Import Your Outside Blog Posts to ComixTALK

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A quick update on the new site design: work continues and I’m hopeful we’ll be able to debut it for April.

I’m also carefully thinking through the various functions of the site.  One of the reasons I switched ComixTalk to the Drupal software in 2006 was to open up posting to the readers.  Every registered user of ComixTalk can post a Talk Post without having to go through me or any other editors. 

Many readers of this site also have their own outside blogs though where they write about comics.  I want to make it easier for readers to share such posts with the ComixTALK community.  I’ve added a function to the site that let’s you automatically import into ComixTalk the posts from your outside blog.  If you’re already blogging elsewhere and want to share those posts with the ComixTALK community you’ll no longer have to recreate those posts here – our site will do it for you.
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Crosbys Consolidate Control of Keenspot: An Interview with Chris Crosby

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At the tail end of February Chris Crosby announced that he had closed a deal to buy out the shares of Darren "Gav" Bleuel and Nate Stone in Keenspot Entertainment.  Although Bleuel and Stone are to provide technical support to Keenspot through the summer, from now on Keenspot will be strictly the Crosby show.  And following on the heels of this announcement, Keenspot has moved to offer to its roster of creators a new advertising split.  In this brief interview we catch up with Crosby on these recent announcements, the 8th anniversary of Keenspot itself, and the 9th anniversary of Crosby's webcomic Superosity.

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Templar, Arizona, by Spike, reviewed by Larry “El Santo” Cruz

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Late last year, my girlfriend and I took a nice roadtrip down the 101 to that City by the Bay, San Francisco. One of the many sights I wanted to see was Haight-Ashbury, the geographical flashpoint of the 1960’s hippie movement. I was a little disappointed with what I saw. Haight-Ashbury was a rundown little ghetto frequented by people who may or may not be homeless. There were some colorful murals here and there, but nothing you couldn’t see in some of the skeezier neighborhoods of Flint, Michigan. Haight-Ashbury was gritty, uncharacteristically quiet for a San Francisco district, and, most depressing of all, it failed to live up to the vibrant personality created by its own mythology.

What did I expect to see? Probably something like the town depicted in Templar, Arizona, a webcomic written and illustrated by Charlie "Spike" Trotman.

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The Road Less Traveled: Money and Contracts

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Your book has been accepted by a publisher. The hard work’s over!

Well, no. You’ve pretty much just entered the Twilight Zone and that means dealing with contracts.

But what kind of contract you get depends on the publisher you’re negotiating with, and you need to set your expectations accordingly.

I was actually going to talk a bit about marketing this month, but the recent discussions over Bookscan numbers in a number of comics blogs made me change my mind. You can read my take on how language can shape expectations here.

For this column, we’re going to look at some key details of a typical contract written for a larger publisher and the kind of thing you can expect when dealing with a small publisher.

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Weekend Webcomic Update

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BUSINESS

This has been out there on the intertubes this week – Kevin Kelly wrote an essay on 1000 True Fans, the notion being that there is a sweet spot on the long tail for the working artist to make a living – not poverty and not superstardom.  Nothing earthshattering in it to most readers here, but well-written and a lengthy discussion ensues in the comments.  FLEEN picked up on it with a post yesterday on venture capital for comics.  Well actually Gary is just flagging the idea that print and swag costs money upfront that artists don't necessarily have to do those thing right (and in a way that will actually make real money on the back end).  So we have seen some folks call for pre-orders to help gauge interest before committing the money.  What about just getting someone else to float the money to the creator so there's no hurdle?  Well – let's think about it some.  If it was me I'd much rather invest in a Topatoco set-up; help that kind of thing expand, then give my money to a creator in the kind of scenario Gary is talking about.  But it's an interesting idea to think about.

COPYTHIS

You Thought We Wouldn't Notice, a blog focused on pointing out suspiciously similar designs.  FLEEN had great coverage of the recent Soap Swindle saga.

HYPE YOURSELF

I'm out of the loop – when did Digg get a Comics And Animation section?

JUSTIFY MY HYPE

Checking out Xylia — anyone else reading this fantasy webcomic?

International History Club is neither international nor historical.  Discuss.

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10 Years of PvP

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All 4 parts of Zack Smith’s interview with PvP Creator Scott Kurtz are now up (click here for Part One, here for Part Two, here for Part Three and here for Part Four).  Smith’s interview is good and covers a lot of ground. 

Kurtz has been through most of the big trends of webcomics in his career; trying out various online strategies, getting into print and experimenting with animation.

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