NO-Earth Comics is a small press Indie comic publisher. We are a CO-OP working in a shared universe with 3 comics published, 4 more in production, 6 more in scripting stage, and another dozen in pitch stage.
We pay weekly. Very weakly. Seriously, this is at the start to get this out of the way immediately. We are a CO-OP, which means each creator gets shares in the CO-OP based on their creative output to the site ( 4 shares to be split between writer and artist per completed page). These shares are paid monthly. At the moment, these shares are paying pennies (between 3-15 cents a share), so this is not going to make you rich, but it's a back-end deal that is already paying it's creators (meaning real people are already receiving real (small amounts, but real) money). It’s also money you don’t have to wait on as it starts as soon as your first completed page of comic is sent in.
However, the first thing to consider is that once you have shares in the CO-OP, they keep on accumulating money every month. It's a royalty type situation. The second thing is that as our product line increases, the income is increasing.
http://no-earth.com/collaboration-information/
This is the link to our collaboration area
We are giving priority right now to Writer/Artist teams who are wanting to work on a project on our Collaborations chart. If you’re part of such a team, we will fast-track your pitch and script to get the comic into production status as quickly as possible while still maintaining quality. We would like to start putting out a new comic (either new title or new issue) every month, and this means getting some more projects into development.
What are we looking for from Writers?
Serious stories (that does not mean without humour). We want stories that tell something new. Different points of view. Things that organic to NO-Earth. New takes on old tropes. Stories that aren't afraid to explore some of the aspects of the genres we cover that are usually ignored.
What are we looking for from Artists?
The ability to do sequential work is more important to us than your talent at art. We want artists that can tell a story, and do so in a timely manner. We want varied styles, mediums, and results. A simple look at our website will tell you that we are not limited to a "House Style"
What are we not looking for?
Standard stories that everyone has seen before. If you don't have a new take on something, then it's probably not going to make it past the pitch stage of the process. We have no need of straight parody, or huge story lines that destroy the entire basis for the story universe. No need for a superhero story where everyone is simply a stand-in analogue for heroes from other companies.
What can we do for you that you can't do for yourself?
We have three people skilled in business overseeing all decisions, making sure that the business plan we are using is constantly evolving to handle the changing market of comics. While we are a no-capital startup, we do have funding for printing and merchandising (though the loans are paid back from sales) so we never have to crowdfund. We take care of the business aspect, so the creators can worry about things that are important to them (like creating comics).
Your comics WILL be published. If your pitch, script and artwork make it through our vetting process, we will publish, and add it to our growing NO-Earth line.
A built-in fan base is another benefit. We mirror each comic on three additional portals (Including Tapastic!) and I am active on most comic/webcomic forums. While each of the comics on the site are very different, if a person likes the world we are creating, they are likely to give a new title a chance based just on that. We are building a slow but steady fan-base on each of the three platforms we mirror on, as well as our own dedicated site. We also have a marketing machine already in place, and operating, sending out over 100,000 ad views a month, posting updates on various forums, and engaging fans and potential fans in dialogue where we find them. The Website is constantly advancing, taking advantage of new features and web-gadgets, and will continue to do so.
We run a group buffer and take care of posting our comics on a schedule that benefits the publishing schedule. When one of our comics is published, there are still pages of the comic left in the buffer to encourage readers to purchase the comic.
And there is a huge advantage to working in a shared universe - the heavy lifting of world building is done, leaving you free to do that creative thing that you do. The world has a lot of detail, and it's growing almost daily, with new entries and new details that make it easier for story-lines to be woven into the fabric of the world. You still have shared rights and ownership of anything you create for NO-Earth, and the ability to take the characters elsewhere, although NO-Earth retains certain rights and ownership as well.
So yes, if you have an idea that you think would fit within the NO-Earth world, pitch it to us. I do the initial read, then pass it on to our Editorial Board and between the four of us, decide what is accepted, what needs re-writes, and what is just not going to work. If you are a writer, we have a stock of ideas sitting around that need writers. If you are an artist, we have a stock of scripts and concepts that need artists.
Finally, if you are a webcomic writer/artist with an idea floating around in your head you've been meaning to try, come over and take a look at NO-Earth. In a few cases, we might even be able to fit your existing comic in, with just a few tweaks here and there, as NO-Earth has a lot of wide open spaces in the genres we cover. We've got resources you probably don't have, including an editorial staff, marketing, printing, merchandising (starting up before June), and a shared universe. So other than what's needed to place your story within the NO-Earth universe, you get freedom to do what you want to do, as well as help with your comic. A lot of the benefits of a collective with the helpfulness of a CO-OP. (We've not actually tried this, but we want to. I'm sure there will be some things that have to be worked out, but it's something that appeals to myself and the rest of the editorial committee.)
Please check out our website at http://no-earth.com/ to see what we are putting out, and where you might be able to join us.
Eagle
(We believe in collaborations)
