What a fantastic response from everyone and I couldn't be happier about how enthused by an idea like this you all seem to be! I hadn't planned on putting this up until Monday...but here's the new page (still under construction):
Creator-Owned Comics
http://creator-owned.blogspot.com/
Let's get this going!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Open Challenge...
This challenge goes out to any and all comic book creators that own their own properties.
First off, to put it as simply as I can, I love you for everything you do and I want to help, but you've gotta get my back. What I'm proposing to you is that I will dedicate my time and energy in spreading the word on this very page about buying creator-owned books, and all I ask in return is your participation in it as well.
What do I mean by participation? I mean giving me the ok to use your artwork here to promote your books. I mean posting the updates from here on your Facebook pages, your Twitter accounts and wherever else you kill time on the internet (whether your book is featured that week or not). I'm no stranger to your ramblings outside of the books you all work on, so if I'm going to tell comic book readers that it only takes them once a week to help keep you in print, then I'm going to tell you it only takes five seconds to spread the word.
And I'll even do the heavy lifting.
Why? Because, like you, the world of comics means so much to me and I believe it to be important. When the sales figures came out for 2010 I noticed how many of you were upset about the lack of creator-owned titles in the top spots and it got me thinking. Personally, I made the decision (as a weekly buyer) to try to pick up at least one creator-owned book a week. It's not a lot to do considering the amount of titles a lot of us purchase, but I figured that would be putting my money where my opinion was.
Walk the talk, so to speak.
I threw this out there on Twitter, it got re-tweeted a few times, and I was really encouraged by the responses I received. Readers want to do their part, I really believe that. I just want to point out to them that buying a creator-owned book is not a charity, it's not a chore or community service...nothing need change in their regular routine. If someone loves comics, then they love comics. We devour this stuff over and over and all we want is to enjoy what we read. I want this blog to be nothing more than a way to say "Hey, these books come out this week, so when you make the trip to your local shop you should totally check them out." People are already going to see some of your books on the racks, hopefully something like this page can just give them a point of reference they might not have had before.
That's all. No hawking, no shilling, no soft or hard sell, just comic books.
Obviously I can't write up or feature everything that comes out every week by every creator, but I can do some, and I figure that's a start.
But I need your help.
You'll notice that this blog's design is fairly blank...that's because we haven't decided if it's going to happen yet or not. If you don't care then I don't care and we can leave it at that, or we can try to help everybody out (creators and readers).
If you are the force behind a creator-owned comic book in any of it's forms, hit me up at CPSmits@gmail.com and let me know what you think. I'm also on Twitter @superfist if that's an easier way to help everyone spread the word.
-Chris Smits
First off, to put it as simply as I can, I love you for everything you do and I want to help, but you've gotta get my back. What I'm proposing to you is that I will dedicate my time and energy in spreading the word on this very page about buying creator-owned books, and all I ask in return is your participation in it as well.
What do I mean by participation? I mean giving me the ok to use your artwork here to promote your books. I mean posting the updates from here on your Facebook pages, your Twitter accounts and wherever else you kill time on the internet (whether your book is featured that week or not). I'm no stranger to your ramblings outside of the books you all work on, so if I'm going to tell comic book readers that it only takes them once a week to help keep you in print, then I'm going to tell you it only takes five seconds to spread the word.
And I'll even do the heavy lifting.
Why? Because, like you, the world of comics means so much to me and I believe it to be important. When the sales figures came out for 2010 I noticed how many of you were upset about the lack of creator-owned titles in the top spots and it got me thinking. Personally, I made the decision (as a weekly buyer) to try to pick up at least one creator-owned book a week. It's not a lot to do considering the amount of titles a lot of us purchase, but I figured that would be putting my money where my opinion was.
Walk the talk, so to speak.
I threw this out there on Twitter, it got re-tweeted a few times, and I was really encouraged by the responses I received. Readers want to do their part, I really believe that. I just want to point out to them that buying a creator-owned book is not a charity, it's not a chore or community service...nothing need change in their regular routine. If someone loves comics, then they love comics. We devour this stuff over and over and all we want is to enjoy what we read. I want this blog to be nothing more than a way to say "Hey, these books come out this week, so when you make the trip to your local shop you should totally check them out." People are already going to see some of your books on the racks, hopefully something like this page can just give them a point of reference they might not have had before.
That's all. No hawking, no shilling, no soft or hard sell, just comic books.
Obviously I can't write up or feature everything that comes out every week by every creator, but I can do some, and I figure that's a start.
But I need your help.
You'll notice that this blog's design is fairly blank...that's because we haven't decided if it's going to happen yet or not. If you don't care then I don't care and we can leave it at that, or we can try to help everybody out (creators and readers).
If you are the force behind a creator-owned comic book in any of it's forms, hit me up at CPSmits@gmail.com and let me know what you think. I'm also on Twitter @superfist if that's an easier way to help everyone spread the word.
-Chris Smits
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