The last month has been up and down like the Assyrian Empire.
Good news, bad news, crappy news, illness and let-downs. More incompetence from financial institutions and the belief that there will be real money to be made from sea shipping in 100 years or so, because there is now and it's supposedly more economical (for the customer) than airfreighting.
We got a book we wanted but didn't think we'd get so didn't bother approaching the creator... Yeah, that doesn't make sense much.
How about this then: "Hi, I understand you're publishing my comic, I'd like to ask you a few questions..."
That was essentially how Borderline Press snagged the lovely Zombies Can't Swim by Kim Herbst. It seems that dear old Dennis Wojda in his pursuit of great things for us to publish had done all the groundwork but forgotten, in all the 566 Frames work, to mention it. So Kim was sitting there in San Francisco thinking, "Where are these guys if they want to publish my book?" She finally decided to contact me and boy was I pleased...
ZCS is basically Borderline Press's first foray into (almost) comic publishing and yes, it's about zombies and no it isn't my intention to turn Borderline into the zombie publishing company - although if you saw the team on the Sunday of Thought Bubble that thought wouldn't have been too far from your wee brains. ZCS should be out in about a month.
Hunger House is at the printer. It's Chinese New Year so nothing will be done in the next week anyhow. City of Crocodiles is in production. I have all the files, I just need to redo 7 pages in English and that will go off and we'll see how well 1010 in Hong Kong do.
And then, before you know it, we'll have five - FIVE - books on sale! Then six because Beasts is just about to hit deadline.
Some things have disappeared off the schedule. I had to write my very first rejection letter, followed swiftly by another. And the bad news is that because of delays, everything is a couple of months behind and will probably stay that way now I've dropped two titles from 2014's schedule. The decision to not pursue these books was taken strictly on a creative and economic basis.
Because everything is behind, both the Nathan Castle and Terry Wiley books are going to have to be summer releases now instead of spring, these need to be out in June/July, especially as we will have as many as five books coming out in September/October. I've also had to push Ladies & Gentlemen back to 2015, but the guys are actually slightly relieved about that!
The really bad news was that part of this was because I was slightly mislead by the printer about unusual sized books. Told 'we're talking about a hundred quid or so', it turned out to be a thousand or two or so and with two 'odd shaped' books scheduled and more costs involved, everything got shunted. For me the worst part is that I had a lot of plans to do some funky shaped things - square books, pocket books, etc - and they are just not viable at the moment.
There have been a couple of examples about how complete unknowns or wannabes have attempted to hold us to ransom - and yeah, I know that sounds a tad melodramatic. Most recently, an artist who was supposedly drawing a 16-page strip for Beasts told us with a week to go before deadline that if we didn't pay him $1500, he wouldn't draw it... I sometimes forget I'm not an editor any more, because the first thing that went through my head wasn't anger at this attempted virtual mugging, but 'how on earth is he going to turn in a decent job in 7 days if he hasn't even started it yet?'
I thanked him for his involvement. Consoled the writer and figured that the artist would probably be lucky if he ever gets another gig in comics again with that kind of ransom mentality. [If any other publishers or editors would like to know who this artist is I'd be happy to share the info with you, because you don't want to be working with this clown in the future.] It's a real shame, but as publisher, I see it as a way of cutting costs and maintaining quality.
And just as I started to write this, I did a deal with Paul Eke at Amazing Fantasy in Hull to stock Borderline Press books for a limited period to see how they do. So another shop can be added to our affiliates!
Ben Dickson has been telling the world about Santa Claus versus the Nazis - which will go to the printer in July - and quite rightly so, as I believe this could be a breakout hit for us all.
And the January Sale finishes at the end of the month, so if you want any discounted bundles of joy then get over to www.borderline-press.com/shop NOW!
Next time - more exciting news!
Wednesday, 29 January 2014
Sunday, 29 December 2013
Borderline Press Blog #11 - Time to Get Wise
What a year!
If you'd said to me ten months ago I would be back in comics, I think I would have thought you quite mad.
One of the important things about running a business is being able to separate it from your life and for far too long, especially during the late 1980s and 1990s, work was my life; comics and everything related was my world.
Now I have a sign stuck to my year planner, it reads: Forget the 'business', just concentrate on the business.
In 2001, when Borderline Magazine was at its height, I began to upset people because I pretty much didn't have time for all of the prattling about. A person who has praised comics for being one of the most gregarious of occupations to be involved in had become a misanthropic old git. I even considered slipping into the background and never showing my head above the pulpit again, but one of my old friends said, "It's a tiny, tiny, part of British comics. For every twat like that you 'upset' there are 20 people who wouldn't know you from a hole in the ground and frankly don't give a shit."
We do get bogged down in individualistic 'obsessions' and we think mole hills are really mountains and if you can't develop a sense of scale then the only route is madness.
I still upset people, but I don't panic - it's not worth it. But, I tend to upset people who deserve it - I will not suffer fools or fuckwits, especially if it is to the detriment of my clients and my books (and I will suffer them for exactly the same reason).
Sales, especially on Zombre, have been far better than we can expect with little or no PR machine and even less retail penetration. In fact, once we get our act together and we start producing more titles, I'm inclined to think we have a fighting chance of making this work - it seems, for all my faults, my name is synonymous with 'quality' (heh).
2014 is going to be an interesting year. It's going to start late. There won't be any new books out in January and the only way February will see a new title is if we get something black and white that has so far eluded us and is ready to print. But March, April and May will see a lot of money go out and a lot more product on the shelves. By this time next year, I hope to be talking to you about the dozen books we have out and the new ones we have planned for 2015... and 2016...
You've had an idea what to expect in 2014 - well, you would have if you'd been paying attention - and it feels odd thinking about 2015, but it's only just a year and a bit away. I would like to think 2015 could be a year featuring pirates, some fantasy, some horror and humour... even more perfectly formed European gems and 2015 is also going to be the year of... The Rift...
Yes, we're doing a comic about a valley in Africa! It'll be The Lion King meets Friends; Madagascar versus Iron Man... Megasharkosaur versus Quantum Pig... it... won't be that at all. What it is is top secret and the people who know about it already have silent assassins watching their every move, listening to every thing they say, reading everything they write...
We're planning to do something awesome!
So, I need to get back to the final edits of Hunger House, check the print PDF for City of Crocodiles, lurk in the background while Will polishes his Beasts. I also need to plan for a busy January and February; it's not easy trying to please you all and not involve sex or drugs!
Have a fabulous 2014 and remember us when you get your wallets out!
If you'd said to me ten months ago I would be back in comics, I think I would have thought you quite mad.
One of the important things about running a business is being able to separate it from your life and for far too long, especially during the late 1980s and 1990s, work was my life; comics and everything related was my world.
Now I have a sign stuck to my year planner, it reads: Forget the 'business', just concentrate on the business.
In 2001, when Borderline Magazine was at its height, I began to upset people because I pretty much didn't have time for all of the prattling about. A person who has praised comics for being one of the most gregarious of occupations to be involved in had become a misanthropic old git. I even considered slipping into the background and never showing my head above the pulpit again, but one of my old friends said, "It's a tiny, tiny, part of British comics. For every twat like that you 'upset' there are 20 people who wouldn't know you from a hole in the ground and frankly don't give a shit."
We do get bogged down in individualistic 'obsessions' and we think mole hills are really mountains and if you can't develop a sense of scale then the only route is madness.
I still upset people, but I don't panic - it's not worth it. But, I tend to upset people who deserve it - I will not suffer fools or fuckwits, especially if it is to the detriment of my clients and my books (and I will suffer them for exactly the same reason).
Sales, especially on Zombre, have been far better than we can expect with little or no PR machine and even less retail penetration. In fact, once we get our act together and we start producing more titles, I'm inclined to think we have a fighting chance of making this work - it seems, for all my faults, my name is synonymous with 'quality' (heh).
2014 is going to be an interesting year. It's going to start late. There won't be any new books out in January and the only way February will see a new title is if we get something black and white that has so far eluded us and is ready to print. But March, April and May will see a lot of money go out and a lot more product on the shelves. By this time next year, I hope to be talking to you about the dozen books we have out and the new ones we have planned for 2015... and 2016...
You've had an idea what to expect in 2014 - well, you would have if you'd been paying attention - and it feels odd thinking about 2015, but it's only just a year and a bit away. I would like to think 2015 could be a year featuring pirates, some fantasy, some horror and humour... even more perfectly formed European gems and 2015 is also going to be the year of... The Rift...
Yes, we're doing a comic about a valley in Africa! It'll be The Lion King meets Friends; Madagascar versus Iron Man... Megasharkosaur versus Quantum Pig... it... won't be that at all. What it is is top secret and the people who know about it already have silent assassins watching their every move, listening to every thing they say, reading everything they write...
We're planning to do something awesome!
So, I need to get back to the final edits of Hunger House, check the print PDF for City of Crocodiles, lurk in the background while Will polishes his Beasts. I also need to plan for a busy January and February; it's not easy trying to please you all and not involve sex or drugs!
Have a fabulous 2014 and remember us when you get your wallets out!
Wednesday, 11 December 2013
Borderline Press Blog #10 - Sealed With A ...
Convention Season is now over and it's been replaced by Christmas - an important time for Borderline Press, but, if I'm realistic, it'll be far more important next year when we have more product available. But we made an impression and next year, hopefully, we'll make a splash!
SWALC IX - a fantastically-realised 'after con' con was extremely enjoyable, allowed the Zombre 'team' to meet more of its creators and we helped our profile yet again. Si Spencer's little gig is a big day out and you should try and get down for the next one - and it's free!
We're in a bit of a transitional period. I'm editing Hunger House while waiting on print-ready PDFs for our other forthcoming release City of Crocodiles; Will is getting excited about Beasts and that isn't due until May and I have been toying with some ideas with Borderline Press's enigmatic and anonymous benefactor... But, the current period of creative inactivity (all I seem to be doing is going to the post office, which in itself is a great thing, but now there's two books out there, I want more!) has got me thinking about the future and what else I want to do.
Spoko is a Polish word that, I believe, has become a commonly used bit of slang in many other European countries: it essentially means 'cool' and it is also the 'working' title of my latest idea. My dear old friend, Martin Shipp (who I have been rather horrid to recently) said many months ago that I don't want to be labelled 'the bloke wot does Polish comics' because, if you'll excuse the pun, it's likely to get us ghettoised, especially in the eyes of the rest of the comics world. The irony is I'm more likely to be called 'the bloke wot does Swedish comics', but I think we've touched on this before. The point is there is so much utterly brilliant stuff in Europe that I don't care if I get labelled as 'the bloke wot does European stuff', in fact, that would be ... Spoko.
Then at Thought Bubble, both Will and I had similar thoughts - what about a comic?
Now, neither get excited or underwhelmed; being a publisher now means that production costs are all important and I'm getting wildly different quotes for the idea I have and that makes the logistics slightly more important. If I got the thing printed in Hong Kong then everything would have a minimum of 10 weeks and those 2½ months are pretty important because I'd be producing #3 and #4 before I'd even see a copy of #1. It then might be a phenomenal flop, meaning I'd have a commitment to do at least four issues without knowing how it would be received. The problem is, if I took the printing to the UK the costs would double; I'd have a four week lead in and could pull the plug by #3... But...
Why am I thinking so negatively?
Actually, I'm not. It might seem that way, but you're getting a small insight into what goes on in my head when I haven't completely decided what I'm going to do next. Essentially with a limited budget I can't afford to take that many risks. As a publisher I have to think about the consequences of something being a massive failure almost more than if it's a massive success. It's being practical and it's allowing me the freedom to supply you guys with the best we can and enough of it. I'd hate for this project to fall on its face because we took too many risks and that's because we have some pretty awesome stuff planned a year down the line and I want you to see that; if I don't plan properly it won't happen.
Costs are all important. I need to be able to afford to do at least four issues of a comic; make enough money to cover Borderline Press's costs and then make enough money to pay everyone from the profits, and we're talking considerably tighter margins with a much smaller cover price.
Now, just to over-complicate things... A lot of the stuff that I envisage 'Spoko' having is extant - it exists already, it's just never been seen by a wider or British audience. This makes the production costs far more workable; the problem is one of the 'ideas' my benefactor and I talked about was a 'long-term project' or the plan to produce our own stories; which then means the dreaded 'work for hire' scenario, the one that a small guy like me is scared stiff of (for reasons we'll come to).
We would like to do an ongoing series - whether as a comic book or a series of graphic novels. We also have ideas for producing graphic novels using our own ideas (or those in the public domain). These ideas would not necessarily involve us (me, the benefactor or Will) in the creation process. However, employing people is expensive, unless there's a way round it and I think I can do that as long as I can manage some peoples expectations...
The major expectation is indeed that thorny issue - work-for-hire - and discussions about it, I expect, will rage on for a long time, in many different places and not just about comics creators, but musicians, scientists or anything else that requires someone to do something for you that is either speculative or others do not have complete faith in.
I have always been up front with creators about what Borderline Press's 'deal' is. It's simple; we pay for the production, we promote and sell it - it is my interests to sell it, so I will work harder than some self-publishers because this is my job and not an after-work hobby. If that appeals to the owner of a comic or graphic novel, we then work out a % deal to split the profits after costs are covered; a creator's share of the profits is more than we take.
I have said all along that because we don't have the budget to pay creators up front then we will be as transparent about the process as is humanly possible. All Zombre contributors have been promised a percentage of the net profits from the books and once the book has sold enough to cover its costs, then at three incremental points after that I'll be writing cheques out! The creators all knew the score when we approached them and they also know that they retained copyright of their respective stories, can re-use them again (down the line) and I will keep them informed on the 'state of play' at any given moment. The plan is to eventually have, especially for the anthologies, an on-line database that is accessible by contributors only, so they can see how the book they're involved in is selling, etc.
The other good thing about doing this kind of deal with creators is you get 20 extra PR people, because they all have a vested interest in selling the book they're involved in. I think there's a model there that works for all involved. Admittedly, profits are sometimes not going to be realised; but even I make mistakes - not everything everyone brings out is as good as the faith shown in it by publishers.
And there's the rub. There's the issue I'm hovering over. Small publishers are not big publishers. That is an obvious statement; an almost stupid one, but the thing is small publishers are filed in the same category as big publishers, especially by inexperienced creators (what experienced creators think of small publishers is a subject for another day).
In an earlier blog, I talked about the issue of work for hire and people being asked to do work for nothing. There was a lot of confusion surrounding this subject and a lot of heated arguments between the industry's 'small guys' and most of the arguments could have been avoided if semantics had played a part.
It usually starts with a creator, (or a musician) or someone creative being asked to do some work for a company and it usually ends up with the company suggesting the work is done for free for a number of reasons ranging from not having the budget to viewing the work you do for nothing as an advertisement for your skills and sometimes the work is actually done before the commissioner informs the artist of this 'change' in the deal. I'm not suggesting for a second that small publishers try this as often as conglomerates; but I do think every businessman in the world will try and get something for nothing. But... This is comics, this is not the domain of the 'get-rich-quick' chancer; people come into comics because they want to, not to become rich.
The realist in me says, we're all here to be ripped off, if it happens to you, learn from it, don't let it happen again, tell your community who ripped you off, but don't expect the next guy to be the same as the last. If someone is offering you work ask what they are paying; if they aren't paying anything but 'exposure' then tell them to fornicate themselves into death; but if they're offering something that might not be realised for a while, at least look at the offer. Some of Hollywood's biggest stars didn't get mega-rich from just starring in films, many of them got rich from taking a % of a film's profits...
What about small publishing houses like my own Borderline Press? I'm not big. I have a budget and with that budget I have to produce enough books and generate sales to be able to produce more books and all the time trying to run it as a proper business. I'm already taking a huge risk, so if I spend £X,000 on printing, publishing and promoting a book I'm already showing my faith in a project. It amazes me when you offer this to creators and they also want you to pay them for something that already exists, they want to retain copyright and have the lion's share of the royalties. Isn't doing all the things they couldn't be bothered to do themselves not faith enough? Isn't business about two (or more) entities working together for the benefit of both?
However, our intention is to publish other peoples stuff that already exists in one format or another, so 'back-end' deals tend to be much easier to negotiate. In most creators' eyes it's an unexpected bonus to be published in another country and if they're European being published in English is pretty much as cool as being printed in French.
Zombre is an exception to the usual rules, because it is a profit share book with all individuals retaining copyrights: I actually think this could very much be the way forward for small press publishing; especially if the small press creators can be as flexible with their terms and expectations as big publishers often are with big names. The problems arise when you start to apply what I was talking about above - producing comics with a Borderline Press copyright - and not having a budget to pay people who do the work for you.
There isn't an argument, really. It is everything, on face value, that I agree is wrong about people getting conned into working, potentially, for nothing. How can I agree 100% that people should not do work for big publishers for the 'exposure' alone, when I'm sort edging this blog towards that idea myself?
Borderline Press wants to create lines of titles or stories (and retain the majority of the rights) yet wants people to write and draw them, be edited and get paid x number of months down the line, if and when they sell out?
I wouldn't buy into that...
Well, not at face value. It depends what is being offered down the line and whether I think the gamble is worth it.
So how would I pay people if I can't pay them up front, but I want a quality product? Plus I would like professional contributors who understand deadlines. I really am not asking for much...
Everything ends up being a 'back-end' deal with me and if you don't know what one of those is, it is simply you get paid at the back end of the deal or when you reach a point where the book has stopped selling or has sold out and then the profits are divided as agreed prior to the release.
However, when I first started this business I did a deal with a friend of mine on her book proving that I can be flexible. I am 'creatively involved' in a project we're bringing out next year, I also 'own' the company, so I'd get Borderline Press's % plus 50% of the remainder of the profit. As co-copyright holder, I chose to offer my artistic partner most of my profit on the initial print run. The company will still get its share and I am the company... Do I need to explain this further?
And that seems to be a good starting point for what I'm proposing. I'm looking at producing four 64-page prestige format 'comics' which would feature some of the absolutely stunning short-form European stuff that has utterly blown my team and I away and also feature some newly originated stuff - four stories that might introduce you to the future of Borderline Press. These 'comics' would be quarterly and be produced across 2014 and ¾ of the content will already exist; there will be a straightforward profit deal put in place which will essentially reap rewards for the contributors if the 'comics' go into 2nd or 3rd printings. So far so standard.
The artist/writer on the new stuff would be offered the company's % of the net profits - similar to the deal mentioned above. Borderline Press would take its standard % but would forfeit the rest despite retaining copyright.
Of course, there is always the 15% deal. The writer/artist gets nothing up front, but is given a 15% stake in the character's copyright and would also be entitled to 15% of the book's eventual profits and then any future profits from any potential revenue source. This is the kind of thing that producers and major stars would take on films with small budgets but high hopes.
I would be interested in feedback, especially from creators who have either never done this kind of thing before or ones that have and what experiences have they got - good or bad.
I do know that professional writer Si Spencer (mentioned above) bought into our determination and openness and I really hope that Zombre is the huge success it deserves to be, so he can be paid along with every other contributor on the book, to prove that our back-end deals are worth the paper they're printed on and give others incentive enough to take the deal. Three weeks after release and I'm as happy as I expected, perhaps a touch more.
Borderline Press has a proper reason for existence: I actually just want what's best for everyone.
Live with it.
SWALC IX - a fantastically-realised 'after con' con was extremely enjoyable, allowed the Zombre 'team' to meet more of its creators and we helped our profile yet again. Si Spencer's little gig is a big day out and you should try and get down for the next one - and it's free!
We're in a bit of a transitional period. I'm editing Hunger House while waiting on print-ready PDFs for our other forthcoming release City of Crocodiles; Will is getting excited about Beasts and that isn't due until May and I have been toying with some ideas with Borderline Press's enigmatic and anonymous benefactor... But, the current period of creative inactivity (all I seem to be doing is going to the post office, which in itself is a great thing, but now there's two books out there, I want more!) has got me thinking about the future and what else I want to do.
Spoko is a Polish word that, I believe, has become a commonly used bit of slang in many other European countries: it essentially means 'cool' and it is also the 'working' title of my latest idea. My dear old friend, Martin Shipp (who I have been rather horrid to recently) said many months ago that I don't want to be labelled 'the bloke wot does Polish comics' because, if you'll excuse the pun, it's likely to get us ghettoised, especially in the eyes of the rest of the comics world. The irony is I'm more likely to be called 'the bloke wot does Swedish comics', but I think we've touched on this before. The point is there is so much utterly brilliant stuff in Europe that I don't care if I get labelled as 'the bloke wot does European stuff', in fact, that would be ... Spoko.
Then at Thought Bubble, both Will and I had similar thoughts - what about a comic?
Now, neither get excited or underwhelmed; being a publisher now means that production costs are all important and I'm getting wildly different quotes for the idea I have and that makes the logistics slightly more important. If I got the thing printed in Hong Kong then everything would have a minimum of 10 weeks and those 2½ months are pretty important because I'd be producing #3 and #4 before I'd even see a copy of #1. It then might be a phenomenal flop, meaning I'd have a commitment to do at least four issues without knowing how it would be received. The problem is, if I took the printing to the UK the costs would double; I'd have a four week lead in and could pull the plug by #3... But...
Why am I thinking so negatively?
Actually, I'm not. It might seem that way, but you're getting a small insight into what goes on in my head when I haven't completely decided what I'm going to do next. Essentially with a limited budget I can't afford to take that many risks. As a publisher I have to think about the consequences of something being a massive failure almost more than if it's a massive success. It's being practical and it's allowing me the freedom to supply you guys with the best we can and enough of it. I'd hate for this project to fall on its face because we took too many risks and that's because we have some pretty awesome stuff planned a year down the line and I want you to see that; if I don't plan properly it won't happen.
Costs are all important. I need to be able to afford to do at least four issues of a comic; make enough money to cover Borderline Press's costs and then make enough money to pay everyone from the profits, and we're talking considerably tighter margins with a much smaller cover price.
Now, just to over-complicate things... A lot of the stuff that I envisage 'Spoko' having is extant - it exists already, it's just never been seen by a wider or British audience. This makes the production costs far more workable; the problem is one of the 'ideas' my benefactor and I talked about was a 'long-term project' or the plan to produce our own stories; which then means the dreaded 'work for hire' scenario, the one that a small guy like me is scared stiff of (for reasons we'll come to).
We would like to do an ongoing series - whether as a comic book or a series of graphic novels. We also have ideas for producing graphic novels using our own ideas (or those in the public domain). These ideas would not necessarily involve us (me, the benefactor or Will) in the creation process. However, employing people is expensive, unless there's a way round it and I think I can do that as long as I can manage some peoples expectations...
The major expectation is indeed that thorny issue - work-for-hire - and discussions about it, I expect, will rage on for a long time, in many different places and not just about comics creators, but musicians, scientists or anything else that requires someone to do something for you that is either speculative or others do not have complete faith in.
I have always been up front with creators about what Borderline Press's 'deal' is. It's simple; we pay for the production, we promote and sell it - it is my interests to sell it, so I will work harder than some self-publishers because this is my job and not an after-work hobby. If that appeals to the owner of a comic or graphic novel, we then work out a % deal to split the profits after costs are covered; a creator's share of the profits is more than we take.
I have said all along that because we don't have the budget to pay creators up front then we will be as transparent about the process as is humanly possible. All Zombre contributors have been promised a percentage of the net profits from the books and once the book has sold enough to cover its costs, then at three incremental points after that I'll be writing cheques out! The creators all knew the score when we approached them and they also know that they retained copyright of their respective stories, can re-use them again (down the line) and I will keep them informed on the 'state of play' at any given moment. The plan is to eventually have, especially for the anthologies, an on-line database that is accessible by contributors only, so they can see how the book they're involved in is selling, etc.
The other good thing about doing this kind of deal with creators is you get 20 extra PR people, because they all have a vested interest in selling the book they're involved in. I think there's a model there that works for all involved. Admittedly, profits are sometimes not going to be realised; but even I make mistakes - not everything everyone brings out is as good as the faith shown in it by publishers.
And there's the rub. There's the issue I'm hovering over. Small publishers are not big publishers. That is an obvious statement; an almost stupid one, but the thing is small publishers are filed in the same category as big publishers, especially by inexperienced creators (what experienced creators think of small publishers is a subject for another day).
In an earlier blog, I talked about the issue of work for hire and people being asked to do work for nothing. There was a lot of confusion surrounding this subject and a lot of heated arguments between the industry's 'small guys' and most of the arguments could have been avoided if semantics had played a part.
It usually starts with a creator, (or a musician) or someone creative being asked to do some work for a company and it usually ends up with the company suggesting the work is done for free for a number of reasons ranging from not having the budget to viewing the work you do for nothing as an advertisement for your skills and sometimes the work is actually done before the commissioner informs the artist of this 'change' in the deal. I'm not suggesting for a second that small publishers try this as often as conglomerates; but I do think every businessman in the world will try and get something for nothing. But... This is comics, this is not the domain of the 'get-rich-quick' chancer; people come into comics because they want to, not to become rich.
The realist in me says, we're all here to be ripped off, if it happens to you, learn from it, don't let it happen again, tell your community who ripped you off, but don't expect the next guy to be the same as the last. If someone is offering you work ask what they are paying; if they aren't paying anything but 'exposure' then tell them to fornicate themselves into death; but if they're offering something that might not be realised for a while, at least look at the offer. Some of Hollywood's biggest stars didn't get mega-rich from just starring in films, many of them got rich from taking a % of a film's profits...
What about small publishing houses like my own Borderline Press? I'm not big. I have a budget and with that budget I have to produce enough books and generate sales to be able to produce more books and all the time trying to run it as a proper business. I'm already taking a huge risk, so if I spend £X,000 on printing, publishing and promoting a book I'm already showing my faith in a project. It amazes me when you offer this to creators and they also want you to pay them for something that already exists, they want to retain copyright and have the lion's share of the royalties. Isn't doing all the things they couldn't be bothered to do themselves not faith enough? Isn't business about two (or more) entities working together for the benefit of both?
However, our intention is to publish other peoples stuff that already exists in one format or another, so 'back-end' deals tend to be much easier to negotiate. In most creators' eyes it's an unexpected bonus to be published in another country and if they're European being published in English is pretty much as cool as being printed in French.
Zombre is an exception to the usual rules, because it is a profit share book with all individuals retaining copyrights: I actually think this could very much be the way forward for small press publishing; especially if the small press creators can be as flexible with their terms and expectations as big publishers often are with big names. The problems arise when you start to apply what I was talking about above - producing comics with a Borderline Press copyright - and not having a budget to pay people who do the work for you.
There isn't an argument, really. It is everything, on face value, that I agree is wrong about people getting conned into working, potentially, for nothing. How can I agree 100% that people should not do work for big publishers for the 'exposure' alone, when I'm sort edging this blog towards that idea myself?
Borderline Press wants to create lines of titles or stories (and retain the majority of the rights) yet wants people to write and draw them, be edited and get paid x number of months down the line, if and when they sell out?
I wouldn't buy into that...
Well, not at face value. It depends what is being offered down the line and whether I think the gamble is worth it.
So how would I pay people if I can't pay them up front, but I want a quality product? Plus I would like professional contributors who understand deadlines. I really am not asking for much...
Everything ends up being a 'back-end' deal with me and if you don't know what one of those is, it is simply you get paid at the back end of the deal or when you reach a point where the book has stopped selling or has sold out and then the profits are divided as agreed prior to the release.
However, when I first started this business I did a deal with a friend of mine on her book proving that I can be flexible. I am 'creatively involved' in a project we're bringing out next year, I also 'own' the company, so I'd get Borderline Press's % plus 50% of the remainder of the profit. As co-copyright holder, I chose to offer my artistic partner most of my profit on the initial print run. The company will still get its share and I am the company... Do I need to explain this further?
And that seems to be a good starting point for what I'm proposing. I'm looking at producing four 64-page prestige format 'comics' which would feature some of the absolutely stunning short-form European stuff that has utterly blown my team and I away and also feature some newly originated stuff - four stories that might introduce you to the future of Borderline Press. These 'comics' would be quarterly and be produced across 2014 and ¾ of the content will already exist; there will be a straightforward profit deal put in place which will essentially reap rewards for the contributors if the 'comics' go into 2nd or 3rd printings. So far so standard.
The artist/writer on the new stuff would be offered the company's % of the net profits - similar to the deal mentioned above. Borderline Press would take its standard % but would forfeit the rest despite retaining copyright.
Of course, there is always the 15% deal. The writer/artist gets nothing up front, but is given a 15% stake in the character's copyright and would also be entitled to 15% of the book's eventual profits and then any future profits from any potential revenue source. This is the kind of thing that producers and major stars would take on films with small budgets but high hopes.
I would be interested in feedback, especially from creators who have either never done this kind of thing before or ones that have and what experiences have they got - good or bad.
I do know that professional writer Si Spencer (mentioned above) bought into our determination and openness and I really hope that Zombre is the huge success it deserves to be, so he can be paid along with every other contributor on the book, to prove that our back-end deals are worth the paper they're printed on and give others incentive enough to take the deal. Three weeks after release and I'm as happy as I expected, perhaps a touch more.
Borderline Press has a proper reason for existence: I actually just want what's best for everyone.
Live with it.
Monday, 25 November 2013
The Borderline Press Blog #9 - Welcome to the World
Walking through the main display hall at Thought Bubble on Saturday afternoon, on a bit of a downer, I saw a face from my past and made a bee-line to him (a straight line would have been quicker but I had to dodge out of the way of a packed hall full of people in costumes).
The last time I'd seen Marc Laming in the flesh was about 12 years ago, in an Indian restaurant with my wife and Martin Shipp discussing Borderline Magazine. Marc was just on the verge of a big professional comics career with DC, Image and others, but was a very useful 'consultant' in those early days. I respect Marc's words and frankly we haven't seen enough of each other (and continued that trend later that evening). The first words, before we even shook hands, out of his mouth were, "Why the f**k did you do it?"
Eek!
"Er..."
Marc looked at me and shook his head, shook my hand and said, "What good did you seriously think being interviewed by that **** was going to achieve." I breathed an almost visible and probably audible sigh of relief - he was not questioning my decision to go into publishing, he was berating me for the interview with Richard Johnston over on Bleeding Cool.
Rewind a couple of weeks and my editorial team's unanimous prediction - Hatchet Job - of what the BC interview would mainly entail. It is known, among some people, that I have as much a chequered past as I have a critically successful one and while I covered most of my experiences both noble and ignoble in this actual blog, there were moments I chose or didn't deem worthy of talking about (or weren't really that relevant). RJ had one of these moments and smiled gleefully while wringing his hands with delight that he had examples to use.
I knew that the interview would have some focus on me, I had hoped that after over 20 years in the industry Johnston would have learned something about being a journalist, but he probably worships at the idol of Murdock and prays he can hack some peoples' phones or talk about Miley Cyrus upskirt shots with all the other grubby insects that think they're doing the world a service. So, despite my best efforts to say this was not about me but about the great stuff Borderline Press has lined up; he kept trying to ask whether the people I was working with were aware that I was a raging psychopath?
Actually, just to go some ways to showing you how affected I have been by this, thankfully, low-profile piece of arse-squeezings, the thing that annoyed me the most was Johnston suggesting that I had been hassling him to do the interview. This was right at the start and I was more than halfway through it and all I could think of was, "I wonder if he twists the truth to his wife and daughters?"
At the start of September, he sent me an email to a barely used address offering to interview me and promote the new venture. I replied and said, 'go for it' and he said, 'I'll prepare some questions and send them over tonight.'
October arrived and I looked in this almost defunct email account and saw that RJ had not replied that evening, nor had he got in touch at all. I sent him a cheeky little email, more of a joke than a prompt, saying, 'Tonight, eh?' and left it at that. He promised some questions, they never turned up and then when 566 Frames came out, me and t'team were discussing PR moves and Danny suggested doing an interview with me to put up on the site - it wasn't going to attract more people but it put more up there to look at when people did go there. One thing led to another and Danny offered Bleeding Cool the interview and Johnston decided that now was a good time to get his cleaver out and start wielding it like a twat.
In fact, most of the bits in between my bits were written after the event - his comments, his reactions. The interview does at least spend about 30% of the time talking about Borderline Press, which I hoped was the news story and has been the news story just about everywhere else it has been.
Laming was disappointed with me that I should even give the man 'houseroom' because we all know that while he does have integrity when it suits him, he's actually just a very pernicious and bitter man who has failed to be a success at what he wanted to be and has forged an infamy that he will always be remembered and scorned for. It would be nice to think that his website could give some exposure to the great books we're bringing out - do its proper job - but as he still doesn't employ an editor to ensure there are no typos and grammatical errors what hope that he will actually do something worthy.
Moving on...
As you all know Zombre arrived in time for Thought Bubble. We also arrived with plenty of time for Thought Bubble. Will got there on Friday night, my brother Ron - helping us out - was there at 8am and I turned up a little after 8.30 having already been up for 3 hours and already feeling like the day was too long. We found the Allied London Hall, the late addition to the Thought Bubble arenas and very much a ... work in progress.
I was feeling cold and curmudgeonly and Will ordered me to go away and leave him to it and I duly obliged. I came back later, just before the event opened properly and we looked like a bunch of blokes who didn't want to be there and were less than impressed with our cold and decidedly dull surroundings. By noon and without seeing barely a punter pass our table, I went to the pub. It was in the pub that I updated the Facebook page and sat with a pint wondering why none of the literally thousands of people crammed into the two main halls were not even aware we were there in the third hall. I was feeling a little less than enamoured with the organisers when, less than halfway through my pint and obviously doing something on my laptop, a young helper came along and apologised profusely to me but asked me to move as they were going to do some portfolio reviews. The bar was packed and there were no more seats to go to, so I politely said I'd move up into the corner and wouldn't bother anyone, to which I got a slightly pleasing 'sorry, you'll have to move.', so I told her I'd move when I was ready and she stood five feet from me for the next seven minutes glaring at me until I decided that I felt unwelcome and went back to the table.
We'll breeze over the next few hours of which the encounter with Marc Laming was the highlight.
I spent some time talking to some of the Zombre creators, most of which were thoroughly brilliant people and by 5pm, I was tired, hungry and thoroughly miserable. If 200 people had come into the unfinished building site of a hall we were in we were lucky and we'd taken £45 all day. I got back to my hotel room and seriously wondered what the hell I was doing...
A lot of the weekend was irrelevant to Borderline Press and I'll talk about that in my own blog, but I should have gone to the Mid-Con party; I had my ticket and earlier in the day I'd made the decision to go along and try to schmooze a few people; I arranged to hook up with Marc Laming and ended up back in my hotel at 9pm. I felt bad about missing the party but I was shattered; ironically, I would not have been able to get in to the party because they had security problems and 200 people stood outside in freezing cold Leeds for over an hour before being told they couldn't come in. There was something of a shambolic pattern emerging about the entire event.
Day two arrived and I woke up feeling better and more positive about the day. It surely couldn't be any worse than the Saturday? Could it? My experience of cons in the 80s and 90s was that there was little money on a Sunday and less of it spent. I put on a brave face and feeling refreshed I approached the day, as Will did, with a braver face than we probably should have. By midday, we had taken £10 and the bar had run out of beer...
The dissenting voices from the dealers, traders and small press tables was growing all the time and at about 1pm while I was walking about, I saw a heated discussion between a couple of guys who were packing up their stock and one of the organisers, who was failing to pacify them. I heard from someone that the entire row or alley of tables had taken less than £100 between them (8 in a row) and it was like no one even knew they were there.
But for Borderline Press the tide was turning. In the space of an hour I did deals to get our books into 5 shops - OK Comics in Leeds and Travelling Man's four shops are all taking stock; a US small press distributor showed a great deal of interest and we're going to be talking; and something new and potentially exciting, also from the USA, came along, which I am going to be looking into getting involved in. Then people started to come over and buy the books...
I'm not going to suggest that we had a brilliant weekend in terms of takings. We probably just about broke even on the entire weekend and I did something, as a businessman I baulked at, but as someone trying to establish a business it was necessary. I gave away a few copies of the book to people I believed would help us, either through their own network of contacts, or simply because they like what they see. By 5pm, I was buzzing and kind of wished it could go on a bit longer. We'd done what we hoped to do on the Saturday and we started to become known - people came up and said they'd heard about us, some said they'd heard good things about us.
The surprising thing for some was that 566 Frames outsold Zombre, only marginally, but enough to make me feel bloody vindicated about publishing it. There have been some remarks made that perhaps Dennis's book was not the title to launch a company with; I think this time next year, 566 Frames could be up for an award. It also sold predominantly to women!
All in all, I think it has to be called a successful weekend despite not because of the event. We have optimism going to SWALC next weekend; I am meeting with the new colour printer this week and I have a meeting with Close Encounters' manager about a Borderline Press local launch in Northampton and maybe one at their Bedford store too! I think it would have been nice if more people had seen our books because on the evidence of the last 4 hours of the convention we would have sold a lot more, but...
Both Will and I came away with the feeling that next year we need to have more tables, more stock, more merchandise and be in the main hall - if we can pull that off..?
The last time I'd seen Marc Laming in the flesh was about 12 years ago, in an Indian restaurant with my wife and Martin Shipp discussing Borderline Magazine. Marc was just on the verge of a big professional comics career with DC, Image and others, but was a very useful 'consultant' in those early days. I respect Marc's words and frankly we haven't seen enough of each other (and continued that trend later that evening). The first words, before we even shook hands, out of his mouth were, "Why the f**k did you do it?"
Eek!
"Er..."
Marc looked at me and shook his head, shook my hand and said, "What good did you seriously think being interviewed by that **** was going to achieve." I breathed an almost visible and probably audible sigh of relief - he was not questioning my decision to go into publishing, he was berating me for the interview with Richard Johnston over on Bleeding Cool.
Rewind a couple of weeks and my editorial team's unanimous prediction - Hatchet Job - of what the BC interview would mainly entail. It is known, among some people, that I have as much a chequered past as I have a critically successful one and while I covered most of my experiences both noble and ignoble in this actual blog, there were moments I chose or didn't deem worthy of talking about (or weren't really that relevant). RJ had one of these moments and smiled gleefully while wringing his hands with delight that he had examples to use.
I knew that the interview would have some focus on me, I had hoped that after over 20 years in the industry Johnston would have learned something about being a journalist, but he probably worships at the idol of Murdock and prays he can hack some peoples' phones or talk about Miley Cyrus upskirt shots with all the other grubby insects that think they're doing the world a service. So, despite my best efforts to say this was not about me but about the great stuff Borderline Press has lined up; he kept trying to ask whether the people I was working with were aware that I was a raging psychopath?
Actually, just to go some ways to showing you how affected I have been by this, thankfully, low-profile piece of arse-squeezings, the thing that annoyed me the most was Johnston suggesting that I had been hassling him to do the interview. This was right at the start and I was more than halfway through it and all I could think of was, "I wonder if he twists the truth to his wife and daughters?"
At the start of September, he sent me an email to a barely used address offering to interview me and promote the new venture. I replied and said, 'go for it' and he said, 'I'll prepare some questions and send them over tonight.'
October arrived and I looked in this almost defunct email account and saw that RJ had not replied that evening, nor had he got in touch at all. I sent him a cheeky little email, more of a joke than a prompt, saying, 'Tonight, eh?' and left it at that. He promised some questions, they never turned up and then when 566 Frames came out, me and t'team were discussing PR moves and Danny suggested doing an interview with me to put up on the site - it wasn't going to attract more people but it put more up there to look at when people did go there. One thing led to another and Danny offered Bleeding Cool the interview and Johnston decided that now was a good time to get his cleaver out and start wielding it like a twat.
In fact, most of the bits in between my bits were written after the event - his comments, his reactions. The interview does at least spend about 30% of the time talking about Borderline Press, which I hoped was the news story and has been the news story just about everywhere else it has been.
Laming was disappointed with me that I should even give the man 'houseroom' because we all know that while he does have integrity when it suits him, he's actually just a very pernicious and bitter man who has failed to be a success at what he wanted to be and has forged an infamy that he will always be remembered and scorned for. It would be nice to think that his website could give some exposure to the great books we're bringing out - do its proper job - but as he still doesn't employ an editor to ensure there are no typos and grammatical errors what hope that he will actually do something worthy.
Moving on...
As you all know Zombre arrived in time for Thought Bubble. We also arrived with plenty of time for Thought Bubble. Will got there on Friday night, my brother Ron - helping us out - was there at 8am and I turned up a little after 8.30 having already been up for 3 hours and already feeling like the day was too long. We found the Allied London Hall, the late addition to the Thought Bubble arenas and very much a ... work in progress.
I was feeling cold and curmudgeonly and Will ordered me to go away and leave him to it and I duly obliged. I came back later, just before the event opened properly and we looked like a bunch of blokes who didn't want to be there and were less than impressed with our cold and decidedly dull surroundings. By noon and without seeing barely a punter pass our table, I went to the pub. It was in the pub that I updated the Facebook page and sat with a pint wondering why none of the literally thousands of people crammed into the two main halls were not even aware we were there in the third hall. I was feeling a little less than enamoured with the organisers when, less than halfway through my pint and obviously doing something on my laptop, a young helper came along and apologised profusely to me but asked me to move as they were going to do some portfolio reviews. The bar was packed and there were no more seats to go to, so I politely said I'd move up into the corner and wouldn't bother anyone, to which I got a slightly pleasing 'sorry, you'll have to move.', so I told her I'd move when I was ready and she stood five feet from me for the next seven minutes glaring at me until I decided that I felt unwelcome and went back to the table.
We'll breeze over the next few hours of which the encounter with Marc Laming was the highlight.
I spent some time talking to some of the Zombre creators, most of which were thoroughly brilliant people and by 5pm, I was tired, hungry and thoroughly miserable. If 200 people had come into the unfinished building site of a hall we were in we were lucky and we'd taken £45 all day. I got back to my hotel room and seriously wondered what the hell I was doing...
A lot of the weekend was irrelevant to Borderline Press and I'll talk about that in my own blog, but I should have gone to the Mid-Con party; I had my ticket and earlier in the day I'd made the decision to go along and try to schmooze a few people; I arranged to hook up with Marc Laming and ended up back in my hotel at 9pm. I felt bad about missing the party but I was shattered; ironically, I would not have been able to get in to the party because they had security problems and 200 people stood outside in freezing cold Leeds for over an hour before being told they couldn't come in. There was something of a shambolic pattern emerging about the entire event.
Day two arrived and I woke up feeling better and more positive about the day. It surely couldn't be any worse than the Saturday? Could it? My experience of cons in the 80s and 90s was that there was little money on a Sunday and less of it spent. I put on a brave face and feeling refreshed I approached the day, as Will did, with a braver face than we probably should have. By midday, we had taken £10 and the bar had run out of beer...
The dissenting voices from the dealers, traders and small press tables was growing all the time and at about 1pm while I was walking about, I saw a heated discussion between a couple of guys who were packing up their stock and one of the organisers, who was failing to pacify them. I heard from someone that the entire row or alley of tables had taken less than £100 between them (8 in a row) and it was like no one even knew they were there.
But for Borderline Press the tide was turning. In the space of an hour I did deals to get our books into 5 shops - OK Comics in Leeds and Travelling Man's four shops are all taking stock; a US small press distributor showed a great deal of interest and we're going to be talking; and something new and potentially exciting, also from the USA, came along, which I am going to be looking into getting involved in. Then people started to come over and buy the books...
I'm not going to suggest that we had a brilliant weekend in terms of takings. We probably just about broke even on the entire weekend and I did something, as a businessman I baulked at, but as someone trying to establish a business it was necessary. I gave away a few copies of the book to people I believed would help us, either through their own network of contacts, or simply because they like what they see. By 5pm, I was buzzing and kind of wished it could go on a bit longer. We'd done what we hoped to do on the Saturday and we started to become known - people came up and said they'd heard about us, some said they'd heard good things about us.
The surprising thing for some was that 566 Frames outsold Zombre, only marginally, but enough to make me feel bloody vindicated about publishing it. There have been some remarks made that perhaps Dennis's book was not the title to launch a company with; I think this time next year, 566 Frames could be up for an award. It also sold predominantly to women!
All in all, I think it has to be called a successful weekend despite not because of the event. We have optimism going to SWALC next weekend; I am meeting with the new colour printer this week and I have a meeting with Close Encounters' manager about a Borderline Press local launch in Northampton and maybe one at their Bedford store too! I think it would have been nice if more people had seen our books because on the evidence of the last 4 hours of the convention we would have sold a lot more, but...
Both Will and I came away with the feeling that next year we need to have more tables, more stock, more merchandise and be in the main hall - if we can pull that off..?
Friday, 22 November 2013
Borderline Press Blog #8 - Zombies and the Bubble of Thought
Blimey, it's been a month!?!
Admittedly during that time illness pervaded Fortress Borderline and for nearly a week not a lot of anything happened and because that week got in the way, everything else got put back and as I said to someone the other day, 'You'd think this should be a doddle, but it isn't because a lot of it is down to the mercy of others.' That said, you could argue that it's a good job that you are at the mercy of others because if everything happened with the urgency you sometimes want it too then you'd be gasping for air and hoping you could make enough money to employ a helper.
Monday was an example of another kind of thing that makes days and weeks longer, but unlike idiots from financial institutions or imbeciles from mail companies which can seriously hack one off, getting a delivery of this little beauty is a distraction I can live with - there's nothing quite like this kind of delivery day!
Isn't it just a luscious looking thing? I said to the book's editor, Will Vigar, that I believe our cover artist, Tom Box, is going to be a big star. But, never judge a book by its appearance, despite the covers being things of beauty. That said, I'm pretty impressed with the interiors and I think for our first effort at this kind of thing, we pretty much rock.
Plus we're launching it proper like, at Thought Bubble in Leeds this weekend (23/24 November). It's not an 'official' Thought Bubble thing and we're not having dancing girls and bells, whistles and horns, but it will be on sale, there will be people signing copies, people in T-shirts, me, zombies and we hoped we would have some badges but that didn't happen and I thought we'd have some posters, but that didn't happen the way I expected. We will have Zombre and 566 Frames plus a bunch of funky T-shirts!
Come over, talk to us, it would be impolite not to.
The following Saturday (30th) we're at Si Spencer's SWALC for an informal London launch (plus, I get to have a stomp about in my family's manor, innit.) and there will be contributors at this as well, signing books and telling people how they came up with such wondrous stories.
We also launched a bunch of T-shirts last week, which can also be found in the on-line shop, these include Tom's front and back cover, pictures from Dennis's book and a few other general designs - these are the kind of stocking fillers your partner needs showing... It is almost Christmas, after all. I've been talking to a local supplier about all manner of different apparel, mugs, calendars and anything that can take a Borderline Press logo. I'm obviously also doing it all because you need it and it would be a disservice if I didn't bow to your eventual desires.
We're also getting close to deadlines on our next few projects. In fact, most of the projects that are coming up are all colour and hardbacks. I felt like raising the bar. But until then the work doesn't stop, it just shifts into a different gear.
I think that gear could be a lot of fun, in a most unexpected way.
Oh and enjoy Zombre, we did it for you.
Admittedly during that time illness pervaded Fortress Borderline and for nearly a week not a lot of anything happened and because that week got in the way, everything else got put back and as I said to someone the other day, 'You'd think this should be a doddle, but it isn't because a lot of it is down to the mercy of others.' That said, you could argue that it's a good job that you are at the mercy of others because if everything happened with the urgency you sometimes want it too then you'd be gasping for air and hoping you could make enough money to employ a helper.
Monday was an example of another kind of thing that makes days and weeks longer, but unlike idiots from financial institutions or imbeciles from mail companies which can seriously hack one off, getting a delivery of this little beauty is a distraction I can live with - there's nothing quite like this kind of delivery day!
 |
| Cover by Tom Box |
Plus we're launching it proper like, at Thought Bubble in Leeds this weekend (23/24 November). It's not an 'official' Thought Bubble thing and we're not having dancing girls and bells, whistles and horns, but it will be on sale, there will be people signing copies, people in T-shirts, me, zombies and we hoped we would have some badges but that didn't happen and I thought we'd have some posters, but that didn't happen the way I expected. We will have Zombre and 566 Frames plus a bunch of funky T-shirts!
Come over, talk to us, it would be impolite not to.
The following Saturday (30th) we're at Si Spencer's SWALC for an informal London launch (plus, I get to have a stomp about in my family's manor, innit.) and there will be contributors at this as well, signing books and telling people how they came up with such wondrous stories.
We also launched a bunch of T-shirts last week, which can also be found in the on-line shop, these include Tom's front and back cover, pictures from Dennis's book and a few other general designs - these are the kind of stocking fillers your partner needs showing... It is almost Christmas, after all. I've been talking to a local supplier about all manner of different apparel, mugs, calendars and anything that can take a Borderline Press logo. I'm obviously also doing it all because you need it and it would be a disservice if I didn't bow to your eventual desires.
We're also getting close to deadlines on our next few projects. In fact, most of the projects that are coming up are all colour and hardbacks. I felt like raising the bar. But until then the work doesn't stop, it just shifts into a different gear.
I think that gear could be a lot of fun, in a most unexpected way.
Oh and enjoy Zombre, we did it for you.
Tuesday, 29 October 2013
Borderline Press Blog #7 - 566 x 2 - 132 ÷ Space & Time = WOW!!!
566 Frames is out. Dennis Wojda's wonderful story of his family through the years is now available and it's been a frantic week since it arrived.
I don't do things by halves. My planning (or lack of it) meant that Dennis's book was arriving just as I was putting the finishing touches to Zombre's InDesign document and sending it off to Stevenage for job #2.
Honestly, you would think that only bringing these two books out so far in 2013 would have been something of a stroll in the park, but no, I had to ensure that it happened at the same time, putting extra pressure on the team behind the zombie anthology. It did, however, make for some really exciting news releases - the kind that made us a proper publisher and not just someone saying we were going to be.
I met up with Will Vigar on an industrial estate on the south side of Northampton last Monday. he was on his way back from The Lakes Convention in Kendal, I was trying to stay awake after about 2 hours sleep the night before - up till 3am doing Zombre tweaks and then struggling to sleep at all because of the pallet of books scheduled to arrive at 10am. By the time I met Will, I had copies of 566 Frames in my possession and while the paper is slightly different from the Polish edition, just holding it had a calming effect.
Linus may have had his security blanket, but if the paying customers of Costa Coffee had paid any attention to Will and I hugging this handy sized blue graphic novel they probably would have thought we were a bit weird...
Obviously there's a Polish connection with 566 Frames, but the strange thing is Dennis was born in Stockholm, Sweden and if you read the book you will discover that and many other things. Now I mention this because a few months ago when we were discussing publishing the book, one of my 'associates' (not Will because I know he'll panic thinking you'll be thinking it was him) said, "Do you really want to be labelled the bloke who publishes Polish books?" I should quantify this by telling you that we were looking at another potential Polish graphic novel to publish at the time.
The Sweden connection with Dennis's book is obvious; the fact that we've just signed up The Hunger House, a Swedish haunted house story and I'm in discussion with Knut Larsson over his wonderful The City of Crocodiles suggests to me that perhaps I'm likely to get labelled 'that bloke who publishes Scandinavian stuff...' I wouldn't mind any label as long as it symbolises quality comics stories.
Some wag suggested Ben Dickson and Gavin Mitchell's Santa Claus versus the Nazis with its Lapland setting also fits into the Scandinavian theme, but, you know, that's stretching things a bit thin.
Things you should be looking at - this: http://youtu.be/Us0azjg3V1M
Obviously Dennis and I go back a few years, him having helped on Borderline and finding me lots of European talent to shine a light on. He's done that with our Swedish books and if you like them, it's his fault and if you like them (when they come out, obviously) and you've not been tempted by 566 Frames then shame on you; someone who has such good taste in comics is obviously a talented guy.
Dennis also makes me laugh (and English is only his 3rd or 4th language). A few weeks ago he sent me a genuinely lovely email that made me smile - "You need to employ some people to do all the jobs you forget," was essentially the gist of it. I like to think of Borderline Press being this fantastic publishing house, but the reality is it does operate out of my house and we do have a limited budget, which is really geared towards bringing out as many high quality books as we can; installing some faith and desire in punters and shops, who will buy the books, paying us and our creators and allowing us to produce more fantastic books. It's a simple idea, lets hope it's an effective one.
The irony is that I procrastinate. Instead of dealing with some things as and when they happen as the diagram of 'Getting Things Done' above my head tells me to do everyday, I put them off until there's so many that the only way to deal is to sit somewhere nice and quiet and work it out between us. My emails are a perfect example - there's about 566 to get through. So I'm going to stop this frivolity and go and do something more useful, instead...
I don't do things by halves. My planning (or lack of it) meant that Dennis's book was arriving just as I was putting the finishing touches to Zombre's InDesign document and sending it off to Stevenage for job #2.
Honestly, you would think that only bringing these two books out so far in 2013 would have been something of a stroll in the park, but no, I had to ensure that it happened at the same time, putting extra pressure on the team behind the zombie anthology. It did, however, make for some really exciting news releases - the kind that made us a proper publisher and not just someone saying we were going to be.
I met up with Will Vigar on an industrial estate on the south side of Northampton last Monday. he was on his way back from The Lakes Convention in Kendal, I was trying to stay awake after about 2 hours sleep the night before - up till 3am doing Zombre tweaks and then struggling to sleep at all because of the pallet of books scheduled to arrive at 10am. By the time I met Will, I had copies of 566 Frames in my possession and while the paper is slightly different from the Polish edition, just holding it had a calming effect.
Linus may have had his security blanket, but if the paying customers of Costa Coffee had paid any attention to Will and I hugging this handy sized blue graphic novel they probably would have thought we were a bit weird...
Obviously there's a Polish connection with 566 Frames, but the strange thing is Dennis was born in Stockholm, Sweden and if you read the book you will discover that and many other things. Now I mention this because a few months ago when we were discussing publishing the book, one of my 'associates' (not Will because I know he'll panic thinking you'll be thinking it was him) said, "Do you really want to be labelled the bloke who publishes Polish books?" I should quantify this by telling you that we were looking at another potential Polish graphic novel to publish at the time.
The Sweden connection with Dennis's book is obvious; the fact that we've just signed up The Hunger House, a Swedish haunted house story and I'm in discussion with Knut Larsson over his wonderful The City of Crocodiles suggests to me that perhaps I'm likely to get labelled 'that bloke who publishes Scandinavian stuff...' I wouldn't mind any label as long as it symbolises quality comics stories.
Some wag suggested Ben Dickson and Gavin Mitchell's Santa Claus versus the Nazis with its Lapland setting also fits into the Scandinavian theme, but, you know, that's stretching things a bit thin.
Things you should be looking at - this: http://youtu.be/Us0azjg3V1M
Obviously Dennis and I go back a few years, him having helped on Borderline and finding me lots of European talent to shine a light on. He's done that with our Swedish books and if you like them, it's his fault and if you like them (when they come out, obviously) and you've not been tempted by 566 Frames then shame on you; someone who has such good taste in comics is obviously a talented guy.
Dennis also makes me laugh (and English is only his 3rd or 4th language). A few weeks ago he sent me a genuinely lovely email that made me smile - "You need to employ some people to do all the jobs you forget," was essentially the gist of it. I like to think of Borderline Press being this fantastic publishing house, but the reality is it does operate out of my house and we do have a limited budget, which is really geared towards bringing out as many high quality books as we can; installing some faith and desire in punters and shops, who will buy the books, paying us and our creators and allowing us to produce more fantastic books. It's a simple idea, lets hope it's an effective one.
The irony is that I procrastinate. Instead of dealing with some things as and when they happen as the diagram of 'Getting Things Done' above my head tells me to do everyday, I put them off until there's so many that the only way to deal is to sit somewhere nice and quiet and work it out between us. My emails are a perfect example - there's about 566 to get through. So I'm going to stop this frivolity and go and do something more useful, instead...
Friday, 18 October 2013
Borderline Press Blog #6 - The Making of Zombre
The last few weeks have been tough on Team Borderline Press.
It's the first time Will Vigar's ever done anything like this and it's been 10 years for me and technology has rather overtaken my memory of it. Some people might question the sanity of this exercise; I mean the world has obviously moved on and left us old dinosaurs (combined age 100) with their Letraset, sticky tape and scissors. Yet, despite the teething troubles and near catastrophes, we do appear to be zeroing in on the 2nd completed Borderline Press book.
I forgot how stressful doing this kind of thing is and while he had many of his own moments, Will had to put up with me in a way that is difficult at best - through the medium of SMS. We gave up Skyping, it was probably for the best and the safety of the laptops.
Will sent me this and never has a present been so apt as it was when it turned up today. It made me laugh and when you are doing something that you want to be brilliant, then you need moments that remind you to laugh.
To be fair, we've had moments where being a drama queen was probably an allowable reaction, especially when some of our contributors clearly forgot how rulers work. It is amazing that you can give people the exact measurements in millimetres, no less, and things turn up either too wide or not long enough. They did all manage 600dpi though, so it wasn't a numbers thing.
It was funny how it all came together so fast. One minute I was bemoaning about having to do it and it seemed like the next moment we were sending out 'test screen' versions. The reality is it's taken 16 days to this point and on Monday, but probably Tuesday it will get sent to Berforts' for proofing. It's turned itself around in doubt quick time and on the whole I think it's a stonking good package with so much diversity.
Everyone has seen the covers at some point, but how about like this?
That's probably the finished front and back covers (unless someone spots a massive mistake). Funky, huh? The general feedback on Tom Box's covers are that they will stand out on any comic shop rack and people will be drawn to that haunting image. I can't disagree, it's why I wanted them to be the book's front and back covers.
There are some real treats in store for you in Zombre. I have my own personal favourites and there are a couple of stories that just don't do it for me, but do it for others and as I've said all along if this was solely about what I like then I dread to think what I'd be eating in a few months... It is tough to get the right blend with an anthology and I'd like to think we've given it as good as it can get!
What about building the interior? Well, dropping 21 strips into a template isn't that difficult even if Adobe InDesign is just Pagemaker with bells and whistles and a completely arse about face way of doing things. I spend more time looking for things than I do actually working; 'Hmm, where have they hidden master pages?', 'I wonder where the short cut to embolden text is?', 'The re-designer of this application should be castrated with a very blunt spoon'...
The thing is, I started to get the hang of it and once I got the hang of it muscle memory came in and I started remembering stuff and most of the old shortcuts still work, some of them though go somewhere else entirely. That said, Zombre is just about close to being finished and both Will and I still can't quite believe that we've done it and I know that it's going to be at least a month before any of you see it and this could be construed as teasing.
I don't think that's teasing. This is teasing:
This is from an old friend of mine, Tomáš Prokůpek, from the Czech Republic, submitted for the next Borderline Press Anthology, Beasts. Apart from the utter sumptuousness of the art, you might notice something else about it.
It's going to be in colour!
If you could see the rest of this strip and I will tell you more about it next time, you would realise why Beasts has to be in colour. That might not be the only thing different about it, but enough for now.
The Hunger House gets closer. The contracts have been signed and the translation is under way; I hope to get this turned around very quickly; it's a book that many of you will love and, with a bit of luck, it's the kind of thing that might scare the life out of you - I could suggest it would make a perfect gift for a teenager or lover of a good spooky tale!
My main job over the next couple of days is to make some contact with a number of creators; some have offered us work, others have shown an interest in letting us work with them - there isn't anything that isn't of a seriously high quality and I have to shake myself because I just can't believe how some of this stuff has never been seen... Until now.
There's a graphic novel with no words that I described to Martin Shipp as 'Beryl Cook on acid' (Shipp is working with a renowned UK writer and a Hungarian artist on something for us next year); there was something that took my breath away with some peculiar looking creatures in it and ... but, I'd just be teasing you all again.
Friday the 19th might possibly end up being an unexpected day off!
It's the first time Will Vigar's ever done anything like this and it's been 10 years for me and technology has rather overtaken my memory of it. Some people might question the sanity of this exercise; I mean the world has obviously moved on and left us old dinosaurs (combined age 100) with their Letraset, sticky tape and scissors. Yet, despite the teething troubles and near catastrophes, we do appear to be zeroing in on the 2nd completed Borderline Press book.
I forgot how stressful doing this kind of thing is and while he had many of his own moments, Will had to put up with me in a way that is difficult at best - through the medium of SMS. We gave up Skyping, it was probably for the best and the safety of the laptops.
 |
| I just refuse to even discuss this insult to my genius... |
To be fair, we've had moments where being a drama queen was probably an allowable reaction, especially when some of our contributors clearly forgot how rulers work. It is amazing that you can give people the exact measurements in millimetres, no less, and things turn up either too wide or not long enough. They did all manage 600dpi though, so it wasn't a numbers thing.
It was funny how it all came together so fast. One minute I was bemoaning about having to do it and it seemed like the next moment we were sending out 'test screen' versions. The reality is it's taken 16 days to this point and on Monday, but probably Tuesday it will get sent to Berforts' for proofing. It's turned itself around in doubt quick time and on the whole I think it's a stonking good package with so much diversity.
Everyone has seen the covers at some point, but how about like this?
That's probably the finished front and back covers (unless someone spots a massive mistake). Funky, huh? The general feedback on Tom Box's covers are that they will stand out on any comic shop rack and people will be drawn to that haunting image. I can't disagree, it's why I wanted them to be the book's front and back covers.
There are some real treats in store for you in Zombre. I have my own personal favourites and there are a couple of stories that just don't do it for me, but do it for others and as I've said all along if this was solely about what I like then I dread to think what I'd be eating in a few months... It is tough to get the right blend with an anthology and I'd like to think we've given it as good as it can get!
What about building the interior? Well, dropping 21 strips into a template isn't that difficult even if Adobe InDesign is just Pagemaker with bells and whistles and a completely arse about face way of doing things. I spend more time looking for things than I do actually working; 'Hmm, where have they hidden master pages?', 'I wonder where the short cut to embolden text is?', 'The re-designer of this application should be castrated with a very blunt spoon'...
The thing is, I started to get the hang of it and once I got the hang of it muscle memory came in and I started remembering stuff and most of the old shortcuts still work, some of them though go somewhere else entirely. That said, Zombre is just about close to being finished and both Will and I still can't quite believe that we've done it and I know that it's going to be at least a month before any of you see it and this could be construed as teasing.
I don't think that's teasing. This is teasing:
 |
| Tomas Kucerovsky and Tomáš Prokůpek |
It's going to be in colour!
If you could see the rest of this strip and I will tell you more about it next time, you would realise why Beasts has to be in colour. That might not be the only thing different about it, but enough for now.
The Hunger House gets closer. The contracts have been signed and the translation is under way; I hope to get this turned around very quickly; it's a book that many of you will love and, with a bit of luck, it's the kind of thing that might scare the life out of you - I could suggest it would make a perfect gift for a teenager or lover of a good spooky tale!
My main job over the next couple of days is to make some contact with a number of creators; some have offered us work, others have shown an interest in letting us work with them - there isn't anything that isn't of a seriously high quality and I have to shake myself because I just can't believe how some of this stuff has never been seen... Until now.
There's a graphic novel with no words that I described to Martin Shipp as 'Beryl Cook on acid' (Shipp is working with a renowned UK writer and a Hungarian artist on something for us next year); there was something that took my breath away with some peculiar looking creatures in it and ... but, I'd just be teasing you all again.
Friday the 19th might possibly end up being an unexpected day off!
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