T Campbell's Blog
Writer of Penny and Aggie, Fans (also called Faans), Rip & Teri, Search Engine Funnies and A History of Webcomics. Experienced webcomics editor, currently seeking full-time work and working on strange and interesting new things...Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Part 4a: Opportunity Knocks But Once... On A Million Doors.
Collectively, professional webcomics collectives have seen more promising days.
Back in '99, it sure seemed like the right idea. God knew WE didn't feel like organized businesspeople (we made COMICS for Odin's sake) so why not work with people who did? Join a business and have our hosting all taken care of, our ad sales all taken care of, our publishing all taken care of, and our income all... um... factored into a complex algorithm involving pageview percentages and halving revenue or profit, then mailed to us in a series of sometimes timely and sometimes shamefully late checks. Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. Of COURSE the money would be all taken care of. Focus on what we do best-- comics-- and leave the rest to our "publisher." That was called "horizontal specialization!" We had looked it up.
There was a time... you younger kids don't remember this, but strewth... when it was possible to pity those poor vagabonds without any kind of pro collective to call their own. When were they going to grow up and get with the program? Would they join Keenspace and try to get Spotted (or Smashed, or... Modern-Told) before it was too late?
Well, it's been great inside our air-conditioned pro collectives. The experience was nice, the networking was good, and we earned a lot of recognition and readers that we might never have gotten in the sweltering world outside.
Oh, but moneywise?
Those bums have been kicking our asses.
Because no one in this field posts earnings statements, and because it's kind of gauche to ask, it's hard to verify how many people are "succeeding" or "making a living at this" in any given year, but from what I overhear, I'm going to say "fifteen to twenty," backing up the overwhelmingly reliable source that is Checkerboard Nightmare's WCCA speech. Of those, almost none rely upon a collective's check as their primary source of income.
Even James Kochalka and Eric Millikin, Modern Tales-related webcartoonists who've been celebrated for not having a day job, are supplementing their income with non-comics work. Keenspot and Modern Tales both recently lost their top-earning strips. And I've been a top-earning creator at four different collectives over the last four years, and let's just say my hypothetical future kids want a raise in their allowances. And three meals a day.
Some of those "successes" have joined more informal collectives (Dumbrella, Blank Label, Dayfree, possibly Boxcar) but the key word there is "informal"-- the members pool their resources where they collectively feel it's appropriate but sell and do business as individuals. Their allegiances are decided not by formal contract but by the more arcane and less restrictive rules of social networking.
Certainly, you don't have to join a business in order not to make a lot of money doing webcomics. You can do that just as well on your own! And I'M NOT SAYING that membership in a formal collective is bad for you. (That'd sure be a great parting gift for Tim Demeter, wouldn't it? Oh, and by the way, Tim, "R. Life" webcomics are so played!)
I think most people on Keenspot, Modern Tales, Wirepop and Clickwheel would say they've gained more than they've lost from their membership. (A bit more on that later.)
They just haven't gained a living.
This is bad news for those who, like me, have likened Keenspot and Modern Tales to "the DC and Marvel of webcomics" or "the comic-strip syndicates of webcomics." This was certainly true in intent and for a while it seemed true in execution. And after that, we wanted it to be true, because we were particularly good at being members of collectives or because we just wanted to make and make and make comics without having to complicate our taxes.
Bad news for us, and yet... great news for everyone doing webcomics, because the businesses that are doing best in webcomics are businesses of one. And all you need to be a business of one is the decision to be.
No one else is going to do this for you, but you can do it for yourself. You have particular experiences, particular ideas, particular weaknesses but also particular strengths that no one else on Earth has. You can fill a niche that no one else on Earth can fill.
And don't tell me that the public is as narrow-minded as that superhero-obsessed editor who has no time for your ideas. Some members of the public might be, but you're not doing this for them.
Opportunity knocks but once... on a million different doors... and it's a million different hands doing the knocking, all at once.
(To be continued-- this evening, I hope. This series is getting much longer than I anticipated: there's a lot to cover that I don't expect to be covering again for a while. Along with some of my older essays here and on Comixpedia, this may just be the beginnings of another book, here.)
Back in '99, it sure seemed like the right idea. God knew WE didn't feel like organized businesspeople (we made COMICS for Odin's sake) so why not work with people who did? Join a business and have our hosting all taken care of, our ad sales all taken care of, our publishing all taken care of, and our income all... um... factored into a complex algorithm involving pageview percentages and halving revenue or profit, then mailed to us in a series of sometimes timely and sometimes shamefully late checks. Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. Of COURSE the money would be all taken care of. Focus on what we do best-- comics-- and leave the rest to our "publisher." That was called "horizontal specialization!" We had looked it up.
There was a time... you younger kids don't remember this, but strewth... when it was possible to pity those poor vagabonds without any kind of pro collective to call their own. When were they going to grow up and get with the program? Would they join Keenspace and try to get Spotted (or Smashed, or... Modern-Told) before it was too late?
Well, it's been great inside our air-conditioned pro collectives. The experience was nice, the networking was good, and we earned a lot of recognition and readers that we might never have gotten in the sweltering world outside.
Oh, but moneywise?
Those bums have been kicking our asses.
Because no one in this field posts earnings statements, and because it's kind of gauche to ask, it's hard to verify how many people are "succeeding" or "making a living at this" in any given year, but from what I overhear, I'm going to say "fifteen to twenty," backing up the overwhelmingly reliable source that is Checkerboard Nightmare's WCCA speech. Of those, almost none rely upon a collective's check as their primary source of income.
Even James Kochalka and Eric Millikin, Modern Tales-related webcartoonists who've been celebrated for not having a day job, are supplementing their income with non-comics work. Keenspot and Modern Tales both recently lost their top-earning strips. And I've been a top-earning creator at four different collectives over the last four years, and let's just say my hypothetical future kids want a raise in their allowances. And three meals a day.
Some of those "successes" have joined more informal collectives (Dumbrella, Blank Label, Dayfree, possibly Boxcar) but the key word there is "informal"-- the members pool their resources where they collectively feel it's appropriate but sell and do business as individuals. Their allegiances are decided not by formal contract but by the more arcane and less restrictive rules of social networking.
Certainly, you don't have to join a business in order not to make a lot of money doing webcomics. You can do that just as well on your own! And I'M NOT SAYING that membership in a formal collective is bad for you. (That'd sure be a great parting gift for Tim Demeter, wouldn't it? Oh, and by the way, Tim, "R. Life" webcomics are so played!)
I think most people on Keenspot, Modern Tales, Wirepop and Clickwheel would say they've gained more than they've lost from their membership. (A bit more on that later.)
They just haven't gained a living.
This is bad news for those who, like me, have likened Keenspot and Modern Tales to "the DC and Marvel of webcomics" or "the comic-strip syndicates of webcomics." This was certainly true in intent and for a while it seemed true in execution. And after that, we wanted it to be true, because we were particularly good at being members of collectives or because we just wanted to make and make and make comics without having to complicate our taxes.
Bad news for us, and yet... great news for everyone doing webcomics, because the businesses that are doing best in webcomics are businesses of one. And all you need to be a business of one is the decision to be.
No one else is going to do this for you, but you can do it for yourself. You have particular experiences, particular ideas, particular weaknesses but also particular strengths that no one else on Earth has. You can fill a niche that no one else on Earth can fill.
And don't tell me that the public is as narrow-minded as that superhero-obsessed editor who has no time for your ideas. Some members of the public might be, but you're not doing this for them.
Opportunity knocks but once... on a million different doors... and it's a million different hands doing the knocking, all at once.
(To be continued-- this evening, I hope. This series is getting much longer than I anticipated: there's a lot to cover that I don't expect to be covering again for a while. Along with some of my older essays here and on Comixpedia, this may just be the beginnings of another book, here.)
Comments:
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R. Life comics aren't played, they're um, proven. You know, like comics with Penny as the first word in the title. (GOTHCA BUDDY!!!)
Thanks for the quantifier though. Halfway though this I was like "T! You're killing me!" I think Eric Burns touched on this once and likened collectives to finishing schools. A good place to build your audience before trying to go it alone. This is part of what I hope to do. Find fresh talent that needs a little push, and give it to them.
Timmy D
Thanks for the quantifier though. Halfway though this I was like "T! You're killing me!" I think Eric Burns touched on this once and likened collectives to finishing schools. A good place to build your audience before trying to go it alone. This is part of what I hope to do. Find fresh talent that needs a little push, and give it to them.
Timmy D
Keenspot’s biggest hindrance has always been Keenspot’s cut. I truly believe more Keenspot artists would be making a living wage if it were not for this hindrance. But it is there and remains there, so your argument is just.
My problem is that it takes so much of my time just to create COTC that I don’t have the time to go seeking advertisers, etc. I need a staff. If cats can have staff, I suppose I can, but such is not the case. Oh well.
My problem is that it takes so much of my time just to create COTC that I don’t have the time to go seeking advertisers, etc. I need a staff. If cats can have staff, I suppose I can, but such is not the case. Oh well.
"...my hypothetical future kids want a raise in their allowances."
*cough* Hypothetical? That doesn't even come close. Don't make me sputter over my iced tea like that again. :-P
*cough* Hypothetical? That doesn't even come close. Don't make me sputter over my iced tea like that again. :-P
Well, shucks. I guess I think like a doe-eyed greenhorn, considering that I found that the benefit of using your own site for your own comics rather than a collective site (sans CW, of course..that's something different) was less about timely checks and more about just... aesthetic control. (Gasp!)
I'm a newbie to webcomics, coming up on my one year anniversary, but I gotta tell you: some of what has always turned me off about all of the collective sites was how flashy (pun intended) and ad-ridden it all was. I actually found it hard to concentrate on the comics. So if by staying on my own means being able to more tightly control the viewer experience, without intrusion by flashing ads and garish banners, but that I'm not part of a network, and hence get less hits...well, I never got into comix for the money, anyhow. :)
I'm a newbie to webcomics, coming up on my one year anniversary, but I gotta tell you: some of what has always turned me off about all of the collective sites was how flashy (pun intended) and ad-ridden it all was. I actually found it hard to concentrate on the comics. So if by staying on my own means being able to more tightly control the viewer experience, without intrusion by flashing ads and garish banners, but that I'm not part of a network, and hence get less hits...well, I never got into comix for the money, anyhow. :)
Given all this, I find it interesting that you're leaving the MT group just as some of the chief problems you cite are being resolved--the over-complicated algorithm has been done away with, and control of individual ad-space is being given over to the creators.
I have mixed feelings on this personally. I'm glad the algorithm is gone, but I doubt my ability to manage my own ads profitably.
I have mixed feelings on this personally. I'm glad the algorithm is gone, but I doubt my ability to manage my own ads profitably.
Well, Michelle, there was that night with the foreign spy in my wayward youth (was she Lithuanian or Latvian? I always forget).
Joe, aesthetic control is certainly a big part of why people were reluctant to get into Graphic Smash, though I think certain collectives are pretty hands-off about that sort of thing. Gisele and I had no problems with the design for P&A.
Alexander, you're right, it is ironic. Joey's always had his finger in the wind and I have a hunch he'll stay on his feet as the terrain keeps shifting. He understands that you don't always keep doing what seemed like a good idea last year.
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Joe, aesthetic control is certainly a big part of why people were reluctant to get into Graphic Smash, though I think certain collectives are pretty hands-off about that sort of thing. Gisele and I had no problems with the design for P&A.
Alexander, you're right, it is ironic. Joey's always had his finger in the wind and I have a hunch he'll stay on his feet as the terrain keeps shifting. He understands that you don't always keep doing what seemed like a good idea last year.
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