According to an article in the New York Times last October, the odds of winning the Lottery on any single ticket are worse than the odds of being bitten by both a Tiger and a Shark on the same day. While that “fact” could easily be debated, the truth is that while the odds are astronomical that any specific person will win the Lottery, millions continue to buy tickets every day hoping to do just that. In some way, part of being American seems to be tied into that mentality- that while something might be next to impossible overall, it just might happen to ME and for that little bit of hope, it’s worth hanging on…

Today’s lesson in Indy Comics Failure is: Make Your Own Luck

Breaking into comics, while difficult, has always been the one area where the Indy Comics scene has shown creators the most promise. In fact, it is infinitely easier to break into comics when you publish your own work than any other way. Take Marvel, for example: If you want to work for Marvel, you have two ways to do that- be an amazing penciler with a stunning portfolio or send them copies of your work in print. And even if you have that stunning portfolio, if you want to be a no-brainer for them, you HAVE to show them printed work. Period.

Does that sound “unfair?”

Well- maybe to you it does, but I am totally fine with it.

Why?

Because I would do things the same way if I were in their shoes.

That’s why.

Anyone can spend endless hours working on a portfolio piece and perfect a handful of pieces. What happens, however, when you are on a deadline? Can you turn out that same level of work when you have to pump out a page a day? Showing them that you finished a book that involves other people means that you had to be on some kind of schedule and you did your part and the book got done.

And writers- forget showing someone your script… If you can’t convince ANYONE to draw what you have written and publish the results, then why should any of the big publishers pay you for that privilege? We Writers have it doubly hard, because in most cases you NEED several issues under your belt proving that you can get past that first issue without tanking a book and that you can finish telling a story.

In Indy comics, however, you have a lot of options. You can find some like minded people and form your own company and publish books. You can do everything yourself and go the total DiY route. You can do most things yourself and reach out to other people on a limited basis and “hire” them to do things that you just can’t do or aren’t good at…. Basically, any arrangement you can work out for yourself can work and has probably been tried before to varying levels of success.

And, to be fair, doing Comics yourself doesn’t always mean printing “comic sized” stapled comics… or, for that matter, printing books at all. You might do web comics You might do mobile digital comics. You may decide to print Trades or mini-comics. And yes, you may decide to print “comic books.” In any and all cases, there are some very good reasons to give Self Publishing a try- either on your own or collectively with the help of others.

The positives of doing things yourself are obvious. First and foremost, when you work for yourself, you are creating your own breaks. I did a signing recently at Forbidden Planet in NYC, and one guy that came in to meet me & have me sign his copies of Robot 13 was also an aspiring comics writer. We talked for a bit, and he told me that he loved the book and then got a bit quiet and leaned in to ask me a question. “Mind if I ask you something personal,” he said. “That depends,” I replied, “on how personal it is…” He laughed and then said, “Blacklist… how are they treating you?” I just smiled back at him and said, “Well, I own half the company, so I make sure I treat myself pretty well…”

Another positive in doing things yourself is that you have a greater connection with what is going on with your material. You know what stage the book is in at all times. You know who is printing the book or who you are dealing with digitally or any number of small details that you could never know working for a large publisher… I, for example, know every store that has ever ordered Robot 13. I know how many books they have ordered, whether or not they re-ordered books and in the vast majority of cases I have had feedback from the owners as to how the book has been received by their customers. I know which stores sell the most books and which states have the most readers of Robot 13 in them. That helps Daniel and I plan what we are going to do, because we can’t do every Convention or appear in every store. It also tells us where we have to do better in reaching out to fans. In every case, knowledge is power if you use it…

On the other hand, while there are many positives to being your own publisher, there are also potential negatives. Doing it yourself does mean that you have to do it YOURSELF. You have to come up with ideas, turn those ideas into a comic and get those comics to your readers. It’s a lot of work, and it’s not for the weak of heart.

From the time that Issue 1 of Robot 13 went to the printers until the day we debuted it at MoCCA, I slept an average of 3 hours a night doing all the publicity and business things that needed to be done. The reason it took up so much time was that for every 50 people I contacted about the book, only 1 cared enough to talk to me. While those who DID cover Robot 13 seemed to like it, there was initial resistance to an unknown creator talking about and unknown book. Hardest of all was convincing retailers to carry a book that wasn’t being distributed through Diamond. That issue worked itself out over time, but it took a ton of effort and a lot of help to make things happen.

When Issue 2 came along, we had unexpected delays with getting the book from our Chinese printers, and I had literally hundreds of shipments to make when the books finally did arrive. During that mass mailing, a couple of boxes were stolen by postal workers and had to be re-sent and putting in a claim to the post office for that was filled with more red tape than if I was trying for a kidney transplant.

By the time the third book came in (on time), I thought we had things working like a well oiled machine. When I had to pick the books up myself at an especially seedy warehouse and was threatened in the parking lot by a heroin addict with a machete, however, I realized that nothing is ever really easy…

While I could list off all the hardships and missteps that were taken in making Robot 13 happen, the bottom line is that Hard Work is always composed of two elements- things that are Hard and things that require Work. Underestimating how difficult the Hard parts will be or how much Work you will have to do is where most people go wrong. And before you ask- no, there is no way to understand how much Hard Work it will take before you do it.

And it’s also an emphatic NO if you wanted to ask if there was a connection between the amount of Hard Work you put into something and how successful it will be. The truth is- I have seen people put more honest work into “losing” efforts in Comics than some people put into books that do pretty well. In that sense, Effort is as much like buying a Lottery ticket as thinking you’ll some day work for Marvel… the only difference are the odds are exponentially better that you’ll find some measure of “success” independently.

That is, if you press on and don’t give up.

The way I see it, Hard Work is very Darwinian It weeds out the weak and makes sure that the evidence of those weaklings doesn’t get passed on. That’s true in general but doubly true in Indy Comics, where you are working towards a potential shot and not a cause & effect. Since you may have to work hard for years and SILL come up empty, it’s easy to toss in the towel early and make your Failure a self fulfilling Prophesy.

And if you want to Fail, that is EXACTLY what you need to do. Go in to Indy Comics with a slacker attitude, taste a little hard work and go back to your couch and your Ding Dongs and your Xbox 360! Why see anything out to the end that requires WORK? Maybe you WILL be the guy who the shark and the tiger gang up on! Put down that time card and pick up a Lottery Ticket… no need to break a sweat now, is there?

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