Well… summers gonna be interesting. Aside from the smoke from Canada picking up again, I got a comic that people have already pre-ordered (mostly relatives). But it also looks like I’m gonna have to learn faster and throw money at whatever advertising I can afford. Because the poll I did for gag advertising didn’t go anywhere. But based on what my dad said, it’s possible that people who saw the memes were just confused and didn’t know what it would contribute.
Spectacle Steals Your Focus!
If this month has taught me anything, go for spectacle that does everything all in one go. Two of my reviews for Mad Cave Studios: Project Riese and Crusader are tributes to pulp magazines. The flashy stuff like entertaining personalities or sensations that leave thinking for later. You gotta scare or amaze people first to immerse them, comedy comes later.
Also rather than make stuff in reaction to the trends, you gotta be ready for the trends. Like when I made a post for Pride Month focusing on a comic I found at a con that I thoroughly enjoyed: Jeff Krell’s Jayson (and its spin-off Arena). But nobody seemed to have cared, partly because the Pride hype already died down. Hopefully I can show this in conjunction with Krell’s next release to help endorse him. It’ll look less like pandering that way. I mean that’s how it worked out with NinjaInk’s Kamen America.
Plus there’s never anything wrong with revisiting older posts with updates. Like Dahlia in the Dark, as pulpy as the other month’s releases and gives people a sense on what’s to come from those. Or posts in relation to Alan Moore’s Top 10 (I’ll read the compendium I own later) and Chris Claremont. Because again, better to have material for the trends to share than fly by the seat of your pants.
Direct Gratitude Helps Too
Back on those Mad Cave reviews, those as well as this month’s release(s) of Tales From Nottingham got a bit of attention thanks to directly calling out to the creators. A bit of a conundrum since Twitter does that a lot easier than Facebook or Instagram and Twitter’s becoming a pretty rotten place. It’s why I have to keep my head down around there, less I jeopardize The Wire Fence.
Posts Need To Spend Money To Make Money
Very soon, I’ll be making posts on Gutternaut for The Wire Fence. Every condiment and layer that went into making it the storytelling sandwich. Now I just need to know which service won’t just take my money and actually help get people to pre-order it.
Unlike the posts about comics from Hong Kong, Portugal, Hungary, and the Arab states. All are pretty interesting, but nothing that gets readers attention. I mean they’re barely available stateside, like how my Filipino comics post is popular because they’re making waves in ABLAZE and GlobalComix. Why should I spend money advertising these without links to profit off of? And no, affiliate ads don’t count.
Sure I plan on publishing a book about how the world goes through comics. But I’m gonna have to increase my profile first. While getting material for a bigger post where there’s barely any mention of comics in a country. Right now, I have to get stuff together for Swiss comics.
Posts For Next Month
As of now, my next post is focused on the Halloween Team, a comic I’ve been enjoying on GlobalComix among others. It’s basically the kids from shows like Ghostwriter, The Secret World of Alex Mack, So Weird, etc. getting the band back together as adults and becoming more like Supernatural.
I’ll be getting more Mad Cave posts for sure. Probably more world comic posts nobody’s gonna look at too.
But the main thing on my time will be business lessons to sell The Wire Fence. When I’m not leaving images across places like cowboy fan pages. Or volunteering the images (meaning I’m not going to make a cent off these usages) to advertise buffalo restoration charities (preferably the ones backed by the First Nations). I own these images and I’m going to use them however I want.
That said, I vow on record to use a portion of earnings on the Wire Fence to pay for a commission to the artist Raquel Kusiak. Couldn’t have gotten far without her, but I need to show people how surreal her art can get. And while I’m at it, might as well use it for an (actually) indie horror comic like Dwellings or Zombie Death Ball Mayhem. Never heard of them? Now you know my motivation.
I might have to consider closing some accounts like my Patreon Creator account. I’m not an artist and I’m not making any money off of it. Substack just fits better in that regard, even if I’m not making money on here either. At least here I get recognition like with my recent post on I Hate Fairyland.
Meanwhile I have to consider opening premium accounts to help with social media marketing like premium Tailwind, Buffer, and AyrShare. But first I need to get to the point where my socials get a lot of visitors by paying for… ugh… I can already feel my wallet about to cry! Glad I’m going on vacation for the 4th of July.