The Complete Creative

When I started setting real, tangible SMART goals in 2015, my career saw hockey stick, exponential growth. Before then, I had a set of goals that I wanted to attain, but they were usually either too easy or impossibly hard to achieve. Most importantly, there was no way to measure success so I usually abandoned my goals before too long.

Now that I use SMART goals to set realistic expectations, I’ve been able to hit almost all of my goals in the past two years.

So what are SMART goals? SMART is an acronym for goals that are:

S-SPECIFIC

M-MEASURABLE

A-ATTAINABLE

R-REALISTIC

T-TIME BOUND

 

Before I tell you my goals, let’s talk about each part of a SMART goal and explain why they are so important in determining your success. For this example, let’s assume your goal is to finish the first draft of a novel in 2017. We’ll take each part of the SMART goal separately and break out why it’s so important to make that goal happen.

S- SPECIFIC

Most people don’t put much thought into creating their goals. Their goals might be as simple as I want to write more in 2017. This is a big problem, because MORE is not very specific when it comes to goal setting. If you have no data from 2016, you have no idea what MORE means or how you can accomplish writing more in 2017, nor can you motivate yourself to just write MORE.

However, if your goal is “I want to finish the first draft of a 70,000-word novel in 2017” that is a very specific goal. You can always look back at this goal and see whether you are moving toward or away from it.

M- MEASUREABLE

The second part of a SMART goal is that the goal is measurable. We talked about this above, but as my friend Tyler James says, “what you measure you can manage”. I would add to that by saying what you manage you can attain. Going back to our example above, you can measure the goal of completing a 70,000-word novel.

That is a very measurable goal. You can make a plan for each step of the goal and know exactly how much you need to get done each month, each week, and each day to stay on track to accomplish your goal.

A- ATTAINABLE

The third part of a SMART goal is that it is attainable. For me, this is the most important part of making a SMART goal because if something isn’t attainable you become discouraged and give up on it. So let’s take our original goal. Is it possible to finish a 70,000-word novel in a year? Well of course. Many people have achieved this goal before. Maybe writers compete in NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, which is a month dedicated to writing the first draft of a 55,000-word novel. So yes, finishing a 70,000-word novel is a very attainable goal. However, writing a 200,000-word novel might not be in the realm of possibility for your goal. That’s why it’s so important to make sure these goals are attainable.

R- REALISTIC

The fourth part of a SMART goal is that it’s realistic for you to achieve. While attainable deals with whether the goal is possible, realistic deals with whether you can accomplish your goal. What is realistic for you might not be realistic for somebody else. If my goal was to run a 100-mile ultramarathon this year, that would be unrealistic for me because I can’t even run 1 mile without getting winded. However, running a half marathon might be a good goal, depending on my fitness level. That doesn’t mean I won’t make running one of my goals for the year. It just means that I need to be realistic with my goal based on what I can achieve.

Going back to our goal, writing a 70,000-word novel is something most people can achieve in a year, as it is less than 200 words a day, or about the size of a long Facebook post.

T- TIME BOUND

The final part of a SMART goal is that it’s time bound. If you want to write a 70,000-word novel eventually, that isn’t something that can be measured. However, if you set a goal of one year to do it, then you can work toward that goal.

Does our goal fit?

Let’s analyze our own goal and see if it’s a SMART goal.

Is finishing the first draft of a 70,000-word novel in 2017 a specific goal? I would say so.

Is it a measureable goal? For sure.

Is it an attainable goal and a realistic goal? Yes and yes. Many people have done it in the past which means you can too.

Is it a time bound goal? Again that’s a yes because we’ve given ourselves a year to accomplish it.

Therefore, it is a SMART goal, and much easier to measure and manage than the standard “I want to write MORE next year” that becomes the goal of so many writers.

A SMART goal can be used for anything, though. You can use it to lose weight (I want to lose 25 pounds this year by going to the GYM three times a week and only eating one piece of candy a week), or you can use it to establish a money goal (I want to save $300/mo by removing alcohol and eating out from my budget). SMART goals can be used to accomplish any task.

What are my SMART goals?  

 

Now that we’ve talked about SMART goals in a general sense, it’s time to give you my goals for 2017. This is more for me than it is for you, honestly, because I want to be accountable for accomplishing my goals. I also want you to tell me if you think these goals are SMART or not.

Goal #1: Launch four new titles in 2017

 

My first goal for this year is to publish four projects in 2017. They are my first anthology Monsters and Other Very Scary Shit, my first non-fiction book Sell Your Soul: How to Build your Creative Brand, my fifth novel The Vessel, and the second graphic novel that I drew, How Not to Invade Earth.

 

This past year I published Katrina Hates the Dead, Gherkin Boy and the Dollar of Destiny, I Can’t Stop Tooting: A Love Story, My Father Didn’t Kill Himself, and Spaceship Broken, Needs Repairs.

 

That was five books in 2016, so I know that setting a publishing goal of four books is attainable and realistic. However, my additional goal is to do a much better job with each launch that I did last year, where I often didn’t give each launch the justice it deserves, especially online, which goes to my next goal.

Goal #2: Receive 100 new 5-Star Amazon reviews for our books

 

My second goal is to exponentially increase the amount of Amazon 5-star reviews our books receive. I completely ignored/abandoned Amazon this year to my detriment. Our online sales are abysmal and online sales are essential to the growth of Wannabe Press. 

We sell a lot of books at shows, and our goal is to transition those sales more online in the coming years. One way we do that is to set a goal to increase the reviews of our books. One of the reasons we flounder online is because we have very few reviews, especially compared to how many people buy our books. In 2017, I am committed to getting our books a total of 100 new reviews from fans of my work so that our online sales can rise to the level of our convention and Kickstarter sales.

Goal #3: Sell 3,000 total book units with an average sale price of $26.50

 

My third goal is to increase the total number of book units sold by Wannabe Press. Three thousand might not seem like that many units to set as a goal, but for us it would be game changing. This year, we sold over 2,000 book units across 10 titles with a minimum sale of $10 and an average sale of $16.50.

My goal for the next year is to increase the number of units sold to 3,000 and increase the average sale to $26.50. The reason I don’t want to go higher than 3,000 units is because all of our books coming out this coming year have a minimum price of $20, and I would like to get our average sale price up to $26.50, which is $10.00 higher than it was this year. If we can accomplish those two things, our revenue will more than double.

Goal #4: Increase our total mailing lists to over 10,000 people with a 20% open rate

 

My fourth goal for the year is to increase our mailing list exponentially. Currently, our mailing lists have a total subscriber base of 7,500 people across 10 different lists. My goal is to increase that to over 10,000 people and increase our open rate from 13% to 20%. Twenty percent is a lofty goal, but I think it is attainable if with the new changes I’ve recently made to my mailing list.

Goal #5: Increase online sales to $2,000 a month, equivalent with convention and in person sales from 2016.

 

My fifth goal is to increase online sales in 2017 so they are equivalent with convention sales from 2016. I cannot keep attending 40+ shows a year forever, and the only way to make sure I can cut back my convention schedule is to make a goal to increase online sales.

Right now, I make roughly six sales a month online, with a total revenue of $18. This is going to take a lot of work and is my biggest mission in 2017. Once this goal is achieved then I believe my business will be completely sustainable. These sales can include courses and books, along with live seminars.

So what do you think? Are those SMART goals? Are they specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time bound? I certainly think so, but let me know by leaving a comment.

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Happy New Year everybody! May 2017 be the year you break through to the next level!

Hillery Pastovich has been selling and marketing comics for publishers since 2005, most notably for Tokyo Pop and now for Humanoids. Along the way she’s figured out how to sell not only to people at shows but also at libraries and directly to stores as well. In fact, her knowledge about selling to libraries and stores is what brought her on the show today. If you don’t know Humanoids, here’s a bio from their website (http://www.humanoids.com): 

From its beginnings, Humanoids has embodied creative innovation, a fiercely independent spirit, and a drive to break new ground.

Under the French name Les Humanoïdes Associés, the publishing house began in the turbulent period of the early 1970s in Paris, which—like San Francisco and New York—was alive with the spirit of artistic revolution. As young people were debating ideas in unprecedented ways, three young men—graphic novel artists Jean Giraud (known as Mœbius) and Philippe Druillet, along with writer Jean-Pierre Dionnet—were determined to push the limits of their art and of the medium as a whole. They joined forces to create a comics magazine like none before: Métal Hurlant (French for "Screaming Metal").

From its first issue in January 1975, Métal Hurlant showed how comics could be created and presented in groundbreaking ways. The magazine combined with its book publishing counterpart quickly achieved a reputation as a company run by creative people for the sake of creating and exploring sequential art in unprecedented ways.

The magazine achieved such worldwide acclaim that National Lampoon launched a U.S. version, Heavy Metal. It initially published Druillet, Mœbius and other European creators in English translations, exposing American audiences to a whole new side of comics.

Soon Humanoids attracted the attention of creative luminaries outside the comics world as well, such as filmmakers Federico Fellini and Ridley Scott, and Humanoids' vision evolved beyond selling books.

In 1988, Swiss entrepreneur Fabrice Giger purchased Humanoids from European media giant Hachette. Besides fostering talent, Giger's goal was to implement a unique creative approach that emphasized international collaboration. Over the years, Humanoids has achieved and maintained that mandate. It has become completely international in its thinking and creative process, with artists, writers, and staff in multiple countries working jointly to create art and stories with global appeal.

Humanoids has published thousands of original titles, with third-party publishers translating many of them into numerous languages. Some, such as The Incal, have achieved stellar performances worldwide and sold millions of copies.

Since 1998 Humanoids has been the only publishing house of European origin with a direct presence in the U.S., and since 2014 the only non-Japanese company publishing its graphic novels directly in Japan, under the brand ユマノイド ("Humanoido").

Known for creating beautiful books, Humanoids has also embraced the digital age from its inception. Its catalogs are available on platforms worldwide, including on its own iTunes apps.

Books were long considered Humanoids' primary focus, but never destined to be its end products. Part of the company's plan was to adapt the source material from Humanoids' vast IP library for other mediums, such as movies—when the time was right. The company wanted to be in an optimum position to select the best partners and have a hands-on approach to all aspects of the filmmaking activity. Fabrice Giger has been waiting for the opportune moment to strike and bring Humanoids' unique touch to this highly competitive field.

While retaining its Paris office, Humanoids made its American branch the headquarters of the group in 2013.

In 2015, it forged major audiovisual development deals with various international and Los Angeles-based partners, leading to the creation of the Humanoids production division.

As Variety put it in its May 15, 2015 edition, "Marvel Comics changed the face of Hollywood. Can legendary Paris–L.A. graphic novel publisher Humanoids do the same thing...?" Whether or not it sets the bar that high, Humanoids is certainly poised to keep rolling out quality and innovative titles, and to do the exact same with the other mediums it chooses to explore.

I had a really good time on this episode talking about selling comics. Granted, Hillery is mostly focused on distributing comics to retailers and libraries instead of hand selling at conventions, but that’s what made this interview great because she talked specifically about selling books on a way larger scale than I have ever thought about before.

I dug how she went deep into the sales process of getting your book ready for retail, and how to go through the whole process of selling and marketing your book for all sorts of markets. She also went into her history in sales, and how she got over the idea that sales is gross.

We went a little off the sales at the end there and discussed the general ethos of the Business of Art, and the big reason why so many creatives fail, and to me that’s where the interview got really interesting, because you are seeing somebody on the other side discussing all the things that make creatives succeed and fail.

If you like this one, make sure to reach out to Hillery online, and find Humanoids at http://www.humanoids.com to check out their books.

If you like this episode, head on over to iTunes to subscribe, rate, and review today. And don’t forget, if you love this show and hate the commercials, check out the commercial free version of 70+ episodes and over 8 hours of content, all for just $20, by clicking here.

This year saw me make 45 appearances overall, and exhibit at 37 conventions. I thought it would be a good idea to do a recap of all my conventions for anybody crazy enough to attend as many shows as me, and pull out my favorites and least favorites so you can add or remove them from your own list for 2017.

These are completely subjective and I know some people who hate the cons I pulled out as my favorites and maybe even liked the ones that I didn’t. Across the board, I think that these cons, even the one I didn’t like, were generally well run and the organizers were nice. A lot of this is just personal preference, and honestly where I made the most, and least, money, because this is how I pay my bills at the end of the day. If I’m not making money at a show, I need to be doing something else.

These top five were not only the ones I made the most money but where I had the most exceptional experience of 2016. I felt like the attendees wanted me to be there, and the organizers treated me like a human being instead of just a booth space.

Before I get into the list, I should tell you about my expectation at a con. I expect to make 3x my booth costs before I even consider doing a show again. If I can 3x my booth costs I can break even for the day and maybe buy some street tacos for dinner.

My goal is to 10x my booth costs. If I can 10x my booth costs, I will buy a lifetime pass to a convention on the spot because I know I can not only pay for next year, but I can pay my mortgage with sales from the convention.

Make sense? The let’s get to it.

The five best and worst cons I attended this year. This is a long one, but it’s packed with value. Not only do I talk about why a con worked. I talk about what I did to make it successful (or why it was a failure) and who would be a good fit to table at each convention. These are in no particular order.

Bakersfield Comic Con & Bakersfield Mini — November

Steve Wyatt knows how to put on a show. He keeps the tables cheap for artists and brings in people who want to buy independent books. I’ve been to three of his Bakersfield shows and the Pasadena show he throws with Scott Zillner (more on him later), and I made a ton of money and had a ton of fun every time. I think part of the reason his shows are so good is because he’s the president of CAPS (Comic Art Professional Society), and CAPS is full of amazing independent artists like Lonnie Millsap and Travis Hanson, along with being founded by Sergio Aragones. You don’t get much more indie than that, and their fans are filled with people who love and buy indie books, which means they buy other indie books. Additionally, the fans truly appreciate you making the trip to see them. This show, and all Steve’s shows, is a hidden gem.

What I did to make this show successful: I drove up with my buddy and we found the cheapest hotel in the city. Then, we split an artist table for $80 instead of a vendor booth and the person next to us ended up not showing up, so we got an additional table for free which helped our exposure.

Who this show would be good for: Independent artists, craft people, and comic book creators.

Wondercon — March (used to be on Easter weekend)

This is the first con I ever did that I made money hand over fist. Previously, I made some money at shows, but Wondercon showed me that you can make real money and a ton of it at a show. Not only that, but you can also have a really good time. Wondercon is full of small press people and fans who really loving talking about indie comics. Some of my best friends in the comic world came from this show. It’s put on by the people who own San Diego Comic-Con, so it’s meticulously run every single time. Even when it moved to Los Angeles for a year because of a remodel at the Anaheim Convention Center, this show was smooth as silk. Everybody can make money at Wondercon, from indie artists to people who sell toys. That’s why it sells out so quickly. If you don’t sign up at the show, and I mean on Friday or Saturday at the show, you probably won’t get a table the following year. At least not an artist alley or small press table.

What I did to make this show successful: I bought a $300 small press booth (they also have a $250 artist alley option) and brought one of my artists to help with booth and parking costs. Then, I asked to be set up on a corner and brought my own table to that I could get the advantage of the main row traffic. That gave me an additional table on the main thoroughfare which helped boost traffic exponentially.

Who this show would be good for: Everybody.

Palm Springs Comic Con — November

I had some issues with Palm Springs Comic Con when I first learned about them. The organizer and I even had words over email. However, we were able to squash our issues and I was blown away by the quality of the show. I will admit that part of my enthusiasm comes from the fact I moderated 4 panels at the show, including spotlight panels with Irwin Yablans (creator of Halloween) and Lincoln Castellanos (who plays Tobias on Fear the Walking Dead), but even without those things this small con made a huge impression on me. The people were super friendly, the venue was great (though small), and the people were there to buy things. I mean seriously, the amount of money I made at this show was insane. However, it wouldn’t have made my top list just because of money. It was also because the founding team was on point and delivered a great experience for vendor and fans alike, all while keeping costs down. I probably wouldn’t travel to this show if I had to fly, but if you are driving distance it’s definitely worth it.

What I did to make this show successful: I split a table and a room with my friend and made sure to sit on four panels to drive traffic to my booth. I made $225 directly after my panels and another $125 throughout the rest of the con. My total booth costs were $40 for half an artist booth, and then another $50 for a hotel room for the night. We drove up Saturday morning instead of Friday night to keep the costs down even more.

Who this show would be good for: Indie artists, creators, and craft makers. There weren’t a ton of people so I don’t know how good the show was for other vendors who sell other people’s work, but if you sell your own stuff you should do well.

San Diego Comic-Con — July

This is the Mecca of comic book and geek culture, and it’s one of my most fun shows all year. Small press comic book creators and artists from around the world fly in for this show, but for me it’s only a short two-hour drive. San Diego feels like four shows in one. There is the big, monstrous pop culture phenomenon, the toy show, the artist show, and the small press/independent press show. Small press doesn’t get a ton of traffic comparatively to the rest of the show, but everybody that comes through your row has self-selected as a fan for indie books, and in a room of 160,000 people, even if 20% roll by your table that’s a lot of customers. Many creators complain that they don’t make money at San Diego, and I agree it’s a tough show because there is so much to see. However, if you can be aggressive in getting people to your table then you can do really well there, especially if you can accept the fact that attendees are there for an experience. If you can provide them with one, then you have a very good chance of winning their money.

What I did to make this show successful: I applied and was accepted into a $500 small press booth. Other booths at the show can range from $900 (exhibitor booth) to almost $3000 and beyond. I have friends that pay over $5000 for a booth at San Diego. That is my entire con budget for the year. I try to keep it as lean as possible at shows, so if there is a cheaper booth option I qualify for, then I will take it. I also brought down one of my authors who sat at my table all weekend and split the cost of gas, booth, and parking.

Who this show would be good for: Anybody who can be aggressive with their sales and get people to their table. San Diego is a volume game. You have to talk to a lot of people to make sales.

Stan Lee’s Los Angeles Comic Con — Halloween Weekend (October)

Los Angeles Comic Con isn’t a perfect convention, but it does something I’ve never seen at any other big convention. It listens to its exhibitors. They used to arrange their table in pods of four instead of in rows, keep the main stage right behind artists so they couldn’t talk to customers, and separate their main stage and side stages which split the audience. Artists complained about all of that, and LACC actually listened. While it’s still not a flawless experience, man I loved this show. There was a vibe and an energy that you don’t get at many big shows, and it felt like a unique experience from most other shows I attend. They’ve worked hard to cultivate their special flavor and make it distinct. It took several years, but I think they are closer than ever. While this show doesn’t sell out that quickly, I recommend booking an artist table or small press table early so you can get the spot you want.

What I did to make this show successful: I booked a small press booth for $250, and then split the booth with another creator to lower the cost of the table. Then, I asked them specifically to be on an aisle as close to the main walkway as possible. Finally, I booked two panels which drove in over $100 in additional sales for the convention immediately, and another $100 over the rest of the convention.

Who this show would be good for: Almost anybody should be able to make money at this show, but like SDCC it’s a numbers game. You have to be aggressive at bringing customers to your table because people have a lot to see and do.

As you can see, the most common thing I do to make shows more successful is split booths, share driving time, and split a room with people when I travel. My goal is to make costs as low as possible when I walk in the door so that I can have the greatest chance of success in the long run.

Because of that strategy, the total costs for these booths, parking, and gas wound up being about $1300 while total revenue was $10225. That’s almost a 10x return on my investment. Based on what we talked about earlier, I would buy a lifetime pass to all these cons today.

Now let’s talk about the flip side. These are the five worst cons I did this year. Again, these are subjective. I saw other people kill at some of these shows, but they didn’t work for me. Sometimes you have to try a new show, or a new type of show, in order to see if it works for you. I did rather well at both horror conventions and anime conventions, both of which I tried for the first time this year. So you never know. That’s why I will do almost any convention once. However, when you have that attitude it often blows up in your face. You just hope that when it does you are can minimize the damage.

Art walks of Any Kind — Throughout the Year

I tried a few art walks this year and didn’t do well at any of them. These art walks shouldn’t be confused with gallery shows, which I love. I’m specifically talking about things like Downtown LA Art Walk, First Fridays, or Glendale Art Walk. There are places people go to have a good time and look at stuff, and not buy. My books are especially dark and depressing, and that’s not what somebody wants to buy on their fun night out with the family. My books are also high-end experiences costing mostly $30+, and that didn’t work for this crowd who wanted to buy cheap things if they were willing to buy at all.

How bad was it? I spent a total of $75 on tables at art walks this year and only made $100, but more importantly everybody looked at me like I was crazy for being there. I don’t like going where I’m not appreciated. Again, this isn’t about the organizers. It’s about the attendees. I did meet some really cool people at these shows, but it wasn’t the norm.

Who this might work for: Artists selling cheap prints and people trying to build a mailing list.

Robo Toy Fest — Throughout the year

This is one of Scott Zillner’s shows, and it was a bit of a disaster for me. Now, this specific bad experience I don’t blame on Scott. It was actually a well-run convention with good attendance. Honestly, my books have no robots in them, and I do not sell toys, so I assumed I would do badly. I didn’t think I would do quite as badly as I did though. Throughout the day I got tons of sideways looks as people wondered what a guy who sells monster things was doing at a show for robots and toys. It was just a bad fit, but it wasn’t because of the con. If you are the right fit, then you could kill at this show.

How bad was it? I paid $80 for a table and made $140 back, but most of that was in one sale from a guy that bought almost my entire table at once. I think I made a total of 5 sales all day, and worse I didn’t talk to many people, which is how I judge success.

Who this might work for: People that sell robots, toys, or both. That’s it.

Los Angeles Festival of Books — April

This show was miserable because of cost, placement, and weather. It’s the trifecta of awful. First, they placed me on a grassy knoll facing in from the walkway. There was almost zero foot traffic. Then, it rained for the first time in the history of the event. Finally, it cost $1100 for a booth, and then I had to buy insurance on top of that. Luckily, I split the table with another person so my outlay of cost was only $550, but with only $900 in revenue that is not nearly enough to justify revisiting this con.

How bad was it? Well, it rained for the first time in the history of the event, and it’s an outdoor event. So almost nobody showed up during the rainstorm. Plus, I sell books which don’t react very well to rain. Then, it cost a ton of money to get into this show and I barely broke even, and then there was no foot traffic because of bad placement and rain. It was all bad.

Who this might work for: Publishers not looking for a ton of sales, but just want to meet and interact with a ton of people. If that’s the case, though, make sure to speak with the person making the placements and get something on a main walkway. Otherwise, all that money you spent will be in vain.

Holiday Con — December

One thing I learned this year was never exhibit at a con in December. They are always miserable for sales and the attendance is poor. Holiday con was the worst of these cons. Vendors were breaking down at 1 pm, and the floor was completely clear by 5 pm, even though the show was supposed to go until 9 pm. This con was so bad the organizer had to issue full refunds to all vendors. I actually like the organizer for this event too, because at least he acknowledged his shortcomings. He didn’t have to do that. Still, it was a complete waste of time. It didn’t help that they only had two months to promote the thing and the website wasn’t even up until October. Still, the experience was bad and that’s what I’m grading on.

How bad was it? Well, the vendor floor was completely empty at 5 pm, even though the con went until 9 pm. There was literally nobody through the door, except for the Magic tournament in over 2 hours. At least my $250 table fee was refunded. Otherwise, I would have been massively in the hole on this one since I only made $120 all day.

Who this show might work for: Nobody, without a lot more promotion.

La Cosplay Con — June

I was torn about doing this con, because cosplayers very rarely buy books when they are in costume, but they are also such rabid fans they spend money making costumes. So….I really didn’t know what to think about this con. I was hoping there would be some cosplay fans who didn’t dress up and would be willing to buy books. This con felt like an anime convention, which I love and do well at, and I didn’t do horribly at this convention. It was just very poorly attended. More importantly, it wasn’t that much fun and that was because there just weren’t enough people. Even if I’m not selling, if I can talk about geek stuff with people then I’m cool. But when the floor is dead, it’s tough to even have a good time doing that.

How bad was it? There were hours when nobody passed my booth. The people that passed by my booth were cool, but getting them to my booth was impossible. I am also a little bit pissed that their site said the show closed at 11 pm, but they closed the vendor booths at 7 pm. It felt like a bit of a bait and switch. I paid $80 for this show and made $200 all day.

Who this might work for: People that sell anime and cosplay accessories, if they can improve their traffic.

As you can see, the most common thing that makes a show bad is attendance. If you don’t have attendance, you can’t make sales.

In total, I paid $785 to attend these five conventions that netted me $1460 in total revenue. That’s not even a 2x return for my money, which makes these five shows a bad investment. More importantly, they weren’t very fun to attend. I wasn’t around a ton of people who did small press books and often I was the only person like me in the whole convention. On top of that, the people weren’t enthusiastic about me being there, which is devastating for somebody when they are paying to exhibit their wares.

I hope this helps you decide what cons to attend this year. I know these were very specific to southern California, but I think there are similarities with the good and bad conventions that can be used to decide about any con anywhere in the country.

This the second to last show before Christmas, and the second to last non-interview show of 2016. With the new year upon us, I am considering changing the show to a weekly show instead of a twice-weekly show, and focusing more on interviews which seems to be what you guys are most excited about and what gets the most downloads. However, I would love to hear what you think. Leave a comment below and let me know.

If you want to get me a gift for Christmas, you could also go to iTunes to rate, review, and subscribe to my show today. We’ve been stuck at 17 reviews for a while now and I would love to wake up on Christmas and see a dozen or so more.

And if you want to go nuts, go and get the commercial free version of the first 100 episodes of our show. That’s every hard lesson, ranterlude, and mini-season of the show, all for just $20 by clicking here.

This week on the show we have Margot Atwell, Publisher of Gutpunch Press, writer of The Insider’s Guide to Book Publishing Success, and publishing director at Kickstarter. Here is her bio straight from www.emdashandco.com.

Margot Atwell is a publishing professional with over a decade of experience. She is currently a Publishing Community Manager at Kickstarter.com.

Previously, Margot was Publisher at Beaufort Books, an independent publisher of fiction and non-fiction. Under her leadership, Beaufort published four national bestsellers, including Hide!!! by Jeff Foxworthy, If I Did It by the Goldman Family, and a new edition of I'm Dancing As Fast as I Can by Barbara Gordon, along with many award-winning books.

Margot is a freelance writer, editor, and book reviewer. Her writing has been published in The Huffington Post, Moviefone.com, Publishers Weekly, fiveonfive magazine, and Derbylife.com.

Her first book, The Insider’s Guide to Book Publishing Success, was published in February 2013. Her second book, Derby Life: Stories, Advice & Wisdom from the Roller Derby World is forthcoming from Gutpunch Press. 

I knew of Margot before we met earlier this year, I just didn’t know it. Before I launched my publishing company, Wannabe Press, I read her book. When we first started talking, I knew the name sounded familiar but I couldn’t place it. When she agreed to be on the show I did my research, saw the cover, and IMMEDIATELY connected the name with a very formative book from my past.

We started our conversation talking about her past and publishing as a whole. One of the things I quickly found out about Margot is that she is publishing through and through. Even before Kickstarter, she was a publisher and author. Since then, she has launched two successful book campaigns focused on her love of Roller Derby. Check them out here and here.

The conversation quickly turned to Kickstarter, as these things must. As much as I would have loved to talk about publishing books for hours, the purpose of having her on was to answer your pressing questions about Kickstarter…well really my pressing questions about Kickstarter.

The first one was one that’s been gnawing at me for years, since even before I got on the platform: how do you get to be staff pick? I’ve done five projects so far and only one has been a staff pick, since renamed Projects We Love.

While I wish I got a hard data answer, the truth is more subjective. While anybody can look through projects and flag something they like, it’s really the curation team that has the final say. One thing she told me is that tweeting at the Kickstarter people and sending them gifts DOES NOT HELP.

What does help is doing something cool and original, making sure your page is clear and concise. Make sure it tells a story and does something original. They specifically look for books that are told from a different perspective and featuring diverse characters. The end goal is that it’s unique and original. It can’t be something they’ve seen before.

If you look at the comic book team or publishing team at Kickstarter, one thing you will see is that they have very diverse tastes. They are almost all creators themselves (if fact Kickstarter encourages their team to run Kickstarters for their projects), and their tastes are diverse. Margot told me that they like to get a wide range of projects, from the $50,000 banger to the tiny $500 one.

Another thing she told me was that there is no limit. If 50% of projects are deserving, then they will all get picked. I always thought there was a limit, so it was nice to see there isn’t.

There were a couple of fantastic developments that I had only tangentially heard about when it came to Kickstarter previously, and Margot explained them in a way that got me incredibly excited. The first is custom referral tags. One of the main issues with Kickstarter for years has been that it’s impossible to track where your pledges come from. Even though you can use Google ads, you couldn’t do anything with Facebook because Kickstarter does not have a place where you can input the pixel required to track sales.

Now, Kickstarter allows you to create custom referrals tags, so you can track everything in one place and see exactly how much money each ad returned. I personally would prefer to just have a Facebook pixel on the site, but this is very nice when you are using something like Top Webcomics or Project Wonderful.

The second is Kickstarter Live. Kickstarter Live is basically Facebook Live, but for Kickstarter. In fact, Margot told me that they have Facebook integration so you can pull your Facebook audience into your Kickstarter feed. I’m so excited for this and I can’t wait to try it out. If you want to find out more, head on over to live.kickstarter.com/explore.

One thing people complain about is that Kickstarter doesn’t work like it used to even a couple years ago. There are fewer people on any given project, and people feel deluged with constant project updates. While Margot wouldn’t cop to this, she did say that there are many more fantastic projects today by sheer volume than ever before. Additionally, there are many more people using Kickstarter to find projects as well. There are 12 million backers on Kickstarter, and 3.5 million of them are repeat backers.

Margot said this is where you should focus your energy. 60% of all money raised is raised through repeat backers. It’s critical for you to find these backers because they are your best chance for success.

The last point she made before answering some listener questions was that Kickstarter is a community. That’s what they are trying to build and that’s what they are most proud of creating at the end of the day. Even though it’s overused, the word community really matters to them. Kickstarter works hard to build custom experiences for backers and works to get people to find new projects to back.

We talked about much more during our conversation, but I’m not going to spoil it all here. There was so much gold and I felt this was a more in depth conversation than most people get when researching Kickstarter. I’ve never seen or heard a Kickstarter community manager or director interviewed on a podcast before, so this was quite a thrill for me. I hope you get as much out of it as I did and that there is enough meat to pull a whole lot away for your own project.

Here are some of the links Margot mentioned in her wrapup. 

Kickstarter Creator Handbook

https://www.kickstarter.com/help/handbook

Kickstarter on Medium

https://medium.com/kickstarter

Kickstarter Basics on Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/user/kickstarter

Kickstarter Campus

https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/welcome-to-campus

If you liked this episode, head on over to twitter and say tell Margot herself @MargotAtwell. Don’t forget to find us on iTunes as well by clicking here to rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast today so you don’t miss any of our awesome episodes. If you are looking to launch your own Kickstarter, head on over to my Kickstarter Toolkit to find everything I've ever said about launching a Kickstarter. Find it by clicking here.

Palm Springs Comic Con asked me to participate on four panels this year. This was the first one of the weekend, where I talked about the Writer’s Journey with Justin Kirkman from Cali Comics (www.calicomics.com; @JustinJKirkman). You might recognize the last name from a previous episode. Justin’s wife, Melissa, moderated my panel on Kickstarting comics and book, which you can listen to here.  

Justin and I handled this panel as more of a Q and A discussion. We wanted to see where the audience was and then speak to that. It was a small, intimate group and they were very vocal about where they wanted to go with their careers, along with what was causing them problems. We talked about topics ranging from world building to where to focus your attention, and how finishing things can help improve your writing.

Justin launched his first slate of books through his publishing company, Cali Comics, at the show, so it was great to hear from somebody really just starting out on the journey of having physical products while having me to ground everything with a little more seasoned comments. 

Looking back, I probably dominated this panel more than I would have liked, but overall I think it's a great overview on how to build a world and set out on the journey of becoming a professional writer. 

If you liked this episode, please head on over to iTunes by clicking here to subscribe, rate, and review our show today.

Today we have Richard Starkings on the show. If you don’t know Richard’s work as a letterer, editor, and writer, then I highly recommend you check out Elephantmen, his Image series that’s run for over 70 issues. He’s running is first Kickstarter right now, with the goal of raising $15,000 to create a complete 6,000 character Japanese font for lettering comics. Check it out by clicking here.

Here is his bio from Wikipedia:

Richard Starkings (born 27 January 1958) is a British font designer and comic book letterer, editor, and writer. He was one of the early pioneers of computer based comic book lettering and as a result is one of the most prolific creators in that industry.

Starkings' lettering style was originally inspired by British comic strip letterers Bill Nuttall and Tom Frame. Starkings' UK career began with lettering jobs in 2000 AD's Future Shocks and various strips in Warrior. From there he moved to Marvel UK where he lettered Zoids in Spider-Man Weekly and Transformers before becoming an editor for the company in the late 1980s. However, by the beginning of the 1990s, he devoted himself exclusively to lettering, finding work in the much larger comic book industry in the United States.

In 1992 Starkings founded Comicraft, a studio which trains and employs letterers and designers and provides "Unique Design and Fine Lettering" services for comic books from many different publishers. In the mid-1990s Comicraft, online as comicbookfonts.com began to sell their Font designs as software applications through their Active Images publishing company.

Then we talked about the problem with publishing people’s work. Richard published other people’s work back in the day and talks about the problems with putting a lot of your heart and soul into other people’s work, and not getting a piece of the pie when something gets made into a movie. Richard specifically talks about nobody being able to expect more the 35% of an overall project. That includes creators, too. I never thought about publishing that way, but it’s a very interesting thought I will definitely think about in my own business.

Probably my favorite part of our conversation dealt with conventions and making a connection with fans. Richard said that when he started he was determined to find an audience. That determination led to him going to shows, doing signings, uploading Youtube videos, and Richard is somebody that has worked with everybody. He’s a known commodity in the comic book space. He’s lettered everything. Everything you can think of there’s a good chance Richard has had a run on, and even he had to go around to shows hand selling the book one to one.

I love how he put building a brand into two parts. The first is building your world. The second is finding the audience that didn’t know that world existed. Richard told a story about how even after 70 issues, people still review volume one and say things like “I didn’t even know this comic existed”.

We also talked about the idea of making something once and selling it forever. Richard is a master at making things, and I liked that he talked about being able to sell books, and move them into movies and television. This is something nobody talks about, but it’s essential to the process of creating. You only make things once, but you sell it for the rest of your life, your kid’s life, and your ancestor’s life all the way down the line.

One of the coolest things about our conversation was when we talked about the name Elephantmen. He said something that he loves is when people look at Hip Flask, a hippo, on the cover of his book and say “that’s not an elephant”. That simple line allows him to have a conversation with his audience, and it was all built on that moment of engagement. The title sells everything about the book, and that was very important to Richard. It should be important to you as well.

It was also really interesting to hear Richard talk about his favorite creators. There is one thing that is similar among them, and that is they are all nice. The creators his loves, like Kurt Busiek, have a great team in place, trust them, and involve them in the process. Creators like that, he said, elevate the entire team around them from the editors to letters.  

One thing that Richard really believes in is creating your own stuff, as much as he enjoys working in the worlds of other people, it’s clear he LOVES the idea of creating your own stuff. He kept coming back to that over and over, even as we came around and talked about his company Comicraft, and lettering as a whole.

Lettering is about being invisible, but it’s about being very good at being invisible like Richard said. He’s been lettering for 30 years and started pen lettering back in the day. He’s lettered the Killing Joke for fuck sakes. This guy knows lettering. So much so that he created a company that creates and sells fonts to other letters.

And that’s why he was really on the show. He was on the show because he launches his first Kickstarter, where he’s trying to raise $15,000 to build a Japanese font for lettering manga. Check it out here.

What’s fascinating to me about his Kickstarter is that there is so little out there to letter comics in Japanese. It’s not that hard to see why. After all, there are 6,000 characters in Japanese, compared to 125 in English. I didn’t realize how desperately needed this font is until now. I did a quick search to find something similar, and my search didn’t turn up much. I know it’s not a sexy thing, but many this font seems awesome.

And Richard really loves the idea of it. He’s been asked by companies like Blizzard and others to letter comics in Japanese and has piecemealed it up until this point, but the idea of having a complete set of letters is desperately needed, and having this font will get you a leg up if you speak Japanese. I highly recommend you check this one out by clicking here.

If you like this episode, check out the Kickstarter by clicking here, and find Richard on Twitter @comicraft. Please also subscribe, rate and review on iTunes by clicking here.

And don't forget to check out my Kickstarter toolkit to help launch and fund your own project by clicking here.

This is the second of two panels I participated in at LOSCON this year. The first was a panel I moderated about editing manuscripts and how to find a good editor, which I posted last week. I didn’t moderate this panel, but it gives such excellent information that I thought it would be good to add it to the show anyway.

This panel is all about how to take your idea and put it into action. The panel is moderated by Tony Todaro, founder of the Greater Los Angeles Writer’s Society (www.glaws.org). Also on the panel were writers Leslie Ann Moore (leslieannmoore.com; @leslie_annmoore on twitter), Justin Robinson (www.captainsupermarket.com; @justinsrobinson twitter) and S. P. Hendrick (http://sphendrick.blogspot.com/).

Even though I moderate a lot of panels, I don’t spend a lot of time as a panelist, so it was very nice to see somebody else moderate, and Tony did a great job keeping the conversation flowing. He’s been moderating for years now, and I’ve watched him lead all sorts of discussions. He kept the conversation on point and on pace.

If you like this panel, check out the GLAWS website for a list of all their event, and see if it’s something for you. If you like this show, please head on over to iTunes by clicking here in order to rate, review and subscribe today.

I was asked to participate in four panels at Palm Spring Comic Con this year. This is the second of those panels. This time with Lincoln A. Castellanos, who plays Tobias on Fear the Walking Dead. This is by far the most traditionally famous person we’ve had on the program before. Previously, we’ve had people who were well-known, even famous, in a specific field, but Lincoln is known by the general public like none of our previous guests.

If you like this show, please subscribe, rate, and review it on iTunes. It’s the best way for us to find a bigger audience to help.

For those that don’t know, here is the first paragraph from his bio on Wikipedia:

Lincoln A. Castellanos is an American actor perhaps best known for his work on such television series and films as Fear the Walking Dead as Tobias, The Mentalist, and I Am Gangster.

If you want more of his credits, head on over to his IMDB page by clicking here.

On top of that, he’s an actor. This is the first time we’ve had an actor on the program and I was a bit nervous on whether all my research on how to build a creative business would translate to acting as it has to both visual arts and the written word.

Luckily, from our hour-long conversation, it seems like many of the same principles apply to acting as they do to other creative fields. It was refreshing to hear somebody in a wildly different field from mine talk about the process of building their career and hit many of the same notes as other past guests on our program.

Mainly, the idea of doing the work was something Lincoln hit on again and again. Through college, Lincoln spent his time making films and completing projects, so that when he graduated he had a demo reel full of great samples which helped him book roles.

Another thing he talked about was making yourself saleable to an agent before you ever get one. There’s a great anecdote Lincoln talks about, which basically boils down to him not being able to get an agent for years until he stopped looking for one. Once he stopped looking for an agent and started to focus on making himself marketable, an agent found him in the most unlikely of places.

I loved hearing about that because it’s something I talk about all the time. Until you are saleable, nobody is going to want to represent you. People want to represent those who can make them money. If you haven’t proven you can make somebody money, they are not likely to take you on as a client.

That is true as an artist, as a writer, and as an actor.

I hope you enjoy this one with Lincoln. If you do, make sure to find him on Twitter, Instagram, or Youtube @lincolntheactor.

And if you liked this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review it on iTunes. It’s the best way for us to find a bigger audience to help.

The Greater Los Angeles Writer’s Society (http://www.glaws.org/) asked me to participate on two panels at LosCon this year. One of which I moderated and the other I participated as a panelist. Loscon was the first con I ever heard about when I came to LA, and I always wanted to check it out, so I’m thrilled I was finally able to get to the LAX Marriott this Thanksgiving weekend to see if for myself.

If you don't know GLAWS, they are one of the biggest writing groups on the West Coast. They host events, master classes, and conferences to help writers get ahead in their career. I've spoken at the last three of their conferences and can attest that it is a fantastic group. 

The first panel I’m sharing is the one I moderated, which was on how to know if your manuscript was done and then find an editor for it, with panelists Leslie Ann Moore (http://leslieannmoore.com/; @leslie_annmoore), a fantastic writer of many books and VP of GLAWS, and Deanna Brady ([email protected]), a wonderful editor.

This was a lot of the nitty gritty of how to edit a manuscript, and the importance of hiring an editor. I think we really hammered all of the reasons paying for an editor is one of the most important things you can do to move forward in your creative career. If you were on the fence about hiring an editor, or you wanted to know what to look for in an editor, or even if you just wanted to know how to get off the fence and write your book, this panel covers a whole lot of ground to help you on your way.

If you like this episode, please head on over to iTunes to rate, review, subscribe today.

Palm Springs Comic Con asked me to be involved in four panels at their November show, which I was thrilled about. Over the next couple of weeks, I will be releasing the live episodes from the event. 

The first one I am releasing is my Kickstarting Comics panel. Melissa Kirkman from Cali Comics moderated this panel, which was just me and Madeleine Holly-Rosing. Madeleine is a favorite of the show. This is her third appearance. She was also on the show here, and part of my How to Build an Audience from Scratch panel here. The was the breakout show for Cali Comics, who I've known for years and released their first slate of books at the show. You can check out their books here.  

This is the most pointed Kickstarter discussion we've had on the show, as it related specifically to comics and books. We touch on other types of crowdfunding campaigns, but 90% of this episode is about using Kickstarter for books, and specifically comics. 

Aside from just Kickstarter, we also talk about when to find a publisher, and how to find a publisher, the advantages of self-publishing, and many other topics, but Kickstarter for comics is the #1 focus. 

I hope you enjoy it!