Hey gang,

My friend Shawn Pryor (PKD Media/The Black Box Podcast) turned me on to a new comics site by the guys behind Discount Comic Book Service and In Stock Trades.

It’s called My Didigtal Comics.

It’s a print on demand service where you the creator set your own cover prices and get 70% of each sale. 70%- that’s huge!

The site and service are pretty new, but will be growing rapidly. DCBS and it’s sister store InStockTrades.com have got a huge customer base and are very indy friendly. They work great with independent publishers through special price discounts to thier on-line/retail customers, special promo offers (Dave did free sketches for Bushi Tales #3), and their First Light project which helps to shine light on new comics, publishers, and creators.

For more info on DCBS, In Stock Trades, My Digital Comics, or First Light contact Zack Kruse or Cameron Merkler (the head honcho of DCBS).

Digital Comics LLC
6011 Highview Dr Suite B
Fort Wayne, Indiana 46818

E-Mail: support@mydigitalcomics.com

And speaking of Shawn and My Digital Comics, you can order PKD Media comics there!

This week Shawn and his co-host Jon Carroll invited me and Jetta:Tales of the Toshigawa creator Martheus Antone Wade to be on their upcoming podcast The Black Box. We talked about self-publishing, pros and cons of Diamond and alternate comics distribution options, digital comics, the Memphis Mafia, M.C. Hammer and more. As soon as I have an air date for it I’ll post it here and on my site.

Stay “tooned” here for more info on self-publishing, print-on-demand, and Nicki’s new Web-Wednesday columns about using the internet to promote you and your comics.

See ya Monday-

Lin

Tags: Bushi Tales, CGS, comic books, Comic Whore, comics, Dave Beaty, Diamond Distribution, digital printing, Jon Carroll, Lin Workman, Memphis, Mercury and the Murd, MSCA, Nicki, print on demand, self-publishing, Shawn Pryor

New Denny O’Neil article at bleedingcool.com-

#6 – Whoever Knows Fear…

…one way to create characters is for the writer to ask and answer four questions.

*What does my character always want?

*Who or what does he love?

*What is he afraid of?

*Why does he involve himself in extreme situations?

Check out Denny’s blog to find out more!

Thinking outside The Black Box

Last night I recorded a podcast with my friends Shawn Pryor, Jon Carroll, and Martheus Antone Wade for an upcoming episode of The Black Box. Not sure when the air date will be, but as soon as I know I’ll post it here. We had a great time talking about self-publishing and the ups and downs that can come with it.

I’m hoping to start my own Comic Whore podcast in the near future, but it’ll at least be after the holidays. Got enough on my plate right now to keep me plenty busy!

Like writing more Comic Whore updates for Mondays. If you have any ideas, questions about self-publishing/promotions, or things for me to pimp please send them on. You can reach me at lin (at) linworkman (dot) com.

Type at ya later,

Lin

Tags: Bushi Tales, CGS, comic books, Comic Whore, Dave Beaty, DC Comics, Dennis O'Neil, Denny O'Neil, Diamond Distribution, digital printing, free, Indy Planet, Jetta, Ka-Blam!, Lin Workman, Martheus Antone Wade, Memphis, Memphis Mafia, MSCA, Nicki, Phoenix Cactuscon, print on demand, promotional items, self-publishing, writing comics

There really aren’t any comic conventions here in town anymore. There was a good show here back in the 80’s and early 90’s, some smaller dealer shows at a couple hotels here, and the local sci-fi con would have an occasional comics guest or two. To go to a comic-con you had to drive a few hours or fly.

Luckily the local sci-fi one (MidSouthCon) increased their comics programming the past few years. Steve Rude, John Jackson Miller, Mike Norton, Mark Waid, Len Wein, John Ostrander have all been comic guests there, and Gail Simone is scheduled to be their comics guest of honor this year. But, they aren’t a full blown comic convention, and never will be. They like sci-fi and fantasy literature and art, but some of the powers that be kinda looked down on comics in the past(and what are a lot of comics but sci-fi/fantasy stories and art, right?), and even down more on self-published comics (luckily that has changed a lot recently). I’ve tried to become part of the local comics and con scene, and so have several of my friends, and that seems to have helped increase comics programming and guests.

But do you have to just settle for what’s around you and what those cons want to do or be, or can you build your own comic-con?

A few years ago my friend Tim and I were on a message board discussing the lack of comics at the local convention(s).  He joked and posted that he could throw a better comic convention in his back yard. All we needed to do was get a few card tables, a port-a-potty, invite the local creators, and offer some free barbecue to get some bigger name comics guests. We joked and jaughed about it being BYOT (bring your own table) and calling it “TIMMYCON!”. It just got silly and crazier from there. What was really crazy is that folks started thinking we were serious! We started thinking about actually doing it- but needed a better location than Tim’s back yard.

That came when our friends Todd and Patrick with the haunt we volunteered at got wind of our crazy scheme and offered us the haunt lobby to use one Saturday. It was about 1500-2000sqft and plenty big for our joke of a free comic show. We put the call out to all our friends, made up some promo postcards and dropped them off to all the local comic shops, put up a few posters at the haunt and around town, and in all spent about $20 or so promoting it (the $20 was for shipping on about 1000-2000 free ClubFlyers.com postcards). Saturday came, and so did the rain. “Great…” I thought. “Nobody’s going to show for this.” I was wrong.

Over the course of the day we had close to 200 people come through our doors! We had about a dozen tables including local comic creators, the local Star Wars Fan Force (Tim was the president of the group then), a toy collector/dealer, and a local comic shop (the owner and his son were both named Tim!). The show was a lot of fun, and we all thought it great to do it again sometime. So we did…

The next year Todd and Patrick asked us if we’d be interested in combining the haunted house’s kids’ day (which benefited Youth Villages), and moving it next door into the recently vacant dollar store.

The space was great (needed a bit of cleaning and decorating- no biggie), and we split it down the middle with Youth Villages.

This time the weather was perfect! We did some more postcards and posters to promote it, added a few more tables and artists, had a couple 501st members in costume, and put up a small art show.

Youth Villages ran an ad in one of the local papers, set up some games for the kids, hosted a costume contest, had a moon-bounce, did some face painting, and had some of their volunteers escort the kids and their parents through the haunted house where the kids got to trick or treat with some costumed characters of a kid friendly version of the haunt.

The haunt had almost 1000 people go through it ($3 ea.), and we had at least a third of that come through our half of the event, which was free again.

Then along came an idea to do a learning con called “Con-Sequential”…I’ll tell that story another time.

Since then I’ve seen more folks start some small shows that have become successful and have quickly grown in attendance, size, and length of show time. Around Comics’ Windy City Comicon in Chicago, IL and Comic Geek Speak’s Super Show in Reading, PA are two that come to mind.

CGS had episode celebrations (ep100,ep200,ep300) that started off being held in a local comic shop, and then expanded to an extra empty shop bay, and then became too big to be held in a comic shop or mall.

So they had to move to an event center. Not a bad problem to have.

CGS and AC started off small with local folks, local creators, and fans of their podcasts. They have grown and are now offering bigger and better guests and events for their fans in just a few short years.

So maybe if you can’t go to the con, the con can come to you.

They have proven it can work, and be fun, too. Just takes some time, effort, help, and planning. The budget part is up to you. Start small, have fun, and grow it is my suggestion. Delegate, do frequent follow ups, and try not to get in over your head or wallet. (That discussion will come up again when we talk about Con-Sequential…)

San Diego, New York, and other big cons have their place and can be fun, but I’ve always tended to enjoy the smaller shows. You get more face time with fans and creators, and they tent not to hit your wallet so hard, especially if you can do a local one or do a short road trip to one. Just make sure you have something new to sell and promote each year you set up.

This year I plan to hit Shadowcon and Midsouthcon in Memphis, CapeComicon in Cape Girardeau, Cactuscon in Phoenix, and the Superman Celebration in Metropolis. Hope to see you there!

Lin

Tags: Bushi Tales, CGS, ClubFlyers.com, comic books, Comic Whore, comics, Dave Beaty, free, haunted house, haunted web of horrors, HauntedWeb.com, Lin Workman, Memphis, Memphis Fan Force, Memphis Flyer, MSCA, Nicki, Phoenix Cactuscon

Hey gang,

Back again for Pimp It Friday.

First up, since it’s October and we’re heading towards Halloween I thought I’d start with DC Comic’s DCU HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 2009!

My Bushi Tales partner Dave Beaty and Scott Clark are working on one of the stories for the holiday anthology.

It’s 80 pages of full color super horror and will be on sale October 21, 2009. Jake Black and Billy Tucci are working on stories for the book as well, and Gene Ha will be doing the cover art.

It’s going to be scary boils and ghouls, scary!

Speaking of scary, the annual Broad Avenue Art Walk is tonight. My MSCA co-horts and I will be set up at Adam Shaw’s studio, and Paula Cravens will have a photography show at West Memorials. The weather is awesome today so we should have a fantastic crowd. Last year was a blast. This event is free and open to the public and costumed attire is encouraged.

Some other October events coming up-

-Haunted Web Of Horrors haunted house opens October 8th in Memphis, TN in the Trinity Commons Shopping Center at the intersection of N. Germantown Parkway and Trinity, just down from Kroger grocery. I’ve done some 3-D painting F/X and mural work there. You might even catch me running around as Beetlejuice or as the 8′ tall klown Funny Bonz.

-The 37th Annual Pink Palace Crafts Fair, Audubon Park, Memphis October 1 – 4

-Nashville’s October Horror and Comics Show October 17&18th- guests include Chris Claremont (X-Men), Gary Friedrich (Ghost Rider), Eric Powell (The Goon), Brian O’Halloran (CLERKS), horror artist Billy Tackett, and the MSCA’s own Adam Shaw and Chad Kinkle (HARPE). (Here’s a list of other Nashville Halloween happenings.)

-Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde at Theatre Memphis October 16-November 1st.

-It’s Good To Be Bad: Monster Portraits Of Villainy art show by yours truly at Adam B. Shaw’s studio on Broad Avenue in Memphis on Friday October 23rd. (Free and open to the public- black & white or costumed attire is encouraged.)

-Elwood Cemetery‘s Fourth Annual Costume Twilight Tour in Memphis is on October 24th this year.

Beast Wishes and I’ll see you next week!

Limb

Tags: 3-D, Adam Shaw, airbrush, arts and crafts, Beetlejuice, Billy Tackett, Billy Tucci, Brian O'Halloran, Broad Avenue Art Walk, Bushi Tales, CLERKS, comic books, Comic Whore, comics, Dave Beaty, DC Comics, Elmwood cemetery, Eric Powell, Ghost Rider, Halloween, HARPE, haunted house, haunted web of horrors, HauntedWeb.com, Jake Black, Lin Workman, Memphis, MSCA, nashville october horror and comics show, Pink Palace Museum, Scott Clark, The Goon, X-Men

Hey gang-

Nicki’s new web-blog has been pushed back to launch next Wednesday. I’ve read what she’s been working on and I think you’ll learn a lot from her about using the internet- I know I have! Gonna be worth the wait.

Don’t forget that the MSCA dinner meeting at Garibaldi’s Pizza is tomorrow night (first Thursday of the month) and the annual Broad Avenue Art Walk is this Friday.

There, and early “Pimp It” for ya.

See ya Friday,

Lin

Tags: Broad Avenue Art Walk, Lin Workman, Memphis, MSCA, Nicki