Remembering the Self-Publishing Movement: Terry Moore
Terry Moore is today's guest blogger. Terry has been self-publishing off and on since 1993, and always managed to put out a new issue of Strangers in Paradise every six weeks (!). Terry writes the most emotionally involving comics around, and I always looked forward to next chapter in the complicated lives of Francine, Katchoo & David. Terry just wrapped up his multi-volume, award winning, self-published opus Strangers in Paradise last year, and is launching straight away into his new series Echo, which goes on sale tomorrow, March 5. I can't wait!
Terry Moore:
The only reason I’m working in comics today is because of the self-publishing movement, in particular Jeff Smith. Bone and the other self-published books were a discovery that showed me a solo cartoonist could make comics and sell them in comic shops without having to draw superheroes for a major company. Not that I have anything against drawing heroes for Marvel or DC, that’s just not something I had dreamed of or trained for. But making comic stories like Herge or Robert Crumb… yes, that I wanted to do. So I discovered Bone and Cerebus and all the other indy black and whites one day in 1992, spent the rest of the year learning and researching the biz— drawing my first issue at night, then redrawing it completely— and began pushing against the comic universe to let me in. By the time Strangers In Paradise #1 hit the stores in Nov. 1993, the original Brat Pack of self-publishers had been established for a couple of years and were famous. My first store signing was at Bedrock City Comics in Houston with Jeff. Actually, it was a Jeff Smith signing and I was allowed to participate because, although new, I was still a self-publisher and therefore welcome. It was an eye-opening experience. Two or three hundred people showed up and jammed the store to see Jeff. I sat next to him with my first couple of SiP issues published by Antarctic Press, trying to give them away to Bone fans (no takers as I recall). Afterwards we were treated to dinner and I pumped Jeff for info on self-publishing. Jeff was open and honest and encouraged me to give it a try. By the time we walked out to the parking lot I knew that as soon as I finished the SiP mini-series with Antarctic Press I was going to self-publish a SiP series.
And that’s what happened. I spent three months making three comics and a trade with Antarctic Press and made almost nothing. I spent six weeks making the first issue of SiP and made a very nice profit. Like most cartoonists I had a family to support with kids who expected me to feed and clothe them. I desperately wanted this exciting new creative outlet, but I also needed it to provide a solid living for my family. The simple economics of self-publishing made that possible; one guy doing it all, paying the printer bill and living off what’s left. There were no guarantees of course… one bad book and you could be sitting in a trash heap (at least that’s how my neurotic mind saw it), but I got used to being my own boss and loved getting up on Monday mornings to go to work.
Zip! Fourteen years went by. 107 issues written, penciled, inked, lettered, Photoshopped and printed, countless conventions, planes flights, 2 passports, a ton of freebie comics from fellow cartoonists (I love perks) and yes… 2 kids fed and clothed. And the friendships Robyn and I made with Jeff and Vijaya and all the other self-publishers over the years will last a lifetime.
So, as a cartoonist, what do I think of self–publishing? Best thing that ever happened to me. In fact, like somebody else we know around this blog here, I liked it so much I’m going to do it again. My new series, Echo, debuts March 5. And yes, it will be self-published.
What an excitng journey! Thank you so much for sharing your tale and work! I’ll be sure to check out Echo.
Comment by Jeanette — March 4, 2008 @ 7:35 pm
Much like hearing about success stories in self publishing. Give me inspiration that there is potential in a world beyond just doing service work.
Comment by PerryDS — March 5, 2008 @ 12:43 pm
[...] [Publishing] Strangers in Paradise creator Terry Moore recounts his experiences in self-publishing his series. [...]
Pingback by Journalista - the news weblog of The Comics Journal » Blog Archive » Mar. 6, 2008: Tentacles! — March 6, 2008 @ 6:15 am
[...] Remembering the Self-Publishing Movement: Terry Moore from B o n e v i l l e [...]
Pingback by STWALLSKULL » Interesting Links: March 6th, 2008 — March 6, 2008 @ 10:42 am
Definitely inspiring. And yet kind of sad for me. Living in Brazil, it’s impossible to even feed and clothe myself with comic books.. i tried for years, never had the money to pay the printing, and it’s better not to talk about distribution…(i still have a big pack of a comic i helped a friend print, couple of years ago) anyways, that never stoped me, and I believe i just didn’t do anything good enough yet… so, this time i’m going multilanguage, portuguese, english, french and spanish… to try a deal with ANY publisher in the world (we don’t have national comic publishers here)… and spent all I can afford it with the post office… i still believe in self-publishing, and i hope, someday to leave this country and go someplace where i don’t feel guilty for keeping trying to live by making comics, animated shorts or writing. Before that, i’ll try from here for some more time…
sorry for that, i didn’t meant to complaint about my life in your blog. it’s just that you’ve gone worldwide! really, Jeff’s, Terry’s and a bunch of other succesfull self-publisher are admired everywhere. And altough i’m in a reallity absolutely different from your’s, I have similar ambitions, and i believed for quite some time that quality work would do it… this dream died long ago. Just quality is not enough, i’ve seen trough the years people here with oustanding talent, that had to give up from comics, so they could feed themselves… some of them even gave up drawing at all…
I’m sure that a lousy country is not something to blame for anyone’s failure. A person’s potential counts a lot more. That’s a good thing to have in mind…even tough sometimes reality tries to knock us down…
Thanks to Terry for sharing this and Jeff for the initiative, allowing us to get to know better what this great authors gone trough to get there.
ps: sorry for the bad english…I hope it’s at least understandable…
Comment by Eduardo Damasceno — March 6, 2008 @ 10:54 am
I’m wondering whether, given a cartoonist with Terry’s talent, his feat could be replicated in 2008. It’s a different market now. Terry being a well-known quantity can launch a new self-published series now and have a reasonable prospect for success, but what of the _next_ Terry Moore? Will today’s market be as receptive?
Comment by Scott Bieser — March 6, 2008 @ 9:54 pm
When are you gonna talk about the movie?? Heidi got me very intrigued, and word is circulating. I’d like to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. No matter what, congratulations on finally finding the right place for the movie rights!
Comment by Jonathan — March 12, 2008 @ 8:14 am
Indeed! I have also been wondering about that the last couple of days since I read about it on aintitcool.com
And what will it be like, traditional 2D animation? Who will direct, who will produce, will it be one movie or more than one, and, most of all, WHEN?
Anyway – I second the congratulations above! Great news, isn’t it?
Comment by Michael — March 12, 2008 @ 3:10 pm
Bring your pencil dude
Comment by T — March 30, 2008 @ 10:16 pm
Well I’ll be darned. I did a brief search on “Bone” to purchase the remaining graphic novels that I do not currently own. You see, I sat down one evening with my daughter during our bedtime book reading and neither of us were terribly thrilled with her expansive card catalog of picture books. On a whim I grabbed a box of comic books and right there at the forefront was the #1 edition that I had been keeping all these years.
You have a new fan, Mr. Smith. I managed to find the first and second graphic novels that I own (signed by you at ComicCon, San Diego in 2006) and breezed through them toth in two days. So…here I am. What a treat to read an entry by my second-favorite writer, Terry Moore! Although I don’t think I’ll be reading Stranger in Paradise to my girl for a decade (or two). But still, I’m glad that I found this site…
Regards,
Lisa
Comment by Lisa H. — March 31, 2008 @ 6:13 pm
OH PLEASE MAKE A MOVIE IT WILL BE THE BEST THING EVER!!!!!!
Comment by Elvis — March 31, 2008 @ 9:14 pm
[...] Remembering the Self-Publishing Movement: Terry Moore [...]
Pingback by terry moore :: Terry Moore - Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane | Hot topical news — August 31, 2008 @ 8:34 am