Let's Recap, Shall We?

It's that time of year again... I've got a new magazine to do fine art for, and taxes to be done, so things comic strip wise are going to unfortunately slow down for a bit.  If you haven't checked in lately, though, a LOT has been going on.  I figured we better do a recap to get us all caught up. :0)

First of, we've had some new books come out lately, and new editions.  Also, some new products, and a brand new Knight and Day story that's quite different from what has come before.

HappyGlyphs Comics has gone digital!  I mentioned in my last post that eBook sales were not what I expected, but they are starting to pick up, and I have learned one thing in the publishing biz, and that's that selling books can take time when you don't have a multi-million dollar aadvertising budget. :0)

We currently have 3 eBooks available, and another one on the way.  What's important to know is that each of the eBooks offers some new material that hasn't seen print before, or even been on the web.

3 Knights in India

3 Knights in India (click the name below the pics to go to the site) is much the same as the print version, except we had the opportunity to present a lot of the artwork in it's original color format, the way it should be seen!  I've also added at least one new drawing, and colored some new material.  Also, the digital version of all the books is cheaper than the print version, so getting the books on Kindle is a great way to try them out.

The Inquiring Minds: Cattle X-ing

The Inquiring Minds: Kiss My Spleezix?!

Both of The Inquiring Minds eBooks are kid friendly collections for all ages, and both contain new or very rare material, all in full color!  Together, they cover all the dailies and sunday cartoons to date, except for the Ghost Pirate Skeletons of Three Craters Lake material, which will be coming seperately.  Many of the daily cartoons from Cattle X-ing have not been seen for years, if at all.

Take Me Away From All This!!10th Anniversary Edition

Take Me Away From All This!! is our flagship title.  My first book, and my most successful book to date, although to be fair it's had a head start on the others.  Take Me Away turns ten this year(!) and so I have re-released it at a special low price.  Read more about this print book in my last blog post.  It is still a very funny book, and is essential to fans of the latest Knight and Day strips to see how the strip began.

Carried Away T-shirt

New product-wise, we have the Sheep-nabbing Alien T-shirt!  This awesome black shirt features our mascot being carried away in the night, in vibrant colors.  I also have a new collectible coming out, which I'll talk about when it gets here.

Finally, I have a very special short story coming out in the next S.P.A.C.E. (small press and creator owned comics expo)  anthology collection, this spring.  it features Knight and Day in a very different type of story, and those who have seen it agree that it is quite special. I'll give you the details as soon as I get them.

And, of course, there's always new comic strips coming to the home page, and to our facebook page, with the new comic book and comic strip collection in the works.

Whew!  it's good to recap, just to see how busy I've been. :0)

Cheers,    JOHN :0)

Publishing in the New World, Part 2

So I've finished my first eBook, and it is now online and exclusive to the Amazon Kindle Store!

Don't worry, if you don't have a Kindle... the Kindle APP is free, and available for most tablets, personal computers, and other devices! Download the free App for your device, and you have instant access to eBooks such as The Inquiring Minds: Cattle X-ing!  With one touch, you get a Free Sample, and with another click, the entire book in seconds... and for the low price of only $2.99!

As you may have read in the last post, creating this eBook wasn't easy, but now that it's done, a companion book will be available soon, The Inquiring Minds: Kiss My Spleezix, which will continue the adventures of Bobby, Albert, and Iris as they explore all things strange and unusual in their hometown of Three Craters Lake.

Soon to follow, I hope, will be the graphic novel 3 Knights in India.  It's a huge eBook, though, with all those graphics, so I am wondering if it should be separated into at least two books?  I hate to do that, though, although if I did the price for both would be equal to the price of the entire book.

Most eBooks are small, and easy to load, and read.  The entire process is very different from creating a paper book, and putting it together should be easier since there is so little formatting, and page design and book layout are stripped away as well.  All those skills we spent years learning are no longer necessary.  Add graphics to the mix, though, and it's a whole nother ballgame.  The book gets bigger... much bigger, and fighting the size versus resolution battle we fought when the web came about is back again.  This, however, is just the beginning of the battle.

One of the earliest of The Inquiring Minds strips to be found in the new eBook, Cattle Xing.

There are books about creating eBooks, and several blogs, but much of it is basic stuff.  There isn't much for the cartoonist, and even then, the industry is still growing.  The challenges are awesome, and then, just when you think you're done, you now have to choose a place to make your eBook available, and then try to match your book to their standards. And then there's the forms to fill out, and the step by step process of what to do to succeed in publishing your eBook. 

I spent an entire day following the Amazon stuff step  by step, and got nowhere.  Eventually, as in most things computer and web related, I tossed it all aside, and worked from scratch, and found a process that worked for me.  Hopefully I'll remember it all when I have to do it again... and again. 

Maybe I should write it all down?  When I get the time....

For those curious, Paul asked at the facebook page if there is new material in these Inquiring Minds books.  if you have any Inquiring Minds book, either Number 1, or Funny Papers, then you should have most of the material from the second book, and some from the first.  What is new is about 40 dailies that haven't been seen on the web in a long time, so most of you will find the material new.  And if you haven't read The Inquiring Minds, I highly recommend the print books, but the eBooks are portable, and can be read whereever you go with your tablet or other device.

I am thinking of adding something new to the second book, to reward those who buy the set. At $2.99 each, though, you're getting a bargain. :0)

If you buy them, please let me know how the book looks on different platforms.   Tell me the device you are reading on, and how the strips look, if you can.  I do recommend reading with the Kindle App on a large screen tablet, to get the strips in color,and at optimum size.

Thanks,    JOHN :0)

Publishing in the New World

The world is changing, and more rapidly than I think anyone could have guessed.  There's a lot of talk about newspapers, and publishing in general, and where it's all going.  As the new year approaches, I am unusually flustered, and quite frustrated, in investigating new venues for my company.

I'm talking about eBooks... electronic books that you can read on your iPad or comparable tablet, or on a eReader such as the Kindle or Nook.  I love a good book that I can hold in my hand, and take to the beach, but I've been pulled into the eBook world as a matter of convenience, and just to check out what's new.  In a matter of weeks I've already purchased several books in different formats... mostly for business, but some for fun. I am disappointed in the one thing I thought electronic publishing would bring me... books that I can no longer find in print.  Apparently, there's a lot of the same books you can find on a bookstore shelf available in electronic format, but the entire history of publishing is still out there, waiting to be converted.  There are some books that I just can't find anymore, at a decent price anyway, and I was really hoping to rediscover them in this new format.

I digress,  As a publisher, I see a lot of potential in this relatively new format.  Unfortunately, most of what I have done is comic strip related.  After a LOT of investigation... reading everything I can find on the web, and just about every decent book I can find on the subject, it appears that eBooks are just not ready for image heavy books.  There are a lot of roadblocks, and frankly, it's a lot more work to convert a comic book to an ePub or other eBook format.  It has been done, and there are eComics out there, but everywhere I go I see stumbling blocks, and warnings.

I have created an ePub out of 3 Knights in India, and I have enjoyed tremendously revisiting this book!  I have made a version that reads very well in Kindle, but not so well in Nook.  Apparently, I will probably be better off either picking one or the other, or spending time creating two new books, one for each platform.  Frankly, I've put a lot of work into this already.  I'm warning all cartoonists to think before leaping into this new format of publishing.  I've wasted a lot of time, and so far have not accomplished anything.  The quality of eComics as they stand right now varies tremendously, and your eBook may not be accepted if the legibility is too low.  Amazon has ridiculous guidelines set right now for images, and those guidelines are already aimed at the future!  My images are much bigger than the asked for standard, but if I make them any smaller, then they become very difficult to read.

Amazon also has an added charge of 15 cents per megabyte for downloading the book, and that comes from the authors profits.  As it stands now, if they were to accept the graphic novel, with well over a hundred large images, I would have to sell the book much higher than I'd like to get any profit at all. Not a good business plan, let me add, from experience, since selling Print on Demand is the same business plan. (Little profit for a lot of work)

So, a new year approaches, and I currently face nothing but frustration.  I won't give up, after all the work I have put into it so far, but right now I am not happy.  I am sure that one day, maybe soon, the industry may mature enough so that all the roadblocks I'm facing now will disappear,  When that time comes, however, the market will be flooded, and it will be all that harder to be seen in the crowd.

Think twice, cartoonists!  Maybe a small comic book can be done, but the world just isn't ready for an eGraphic Novel.  I've done the research, and if the answers are out there, those in the know aren't ready to share yet.

Happy New Year!    JOHN :0)

PS What I'm listening to? Andi Starr, Leaving the White Line