Happy Monday!

I can’t tell you how impatient I feel about getting Volume 2 finished and published. I work on it every morning for about an hour and a half before I have to get on with the day and even though I am making progress I still feel like I’m not moving fast enough. Well, more like I’m not moving as fast as I want to. Here is my upgraded progress chart.

I’m not worried about running out of pages to post online, I just wish I could get it all finished faster so I can make sure to go to print before November. Plus, I’m really excited about launching a new Kickstarter campaign for book 2 because Kickstarter has really been growing like crazy. My first campaign was considered a huge success when I raised $12,600 for Volume 1. At that time, very few comic projects made much more than $3000 which is why I set my goal to that. But with million dollar campaigns happening every week now and a massively huge community continually growing, I’m really excited to see what I can raise this time around.

I’ve told many people (in person) my publishing business plan/strategy but I don’t think I’ve talked much about it online just yet. But, I think I’ve cracked the code. In a nutshell, I want to blend the old and new publishing methods and leverage the best parts of each. I believe that selling my first printing directly to fans (through Kickstarter, pre-orders and conventions) is the key with an emphasis on it being a collectors item (numbered, limited print runs, signed copies, get your name in the book, cloth bindings). If I can get to a point where I can sell 3000 to 5000 copies in advance of the first printings of my books then I will be able to spend a month shipping them all out at once. THEN go directly to a second printing for the masses that will be distributed through distributors to Libraries, bookstores, comic shops and on Amazon. This will relieve me of the day in and day out shipping and invoicing that was taking up ALL my free time before reMIND went out of print.

So, basically it will be in two sections, My first printings directly to fans hopefully all sold before the book even comes out. Then any additional printings will be handled by a distributor service who warehouses, ships, reps, and handles all the junk that I don’t want to do. Make sense?

This is my strategy in a nutshell and I really think it will work. I don’t have any proof because, to my knowledge nobody is doing this method yet because it’s a fairly new idea to sell directly to fans.

Now, I’m not saying this will work for my next book because its contingent on getting at least 3000 pre-orders. That seems like a big number now but I know its possible in time. In fact, my friend, Jake Parker, just had a Kickstarter recently close with over 2,000 backers. Plus, last week I counted 6 Kickstarter comic projects that were all over $50,000 that were still live.

For reMIND Vol.1 I had over 700 pre-orders sold before getting the books in hand. Now, if I can get double that or triple then I know I’ll be on my way to working on my books full time. :)

Like I said before, I really wish I could spend more time on Volume 2 than I am because I REALLY can’t wait to see what happens.

See you next week!

Here is the scene on Youtube but it’s in Cantonese. Sorry, I can’t find it in English.

If you want to see more Vis Dev for Kung Fu Panda 2 then check out my last post on the subject here: Kung Fu Panda 2 – Set Designs

You can also get the art book here: The Art of Kung Fu Panda 2

This is one of those pages that kinda makes me and my wife’s skin crawl whenever we look at it. I’m a bit worried that some parents will see this and ban their kids from any future installments. I’ve branded this comic as PG but this might be pushing it.

Perhaps I could tame it down a bit if needed but I’m a big believer that there is a real lack of threat or evil in kids shows these days. That sounds kinda funny but let me explain. I remember watching cartoons as a kid and being 100% invested in the main character because there really was a threat of evil around the corner that still creeps me to this day. Even more now that I am older. Now days, the big studios turn all these threats into a funny slap stick joke. I’m not singling any movie out because it’s almost ALL of them for kids now.

If we remove all the threats from a kid show then you also remove most of the emotional investment in wanting the hero to succeed. Sometimes there really is a BAD or EVIL villain out there who will stop at nothing to do whatever he feels he needs or wants to do. I think that’s one of the reasons Harry Potter is so powerful, because Voldemont is a REALLLLLLY evil villain. In a way, I think it helps prepare kids for the reality that the world is not a fairy tale. You can get hurt if you do foolish things. Life isn’t always fair. There are really evil people out there. You can be hurt if you wonder down the wrong street or hang out with the wrong person. You can’t hold a bomb when it explodes. This stuff is real and to remove it from our children’s fiction seems to me like it’s masking the truth and in turn doesn’t help them prepare for the reality of growing up.

Hmmm. Since when did I become all deep like this. I better get off my soap box.

So anyway, I like this set of pages because it makes my skin crawl. haha.

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Also, just so you know, I have been all sold out of reMIND Vol. 1 on Amazon for over a week now. Because of this, there are several computerized stores that are jacking up the price to $200 to $300 for a copy now. I assure you, this is not a good price to pay for the book because I will be reprinting it in several months and selling it again for the cover price. So if you really want a copy, then just join my mailing list and you will be notified when I launch my new Kickstarter (in about 5 months) and you will be able to get the first books off the press.

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Once again, please help me get this website in front of as many new eyes as you can. I’m still just a nobody to 99.99% of the population. There are always new people just discovering reMIND saying that it’s their new favorite comic. I know that this book sells at conventions as long as I can show it to someone. The trick is to get someone to look at it. We are all busy and don’t have time to test out every webcomic on the internet. But we almost always try something out if one of our friends or family sends us a link in an email.

In other words, if you really like reMIND then please personally share this with someone you think will enjoy it too. That word of mouth stuff is amazing. Neil Gaiman’s wife, Amanda Palmer, said it best in her Kickstarter, “WE ARE THE MEDIA!” 

Thanks again for all the love! Happy Monday!

This page is kinda an homage (in a way) to the book that heavily inspired this whole idea of brain transplantation when I was a kid. “The Master Mind of Mars” by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Or maybe the book was “The Synthetic Men of Mars”. I seem to get them mixed up a little after 15 years but they have been such an influence in so many of my story ideas to this day. Anyway, I drew the first panel of this page based on my memory of this book cover from long ago. I did a quick internet search just now to see how similar it actually was. Not bad. Obviously, it’s a completely different situation but it was fun to recreate it in my own little way.

By the way, if you are wondering, I loved the John Carter movie. It’s a shame that my favorite stories in that universe will probably never see the light of day on the big screen after the failure of its box office results. But in a way, it’s probably better for all of us who have been inspired by the books.

See you soon!

(KINDA A SPOILER)

P.S. If you are reading this with your little ones then you might want to check out next weeks page before you let them load it up. I am worried that it’s going into the PG-13 area because of blood but I could be wrong. I never know how to judge the rating system these days. It would probably be a G rating if it was on TV with the kinda of trash that is accepted on prime time. ha!

Wormworld Saga – Chapter 3!

Daniel Lieske just posted the third chapter of his amazing online graphic novel the other day. If you haven’t seen it yet then you really need to check it out. This is as good as free comics get in my opinion.

Plushie Fun!

If any of you are in the market to make a plushie for your webcomic then check out this article written by ComicRocket.com. I was interviewed for the article and I give away all my secrets. ;) If you want to hire the same people that I used then this article gives you all the juicy details.

Making Plushies for your Webcomic!

Bye for now.

- Jason

The moment we have all been waiting for! SLAP!

I use a new technique on this page. Can you tell what it is?

Also, I will be posting a new podcast with Jake Parker over at MakingComics.com very soon so please check it out if you like to hear me mumble about stuff. :)

Also, I hate to sound like a broken record but please reTweet or share this page or comic as much as you can if you enjoy it. I have been spending money every week on advertising but the best way to grow readership is by word of mouth. If you have been sharing this (and I know there are many who do) then I thank you 1000 times!

- Jason

If you haven’t seen it yet then I want to introduce you to The Antler Boy and Other Short Stories by Jake Parker. It funded in less than a day but you still have about 3 weeks to jump in and help support the project and get a nice looking hardcover book in return!

Well, the cat is out of the bag now… or cage.

I’ll keep my post short today but I want to reMIND you that there are only a few copies of reMIND still on Amazon. Once they are gone then they are gone. I’ll be rePRINTING volume 1 next year (2013) so plan on waiting a while if you missed the first printing. I still have a few hundred copies reserved for my convention appearances this year, but no more online sales for this first printing.

Anyway, have a great Monday!