Broken Frontier

First Apologia…
My column on the Maryland Comics Literacy Project has to be delayed, due to my contact there Ms. Darla Strouse, being called out of town this past week and thus unable to do the interview justice. She sends her regrets, so I pass hers and mine onto all of you out there who actually check this feature out and were eager to learn more.  If you want to see the initial press release to this news item…click here.

She has promised to finish the interview this coming week, so we will post that feature as soon as possible.

Sooooo…
Over in the OTB Forum we’re starting to actually get some good dialogues going amongst folk, for which I am extremely grateful! Let’s keep them rolling, especially questions and/or suggestions for upcoming columns!

Good Question…
Speaking of those questions/suggestions, one reader posted some questions in response to the Kandora article asking why start one’s own publisher, why not just partner with a publisher already out there? Good Question.

Basically, keep in mind, having new publishers come into the market has the same benefits as any new competitor in any industry: it brings new blood, new ideas and new options to the consumer/fan. This works twofold, it provides the direct opportunity through the actual new publisher who brings something positive to the market by thinking outside the box, and, also the expanded benefit of when something works for that new publisher, everyone else then tries to compete with their own variation.

As to why, there are several reasons one makes such a decision, let’s look at those reasons and then next week do some evaluation on the reasoning and the results.

Publish Reasoning #1: Its About the Business
As in any field, there will always be those who dream of starting their own business, which in itself becomes part of their own dream. These folks then kind of fit into one of three subgroups I’m defining: The Idealist, The Success Story, and The Moving On Up.

The Idealist is the young person who is filled with passion and fire and decides they can either re-invent the wheel or at the least make a better version than anyone else can. Part of the thrill for them is the actual goal of establishing oneself, setting out on an adventure they can only succeed in by the sweat and blood they themselves shed, with no one to catch them if they fall flat!

The Success Story is someone who’s already done well in business elsewhere, and having once tasted being the boss, and enjoying the running of a business, certainly doesn’t intend to NOW work for someone else. It’s almost a default, when they enter the comics industry, they will start their own publisher. Part of the reason is keeping their status, but it’s also going to be their belief that they have proven success models and strategies that worked elsewhere, they now intend to apply them to comics, but for their own benefit.

The Moving On Up is the business person who has already worked in the comics industry doing business work, and now feels the need to stretch their wings. For any publisher, there is only so high one can go in a certain period of time with any company. For some folks, the natural evolution of having put together the approaches and strategies that made Publisher A successful, is to then go off and start Publisher B. It’s either that or reach the top of your personal corporate ladder early with very little space to go afterward!

Publish Reasoning #2: Captain of Your Own Ship
These are folks that for various and sundry reasons wish to retain an element of control they cannot get elsewhere. If they want to do creator-owned work, that eliminates certain possibilities. If they wish to publicly build the image of their studio imprint, or work with a certain printer, publish a unique format or pursue certain PR ideas, which may eliminate others. For example, Image allows creator ownership and full creator control, but, and understandably so, there are quite a few limitations elsewhere controlling printing, studio imprints, etc. For some people, somewhere, one of these elements may be important enough to justify breaking out as a separate publisher.

Publish Reasoning #3: Show Me the Money
Of course, perhaps the most obvious, is someone who believes if they start their own publisher, building a library of properties, developing licensing deals, getting larger cuts of the profit, in place of a standard paycheck, etc, they are essentially going to get rich as a result! Thank the history of those who’ve done just that to this. Those independent creators who started off being starving artists and then made it big with a movie deal, or other payoff inspire many to seek to repeat that success.

Add to that, some consider going their own road because, as anyone who follows forums, message boards or other news, knows there is always tons of stories going around about publishers who rip off creators under them. This has nothing to do with those stories being accurate or not, merely that they exist in abundance. There have been publishers and studios who have not paid creative people on time, not paid revenues on books in a timely manner, hit people with hidden costs that leeched away their profit margin, and just generally pulled the rug out from under studios and/or individual creators. Even if some of the publishers so rumored have NEVER done so, and no OTHER publisher ever does it again, the rumors and stories will be enough to have other publishers pop up.

Publish Reasoning #4: Not Much Choice
Not to mention some creators launched their own companies because the book they were determined to publish could NOT find a home elsewhere. Even publishers that publish creator-owned material are highly selective about what they publish, as they should be. Sometimes the vision and book one wants to do, no one else believes in. Now, sometimes that might be because the book is genuine fertilizer material, but other times, expert judges have been very wrong and turned away something great. I remember once when the late, truly great Wil Eisner reflected in conversation about how he turned away two young upstarts who wanted to publish this book about a guy named Superman! Imagine that!

Publish Reasoning #5: Ego
Not to put too fine a point on it, some publishers have launched really for one main, central reason: Someone’s ego, someone who wanted to be the big kahuna, the guy getting quoted in every press release, sounding like the next savior of comics. Sorry to say it, but there it is.

So, there’s the short version of one man’s overview of why new Publishers pop up.
Hop on over to the forums and let me know if there’s any I missed!

Coming Next Week: To Publish or Partner II: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly! A new publisher survival guide of how to decide whether you will wholeheartedly support a new venture, tentatively try it, or run for the hills when they come at you! Also, coming soon, the Maryland Project, I promise, and an in-depth interview with Visioneer: Adam Fortier! Same OTB time…same OTB channel!