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12/28/2012
9/25/2012
What is and isn't Happening, and Why
Hey everybody!
Been a bit of time since we posted much stuff and that's because we really haven't had good, solid information to post. I wish I could say much of that has changed, but I can't. Instead I wanted to explain why we're sort of stuck in limbo (a lot of it is good stuff, though, so don't worry).
The biggest thing slowing down production is that What the Flux Comics is approaching Diamond Distributors to get Tart (and their other titles) into the Diamond catalog. If you're newer to comics Diamond is the company that distributes comic books to the local comic shops around the world. Getting into the catalog allows shops to order your title as easily as checking a box on an order form.
Without being in Diamond, we will have to meet and establish relationships with every individual shop owner or manager in the country before getting a copy on their shelves. Obviously, a slow and inefficient process. So we've applied, sent in a copy of Tart and Red Angel (the other title What the Flux is applying with) to Diamond and are awaiting a response. Unfortunately, there is no set timetable for an answer.
If/when we get a yes, then we'll be looking at about a two to three month wait before Tart could be in shops (one month to get into the magazine, one month to be ordered, one month to be delivered). If we get a no, well, we start the hard slog.
In the meantime, Ludovic has illustrated a book which will be published in France around Halloween. I've only seen the cover, but just like everything he does, it's simply gorgeous:
If you want to learn more about the book, check out this site: fan2fantasy.fr/1224
I don't know if they deliver to the States, but if I was a book collector, I'd drop them a line to see. When you have a chance to get a debut book of a talent like Ludo's, in a limited to 250 copies edition, you need to jump on it (By the way, I get nothing from the purchase of this book, so consider this investment advice my civic duty).
Creatively, I've been working on a project outside of the Toxic Universe that I'm pretty excited about. I'll hopefully be able to tell you more about it soon.
With Tart, though, I've been busy preparing for Geekfest this November 18th on Florida Atlantic University's campus. I contacted a marketing company in the hopes of having something that will not only bring a bit of revenue in, but make an impression on people as well. Since we'll be on a college campus, I thought what would be the coolest, most unique product we could have? A 23 oz Tart Beer glass!
Looks pretty good, huh? Yeah, well how bout now:
Oh, yeah. Looking good. Anyway, we'll try to sell a few, and barring that, my family can expect to be getting beer glasses for the next 20 or so Christmases.
We also put together some women's tank tops. I thought about it for a bit and thought it was a touch early to expect a woman to wear a shirt reading "TART," so we went with "Toxic." Any of you with Tart Volume 1 can turn to the last couple pages of issue 3 to see the comic inspiration for these shirts.
We don't have too many shirts, as we were able to order them 1 by 1, so I'm hoping my family doesn't have to also receive tank tops for the holidays. My brother doesn't look good in pink.
And lastly, we're investigating printing out 200 or so copies of issue 1 which will be given away free at the door of Geekfest. We feel like our story is strong enough that getting it into people's hands is the best investment we can make. This isn't set in stone, but I'm really hoping it happens.
Hope all is well. Talk to you soon!
Been a bit of time since we posted much stuff and that's because we really haven't had good, solid information to post. I wish I could say much of that has changed, but I can't. Instead I wanted to explain why we're sort of stuck in limbo (a lot of it is good stuff, though, so don't worry).
The biggest thing slowing down production is that What the Flux Comics is approaching Diamond Distributors to get Tart (and their other titles) into the Diamond catalog. If you're newer to comics Diamond is the company that distributes comic books to the local comic shops around the world. Getting into the catalog allows shops to order your title as easily as checking a box on an order form.
Without being in Diamond, we will have to meet and establish relationships with every individual shop owner or manager in the country before getting a copy on their shelves. Obviously, a slow and inefficient process. So we've applied, sent in a copy of Tart and Red Angel (the other title What the Flux is applying with) to Diamond and are awaiting a response. Unfortunately, there is no set timetable for an answer.
If/when we get a yes, then we'll be looking at about a two to three month wait before Tart could be in shops (one month to get into the magazine, one month to be ordered, one month to be delivered). If we get a no, well, we start the hard slog.
In the meantime, Ludovic has illustrated a book which will be published in France around Halloween. I've only seen the cover, but just like everything he does, it's simply gorgeous:
If you want to learn more about the book, check out this site: fan2fantasy.fr/1224
I don't know if they deliver to the States, but if I was a book collector, I'd drop them a line to see. When you have a chance to get a debut book of a talent like Ludo's, in a limited to 250 copies edition, you need to jump on it (By the way, I get nothing from the purchase of this book, so consider this investment advice my civic duty).
Creatively, I've been working on a project outside of the Toxic Universe that I'm pretty excited about. I'll hopefully be able to tell you more about it soon.
With Tart, though, I've been busy preparing for Geekfest this November 18th on Florida Atlantic University's campus. I contacted a marketing company in the hopes of having something that will not only bring a bit of revenue in, but make an impression on people as well. Since we'll be on a college campus, I thought what would be the coolest, most unique product we could have? A 23 oz Tart Beer glass!
Looks pretty good, huh? Yeah, well how bout now:
Oh, yeah. Looking good. Anyway, we'll try to sell a few, and barring that, my family can expect to be getting beer glasses for the next 20 or so Christmases.
We don't have too many shirts, as we were able to order them 1 by 1, so I'm hoping my family doesn't have to also receive tank tops for the holidays. My brother doesn't look good in pink.
And lastly, we're investigating printing out 200 or so copies of issue 1 which will be given away free at the door of Geekfest. We feel like our story is strong enough that getting it into people's hands is the best investment we can make. This isn't set in stone, but I'm really hoping it happens.
Hope all is well. Talk to you soon!
9/18/2012
8/24/2012
Our first review, and it's a fine one
I met a huge comic fan on twitter named Jason Webb who reviews comics. What's great about Jay is he's willing to check out Indies right alongside books from Marvel and DC. So I asked if he'd mind taking a look at Tart.
Jason agreed and tonight sent me a link to his review. And it's a good one. Please go over to his site, read his review and say hello.
I'm not going to take up any more of your time because I really want you to read Jay's review:
8/23/2012
The High of Delivering Books
I've been pretty quiet on here as all the things I've been working on have been sort of long term things. Scripts for a year from now, merchandising orders for some Tart stuff you guys might think are cool, etc.
But today, something big happened for us. Forty copies of Tart arrived. Some of the copies were mine, but the bulk were for me to deliver to three South Florida Comic shops that will be selling the book for us (and for them, too).
So my wife and I changed plans and I took off to visit CJ's Comics in Oakland Park (3548 NE 12th ave - just off Oakland Park Blvd and Dixie Highway)
Comics and Games in Pembroke Pines (7642 Pines blvd - just East of University Drive)
and Tate's Comics in Lauderhill (4566 University Dr between Commercial Blvd and Oakland Park Blvd).
I'll be working to get us place in more shops in the area, but this is a great start for us.
It's funny, being at SuperCon introducing Tart was a lot of work, but it never got to me. And I mean got to me in a "Holy crap, I've got a book I'm selling" type of got to me. But this. Driving to shops. Giving it to them to put on their shelves. That got to me. It made me so proud to be putting a book I believe in out to the local shops who will ultimately help us make it successful.
If any of you are in South Florida and want your copy, please visit one of these shops. It's so important to us to show we can sell books for them. If you are not in the area, you can always get a copy from What The Flux?! Comics
Hope this finds you all well!
But today, something big happened for us. Forty copies of Tart arrived. Some of the copies were mine, but the bulk were for me to deliver to three South Florida Comic shops that will be selling the book for us (and for them, too).
So my wife and I changed plans and I took off to visit CJ's Comics in Oakland Park (3548 NE 12th ave - just off Oakland Park Blvd and Dixie Highway)
Comics and Games in Pembroke Pines (7642 Pines blvd - just East of University Drive)
and Tate's Comics in Lauderhill (4566 University Dr between Commercial Blvd and Oakland Park Blvd).
I'll be working to get us place in more shops in the area, but this is a great start for us.
It's funny, being at SuperCon introducing Tart was a lot of work, but it never got to me. And I mean got to me in a "Holy crap, I've got a book I'm selling" type of got to me. But this. Driving to shops. Giving it to them to put on their shelves. That got to me. It made me so proud to be putting a book I believe in out to the local shops who will ultimately help us make it successful.
If any of you are in South Florida and want your copy, please visit one of these shops. It's so important to us to show we can sell books for them. If you are not in the area, you can always get a copy from What The Flux?! Comics
Hope this finds you all well!
8/07/2012
Hell Strawberry 3, new pics and title!
Hell Strawberry Factory 03
New pictures from the next adventures of our lovely and destroyer Toxic Fruit Hell Strawberry,
and here the title of this book:
'GOD SAVE THE HELL'
7/31/2012
Join the Toxic Army
Tart news is a little slow at the moment. Very little concrete I can tell you about, but I can keep you up to date with a few things. Ludo's working on issue 4 at the moment which we hope to have available at some point in October. As I've stated before in this blog we'd prefer to go slowly and keep the art at its highest possible quality, than to rush things.
On most comic books there is a separate artist for each of the following jobs: Penciler (the first drawings which actually are never seen by the reader), Inker (the dark, permanent lines which border the drawing and are seen in the final book), Colorist (I think even you comic newbies can get this one) and Letterer (the person who writes in all of the dialogue and narration). In our guerrilla style production all of those functions are performed by Ludo. And because an Indie Comic doesn't bring in a lot of money (we're not complaining, having a book out is a huge reward to us), he's been picking up as much freelance work as possible in order to do things like, say, eat.
To remind you, we're starting out with the goal of four issues per year at the beginning. Sort of a seasonal approach. So if we get 4 out in October for Fall, we'll shoot for a #5 coming out in January as a Winter issue, April will be #6 for Spring, and July rounds out the year with issue #7. The goal also being to have one Trade Paperback collecting the years work for SuperCon each and every year. Of course, if we go to publishing every other month, this would change.
Now one thing that is in the works could affect that. The people at What the Flux Comics have put together a packet to Diamond Distributors (the company that delivers books to most, if not all, of the Local Comic Shops in America) to have all of their books in the Diamond Catalog. This will make it much easier to get Tart into local shops around the country. If that happens, we'd work our butts off to create a snowball effect and get copies in every store willing to take a shot at us. And if the snowball grew, maybe we could bump up the speed of production, as more money came in, allowing Ludo to say no to some other work.
Two shops that have already said they'd carry Tart are CJ's Comics and Tate's Comics here in South Florida. We are in the midst of small changes to the Trade Paperbacks in order to smooth out the reading experience, and as soon as we're ready to print, we'll get books in both shops for all of our South Florida readers. I'll post here, on Twitter and on Facebook when, where and how to support these shops who are first out of the gates supporting us.
Readers from around the country (world actually, because of our friends in Europe* we've already sold 7 books across the pond) can always order at http://whatthefluxcomics.com/webstore.php .
I can foresee the question, "Where should we buy it to help out the most?" And the answer is yes. Except for stealing it, however you get your hands on our book is the best way. Buying it directly from our website is the best way. Buying it from your local comic shop is the best way (convincing your local comic shop to order it so you can buy it from them is TOTALLY THE BEST WAY). If we can get it into the library system, then borrowing it from them is the best way. If you get a copy and lend it to your friend to read, then they got it the best way.
Or buying it directly from us at conventions like http://www.geekfestflorida.com/ which is a brand new comic convention I am (work willing) planning to attend Sunday, November 18th on FAU's campus. That's the best way, too. But mostly so I can thank you in person for supporting us. EDIT: just saw that GeekFest has an awesome bio page up. Wow! Thanks, guys: http://www.geekfestflorida.com/index.php/guests?id=104
What we need now as creators is readers. We need readers who like what they read tell others. Or preferably to show others. We're not asking anyone to lie. But if you like what you see, please tell others. Write a review.
You know what, forget readers. We need soldiers. So this is a call to join the Toxic Fruit Organization.
To join in on the fun & amplify the message. I can say Tart is a good book all I want. And if I don't the books really in trouble, but people really shouldn't believe me. If you like what you see. Like what you read, please shout it to the rooftops. Tell anyone who shares common interests about Tart, and that they might like it.
You can also directly join in on the conversation by emailing me at tartacid@yahoo.com. Or visit our tartcomic.tumblr.com (very new, and so far I stink at it, but I'm trying to learn). Or hit either of us up on Twitter: I'm @bnokj (a long story) and Ludo is @Hellstrawberry.
Basically we're all at an awesome time in this endeavor. Where we don't have fans of Tart. We have friends of Tart. And there's no way in this life you can have too many friends.
By the way, the tartacid@yahoo.com mailbox currently only has two emails, one of which reads:
Attention: Email Owner,
We are pleased to notify you once again that your email
address have won the SOUTH AFRICA LOTTO JACKPOT
Promotion program held this Year 2012, You have
therefore been approved to claim the sum of
R 9,000,000.00(Nine Million South African
Rand) In US Dollars $1,100,648.15(USD)
We are yet to receive your file for Claims.For
Due remittance of funds.Contact Claims Agent for your
claims with Reference numbers and Batch numbers
So now you see why we aren't worried about how you get your hands on our books. We're just one email reply from rolling in the dough anyway.
Have a great week!
Kevin
* Before Tart was published, I'd had about 5 short stories published in a British fantasy magazine called Ethereal Tales. And had self-published "The Bargain I Made for her Heart" with the French artist Laurence Peguy. With nearly all copies of said books either in Britain or France, my wife and I began to joke, "You know, nobody in America knows who Kevin Joseph is, but he's HUUUUUGGGGEEE in Europe."
On most comic books there is a separate artist for each of the following jobs: Penciler (the first drawings which actually are never seen by the reader), Inker (the dark, permanent lines which border the drawing and are seen in the final book), Colorist (I think even you comic newbies can get this one) and Letterer (the person who writes in all of the dialogue and narration). In our guerrilla style production all of those functions are performed by Ludo. And because an Indie Comic doesn't bring in a lot of money (we're not complaining, having a book out is a huge reward to us), he's been picking up as much freelance work as possible in order to do things like, say, eat.
To remind you, we're starting out with the goal of four issues per year at the beginning. Sort of a seasonal approach. So if we get 4 out in October for Fall, we'll shoot for a #5 coming out in January as a Winter issue, April will be #6 for Spring, and July rounds out the year with issue #7. The goal also being to have one Trade Paperback collecting the years work for SuperCon each and every year. Of course, if we go to publishing every other month, this would change.
Now one thing that is in the works could affect that. The people at What the Flux Comics have put together a packet to Diamond Distributors (the company that delivers books to most, if not all, of the Local Comic Shops in America) to have all of their books in the Diamond Catalog. This will make it much easier to get Tart into local shops around the country. If that happens, we'd work our butts off to create a snowball effect and get copies in every store willing to take a shot at us. And if the snowball grew, maybe we could bump up the speed of production, as more money came in, allowing Ludo to say no to some other work.
Two shops that have already said they'd carry Tart are CJ's Comics and Tate's Comics here in South Florida. We are in the midst of small changes to the Trade Paperbacks in order to smooth out the reading experience, and as soon as we're ready to print, we'll get books in both shops for all of our South Florida readers. I'll post here, on Twitter and on Facebook when, where and how to support these shops who are first out of the gates supporting us.
Readers from around the country (world actually, because of our friends in Europe* we've already sold 7 books across the pond) can always order at http://whatthefluxcomics.com/webstore.php .
I can foresee the question, "Where should we buy it to help out the most?" And the answer is yes. Except for stealing it, however you get your hands on our book is the best way. Buying it directly from our website is the best way. Buying it from your local comic shop is the best way (convincing your local comic shop to order it so you can buy it from them is TOTALLY THE BEST WAY). If we can get it into the library system, then borrowing it from them is the best way. If you get a copy and lend it to your friend to read, then they got it the best way.
Or buying it directly from us at conventions like http://www.geekfestflorida.com/ which is a brand new comic convention I am (work willing) planning to attend Sunday, November 18th on FAU's campus. That's the best way, too. But mostly so I can thank you in person for supporting us. EDIT: just saw that GeekFest has an awesome bio page up. Wow! Thanks, guys: http://www.geekfestflorida.com/index.php/guests?id=104
What we need now as creators is readers. We need readers who like what they read tell others. Or preferably to show others. We're not asking anyone to lie. But if you like what you see, please tell others. Write a review.
You know what, forget readers. We need soldiers. So this is a call to join the Toxic Fruit Organization.
To join in on the fun & amplify the message. I can say Tart is a good book all I want. And if I don't the books really in trouble, but people really shouldn't believe me. If you like what you see. Like what you read, please shout it to the rooftops. Tell anyone who shares common interests about Tart, and that they might like it.
You can also directly join in on the conversation by emailing me at tartacid@yahoo.com. Or visit our tartcomic.tumblr.com (very new, and so far I stink at it, but I'm trying to learn). Or hit either of us up on Twitter: I'm @bnokj (a long story) and Ludo is @Hellstrawberry.
Basically we're all at an awesome time in this endeavor. Where we don't have fans of Tart. We have friends of Tart. And there's no way in this life you can have too many friends.
By the way, the tartacid@yahoo.com mailbox currently only has two emails, one of which reads:
Attention: Email Owner,
We are pleased to notify you once again that your email
address have won the SOUTH AFRICA LOTTO JACKPOT
Promotion program held this Year 2012, You have
therefore been approved to claim the sum of
R 9,000,000.00(Nine Million South African
Rand) In US Dollars $1,100,648.15(USD)
We are yet to receive your file for Claims.For
Due remittance of funds.Contact Claims Agent for your
claims with Reference numbers and Batch numbers
So now you see why we aren't worried about how you get your hands on our books. We're just one email reply from rolling in the dough anyway.
Have a great week!
Kevin
* Before Tart was published, I'd had about 5 short stories published in a British fantasy magazine called Ethereal Tales. And had self-published "The Bargain I Made for her Heart" with the French artist Laurence Peguy. With nearly all copies of said books either in Britain or France, my wife and I began to joke, "You know, nobody in America knows who Kevin Joseph is, but he's HUUUUUGGGGEEE in Europe."
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