Beasts, Beastly, whatever you want to call it, it's on an indefinite hiatus.
A book beset by problems, I decided today something I think I'd decided when the initial problems happened - it's simply too expensive and too much hassle.
Some 'other setbacks' tipped the scales and made me decide that the project needed shelving until it could be re-assessed and rescheduled - probably early in 2015.
The problem with Beastly and the reason for that last estimate is that it's in a square page format, so I can't use any of the strips anywhere else, unless I use them together. It really hurts having to shelve the book, especially as people put so much work into it. I am investigating migrating the project to a European publisher, but all the other hassles aside, the cost kept spiralling beyond that of a viable project and, yeah I know, all that PR, the mention in the FREE comic (it had a whole page and a line saying it will be out in June...), it's going to look poor; surely I could have foreseen the problems?
Maybe I should or could have, but sometimes sh*t happens that you simply haven't taken into account and this was one of those moments. My partner would be saying, "Just hush it up; don't mention it; deal with individuals; don't give the public the chance to see there's been a deviation from the plans, especially as most of them will have forgotten by Tuesday." The thing is, in this 5 minute world we live in, I could give you an anatomy lesson with Hentai illustrations and it would probably have been forgotten about by the time I end this sen...
The money it frees up will enable me to publish two more books. It will also allow me to do something I promised then couldn't do, re-assessed and then backtracked on - well, now I think a compromise can be reached.
An old Internet buddy of mine, Regie Rigby had a saying - something about every black cloud having a silver lining. Sometimes it used to really piss me off, especially when I was in a grumpy mood. I thought of him and the saying today and wondered if I was possibly starting to become a glass half full person?
Heaven forbid...
Like I mentioned, the Free Comic will have a slightly obsolete page - but it isn't like some things that could have happened. The printer in Hong Kong could have effectively done the free comic for 50% less money than Berforts in Stevenage (give or take a few %), but it would have been on a boat now, heading to England, due a few weeks earlier than Hunger House and City of Crocodiles, and it would have had soooooo much wrong with it I would probably just set fire to them when they arrived...
A few days ago I wrote a rant that will likely never see the light of day; but to cut a long story short the Free Comic that would have gone to HK for the cheap deal would have been 16 completely different pages than what we ended up with.
Regie, if you can hear me, your optimism is now my muse!
Stay tuned for updates or follow us on Twitter @borderlineEU
Sunday, 23 March 2014
Friday, 14 March 2014
Borderline Blog #15 - We Care A Lot
Borderline Press is a small business. It's not blessed with infinite resources; it isn't a shell company standing in front of a much bigger, well known, one. It is me (and a few helpers) and I try to present a professional image. I try to produce professional books. I want people to be happy - honest.
For anyone who ever read this blog in the days when the idea of me returning to comics was as plausible as that Malaysian airliner having been abducted by aliens, you'll know that as an ex-retailer I think publishers - comics publishers - are monumental shits.
I have a friend who is coming to help me at conventions and will do all those jobs I don't want to do and he's not familiar with the inner workings of comics. He thought that comics retailing was pretty much like every other retailing and he laughed - a genuine, honest laugh - when I explained to him that retailers pay for Point of Sale material. You want posters to advertise Marvel's new book? They cost this much - so on, so forth. If you want help selling their product you pay for it. You remember record shops? You might recall all those fantastic displays for new albums in the shop window? You remember video stores? You know all those mega-fantastic displays in the windows? Book shops? The displays for the new Stephen King, John Grisham or Hilary Mantel? Games stores? Every single one of them paid for by the publisher/distributor/manufacturer. Comics publishers (and distributors) give small retailers shit deals and then charge them for the honour of selling their product. It makes you wonder why people would want to run a comic shop with just that little fact? No other division of the entertainment industry treats its Front Line sales people with such utter contempt and they have done so for 30 years.
I said to my partner, "We need to do a free comic for Free Comic Book Day and we need to give it away!" He looked at me like I'd just said, "We need to eat food or we'll eventually starve to death!" Then I explained to him what I meant and his reaction was absolutely what you'd expect - 'Go for it!'
So, back in January when Will was still helping me, I started to put together a free comic. Will designed the cover; I filled the 15 pages with sales pitch, hyperbole and pretty pictures. Things happened; time moved on; different people were spoken to and eventually, yesterday, the free comic pretty much got past the 95% finished stage and there are just 2 pages that bare any resemblance to that original from January.
I'm getting 5000 printed. I'm sending a bunch of them to 50 comic shops across the British Isles and Ireland. I'm paying for the printing. I'm not (like all other publishers) going to charge the shops (because they wouldn't have them off me if I tried because they don't know me from a hole in the ground) and I'm going to foot the postage bill as well. I'm spending a lot of money and I just hope that the comic shops appreciate the gesture and the comics readers like what they see, so they can go into their shops and get them to order books from me.
And, just to emphasise my belief in the UK's comics retailers, I'll give any shop taking these books between now and the end of July a whopping 50% discount and they can have them, during that period, on a Sale Or Return basis - so if at any point between now and August they order books and are not satisfied, they can send them back and I'll even refund their postage.
That's how much confidence I have that Borderline Press is doing good stuff and now the comics press have started to see such gems as 566 Frames and they are getting justifiably good reviews, I don't want you to forget about Borderline Press and I want you to think that our books are what you want.
The extra brilliant thing about the free comic is that in a couple of weeks (maximum), we're (well, Glenn is) going to make it available to download from the website. The amazing thing about this, for me, is that the PDF is around 12meg, which is 12x the size of Borderline Magazine. In 2001, a 1meg file would take around an hour to download at 128kpbs and today, with my superfast broadband, it takes about 4 seconds to download 12meg.
The problem with people over 50 is unless they keep up with the technological world they end up being amazed like a caveman would be at a Sony Walkman - he'd probably understand that music was coming from this strange thing, but he wouldn't understand how or why - that's people over 50 that is.
Anyhow, just to recap. Free comic. Free - not costing anything. Free to the customer. Free to the retailer. Free to download. Free. Like air but with a little more substance, in a virtual kind of way. As free as the bird that Lynyrd Skynyrd sang about.
It will be 16 pages, half of which is an awesome Jamie Lewis full colour Seth and Ghost story - which is free! The other half is lots of what's coming and look how good what's been is. And, in case I didn't mention, it won't cost anyone anything. It will literally be free (unless you count to expel energy as a cost) and there ain't much free-ness about nowadays.
Oh and you really should follow Borderline Press on Twitter - @borderlineEU - I chose that 'handle' because I see the publishing company as a Pan European burgeoning publishing empire forging forward like that Norwegian bloke who discovered Antarctica or maybe sailed the world on a plank of wood or something. I actually chose that name because it was the only one available and everyone said the other one we had would just confuse people (unfortunately I can't tell you what it was as Bono has taken out a court order against me).
For anyone who ever read this blog in the days when the idea of me returning to comics was as plausible as that Malaysian airliner having been abducted by aliens, you'll know that as an ex-retailer I think publishers - comics publishers - are monumental shits.
I have a friend who is coming to help me at conventions and will do all those jobs I don't want to do and he's not familiar with the inner workings of comics. He thought that comics retailing was pretty much like every other retailing and he laughed - a genuine, honest laugh - when I explained to him that retailers pay for Point of Sale material. You want posters to advertise Marvel's new book? They cost this much - so on, so forth. If you want help selling their product you pay for it. You remember record shops? You might recall all those fantastic displays for new albums in the shop window? You remember video stores? You know all those mega-fantastic displays in the windows? Book shops? The displays for the new Stephen King, John Grisham or Hilary Mantel? Games stores? Every single one of them paid for by the publisher/distributor/manufacturer. Comics publishers (and distributors) give small retailers shit deals and then charge them for the honour of selling their product. It makes you wonder why people would want to run a comic shop with just that little fact? No other division of the entertainment industry treats its Front Line sales people with such utter contempt and they have done so for 30 years.
I said to my partner, "We need to do a free comic for Free Comic Book Day and we need to give it away!" He looked at me like I'd just said, "We need to eat food or we'll eventually starve to death!" Then I explained to him what I meant and his reaction was absolutely what you'd expect - 'Go for it!'
So, back in January when Will was still helping me, I started to put together a free comic. Will designed the cover; I filled the 15 pages with sales pitch, hyperbole and pretty pictures. Things happened; time moved on; different people were spoken to and eventually, yesterday, the free comic pretty much got past the 95% finished stage and there are just 2 pages that bare any resemblance to that original from January.
I'm getting 5000 printed. I'm sending a bunch of them to 50 comic shops across the British Isles and Ireland. I'm paying for the printing. I'm not (like all other publishers) going to charge the shops (because they wouldn't have them off me if I tried because they don't know me from a hole in the ground) and I'm going to foot the postage bill as well. I'm spending a lot of money and I just hope that the comic shops appreciate the gesture and the comics readers like what they see, so they can go into their shops and get them to order books from me.
And, just to emphasise my belief in the UK's comics retailers, I'll give any shop taking these books between now and the end of July a whopping 50% discount and they can have them, during that period, on a Sale Or Return basis - so if at any point between now and August they order books and are not satisfied, they can send them back and I'll even refund their postage.
That's how much confidence I have that Borderline Press is doing good stuff and now the comics press have started to see such gems as 566 Frames and they are getting justifiably good reviews, I don't want you to forget about Borderline Press and I want you to think that our books are what you want.
The extra brilliant thing about the free comic is that in a couple of weeks (maximum), we're (well, Glenn is) going to make it available to download from the website. The amazing thing about this, for me, is that the PDF is around 12meg, which is 12x the size of Borderline Magazine. In 2001, a 1meg file would take around an hour to download at 128kpbs and today, with my superfast broadband, it takes about 4 seconds to download 12meg.
The problem with people over 50 is unless they keep up with the technological world they end up being amazed like a caveman would be at a Sony Walkman - he'd probably understand that music was coming from this strange thing, but he wouldn't understand how or why - that's people over 50 that is.
Anyhow, just to recap. Free comic. Free - not costing anything. Free to the customer. Free to the retailer. Free to download. Free. Like air but with a little more substance, in a virtual kind of way. As free as the bird that Lynyrd Skynyrd sang about.
It will be 16 pages, half of which is an awesome Jamie Lewis full colour Seth and Ghost story - which is free! The other half is lots of what's coming and look how good what's been is. And, in case I didn't mention, it won't cost anyone anything. It will literally be free (unless you count to expel energy as a cost) and there ain't much free-ness about nowadays.
Oh and you really should follow Borderline Press on Twitter - @borderlineEU - I chose that 'handle' because I see the publishing company as a Pan European burgeoning publishing empire forging forward like that Norwegian bloke who discovered Antarctica or maybe sailed the world on a plank of wood or something. I actually chose that name because it was the only one available and everyone said the other one we had would just confuse people (unfortunately I can't tell you what it was as Bono has taken out a court order against me).
reviews
Oh and go and be brilliant people today!
Friday, 7 March 2014
Borderline Blog #14 - Of Pigeons, Holes and Hong Kong
February was a quiet month. After the last blog's determination, the rest of last month was pretty much an anti-climax...
The Free Comic for FCBD didn't go to the printer. It probably will in the next few days, it's just had the urgency taken out of it as it can now be turned round in a week, so I've been tweaking it, updating it, changing it and generally trying to make it the dog's testicles to impress all the people who will see it.
The latest anthology didn't go to the printer like I said it would. In fact, this has been stymied by the loss of a number of strips to the point where I've had to rethink the entire project. One thing is for sure, it won't be much like how it was planned. This is due to the printer now at the end of this month, along with Verity Fair. I really wanted both of them to be available for Bristol - going there with 7 titles would have been much better than going with 5.
Hunger House and City of Crocodiles will be loaded onto a boat from a wee island near China in the next few days.
The end of February saw us take delivery of Zombies Can't Swim, I'm really excited about this little book, because its compact and has come out far better than I could have hoped - Berforts did a good job on the printing... The fact that our current score is Zombies 2 Fantasy Autobiography 1 should not in any way make people think we just do zombie books. I promise, this will be the last of the walking dead you will be exposed to for a good while (or will it?). We also don't just do ... Polish, Swedish or European comics. Terry Wiley probably considers himself a European, but he's from Tyneside so he's also a Brit. One potential reviewer said last week, "that's a diverse mix of books you have planned," and I like to think that's because Borderline Press wants to simply publish good stuff.
Don't forget to look out for the Free Comic and if your LCS owner doesn't have it, berate him about it! He should be on our list! If you're in or about Northampton on May 3rd, pop into Close Encounters for our books launch.
Oh and there's this:
Enjoy the spring!
The Free Comic for FCBD didn't go to the printer. It probably will in the next few days, it's just had the urgency taken out of it as it can now be turned round in a week, so I've been tweaking it, updating it, changing it and generally trying to make it the dog's testicles to impress all the people who will see it.
The latest anthology didn't go to the printer like I said it would. In fact, this has been stymied by the loss of a number of strips to the point where I've had to rethink the entire project. One thing is for sure, it won't be much like how it was planned. This is due to the printer now at the end of this month, along with Verity Fair. I really wanted both of them to be available for Bristol - going there with 7 titles would have been much better than going with 5.
Hunger House and City of Crocodiles will be loaded onto a boat from a wee island near China in the next few days.
The end of February saw us take delivery of Zombies Can't Swim, I'm really excited about this little book, because its compact and has come out far better than I could have hoped - Berforts did a good job on the printing... The fact that our current score is Zombies 2 Fantasy Autobiography 1 should not in any way make people think we just do zombie books. I promise, this will be the last of the walking dead you will be exposed to for a good while (or will it?). We also don't just do ... Polish, Swedish or European comics. Terry Wiley probably considers himself a European, but he's from Tyneside so he's also a Brit. One potential reviewer said last week, "that's a diverse mix of books you have planned," and I like to think that's because Borderline Press wants to simply publish good stuff.
Don't forget to look out for the Free Comic and if your LCS owner doesn't have it, berate him about it! He should be on our list! If you're in or about Northampton on May 3rd, pop into Close Encounters for our books launch.
Enjoy the spring!
Monday, 10 February 2014
Borderline Blog #13 - Tempus Fugit
A tumultuous week. One to store away and pull out on 'bad' days when I want reminding of how crap things could be.
The same weekend Princess Diana died, a good friend of mine lost her mother. The sense of grief within her family was obvious, but it added a surrealistic element when the TV and radio is awash with the death of someone important who wasn't their mother. Grief is a very personal thing, yet we all kind of have this weird feeling that we're all alone in it but shouldn't be...
Last week felt funereal; but the needs of the many outweighed the need of the one, so I shelved the grief and got on with the jobs mounting in front of me...
I think the lull between books has been a bad thing. You need to blame me for that. I think getting 566 Frames and Zombre out in quick succession, to make a mark, kind of ended up being a bit of an anticlimax, especially if people looked at the books and then said, "Good. Yeah. So, what's next?"
What's next will start appearing before the end of this very month and between then and the summer, Borderline Press will go from being this insignificant publisher with a blue book and a zombie book, to an insignificant publisher with half a dozen titles and a summer/autumn publishing schedule that should impress even the most ignorant and ridiculously lucky comic shop owner.
Hunger House is probably being printed as we speak (ironically Loka and Carl-Michael are closer to the place where it is being printed than ever before as they are on vacation in the Far East). City of Crocodiles will have been looked at this morning by the Hong Kong printer's repro team, and I paid for Zombies Can't Swim today.
The decision to call it a day with thematic anthologies was taken, not because of the loss of the anthologies editor, but because I had been thinking for a few weeks that they were actually more hard work than anything else. I also believe that these kind of anthologies would be better suited for Borderline Press a couple of years down the line, when I feel confident of selling out books quickly and being able to adequately recompense my contributors within a workable time frame. Just another sensible business solution, with hindsight.
The new-look compact and bijou 'beasts' anthology will go to the printer in the next week, along with the Borderline Press contribution to Free Comic Book Day. I've put together a 16-page teaser of everything we've done and all the stuff we are doing that I'm hoping will be put in a large number of peoples' comics bags on May 3rd.
Replacing the themed anthologies will be that project some of you have heard whisper of... 'Spoko' has been the working title for this idea since its inception (Spoko means Cool in Polish) and it will feature lots of really ...ahem... cool strips from Europe and possibly a few from the UK. The idea is to do this as a 64-page quarterly prestige format thing. I was always going to edit this, mainly because I fancied keeping my hand in.
Then there's later on this year... Verity Fair will be back from the printer in time for the summer convention season. I'm especially happy about this because a) it features Miffy in it, who was the star of the Borderline Magazine strip of the same name (by Terry Wiley and the late, great Adrian Kermode) and b) Terry has done all the production himself, all I'm doing it acting like the shady middle man in a dodgy drug deal... "'Ere, sonny, do you want to buy a comic book with boobies and the F word in it? Eh?" ...
Then it's Santa Claus versus the Nazis, Robotz, something special from Jamie Lewis featuring Seth and Ghost; Seamonster by Nathan Castle; A collection of Agata Bara's work and a few projects that I'll maybe talk about in the next blog, including something rather wonderful involving one of my favourite things... Dogs...
And then, I'll be thinking about 2015. But at the moment I'm thinking about Christmas 2014!
Eek! These be excitin' times, ah-hah!
The same weekend Princess Diana died, a good friend of mine lost her mother. The sense of grief within her family was obvious, but it added a surrealistic element when the TV and radio is awash with the death of someone important who wasn't their mother. Grief is a very personal thing, yet we all kind of have this weird feeling that we're all alone in it but shouldn't be...
Last week felt funereal; but the needs of the many outweighed the need of the one, so I shelved the grief and got on with the jobs mounting in front of me...
I think the lull between books has been a bad thing. You need to blame me for that. I think getting 566 Frames and Zombre out in quick succession, to make a mark, kind of ended up being a bit of an anticlimax, especially if people looked at the books and then said, "Good. Yeah. So, what's next?"
What's next will start appearing before the end of this very month and between then and the summer, Borderline Press will go from being this insignificant publisher with a blue book and a zombie book, to an insignificant publisher with half a dozen titles and a summer/autumn publishing schedule that should impress even the most ignorant and ridiculously lucky comic shop owner.
Hunger House is probably being printed as we speak (ironically Loka and Carl-Michael are closer to the place where it is being printed than ever before as they are on vacation in the Far East). City of Crocodiles will have been looked at this morning by the Hong Kong printer's repro team, and I paid for Zombies Can't Swim today.
The decision to call it a day with thematic anthologies was taken, not because of the loss of the anthologies editor, but because I had been thinking for a few weeks that they were actually more hard work than anything else. I also believe that these kind of anthologies would be better suited for Borderline Press a couple of years down the line, when I feel confident of selling out books quickly and being able to adequately recompense my contributors within a workable time frame. Just another sensible business solution, with hindsight.
The new-look compact and bijou 'beasts' anthology will go to the printer in the next week, along with the Borderline Press contribution to Free Comic Book Day. I've put together a 16-page teaser of everything we've done and all the stuff we are doing that I'm hoping will be put in a large number of peoples' comics bags on May 3rd.
Replacing the themed anthologies will be that project some of you have heard whisper of... 'Spoko' has been the working title for this idea since its inception (Spoko means Cool in Polish) and it will feature lots of really ...ahem... cool strips from Europe and possibly a few from the UK. The idea is to do this as a 64-page quarterly prestige format thing. I was always going to edit this, mainly because I fancied keeping my hand in.
Then there's later on this year... Verity Fair will be back from the printer in time for the summer convention season. I'm especially happy about this because a) it features Miffy in it, who was the star of the Borderline Magazine strip of the same name (by Terry Wiley and the late, great Adrian Kermode) and b) Terry has done all the production himself, all I'm doing it acting like the shady middle man in a dodgy drug deal... "'Ere, sonny, do you want to buy a comic book with boobies and the F word in it? Eh?" ...
Then it's Santa Claus versus the Nazis, Robotz, something special from Jamie Lewis featuring Seth and Ghost; Seamonster by Nathan Castle; A collection of Agata Bara's work and a few projects that I'll maybe talk about in the next blog, including something rather wonderful involving one of my favourite things... Dogs...
And then, I'll be thinking about 2015. But at the moment I'm thinking about Christmas 2014!
Eek! These be excitin' times, ah-hah!
Wednesday, 29 January 2014
Borderline Press Blog #12 - Bold and Brave
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!
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!
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.
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