DISCLAIMER: I hope this real life experience is useful to some of you. Everyone's story is different and as someone who has struggled before (and still is actually), I just wanted to share as much honest stuff as I can because you don't hear about most of this stuff, the details. I hope this will help motivate those of you who are still trying to get into the industry.
TL:DR -> I started a webcomic in the tail end of 2016, promptly decided to take it down and go Gung-Ho, print and self publish full-time in 2017. I did a post Making Comics Year 13 on Tapastic sharing what I would tell my 21 year old self. TURNS OUT IT WASN'T EXACTLY THE RIGHT MOVE. Then I left Tapastic, close my account and went on the road. (did 25 comic conventions)
2 years later, (almost jan '19) I'm back here. I've since done work for Boom! Studios (Adventure Time), Lion Forge (Rolled & Told), other publishers and as of 3 weeks ago, I officially launch my featured webtoons.
If you're still reading this, here's the full update since Jan 2017. I've learned so much and if I could go back to my 21 year old self, this is the new stuff I'll be sharing with him.
Now let's go back to a year ago exactly on November 2017, 11 months after I posted on Tapastic.
I was about to launch my Kickstarter for my trade paperback version of my comic, Rock Mary Rock4. It would have 6 issues in total collected. I've been hustling the entire year and did 25 comic shows. Every show, I would sell a tonne of floppies (I've had 3 issues of comics printed by then) and I've had a Newsletter running with less than a 1000 following. These were the small minority people that bought the comics and still wanted in on the Newsletter. I was betting everything on the Kickstarter thinking these true fans would turn up as the campaign launch. Along with media coverage from blogs to comic news outlet I was confident the launch would at least do ok. Then I click the button and the project went live. It went off to a decent start with Kickstarter picking it as projects they love, all the media sharing and friends mentions. I thought it was gonna be ok.
But towards the end of the campaign on the final week, I was missing 40% in funding. 40% on the final week. If you've backed or created a Kickstarter you know that's a disaster. I've spend a whole year on the road doing 25 shows from ECCC, DenverCC, C2E2, Indiana, Otakon, indie shows, anime shows, everything I could find and researched that would be worthwhile to me just selling comics and original prints, no fan art. It was not just exhausting but mentally and financially stressful. Out of the Newsletter, only 5 person backed the Trade Paperback. I had monitored the traffic, it was not what I had planned. The Kickstarter Campaign1 ended on December. It was overfunded by 10%. I was very lucky. Somehow, I made it. But mentally, it killed me. I thought I would get immediate results just having that face time with the audience. What if I still had the webcomic going? Today will be Year 3 and would I have a better result going into the Kickstarter?
A few things I knew for sure was (1) I'd have more time to draw. The 25 comic cons were brutal. Every week I was preparing for the next show and some of them were back to backs. (2) If I was consistent with posting the webcomic, I'd have traction with a following. It's probably safe to say it's easier to sell a free webcomic on the vast huge internet than trying to sell them in a comic con at $5 per copy, which was much more expensive than the mainstream comics.
If I could go back to the tail end of 2016, I would have kept the webcomic going regardless if I'd want to hit comic cons. That is the one thing I shouldn't have dropped. Nothing can compete against the vast internet and webcomic platforms like Tapastic and Webtoons provided available audience.
But it wasn't all a disaster. Because I had printed my comic as floppies and because I've done so much comic cons, my face was all over the place. I went to all after parties in the shows, made more industry friends and eventually, got to know the industry editors. That's how I got the gigs working for Boom! Studios and Lion Forge. I've also been working on several story pitches, sending them to editors that I've met. In the beginning of the year, I was one of the finalist for Scholastic's comic contest. I received a phone call from one of the editor one week before the final announcement saying I'm one of the short-listed finalist and they just wanted to talk to me and get to know me. I was super hyped because the contest said they would pick several winners. In the end, they only selected 2 and I was cut. It was tough to swallow. Disappointments after disappointments.
But thank god, Webtoons gave me a chance. During November of 2017, exactly when I was running my Kickstarter, I went on the road for my final comic con. The most expensive one at CTNX. It was such a bad show, and how it was organized doesn't helped. (you can read about CTNX if you just google online.) I took the opportunity to visit Webtoons at their office in L.A. I've known them since 2015 when I went for a portfolio review at Baltimore Comic Con and constantly kept in touch. I had sent about 4 pitch and none of them were of interest. My own comic Rock Mary Rock is already out there and they advice me to put on discover which, if I had, maybe there's a small chance that would have been featured. Just a small maybe, who knows. So I took out my fifth pitch, a story I've been working on for a long while and flew to L.A. with it. I sent the pitch package 2 days before flying, finished comic con and head over the office to say hi. I sat down with my then editor (which has since changed) and we just went through the story because it peaked his interest. I think face time helped, really. Having that face to face to talk about my pitch was the opportunity I desperately needed. I then had the soft green light.
Since then I've been working my butt off and 3 weeks ago, Alice Elise10 was launched. And here I am today as a featured artist. [Please consider subscribing and liking, it really helps a tonne!]
It has been a hell of a ride and just last week, I decided to check back into Tapastic to search for advice on how to engage your readers. The Tapas team was able to reactivate my account that I had removed! Thank goodness and also, alarming since it means my account was still there even if I had deleted it. I saw the post I posted 2 years ago and kind of had time to reflect upon it. Out of everything I said in that post, the last paragraph was the most important.
Quote: "This year I am very inspired to work harder, do more and I've already line up at least 12 conventions for the year."
Do more
That was the key. I didn't stop at 12, I did 25 shows, I didn't just pitch my 1 comic, I had 5-8 stories I was putting together. I was constantly at it. It was so hard, and still is, really. I don't even know where to begin. I remember in 2016 when I first joined Tapas, and read some artist saying they got an offer from Webtoons and decided to turn it down because they don't like Webtoons. I was thinking "I would die for it".
And I did, I literally almost died for it hitting wall after wall after wall. I had many help and advice on the way here and today, I want to give it all back to share with all of you my journey. A lot of you are way younger, talented and better writer than I am. Sometimes when you pitch a story to editor and you don't hear back, it's not because your story isn't strong. It might be that you haven't found the right editor. Keep going at it, you'll get your chance if you keep on pushing. Don't ever give up because, you just might be at the corner of success.
Cheers and have a wonderful holiday ahead!!!
(Feel free to share your own journey under the comments section! )
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Dec '18last reply
Dec '18- 4
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I won't share my journey, because it hasn't started yet.