FIRST INTERVIEW
My book hadn’t even come out yet, but it was listed in Diamond Distributors’ Previews Catalog. I would get my order numbers in a month, and have a month to print the books and get them into stores.
Out of the blue, Richard Vasseur from Jazmaonline.com wrote to the Tabloia website 5/24/04. It was a very polite and succinct letter, asking if I would be interested in an interview. He signed it Jazma VP.
This being my first request for an interview, I of course checked out the Jazma website. I didn’t recognize any of the featured comics professionals interviewed, but that was only because I don’t know my indie comics artists (for shame)! The site looked legit, and my friend Wayne, helping me with the “business” side of Salt Peter Press, agreed that a little free press couldn’t hurt. And I was star-struck, thinking to myself, I haven’t even put out a book, and someone’s already asking for an interview! They must have seen my ad, and really liked the look of my comic! What a great sign! Things will just keep building up, and my popularity will soar! It’s just a matter of time!
I read a few of the interviews posted at the site, and noticed something that I found pretty interesting. In most of the interviews, the interviewer would ask the question, Have you ever had any supernatural experiences?
Richard did not ask me this question, but Jazma President, Paul Dale Roberts, did in a follow-up interview. It was an interesting question to answer, me being a card-carrying member of the Skeptics Society of America, and someone who created the character Dr. DeBunko: Debunker of the Supernatural. I later learned, from reading an interview of Paul at the site, that he had some really interesting experiences in the military, that led him to believe in UFOs. What I found really endearing about the same interview was his love of independent comics, and the fact that he founded his website to promote indie artists. I think that’s so great. What an honorable mission statement!
Richard emailed me a dozen generic questions that you could ask anyone without knowing anything about their work, such as influences, comics I read, my personal background. Because of my ad, he was able to ask about some of the characters, and the title. Things like that. And all this, of course, is really quite smart, because it’s the only way to conduct an interview if my book wasn’t even in stores yet, and no one has had a chance to see it.
This was my first interview, and I was a fresh babe of the comics scene, so I answered every question as if I may never be given another interview again. I exploited myself in any shameless ways I could conceive. He’d ask a simple question, and I’d expound on all my life philosophies, how it applied to my comic, and then mention all my upcoming projects and desires. If I wanted to talk about something that wasn’t covered in Richard’s generic questions, I shamelessly made up my own questions, inserted them amongst his questions, and answered them as if they were his interview questions. And without remorse.
I was also kind of a prick, because when the interview posted, I remember emailing Richard and telling him about some idiotically minor typos I had found. He was very polite and fixed them, even though he probably should have told me, “Screw you, you domineering, controlling prick! You’re nobody! NOBODY!” I did this for one other review before I finally settled down and left reviewers alone, even if they spelled my name wrong or whatever.
I’M A PRO NOW!
The book came out! I called my local comics shop to make sure it had actually arrived, and it was there! My comic book was in shops! I could go to a shop, and I would see it there, on the rack, alongside Spider-Man and Batman and the X-Men! Or at least, on a rack, tucked away in the back of the store, where all the indie comics were, far away from Spider-Man and Batman and the X-Men. I couldn’t wait to see it! It’s quite a thrill to realize your work is out for all to see. I’m a pro now!
Before I got to a comics shop, my two-thousand, three hundred extra copies came in the mail. Boxes and boxes of them. The UPS driver kept going back to his truck and bringing back more boxes. There’s nothing like opening up that first box and seeing your first book. I sat down on the couch with it and read it cover to cover, and fretted about all the things I messed up or forgot to do or wished I’d done better. I was so proud of my book.
I was just itching to see how the reactions to my comic would be. I imagined a swarm of reviewers seeing it at shops and picking it up out of interest, and positive reviews being posted in magazines and online, and many more excited fans reading all these great reviews and rushing to their comics shops to try and find a copy of this comic that sounded so great. I imagined more emails from interviewers, writing to inquire about giving me more interviews.
Of course, using a little common sense, the sales numbers were low enough, that obviously a lot of people would never even realize or have any means to learn or care if the book was out at all. I would talk to store owners about it later, at conventions for example, and they would say, “I never even saw it listed.” There are just such an avalanche of books that come out every week, how can any new self-publisher expect to get seen? So I had to admit that not a lot of people would have seen the book. Feeling unrealistically positive though, I assumed I would find ways to get the book out for people to see.
My business helper, Wayne, travels a lot for his work, and he had said he would stop into all the comics shops whenever he went on trips. He had popped into a couple shops in New York, and reported that both shops were carrying my book. Things like that made me feel much better.
FIRST REVIEW
Glenn Walker from www.comicwidows.com wrote an email to the Tabloia website 8/23/04, to let me know how much he enjoyed the book, and that he had posted a review. This was my second time being approached, through the website, by a stranger. And this time it was someone who had actually picked up the book at a shop, read it, and reviewed it out of love. I was ecstatic, because I felt he really got what I was trying to do with the comic. Also, I thought, okay, now the book is catching on! It’s out there in the world, and people are finding it. Little did I know that this would basically be the end of other people actually finding it.
So now I’ve had a little press, and the comic is out, and I’m ready to go out and try and get it seen! Sales may not be as good as I’d like! They’re not even as good as the low side of what I was hoping for, but that will obviously pick up, if I work at getting it out there! Right? Right?