eComics: Gaining High Readership

I received an email today, which I wanted to address to help others who have emailed similar questions:

“Hello Jamie,

I have a bunch of GREAT comic ideas, but sadly, I can’t really draw. I was wondering though, how did you go through the process of creating the eComics potal and advertising and eventually getting to such a high readership?

Thanks (Any tips for starting would be great !)” –Ben Galindo

Ben, those are excellent questions–but not easily answered in a simple email. However, these are subjects which come up often and continue to do so through the years…so let’s shed a bit of light on the subject.

Understand that eComics are a whole new beast. For one, it’s a new age of technology–WANTED:HERO relies on it’s story and a natural appeal to capture attention online, compared to the devices and ‘gatgets’ now offered and designed to take comic viewing to a Star Trek level of sophistication. Look around you and you’ll find eComic readers, Amazon.com has a digital reader which can download any book out of it’s million+ library in under 60 seconds for you to enjoy. Marvel and DC have eComics viewers which are simply brilliant. So, It’s a new world out there—especially online, and to capture someone’s attention—ANYone’s attention, you have to be different and stand out.

To make matters even more challenging, the readers are a whole new generation. We had the Baby Boomers, then we had the Gen X generation, and now we have the WebGen generation—a group who have never known life without the internet. Technology is simply the way they live and breathe. The downside, is that they are also ‘media-spoiled’. If it doesn’t flash, bang, blip and beep–it’s of little interest.

So where does that leave us? In the place we have always been: in a position to capture the imagination of children. If you can create a story to involve kids, while incorporating technology as the delivering and interaction tools…you have an adventure worth trying.

Now, in the case of WANTED:HERO—we never advertised Ben.

Not once.

What we did several things, however, which even today are extremely effective:

• WANTED:HERO used real life people of significance as main characters.
• WANTED:HERO made the story interactive–allowing kids to learn more about the characters they enjoyed reading about–through message boards, character databases, and unique off products.
• WANTED:HERO talked about other people’s products which we loved and felt would be greatly enjoyed by children in turn.

However, one of the most powerful tools we had and use to this day is to give our eComics away for FREE.

Yes, I said FREE.

You need to give people the chance to see what you have to offer before they commit to purchasing something from you. It’s a lot like those little old ladies who work the Wal-Mart or Grocery Store circuit for product companies. You know the ones, who stand at the end of the isles offering you have a sausage, or a cup of fruit–to entice you to purchase their products. Why do they do it? Because you aren’t going to spend $1.38 to see if you like something. Yet, if the company invest $0.02 in giving you a taste, chances are you may spend more than that on a can of fruit—all from a taste, which you most likely took when you were hungry. Good investment, don’t you think?
Yet it’s so much easier for us, because thousands of readers out there are STARVING for good content!! This is something I’m still trying to help artists and creators understand: you are working in a digital element, so you must…and I repeat, MUST understand the long term advantages, so you don’t crush your own progress. Once you have created a product, made it digital and posted it online—how much work does it take to deliver? ZIP! How about cost? Well, if you follow my advice and purchase a server from a company like BlueHost, you have UNLIMITED BANDWIDTH–so you cost is again, ZIP!

What you have to do initially, is get past the ‘but I spent all that time creating a story—I need/want to make money from it now.’

Well, that’s fine–it’s your choice, but frankly, I paid $.97 on a few eComics, just to try them out, and when i was done reading them–they should have paid ME to read them. They were that bad. It has little if anything to do with the artwork. It was the storyline. Yuck. I’ll never do it again.

Do you see my line of thinking here, Ben?

If you don’t have a place to host, or simply can’t afford posting and using bandwidth, then I suggest you use Download.com as a resource (as a creator, you need to use ‘Upload.com‘). I used it for many of my new projects…which allow not only readers to download your comic…but Download.com is a major ‘hub’ in the FREE online universe. That means companies and other services come there, find good items in various categories, and then offer the very same product for FREE to their audience.

Hmmm, advertising for free, done by someone else? Yup. You don’t advertize…they will.

There are other facets you’ll want to consider, but there are too many to go into within this post. Know that I have been collecting questions, and I will be compiling an eBook for anyone interested, which can assist you in building traffic and readers for your projects. Just keep in mind that though you might be doing this from love or as a simple hobby—this is real work, with no shortcuts. You have to work at it, build it…and it takes time and considerable effort.

If someone, ANYone tells you there is a shortcut…they’re lying.

You can quote me on that.

Hope that helps Ben! =)

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