website.  What should the website look like?  Would you like to be able to post new sketches?  Would you like to sell your work online?  How much can you spend on creating and maintaining your website?

I had several conversations with Lin, who was the Vice-President, and Kevin Williams, the current President, before building the new Mid-South Cartoonists Association website to determine what they were looking for and what goals were they trying to achieve.  Kevin provided sketches of what he’d like the website to look like and a list of features he would like to see.  These conversations gave me the outline to work from in creating the website and saved me from re-work later.

Plans are wonderful things, but you also need to be flexible and adaptable.  Things will happen, some happy and some not-so-much, that will lead you down different paths.

You Don’t Have to Be a Tech Geek to Have a Website

There are a plethora of tools, many of them free, that makes building and running websites easier than ever before.  I’ll highlight many of these tools in future articles.

Websites Don’t Have to Be Expensive

What are the costs associated with running a website?  Well, that’s going to vary, based on your service providers.  I’m currently spending approximately $100/year to run Lin’s two websites and the Memphis FanForce site.  What comprises that cost?

• Domain Name – Your own, unique domain name (or web address) is crucial.  Keep it simple by purchasing www.yourname.com or www.yourcomicbookname.com.  Make it easy for people to remember the web address and associate it with you.  This is going to cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $10/year.

• Hosting Provider – I’m currently paying $6.99/month with GoDaddy, but that allows me to host multiple domains on one account.

You do not have to purchase your domain name from your hosting provider, but you often receive discounts by purchasing the domain and hosting in a bundled package.

For one domain and single site hosting, plan to spend approximately $70/year.  Again, your mileage will vary.  Please note, I’m assuming that you already are paying an Internet Service Provider (ISP), such as AOL, Comcast, AT& T, etc, for your Internet access.  Otherwise, how are you reading this and how do you expect to update a website regularly?

There are free blog alternatives available, such as Wordpress.com, Blogger.com, etc.  There are also companies that offer free hosting of your website; however, these providers pay for offering you the hosting for free by placing ads on your site.  The free alternatives also lack the ability to heavily customize your site and install software.

Remember, you often get what you pay for.

Have questions?  Have a specific topic you’d like to see addressed in future articles?  Drop me a line at webmaster@linworkman.com.

- Nicki

Tags: blog, comic books, Comic Whore, comics, free, Lin Workman, Memphis, MSCA, Nicki, self-publishing, Web Wednesday, websites