Following on the heels of the successful Something Positive “Help Me Quit My Job” donation drive, the fellows at Goats have launched a similar effort. The full details on positive changes for Goats that would occur depending on the amount of money raised are listed on the site. Jon Rosenberg also provides an explanation for why a fundraising effort is needed now:
The shame of it is that I think we’re only a year or so away from being able to do this full-time with a small but reasonable salary. It would be a dream come true, and we’re so close I can smell it. There’s two of us that need to be paid, so it’s taking about twice as long as we’d like, but it is possible. Especially if I can spend less time trying to find freelance work and more of my time working on the strip to get us to that point. Unfortunately I’m not entirely sure I can get over this hump with my credit rating intact. At least, not without your help.
I don’t expect ever to rely on my webcomic for a living income. I hope and expect one day to face the dilemma Scott Kurtz described in his infamous Can Success Spoil Your Webcomic? rant, and that’s when I’ll start creating merchandise and/or asking for donations.
But for those of you who are going for the gold, I say more power to you.
Paul Gadzikowski, paul@arthurkingoftimeandspace.com
Arthur, King of Time and Space New cartoons daily.
Ah, the ol’ Kurtz rant. The thing that’s really neat about it is seeing how cheap bandwidth has gotten since that rant. Granted the prices he quotes of $5-$10/Gb are a little pricey, even by 2001 standards, but $1-$2/Gb wasn’t at all uncommon back in those days. Now adays you can find hosting for around 10cents/Gb and the prices keep dropping and dropping.
Nobody really has to worry about the $2000/month bandwidth bill anymore now that you can pay $100/Tb which is more than enough to cover anyone’s webcomic (I think all of Keenspace uses less than 3Tb a month, maybe even less than 2Tb). I don’t think anyone has to worry about “success” killing their comic anymore.
The one thing that really has changed since 2001 though is this:
That just ain’t so anymore. With tens of thousands of webcomics out there, the vast majority will never get more than 1000 regular readers. It’s very hard to stand out from the crowd now adays with a new webcomic. There are thousands of extremely talented webcomic artists out there on the web who are languishing in obscurity simply because they’re just one amoungst many. Those of us who were fortunate enough to get into the game early were able to build up big readerships in a time when the webcomic scene was a lot less crowded.
I’d hate to be a guy just starting out with a webcomic now. The effort to promote your comic is much harder now than it was back when I started in 2001 and I remember feeling a little bummed out back then that I’d gotten into the game too late, by then Keenspace had something around 1000 webcomics already on it (now adays there are over 10K webcomics that call Keenspace home). Imagine how much harder it’s going to be for webcomic artists to stand out in another couple of years.
Fortunately most of those without skill, talent, and/or motivation quickly become discouraged and drop off the webcomic scene which I suppose helps cull the clutter a bit. Still there are so many newguys starting up webcomics each week the webcomic community seems to be growing faster than it can kill it’s weaker members off. Too many me-too posers jumping on the bandwagon with dreams of being the next Fred Gallagher in their wee little heads.
I think that’s the thing more likely to spoil someone’s webcomic more than “success” now adays. I can’t help but wonder how many great talents the webcomic community has lost after they became frustrated with being buried under a mountain of sub-mediocrity.
Oh well. I got mine.
The webcomic business is just becoming less and less of a business and turning into a hobby, which I think is partly good but has it’s downsides as well. It’s good because the more people devoting their time and talent to others for free, the more the internet is going to become a better place. And like you said, it’s easier now than ever to become a indendent artist, and I’ve been already prospecting my dettachment from KeenSpace (like you, I’m just waiting for WCN). But being able to make a living out of your work is a whole other story.
Like you said Ghastly, being there first was crucial to determine if you would be able to pay for your food and rent with your comics. But I wish Jon Rosenberg good luck, tho. I hope he reaches his goal.
And in a sense I’m one of those who started first too. My comic started October last year and up to this date is one of the five (maybe six) brazilian webcomics out there. We are really lagged in comparion to every other country when it comes to cartooning on the web.
I agree that it’s harder for the new webcartoonist to get a following than it was a few years ago (and it was harder a few years ago than it was a few years before that), but new talent still rises to the top, from time to time. Relative newcomers like Count Your Sheep and Butternut Squash, for example, seem to be on a lot of people’s link lists, without even having the support of a big edited portal like Keenspot or MT to push them (I know CYS has moved over to Keenspot, but it was popular before it did).
Rude of me not to include the URL’s, isn’t it. I’m too lazy. Besides, I bet you know them.
Joey
http://www.moderntales.com
Thanks for mentioning BNS, Joey…. one of my favorites! It’s at http://www.butternutsquash.net, and it has the support of Dayfree Press (http://www.dayfreepress.com), of which Ramon and Rob are a founding members. Dayfree is the same company that provides merchandise fulfillment for GOATS under the DOMINATION T-SHIRTS banner. We don’t edit the comics involved, but we certainly try to provide support. I like to think that in some small way, we are making a difference… promotionally for Butternut, and financially for GOATS. It’s a wonderful thing to see some of my DOMINATION T-SHIRTS clients lose or quit their jobs, and actually have the cash flow to call their websites their jobs…. including many of the other Dumbrella folks. The thing about Goats is that Jon and Phillip are so professional that they aren’t dipping into the profits made from the sales and memberships yet… it’s all going back into the “company,” to promote and grow, and to publish. I am very confident that with a little boost here, they’ll make their goal.
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