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Underground > Comic Books >

The Cost of Comics

02:30 / 21.05.09

Does anyone (self publisher or professional) know of a place on the web where I could find a break down of the cost of putting together a comic book - a rough idea of the costs of paying staff on a book, the cost of printing and shipping, the costs of diamond distribution and the like - any one want to share experiences as a self publisher also?

12:38 / 21.05.09

Regarding printing costs for self-publishing, there are so many factors to take into consideration that it's probably best to get a firm idea of your printing needs and get quotes (at least 3) from local vendors. Give them as many details as you can (size of the book/s, colors used, bleed or no bleed, etc.) and ask for recommendations on paper stock. Also, get prices for different quantities (say 500/1000/1500) because there will likely be cost-per-book savings as your quantity increases. Ask about direct-to-plate services from your vendors as well. I assume some print houses are still shooting negatives, while others have upgraded to direct-to-plate technology. Printers who use DTP may be able to price their services a little better, since they save on materials and the time it takes to strip the negatives and make their plates.

For my book, I ended up paying around $1500 for 300 48-page B&W full-bleed books. Paper stock was 20 lb. for the inside and 110 lb. for the cover. This was 5 years ago, tho. I went thru Cold Cut Distribution (in the US), but didn't get much of anywhere. Give them a look, tho, as it seems they're under new management. www.coldcut.com

Get venues lined up for reviews and word of mouth prior to release. If you can advertise or put together a guerilla marketing campaign, do it. If you can afford to set up a small table at a few comic conventions to flog your product, do it. Bribe the Mindless Ones with sweets and cash in exchange for a glowing testimonial or five. Sell your original art so you can print a second issue. Look in to making badges or some similarly cheap promo item. Believe in yourself and your book. Hope for the best and plan for the worst. Radiate positivity when you interact with the public. Look forward to meeting the 14-year old kid who will tell you your book is the best thing he/she has ever read.

And: Staff?!?! We don't need no stinkin' staff.

14:50 / 21.05.09

*hand out to receive bribe*

15:23 / 21.05.09

Name your biscuit, boboss!

Thanks for the reply - the staff was a kind of feeler out for costs of artist - I'm not that good a penciller/inker, can do layouts, but that's about it.

Would I be looking at a nominal fee for a starter, and a published book being enough, or would it be better to stump up for a pro, or would that just not be a viable option?

08:11 / 22.05.09

Re: Artist. Depends. There's more of a tradition amongst UK people that doing a comic as new creators is much more like a band. As in, you're in this together. I've never paid for any artist I've worked with. Definitely with some US sorts, especially ones with semi-mainstream styles, there's a "page rate or nowt" attitude.

(This is a general rule. It's not hard or fast by any means)

The thing with the band approach is... well, it's a band approach. I've never paid for an artist, but I did a mass of small press stuff just getting out there. This lead to me meeting people, saying we liked each other stuff, deciding we'd work with each other and then doing it. It's harder to do that from scratch, without the human contact.

(People who believe in monetizing friendships and social groups would call it "networking".)

It's almost a time vs money thing. To get an artist to want to do it for no up front cash - and, more importantly, actually *do it* after saying they will - you'll need to put in time becoming part of the scene. If you're not, you may have to pay.

(And still worth noting that even if you pay, the artist will probably flake.)

17:50 / 23.05.09

I'll have a choco leibniz!

21:16 / 25.05.09

Okay, I've got three ideas that I'm starting to plot out and script - I'm using a program called Celtx just for ease of use (it's a free programme, is similar to Final Draft, but has a template specifically for comic books).

Any Barb-artists interested in doing something feel free to PM me - any Barb-ers in the LA/California area also interested...

Oh, and Boboss, would you be willing/interested in looking at some plot/synopsis and giving feedback?

06:19 / 26.05.09

Agreed with everything warhol and KieronGillen said. As an artist in the far end of the world, I need crazy convincing if I'm gonna draw someone else's story for free. And since I don't live in the US/UK, that needs to be done completely over the 'net. Usually I'll just ask for money upfront (somewhere between 70-100 USD per page since I'm relatively unknown, though I suspect others may charge more more.) I do this because, oddly enough, the people I've done pages for so far, I've never seen them in print, which sucks sucks sucks. Also because I tend to do everything--pencils, inks, colors, lettering, page prep--so it takes a lot of time. And mostly because I prefer to just draw my own stories.

But that said, I have a little extra time next month, so if you can script something no longer than 4 pages, I'll draw it for free, out of Barb love. Can't commit to more than that, though, at least for now. Email me!

18:58 / 29.05.09

Has anyone had any experience with this company?

comixpress

I'm beginning to source places and get an idea of costs - having completed the script for a first issue, I'm now looking at budgets and so forth.

20:09 / 29.05.09

I bought a load of comics off comixpress a couple of years ago and never got them, or a refund, of any replies to my emails. So, not sure what they're like when producing your own comic but as a seller they suck in my experience. Which is a shame as i really like the idea of them and they do sell some interesting stuff.

23:41 / 29.05.09

damn, that's too bad. I've ordered a couple of things, just to get a look at their layouts and prints - and also because they seem to have some pretty interesting and well put together comics listed there. I'll let you know if I have any better luck!

00:13 / 30.05.09

I've had a quick look and there are two main companies that come up as POD (print on demand?) for comics - both are relatively young, and they both seem to be struggling with demand of service (one writer suggested that if you are okay with waiting 6 months, then one is an okay service)

The other company is Ka-Blam - both sell books through their sites, or subsidiary site in Ka-Blams case - and both cater for smaller runs on books (Ka-Blam suggests that if you are planning a higher run than 1000 books, then it may be better to use a local printer.

Has anyone used a service like this to produce a book for show to help pitch prospective work?

02:07 / 31.05.09

Having a look at what others have written on the web about both companies, it seems that Comixpress suffered from it's own success early on, and just got overwhelmed by use - a complaint which seems to be less made now. Kablam seems to get the better recommendations, and seems the more contactable (providing phone as well as email) - as well as international orders (not sure if comixpress offers this or not).

They both offer a reduction in printing costs for carrying an advertisement for their services in your book, and the cost difference isn't much (kablam just about shades this one also).

It seems that a few people list on both sites, to cover bases as it were.

23:26 / 04.06.09

I've ordered books from both sites - and Ka-Blam (through Indyplanet) is certainly the most communicative. I've received status emails form the order being processes to sent, but nothing from comixpress, except an order received notice. I have however spoken to someone who used comixpress and was pleased with them (he did say their communication was terrible though).

I will let you all know when the comics arrive and what I think of the quality.

23:19 / 12.06.09

I've had some deliveries from Indyplanet (Ka-Blam). The books look good (in terms of print). I'm still waiting on Comixpress.

It can be very hit and miss, in terms of the quality of content, but the books that are crafted well are as good as any pro book on the shelves at the moment.

Of those that I have read, this one stands out as being a particularly pretty and interesting book:
Colodin Project

There should also be a link to [plug]The Major on that page(by Barbelith's own Hector Lima - which I haven't read yet, but have received) which looks pretty fun also [/plug]

ONLY NICE THINGS

21:28 / 13.06.09

Steady on, old chap! We should be saying ONLY NICE THINGS, and it's not nice to associate Hector Lima with Barbelith against his wishes. He left Barbelith, and we should respect that!

10:36 / 25.06.09

Fair enough - read above as "some guy called Hector Lima has a book called The Major on that site"

Update on the ordering - received an email notice that my Comixpress order had been shipped - but have been away from home so not sure if it's there yet.

20:17 / 26.06.09

ComiXpress order arrived, little more than a month over the date of ordering - not much difference between the books from here and Ka-Blam (Indy Planet).

12:10 / 07.08.09

Okay - I have a couple of projects going at the moment, and have budgets drawn up on both of them (I will post details of these once I have more, but for now one project has a creative team in place and is ready to go - in fact character designs are being worked on - , the other has a tentative team in place and is at the scripting/plotting stages).

Now onto promotion - how do people feel indy comics are promoted best?

22:08 / 19.10.09

if you're willing to start out with black and white and can deal with doing your own stapling, there's a long, rich tradition of zinemakers scamming photocopies, which is perhaps better discussed other places than this thread. if you're resourceful, you can probably figure it out.

i remember about ten years ago when it seemed like every punk house had a stolen kinkos copy counter on the wall. you'd go to kinkos, ask for a self service counter, run off about twenty copies on the store counter, and then run off about several hundred on the counter you brought with you. this scam hasn't been viable for a long time, but you get the idea.

02:44 / 16.11.09

So the board isn't anywhere near as lively as it used to be, but for the sake of closure and completion - issue one of my comic book, Omnitarium, has passed proof inspection, and is being printed in time for Indy Comic Book Week at the end of the year.

More details and some preview pages can be found here : - Monkey Pipe Studios

It will be going out under the Ronin Studos banner, available at some stores, Indyplanet.com and direct from me (if you feel that way inclined).

Took a while, but very please to have the first issue done - only 3 more to go.

01:44 / 29.12.09

Well, here you have it - the final product of the last few months...Omnitarium issue #1

Issue two is nearly complete, and I'm aiming to keep the series as Quarterly at the most.