The Groove
Dave Sim, creator of Cerebus, wrote in an article on self publishing that in order to be able to publish a monthly book with any degree of accuracy, you need to be able to produce at least one page a day, every day. Or, if you feel like lump summing it, seven pages in seven days. At a panel on Self Publishing at the San Diego Comicon, Carla Speed McNeil, creator of Finder, introduced a concept called "Comic Book Boot Camp". Her theory was that in order to prove that you've got the drive and dedication to be a comic book publisher, you need to produce 14 pages in 14 days.
Yeah. Good luck with that.
I know the point of both methods is that you are to forsake all else in the name of self publishing. But, frankly, I kinda have my doubts that either of those guys worked full time manual labor. Me, I need a break every now and then, or bad things start to happen. I can't work my ass off at work, then go home and work my ass off on the comic for all five days of the work week. Gotta chill out every now and then. Gotta get some sleep every now and then. Gotta balance it. Gotta hang out with my crew every now and then.
But by the same token, can't just ignore the comic and assume I'll "finish it later". The only person who can assure that the latest issue of SDF will get completed is me. No one's gonna do it for me. So, on the flip side, sometimes I need to just start working on the book the second I get home from work. Sometimes I've gotta tell my friends, "Nope, can't hang out today". Sometimes I gotta lose an hour or three of sleep.
Like I said, it's all about balance.
Yeah. Good luck with that.
I know the point of both methods is that you are to forsake all else in the name of self publishing. But, frankly, I kinda have my doubts that either of those guys worked full time manual labor. Me, I need a break every now and then, or bad things start to happen. I can't work my ass off at work, then go home and work my ass off on the comic for all five days of the work week. Gotta chill out every now and then. Gotta get some sleep every now and then. Gotta balance it. Gotta hang out with my crew every now and then.
But by the same token, can't just ignore the comic and assume I'll "finish it later". The only person who can assure that the latest issue of SDF will get completed is me. No one's gonna do it for me. So, on the flip side, sometimes I need to just start working on the book the second I get home from work. Sometimes I've gotta tell my friends, "Nope, can't hang out today". Sometimes I gotta lose an hour or three of sleep.
Like I said, it's all about balance.
3 Comments:
A quarterly comic is just fine right now. You have enough of another schedule (mill, MW, L5R, etc.) to worry about a monthly book. Plus, yours is 48 pgs every three months, which makes it all good anyways.
what's an average comic book anyway? 15-25 pages not counting the advertising and cover stuff. If you're producting a 48 page book every three months that's the equivilent of 16 pages a month, which would be a complete comic book, right? If you did a page a day the TORC books would be 90 page graphic novels. That's insanity, particularly with a full-time job and everything else.
Word!
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