ComicSubz.com -- The Blog!

It’s been fun...

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 21:24:00 +0000

As of Feb. 1 2008, ComicSubz.com will cease operations. This is something that we were hoping that would not happen, but decisions had to be made, and we made them.

Thanks to everyone that contributed with feedback and the kind words every once and a while. We had a blast putting this tool together for you, and we hope you enjoyed it.

If you have any questions, we can be reached at: comicsubz@gmail.com.

Hal!

Thanksgiving and Wizard World Texas! Whew!

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 23:02:00 +0000

We hope Thanksgiving was good for all of you. We at ComicSubz HQ laughed, chatted and enjoyed (too much) turkey with friends and family. It was a nice kick off to the holidays.

But before any bird was carved, we got back from Wizard World Texas where we had a good spot in artist alley. That was really exciting for me personally since I was sitting right in front of Michael Golden, and next to him Hurberto Ramos. To my right was Phil Hester and Andy Kuhn. And there I was, doing free sketches and telling anyone who will listen about ComicSubz.

I did 30+ sketches and handed out over 300 business cards to passersby.

If you were at the show and said hi, it was nice to meet you and I hope you are enjoying the application. If you weren’t at the show, sign up for a free account and start managing your pull list. You know you wanna. . .

Attached are some pics from the show. I didn’t go too crazy with the pictures since I was either talking someone’s ear off or nose deep in a sketch.

Which brings me to a little post thanksgiving giveaway. What are we giving away? Well since I am still loose from all that sketching at WWTX, I am going to draw a sketch for the first 5 ComicSubz users that leave a comment on this post. Leave a comment, and what you want me to sketch. This is open until I make the next blog post which will announce the 1st ever ComicSubz.com contest. We will be giving something AWESOME away. I want to keep it, but I got it specifically for this contest. Doh!

So with that said, get your comments in and I will get sketching.

More soon.

New Feature: Your New Comics RSS Feed

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 21:04:00 +0000

We just added a new feature to the customer section of the application. We have added a RSS feed to every customer account that displays the comics that are shipping that week that are on your subscription.

The feed is updated every Monday afternoon.

Let me know if you have any problems. More updates are on their way.

Hal!

Be my friend on Pownce

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 19:32:00 +0000

Hello,

I recently got an invite for Pownce and I have a few to distribute. Wanna be my friend, just leave a comment. Also if you signed up for ComicSubz, left feedback, and told your retailer about it, I wouldn't mind that either. :)

More Soon.

Hal!

A Qucik Poll

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 17:37:00 +0000

I am finishing up the listings for September and they seem to be getting longer and longer. It seems that processing the independent comics takes 3 times longer than top publishers.

So I had a thought. What if I cut the independents and made the "add an item" option more robust.

What do you think? This poll is about independents and how many you subscribe to. If you have any other comments about this, please let me know.

H!

New New New Discussion Board

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 21:14:00 +0000

I have been swamped with spam accounts over at the current ComicSubz forums. So much so that I cannot manage to keep track of the real accounts versus the spam ones.

So I am going to try to do something a little different.

Come on over and check out our new Google Group for ComicSubz here. Sign up and let me know what you think of the updates we are making with the app.

More soon.

Hal!

August Listings and More!

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 16:24:00 +0000

August listings are finally up. I promise it won't take this long in the future. It is a combo of getting them done and waiting for a few features to be released.

On an application front, we are squashing bugs left and right. I have gotten email from a few of you when you get an application error. I appreciate that, but I have it set up to when you get an error, I get an email about your error. So I have a lot of emails. Luckily, we are identifying the problems and fixing them as they come.

We still have a bit of work ahead of us, but we are moving fast, and a full fledged app is right around the corner.

Also, we are still looking for retailers that want to take the retailer side of the app for a spin. Shoot us an email if you are interested.

More soon.

Best, Hal!

New Beta is ALIVE!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 21:41:00 +0000

The new beta app is live with new features and snappier performance. Have a look!

Expect August listings to be added this weekend and starting this week... weekly shipments will be displayed. So what you have subscribed to, if it ships this week, you will see it when you log into ComicSubz! Also, when we upload this weeks comics, you can get an email update. This leads us to the new settings we just introduced.

If you go to your Account Settings, there are 2 checkboxes:
Receive periodic newsletters - When checked, you will receive emails when we have application updates or something important related to ComicSubz or the service.
Receive e-mails with shipping updates - This is covered above.

Those are just 2 of the new things that are up there.

We are still in beta, which means, if you see something wrong, or something breaks, or you see a place where we can improve things, let us know! You can get in touch with us on the forums or via email at hello [at] comicsubz.com.

1 last thing before I get back to getting working on August listings, We are looking for retailers to test drive the retailer portion of the application. Are you a retailer? Shoot us an email and we can get you set up. If you are not a retailer, tell your retailer to contact us and we will get them all set up.

August Listings

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Mon, 28 May 2007 17:54:00 +0000

Hi All,

I am working on getting August listings into the system.

Expect them to be in there in the next few days. Sorry for the delay, but I wanted to roll out the new listings with the super improved app I am rolling out at the same time. . . wait, I think I have shared too much!!

Expect some big changes towards the end of the week!!!

H!

Is it friday already?!?

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Fri, 25 May 2007 21:54:00 +0000

I am sorry for not posting lately. I have been very busy with a lot of things. We are getting close to posting a beta app update. This will be a release candidate for the big launch.

With that said, we will be unveiling the retailer side of the app soon. Any retailers out there? Want to help beta test the retailer app? Let me know - hello@comicsubz.com.

More soon!

New Feature Friday -- Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Fri, 11 May 2007 22:17:00 +0000

Well, it is that time of the week again. New Feature Friday!

First an update on the next release of the application. Optimization is done!!! The app is fast fast fast. We are wrapping on all the new features. And we should be testing the app fully next week! Super excited!!!

So that is that. Now lets get on with it.

Customer Account New Feature
Search All Comics
Are you looking for a certain comic, but can't find it with intertwined in the other comics? Or you are looking for that indy book you heard about on Newsarama, but you forgot who published it? Worry not!!! Simply enter the name of the comic, a word that is in the comic, or a few letters of the comic name you are looking for in the search field and all books that have that search information in it will be displayed.

Retailer Account New Feature
Invite Customers to your Store
As a retailer, you signed up for a retailer account. So how do you get customers to your store? If your customers have an account with ComicSubz, simply invite them with the Invite a Customer feature. All you need is their name and email address. When you enter that, an invite will be sent to that customer, and if they accept, bam! New customer to your storefront.

But what if the customer does not have an account with ComicSubz. You can still invite a customer by entering their name and email address. They will be sent a invite to create an account with ComicSubz and and invite your store front.

I know what you are thinking. . . what if a customer doesn't have an account with ComicSubz AND has not way to manage an account if they had one. Fear not! We have thought of that as well. On top of inviting new customers to your storefront, there is also a feature called Create a Customer. This gives the retailer full control of a customers subscription if they don't have a means to manage it themselves. All information that is in subscriptions that users manage and subscriptions that the retailer manages will all be pooled into 1 source.

Well, that is it for New Feature Friday. If you have any questions, leave a comment or join our forums and post over there.

More soon!

New Feature Friday!!!

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Fri, 04 May 2007 21:33:00 +0000

Well we are burning and churning over here. Things are looking really good!

Since it will be a few weeks since we pull back the cover on this thing, I wanted to announce a new feature from now until that day we launch.

The new feature is called, New Feature Friday!!!

Every Friday I will share a new feature on both the Customer side and Retailer side of the application. Sound cool? Lets get started.

New Customer Feature
Weekly Email Subscription Notifications
Would you like to know at the beginning of the week what comics are shipping this week that are on your subscription? Well you got it!

You now have the option to receive email subscription notifications at the beginning of every week.

Sweet!

---

New Retailer Feature
View all your Customers Monthly Orders
So you have all of your customers pooled. What about their monthly orders? Do I have to go through all of their subs to pull what they do and don't want? Nope!

All your customers subscription details are all added up and presented to you on 1 screen. Even the special orders. Handy? Maybe. Freaking cool? Indeed!!!

So there you have it. Let me know what you think.

Definitely more soon.

H!

Update on the Application

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Tue, 01 May 2007 22:03:00 +0000

Well, we have been signing new members left and right. That has been. . . what is the word I am looking for? AWESOME!!!!

I am also very excited about the next release of the application. Some really awesome features for customers and the unveiling of the retailers section of the application. It is coming together nicely.

I am still thumbing through a few features that will be implemented into the application. If you have an idea that we should consider, head over to the forum and let me know what it is.

More soon. . . Very soon.

H!

What a day!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 04:12:00 +0000

Did you notice the nice things Josh from Comicspace had to say about ComicSubz?

Wow!

Well, his good words secured us a TON of new sign ups, and it has only been less than 1 day!

Thanks Josh.

On the ComicSubz front, we are coming close to the end of our beta. That means that we are DEFINTILY going forward finishing the app and incorporating a few new features for the version 1.0 release. More on that as the release date draws nearer.

Have any comments or recommendations? Share them with us at our forums.

Until next time. -Hal!

New New Forums

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 06:43:00 +0000

Got rid of the old ones. If you are a fan of message forums, the new solution may be more to your liking. . . So post away. I am looking forward to hearing from you.

ComicSubz.com Forums

More soon.

H!

July solits are uploaded. . .

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 05:14:00 +0000

That is all. -H!

I was out. . . Now I am back

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 04:56:00 +0000

Boy has it been a crazy week...

Back in Nov. '06, I wrote about going to New York. In that post was picture that showed me, my wife, and my little peanut child (this post). Well, time does fly.

On Tuesday, April 17 2007, at 8:40 pm, Jess gave birth to our first child. Our Daughter, Cameron Saville. She is a cuite. . .

Mom and baby made it home fine and are doing very well. . . Since no one asked, I am doing well too. I have feelings too. . .

Well, here is team ComicSubz.com for 2007. Enjoy the beta and sign up if you haven't already will ya.

More soon. -H!

MySpace does not like me. . .

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 04:09:00 +0000

Ok, we are coming in on a week on the beta, and I am trying my best to get the word out on this whole ComicSubz thing. . . so I have a few options:

Post in forums - Where I little to no response (with 1 board being the exception) or get my thread deleted all together. . . great!

MySpace/ComicSpace Bulletins - These get buried in a matter of a few hours. So nothing there.

MySpace Comments - This is what I was just doing and to a complete disaster. Lets just say, that when I posted to someone's comments, sometimes, after a few errors, my post would appear several times. This is the time when I send a message to the persons profile begging for forgiveness for this gross error and that I did not mean to do that.

So there you have it. My gurilla campaign to get ComicSubz out there in front of people is not really as successful as I would have liked. Jessica keeps telling me that these things take time. There is a reason she is my better half. . .

More soon.

New sign up form up and some fixes

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 04:09:00 +0000

Hello all,

I know you were worried about the sign up form being down. At this point, I can say, WORRY NO MORE!!!

I have implemented a new solution that has a few cool features (for me). I will know exactly who is misusing this form from now on, if anyone chooses to do so that is.

While I was under the hood messing with things, I also fixed a few things in ie6 and ie7. So now it should look nice over most browsers.

This is not what I would have liked doing today, but it is what it is. I am still getting feedback from people about where they would like to see the application go in future releases. AWESOME!! Thanks guys. Any and all feedback is good. Keep it coming.

More soon.

H!

Sign-up form removed temporarily

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 18:10:00 +0000

A quick note to say that I temporarily removed the contact form from the ComicSubz.com main site.

As it turns out, the evil spam gremlins have manged to use it to spam quite a few people. If you have gotten a spam message and made your way to this post because of that message, I would like to apologize. I am sorry, and we are doing everything we can to make sure that you would never get spam from comicsubz.com ever again.

With that said, I have to do some reading and get something up there.

If you have any suggestions, please post a comment. I am weighing all options right now.

Thanks.

Updated on Beta Launch and June solits up!!

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 23:49:00 +0000

Hi all,

Boy has it been a crazy week! First things first. . .

I just uploaded the preview listings for June's solicitations. What does that mean? All comics that have been solicited from solicited from April to June are available to subscribe to. And if you have subscribed to a books entires series, well don't worry. The new books are added to your subscription. COOL!!!!!!

The beta launch is going very well. A study flow of visitors, invites, and sign ups are happening. So far the response has been positive. yay. But I am trying to really get the word out on this app. We just sent a press release to the heavy hitters in the comic news space (they haven't posted those yet), and we have a myspace, and comicspace page. Other than that, we are still a little early in the process to consider traditional advertising (we will do that for the full launch), but if you have any ideas on how we could get the word out there, post a comment and let us know.

More updates soon!

H!

We are in BETA!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 01:40:00 +0000

We launched the new design for the site the other day and that was awesome! Then we sent out the first batch of invites for the applications private beta, and that was even more awesome! And now, we are getting hits and inquiries left and right, and that is super awesome!!!!!

Ok, enough with the awesome. Nothing can be that awesome. . . can it?

The burning question everyone has on their minds is. . . wait for it. . . WHAT IS BETA?!?

These days, beta means many different things, especially when speaking of web applications. In the case of ComicSubz, beta means that we have reached a point in development where we want some user feedback.

We have gotten the member section ready for some user testing, but before we go all the way with the plan, we have to make sure this is an idea that will somewhat be embraced. I guess, you could say we are being cautious, but we have spent a little over a year getting to what you see today (that is if you have created an account).

Also, beta means that we are testing the servers and making sure they don't buckle. So far so good.

We are also testing the integrity of the application. Will it hold up? Do you like it? etc, etc.

So that is beta to us.

I know that generally this blog has been quiet in regard to comments. That is cool with me. I know a few people read this thing. But, if you have signed up for an account, I would really like to hear what you think.

After all, I am making a tool for you as well as for myself.

Enjoy the beta.

Hal!

Oh, 1 More Thing . . .

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 04:58:00 +0000

And a new site.

http://www.comicsubz.com

Hopefully a beta app will follow. . .

H!

Forums Forums Forums!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 04:32:00 +0000

I just added some forums to the site. This is so I can get your feedback and ideas for future releases.

Don't get me wrong. I have a ton of ideas that I would love to see happen in the next 5 releases at least! But I am just 1 guy. What do you think?

Check out the forums here: http://forum.comicsubz.com/

More info soon. VERY SOON!!!

Expecting a delivery. . . You should too!

noreply@blogger.com (comicsubz) — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 05:35:00 +0000

Howdy!!!

I hope all of you are doing well. I am doing great!!!

First things first. My beautiful wife and the COO of ComicSubz.com is very very close to having our first child. Cameron Saville (Our soon to be CTO) will come into this world very soon. Which leads me into the next order of business.

Just as Jessica is about give birth to our new daughter, I am frantically tearing my hear out trying to give life to a beta of ComicSubz. What has taken me so long? Well, a series of events that I will not delve into, but circumstances out of my control non-the-less. One of them being the final beta site design. I finally came up with something that I really like. Below is a small preview of something you will see VERY soon.

Also, something to expect very soon, if you have signed up at the main site, expect an email to invite you to be a beta tester for ComicSubz. What I am testing for this first round is the server and if it can hold the 1000 invites I am sendin. . . whoa. I didn't write that did I?. That can't be true. Can it? Sign up to find out what everyone is talking about. Really. Everyone. Ok, not everyone. Just everyone else. . . . MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!