Pseudomé Studio Projects

[Physalis]

I was about to say the her art is a uh,....joke.

But then again, I don't have a deal with Disney...

Hope it works out.
_________________
"Many attempt to harvest what was never planted"
====================================
Leading the Anti-Kooky Korner movement since yesterday

[Rivkah]

Rikki: Eep! I meant Bookscan. Here's an article with a link to the last week of 2003 numbers: http://www.newsarama.com/pages/Tilting/TatWv2_2a.htm If you'd like to actually order current information from Bookscan, here's their website: http://www.bookscan.com/contact.html

There's also always Bowker, but unless you have $9,000 lying around, you might want to overlook this link: http://www.simbanet.com/

Queenie: There's a reason my friends call me the Google Queen. ^_~ I'm a numbers hog and an information junkie.

[crispy]

lol, all you artist people know eachother and work in cohoots with insiders at TP... the only people I get close to from TP are people I used to work in scanlations with... how sad...

[quote IronMouse] To Rikki and Tavisha: Since you two are here and you've been drawing manga for 10 years, do you think you can give some of us on this board some pointers on how you promoted yourselves? Someone who's been around for 10 years will certainly have quality info to add. Your advice would be much appreciated. smile.gif [/quote]

I totally agree. It'd be interesting to hear how to market yourself. Marty's little Story Bible thing was interesting, but maybe there's more to it?

[RikkiSimons]

[IronMouse]

Thanks for the help, Rikki.

I guess you're right - up until now, all your dealings have been with the closed direct market, so I guess you don't have all that much to offer with self-promotion when it comes to the relatively new "manga" market in America. It's baffling... I tell you. The article from the Comics Reporter describes it perfectly - it's NOT the 90s all over, this is something new and strange. Manga has gone mainstream (or almost mainstream), and that's what baffles the Comics Reporter. Obviously, alot more big companies such as Hyperion (Disney) are going to throw their weight into the Next Big Thing.

As for finding yourself a publisher, that's not really a problem (for me). I'm just wondering about this Brave New World, that's all, and what it means. Will promotions of oneself now be more like that of book authors rather than.... whatever it was before? It used to be the comic geeks and Star Trek fans, and the conventions reflected that. But now that manga is primarily sold in bookstores and PERCEIVED that way by the mainstream, it's suddenly gained a veneer of respectability.

That *respectability* part is important, because it will have some bearing on how one will market themselves. Before, just traipse up in your T-shirt and jeans, and talk the geeky talk with everyone. NOW, there's a bunch of corporate suits milling about, and it's all about marketing and selling yourself in a slick, multi-media sort of way. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but I'm genuinely wondering whether this is the direction the manga market will go in. Not a bad thing, ofcourse - I always wear suits anyway.

---
http://www.queeniechan.com/

[ElinWinkler]

[IronMouse]

To Elin: Have you tried gaining venture capitalist support? I ask because in this day and age, there's alot of buzz surrounding the booming manga industry in venture-capitalist land, and if you use it effectively Radio Comix may be able to get some financial backing on board.

Independent press comix can be cash-strapped, but hitching a "wave" when it comes can get you cash from people interested in a slice of the pie.

---
http://www.queeniechan.com/

[ElinWinkler]

[Aimi]

>Elin-san

Thanks for your responce, and thank you for the apology.

i didn't mean to bash Radio... i was just frustrated. i post in the forum, i PM you, but i get no responce. That's fine; i understand you're busy and that you're understaffed. i waitress at a restaurant where there's only 4 of us stationed and we don't get sections so we're waiting on all 19 tables and 10 bar seats. But when one of your friends post, it's up in the "hype" section the very next day. (Ebin and May DVD, some short-story web comic, Eddie's portfolio, etc) i can't seem to get a responce unless i get cranky and complain; smiling and waiting doesn't get me anywhere.

i don't hang out in the Radio forums to advertise Radio stuff. i think that would be silly. Although, now i do have an advertisement in my sig. i do, however, advertise at cons. i bring all the trib copies i've recieved and have it at my artists' alley table so that people can come by and read through them (i guess i shouldn't sell my trib copies but instead direct them to RadioComix Store?), i have a "workes published" page on my website, and have put links back to Radio on that page. i go to another forum where i do have a little ad for Radio in my sig. i am trying to spread the word.

i don' t mean to dispute this over a public forum, i apologize. i just needed to explain myself.

Sorry to go off topic. ^^;
-Aimi
_________________
... there is no Angel...
http://www.arek-net.com/
Support Indie Manga! Radio Comix

[ElinWinkler]

[Lime]

[ElinWinkler]

David:

Actually, we are cancelling all plans for the traditional comic mini/ limited/ongoing series, in favor of moving towards original graphic novels, along the lines of what Oni Press is doing. (I've talked about this extensively on my Livejournal over the past few months...) We are keeping our other core anthology titles, as they are still decent money-makers and turn a profit, but we are really pushing the people who get published in them to consider the longer term and to have an eye for eventual graphic novel collection for those stories once there is enough material. Besides which, the Japanese model of the anthology that later generates graphic novel material is one that is very dear to my heart, and is always something we wanted to emulate. But, due to the fact that we often take chances on new, completely untried creators in the anthologies, it can be a gamble on what will continue and what won't. ^_^; However, I still believe there should be a company out there that offers a place for those people to test their wings and get a taste of what being published is like- and I hope Radio can always be a place like that.

Ideally, we are hoping to have a steady mix of original graphic novels, collections of stories that have run in our anthologies (and on the Mangaphile: Online site that is in the planning stages), with our three core anthologies mixed in. Some of our other anthologies are being retooled in a new perfect-bound format, and some are only annuals, so they aren't really impacted by the slow death of the pamphlet. This is something we've already been making plans for, but as it wasn't completely germane to the conversation at hand, I saw no reason to bring it up. ^_^;

In five to ten years, I hope to have a strong back catalog of graphic novels in all the genres we are already publishing, and hopefully, our regular anthologies will still be going as well. Furrlough has already managed to last 13 years, through the Distributor Wars of the 1990's and other things that killed bigger companies than us. We've lasted 7 years already, without compromising our principles or having to take orders from anyone else. And, we have invested outside funds into Radio at many opportunities- my partner Pat regularly does coloring work for the majors, which he rolls back into Radio, I do outside work as well. In the past, we've done freelance work for Studio Proteus also. (Currently, Pat is working on the animated film A Scanner Darkly, again so Radio can benefit. ^_^) We're just really dedicated to pursuing our own vision and we'll make sacrifices to do that if we have to. By low overhead, it means we have a tiny staff (three full time people, two part timers), we don't have big, fancy offices (zoning is quite lax here in Texas when it comes to home offices), and we don't spend money like crazy on wacky advertising schemes. (I've seen that destroy many a startup comic publisher!) Our biggest bills are printing (and we don't get "help from Brenner"- we're charged the same amount as anyone else, and we pay them just like anyone else does...), taxes (which no one can really do anything about), shipping and postage costs and artist royalties. Everything else is minimal, and kept on a tight budget. ^_^ I was partly raised by my Depression-era grandma, who helped run her husband's businesses, so I guess the entrepeneurial spirit is in my blood!

And really, what it all comes down to is having books that pay for their printing, and which pay the artists something for their hard work and vision. If I can manage that, I consider Radio a success. Again, maybe that's weird of me, but this is what I do because I love it. I am extremely passionate about comics, and that drives me to work 16 hour days six days a week. ^_^ While huge amounts of money would be nice, I judge success more by going to a convention and talking to fans who are really passionate about the books we've made. That is worth more to me than money, even if it brands me as a crazy person to think that. ^_^; I just want to publish comics I believe in, and have our stories inspire a connection or emotional reaction from the readers. That's better than any truckload of money backed up to my door by some huge faceless corporation any day of the week. ^_^

Anyway, rambling again. Geez, sorry. ^_^; I said I was passionate about my company. Maybe a little too much!

--Elin
_________________
Job: http://www.radiocomix.com
Forum: http://patduke.com/forum
Life: http://www.livejournal.com/users/doronjosama
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[IronMouse]

[ElinWinkler]

[Lime]