In case you missed the Kickstarter, you can now purchase The Tiny Report 5 and The Age of Elves 3 at my Storenvy shop.
We had an excellent debut at MoCCA this year. The Tiny Report 5 sold out! Colin was there with Age of Elves 3. I also invited Mike Diana to the table! It nice getting to know him better.
Now that all the Kickstarter rewards are sent out, it’s time to move on to the next thing. More to come on what that is!
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Age of Elves, Colin Lidston, Mike Diana, MoCCA, Tiny Report
MoCCA is just a few days away! I’ll be at the Paper Rocket table with Age of Elves author Colin Lidston and special guest MIKE DIANA! See us at table E 170.
And my two debuts have arrived from the printer!
The Tiny Report No. 5…
…and The Age of Elves Issue 3!
See you there! Kickstarter backers can pick up these books at the show.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Age of Elves, Colin Lidston, Micro-Press Yearbook, Mike Diana, MoCCA, Tiny Report
Last weekend I looked at my calendar and FREAKED OUT, because I had gone overboard applying for festivals and committing to events. I had accidentally committed to six comics events over the next seven weeks. When I complained on Facebook, Box Brown pointed out that what I actually had done was booked a tour! So here’s the Tiny Report / Paper Rocket Accidental Spring Tour 2015.
March 28-29: RIPE in Providence, RI
Micro-Press and distro panel at 1pm on the 29th
April 5: KGB Comix Night in New York, NY
April 11-12: MoCCA Fest in New York, NY
April 20-21: CCS class visit in White River Jct, VT
Lectures with students about micro-publishing and editing
April 26: Brooklyn Zine Fest in Brooklyn, NY
May 9-10: TCAF in Toronto, Ontario
Hope to see you there! Please bring me words of encouragement and snacks. It’s going to be an intense month and a half.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Brooklyn Zine Fest, CCS, conventions, event, MoCCA, RIPE, TCAF
I’m a bit behind the times: Heidi MacDonald just tipped me off that The Beat and Devastator released their 2014 comic convention data. They and I are trying to do something similar: collect data from the indie comics scene so we can paint a better picture of how the small press industry is working. They’ve focuses on conventions and festivals specifically. It looks like their audience is more mainstream/geek culture than my tastes (and according to their data, that’s where the money is). Still, they profile some top small press festivals, and this information is super valuable.
I’ve read their zine, and here’s my takeaway.
1. Shit: I’m not making any money, am I? Their per-show sales average is $1000. I’d kill for those sales.
But, when I take a closer look, I see the top selling shows are ones I hadn’t considered exhibiting at: San Diego Comic-Con, Denver Comics Con, and New York Comic Con. Is is time to reconsider exhibiting at mainstream shows? I used to do that, about a decade ago. I got the sense that my work isn’t interesting to that market. Maybe I’m wrong?
When I look at the per-show average for indie shows like TCAF, MoCCA, and SPX, my sales are in the ballpark (but still, a little low).
2. Of the small press/indie shows that ranked high in terms of sales and exhibitor satisfaction, TCAF and APE were right at the top. I haven’t been to APE in years. I’d written it off as a financial loss years ago, as a lot of my peers on the east coast did. But it looks like it’s time to revisit this show.
3. What I assumed is true: MoCCA is a show where exhibitors are lucky to cover the $460 table fee (one of the highest table fees in this country for a show of that kind). I keep waiting for MoCCA to address this, but at this point I’m doubtful that the table fee will ever come down. I’m resentful. A lot of creators are resentful. At least, The Society of Illustrators puts on a great show. But how much longer can I throw away almost $500 to spend a weekend at a great show?
You can read The Beat and Devastator’s zine for free (but you should donate a buck or two). I don’t know a lot about this project, but I’m guessing Devastator wrote the zine while The Beat helped promote it. Devestator is an independent publisher of humor anthologies and books run by Geoffrey Golden and Amanda Meadows. I can’t tell if they’d fit my definition of a micro-publishers, but they’re in the neighborhood.
Time is running out! You have two days to submit your application for MoCCA Arts Festival 2015. At this point, I recommend faxing your application or scanning it and emailing it to kate@societyillustrators.org. (The MoCCA Fest is the only convention I’ve applied to in the last year that still required I put pen to paper.)
Something caught my eye when I was reading the festival guidelines:
“Exhibitors are restricted to comic and cartoon artists and their representatives. This includes: Artists of creator-owned comics, publishers, and writers, selling only comic/cartoon art, comics and graphic novels. Exhibitors must display published material (self-published accepted) to be eligible.”
Does this signal a move away from exhibitors who sell merchandise only or primarily, and towards a more “pure” book festival? I would certainly applaud an effort to champion books and their creators first and foremost. But is this a ban on merchandise? I think that would be going too far. What is “comic/cartoon art?”
The truth is, MoCCA Fest is an expensive show for exhibitors–one of the most expensive indie comics shows around. Like many exhibitors, I rely on sales of merchandise, in addition to book sales, to cover my table cost (or attempt to cover it–it’s something I often fail at.) A ban on merchandise (if that’s what this is) would really cripple me financially.
I do like the idea that exhibitors have to sell books. This is a book festival. There should be one book on the table (kind of like the “one foot on the floor” rule). But does that mean we can ONLY sell books?
If anyone has more information on this, please chime in.
Se my 2014 MoCCA recap here.
I had a blast and there were so many good comics! Here are the top five changes to the MoCCA Arts Fest (as heard by me).
1. CHARLIE BROWN
2. Hey, the entrance fee is just $5!
3. Wait, you have to pay another $5 for the program?
4. The table layout is horizontal rather than vertical. I think they fit in more tables, but I couldn’t say for certain.
5. There’s a weird restaurant in the back. You can get a coffee for two bucks. that’s ok, I guess.
Here are some familiar faces: Jason Little and daughter Zellie, Nick Bertozzi, Connie Sun, and Gabe Fowler.
Jesse Reklaw and Hazel Newlevant.
The spectacular table spread of Greg Kletsel, one of Excellence Award winners.
Jess Ruliffson also took home an award.
David Plunkert too. Winners not pictured: Luke Healy and Alexandra Bequez.
Is it just me, or does Charlie Brown have a boner?
Tom Kaczynski of Uncivilized Books.
Chris Pitzer of Adhouse.
Parsons had a fancy table set-up, and a Marilyn Monroe look-a-like.
The handsome men of the Yeah Dude/Drippy Bones/Sacred Prism table: Pat Aulisio, Keenan Keller, and Matt Krabe .
On the second day, the fancy Charlie Brown balloon needed a little support.
Austin Enlish of Domino Books.
OHaBEAR, the amazing pop-up book of Simon Arizpe, is demonstrated.
My haul.
THE TINY REPORT 