6/12/2012

The importance of Preorders

Every step of the Tart comic book has been a learning experience for me. From conception, to the mechanics of writing in a visual medium, to pitch, to the point we're at now, which is marketing.

As a writer, I can tell you that marketing is the most difficult to me. I'm not going to lie and pretend I'm this deep, introverted artist afraid of the outside world. Anyone who knows me, knows talking has never been a problem. There have been people in my life who often wish I'd just shut up.

It's not even that I don't find bits of the marketing fun. Problem solving with my wife to get the outfit created, handing out leaflets at MegaCon, reaching out to people like Kevin Smith and Troy and Will at Completely Comics to ask them to check Tart out (Molly Quinn of ABC's Castle has also been a wonderful help in getting the word out, but What the Flux Comics made that connection for us), reaching out to many others who didn't reply (Ok, that wasn't fun, but I made each inquiry with the "expect no response, and celebrate if you're wrong" mindset), the photoshoot with Viktoria: 



and now preparing for how I'm going to get Tart into people's hands at SuperCon.

One aspect that has not been fun (though is as much a learning experience as any of the other aspects) has been  using social media to remind friends and followers of the project. I've tried very hard to balance getting the word out with overloading peoples walls with "ads" for Tart. Because we are new, a large percentage of our likes on Facebook are either friends of mine or Ludovics. That's ok. In fact, that's great! We need our friends support as we build this. but we are trying not to annoy those friends by constantly blasting: TART TART TART all over their wall.

Basically, I see it as if there is a line between informing and annoying, and I'm doing everything in my power to put my toe on that line. Which means there's a possibility some of you have been annoyed, and if that's the case, then I apologize. If you haven't been annoyed, WOO HOO!

With that preamble, we now get to the meat of this blogpost: preorders. Up until June 20th you can preorder the Tart Trade Paperback collecting issues 1 through 3 from What the Flux Comics' website                        ( http://whatthefluxcomics.com/webstore.php ) and save $2.99 (It comes out to 13.50 total after shipping is added).  

Why is it important that you do this? What the Flux is an independent comic producer and does not have a billion dollar company like Warner Bros or Disney behind them. They have to front every penny of production costs themselves. When you preorder a copy the money goes directly into the printing costs, which allows us to print more copies. The more copies we have at SuperCon, the more eyes we can get on the project, and the larger audience we can reach.

So please, if you want a copy of Ludo's or my work on your bookshelf (and if you're reading this, I can't help but assume you do), please support us by purchasing a copy or two if you're feeling magnanimous. If you would like it signed by me, please note that and Larry will bring copies down to SuperCon. I'll write a not in it if you like, but will only sign it unless instructed otherwise (values of books go up if the author and/or artist sign them. They go down if they're inscribed. Please note, I can't promise these will be valuable collectibles, but if Tart is ever valuable, these first issues will likely be the smallest print runs, and therefore the rarest books out there).

There. Marketing done for the day. Now to the script of issue 6, and possibly the fourth part of Trebario and Orange Carnage, the web comic Ludo is drawing to give you all new, free entertainment while we try to extort money from you in different avenues.

Before I go. You deserve one more bit of pretty to help you through the day:


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