October 18, 2010

10 things to consider before self-publishing

Filed under: News — Jeff @ 5:40 pm

This article, 10 Things to Consider Before Self-Publishing, was recently brought to my attention. It’s posted on a site called Liberal Arts Colleges, and while it appears to be about books, it sure rings true for comics as well. What do you think?

13 Comments »

  1. Great article Jeff. The article is right on. Too bad I’ve learned many of those things myself the hard way. :)

    Comment by Patrick Scullin — October 18, 2010 @ 11:32 pm

  2. This is a nice little outline here! I’ll be keeping it in mind if/when I decided to do indie comics.

    Comment by Marcus — October 19, 2010 @ 8:13 pm

  3. Jeff are youever going to give us a sneak peek of the bone movie.

    Comment by jeremy brubacher — October 19, 2010 @ 8:49 pm

  4. Yes like that Jeremy Brubacher guy said when are we going to see footage or new info from the Bone movie?

    Comment by Jerold — October 20, 2010 @ 12:30 am

  5. The film isn’t mine, it’s Warner Bros., so anything we see from the project will come from them.

    Comment by Jeff — October 20, 2010 @ 9:53 am

  6. Hello Jeff Smith I love your books they are realy interesting. Were do you find your ideas ? I admire. I would like you to answer me by email to yum_yumboy@hotmail.com and this is blog ? But dont publish this comment. Thanks bye Justin

    Comment by Justin — October 20, 2010 @ 4:01 pm

  7. Makes it seem like self-publishing comics are impossible.

    Comment by Dariq — October 20, 2010 @ 5:46 pm

  8. Not impossible, just not magical. It’s a real business. Self-publishing is more than just making your comic (which is hard enough, I know), but you have to make sure your comic survives out in the world.
    No one is going to smooth the way for you, so it’s best to do your homework, be prepared and have a plan. And most importantly, be realistic.
    Self-publishing is time consuming, but I think controlling your art and your destiny is a nice reward for your effort.

    Comment by Jeff — October 21, 2010 @ 8:49 am

  9. The issue of respect seems to be mostly for prose self-publishers… It’s not yet considered professional suicide to self-publish a comic book, as I’ve heard it is to self-publish a novel? I’m curious about whether that will change.

    Self-publishing is not impossible!! Though I confess I haven’t done all my homework, haven’t always been prepared, and haven’t had a plan…

    Comment by Evan — October 21, 2010 @ 2:45 pm

  10. [...] chat was inspired by the Jeff Smith. Jeff recently posted an article on his blog about self publishing. You can click here to read the original article by Liberal Arts Colleges. The article is very good [...]

    Pingback by Super Siblings - All ages comic strip for geeks with kids. » Archive » #webcomicschat - Artist Publish Thyself — October 22, 2010 @ 12:01 am

  11. As someone who makes a living publishing and writing books, I can tell you that article is bang on in regards to common self-publishing pitfalls.

    As I’m sure Jeff will attest, there is A LOT of work on the business end of running your publishing company never mind the additional work of marketing your stuff. That’s on top of creating your stuff, too, of course.

    Self-publishing–comics or books–is for those who have an entrepenurial spirit, you know, those of us who like to get in there and take control. Just how we’re wired.

    If the main goal is just to create and that’s that, self-publishing is definitely not for you. However, if you’re a creative businessman, then it is something to look into AFTER you’ve done all your homework on it.

    Thanks for the link, Jeff.

    Comment by A.P. Fuchs — November 8, 2010 @ 6:09 pm

  12. Very interesting article for sure. Along the same lines, I’ve written a bunch of articles on sales/marketing for comic book publishers and put them up on my site. They’re pretty detailed, but if you’re interested, check them out at: http://www.matnastos.net/comic-book-marketing/

    -Mat N

    Comment by Mat Nastos — November 30, 2010 @ 3:35 pm

  13. i lov bonex9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!favovorite books!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Comment by herby — February 23, 2011 @ 8:55 pm

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

Leave a comment