Tips and Advice for Comic Anthology in Portland

[Dudley]

WARNING. THIS IS A LITTLE LONG.

Dear DC Conspiracy,

My name is Alex Dudley and it has been a LONG time since I posted here. The last time I got to see you guys was during the art exhibition at the MLK Library. Since then, I graduated from SCAD, started producing web animation, and moved from DC to Spotsylvania.

I started this thread to ask you guys on your opinion and advice on a project that's starting out on the other side of the country. In Portland, Oregon, Peter Paltridge of Platypus Comics fame, has gained funding to launch his project known as "Bang! The Entertainment Paper". Bang will be a monthly mostly b/w newspaper-formatted anthology consisting of comics and short stories that will be distributed in over 1,000 locations in Portland. Bang's hook is that they'll pay creators $25 for each page submitted and that they're allowed to submit comics and stories that they've uploaded online or has been previously printed (so long as they still retain the rights to the work). Along with a chance to earn money, Portland is home to both Dark Horse and Oni Press, so they'll undoubtedly get to see the creative talent within the anthology.
At the moment Bang is looking for submissions to produce a sample issue to get advertisters invested. The anthology is set to come out this summer (at this rate I'm assuming August).

When I heard about this, I thought that this is a great way for comic artists of all kinds to earn a little bit of money off of their work. But I also was reminded about the DC Conspiracy's Magic Bullet, and how they run semi-annual, and produce free issues. MB is distriubted throughout comics shops, restaurants, bars. And Bang's planned to be distributed to comic shops, and locations "where children are present".

Based on the guidelines and information on Bang that I described and what's found on their website, do you think Bang! can work as a monthly anthology and pay the submitters in the long run? I talk to Peter on a regular basis helping him set it up, but now I'd like to know if you guys have advice to ensure that it can work and benefit the creative talent in Portland and abroad.
If I left any important factors out, please let me know.

[Rafer]

Hey Alex,

Will you be in Portland during the Stumptown show a few weekends from now? If so, I would be glad to talk to you during the show. (Or, if Peter wants to come up and say hello and ask me questions, that's cool too.)

One thing I noticed from a quick look at the website as someone who would be interested in submitting a comic is that the format guidelines are vague. Here's what I'm talking about.

"WHAT DIMENSIONS SHOULD MY ARTWORK BE?
We'll print any dimensions, but vertically-oriented or square cartoons will be easier to fit into our format than horizontally-oriented ones."

Then later

"...we'll allow MUCH more space for the creative artist to strut than a newspaper does. But the more pages your submission takes up, the less likely it is we'll print it. A six-page comic will have a harder time making it to the finish than a one-pager, for example."

If you want the paper to look professional, you want people to draw to your formats (rather than attempt to shoehorn in art not formatted to your paper's aspect ratio). As it stands if I wanted to draw a full page comic I have no idea what size to draw it at.

And second, in order to make money to pay for the printing as well as the submitting artists, you need to sell advertising. (More than you think you need to.) And even once you have a sample issue printed advertisers aren't just going to fall into your lap. It's a lot of work. A LOT OF WORK. Matt's done a great job in getting advertisers in the latest issue of MB, but even then I think we barely covered the print run. Paying artists is still a ways off. You're going to need someone with sales and marketing skills to sell enough ads to cover all your costs.

Honestly, from what I see out of the website I can't tell that there is much of a business plan other than "let's put out a newspaper". The front page states that the paper will be available in over 1000 Portland locations, something that would require a huge amount of work to accomplish, but the website makes it look like a one-man operation. How's he going to get the papers to all those places? What are those places? While we put out MB mostly because it's fun, your friend seems to want to turn the paper into a business. Please compare the tone and information presented on the Bang website to the tone and information presented on this local magazine's website: http://frederickgorilla.com/ I know it's a bit like comparing apples and oranges, but if you were a local business owner, based solely on these two websites, which would you give your advertising dollars to?

Okay, that was a longer and rantier post than i had intended...I hope this helps, and I really do want to submit something.

[Dudley]

Thanks for writing back.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend Stumptown in Portland, but I'll make sure Peter does.

In terms of comic size, I submitted a story a comic story 11x17 in size, so I figure he prefers something like that. Though he is allowing single panel strips, like Our Valued Customers so I figured if he really likes someone's work, he'll work with them to get it in Bang.

Peter has managed to figure out the cost of advertising, print, and distribution down to the letter. Even if he only gets half of his ad space filled, he'll be able to afford to keep Bang going monthly. I think Bang's advantage is that it's family friendly and will be distributed to locations where a lot of people, including children, will be present (waiting rooms, cafes, comic shops, etc). None of that, of course, will do him any good unless he can get advertisers, and I hope he gets a sales rep soon.

Last but not least, you are right in that on his side, it is a one-man operation. I asked what his goals are, and that's to move the anthology from monthly and weekly and eventually be successful enough to have Nemi run in it. Not much of a goal, I know. Paul needs help with getting Bang off the ground and making it into a successful paper. He feels that he can be as successful as Flint Comicx and Entertainment based in Michigan, a free comic that also manages to pay their contributors.

I really think it'll be great if you get to see him at Stumptown's Comic Fest. He's relying on help from people through the internet, when he should be mingling with with the local community in person more. So hopefully, you can help steer him in the right direction if you see him.