DMFA Auction Thread

[Amber Williams]

Say Amber, Are you planning to have Abel's Story printed professionally?

It's a possibility.  I'd have to redo the first 40 something pages...but it is a lot more salvagable.  I had considered putting Abel's Story on print with a special edition DMFA-main cd as part of a big package.  Even though I likely wont be putting DMFA main to paper, the idea of making a interactive cd thats chock full of special bonus features is something I still am considering.

Honestly, I dont know.  I've seen several people attempting printing and it hasnt been working out well for them for multiple reasons.  It seems to me sometimes there is this big expectation or prestige level that comes with "oh hey. I have a book printed." that many webcomic artists want to acheive. 

[Indilee]

Say Amber, Are you planning to have Abel's Story printed professionally?

It's a possibility.  I'd have to redo the first 40 something pages...but it is a lot more salvagable.  I had considered putting Abel's Story on print with a special edition DMFA-main cd as part of a big package.  Even though I likely wont be putting DMFA main to paper, the idea of making a interactive cd thats chock full of special bonus features is something I still am considering.

Honestly, I dont know.  I've seen several people attempting printing and it hasnt been working out well for them for multiple reasons.  It seems to me sometimes there is this big expectation or prestige level that comes with "oh hey. I have a book printed." that many webcomic artists want to acheive. 

Oh that would be so awesome - the Abel's Story and a CD with DMFA/bonus stuff. I would totally buy that.

[Tapewolf]

It seems to me sometimes there is this big expectation or prestige level that comes with "oh hey. I have a book printed." that many webcomic artists want to acheive. 

Coming at it from a different angle, you also have people like my brother who aren't interested in anything like DMFA unless it's on paper...

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

It's a possibility.  I'd have to redo the first 40 something pages...but it is a lot more salvagable.  I had considered putting Abel's Story on print with a special edition DMFA-main cd as part of a big package.  Even though I likely wont be putting DMFA main to paper, the idea of making a interactive cd thats chock full of special bonus features is something I still am considering.

If you're looking to make a cd, I'm sure there's folks around who would be interested in helping set it up and cut it...

[Paul]

Too bad it's pretty expensive to get published. ;_;

Argh... It really isn't! Gone are the days of Cafepress... People don't realize how easy it is to take their digital works to an online publisher and have it done cheaply and professionally in a short amount of time.

The question is - will they make any profit off of it though? O.O I've heard of Lulu publishing - but I was under the impression that it was like Cafepress. Is it better? I'd still love to see a DMFA book or two...

Using online publishers like CafePress or Lulu who do print on demand is vanity publishing that will give you a lot of work and no money. Even if you sell a lot of copies, you will earn little, as there literally is no profit margin. Seriously, it's a racket - the only ones who are certain to make a profit are the companies offering the service. If you desperately want to see your stuff on paper no matter what, heck, go for it, but expect to sell little and earn nothing.

So. Either make something you can get published by a real actual publisher who pays you real actual money, or self-publish if you're certain you can sell at least 800-1000 copies, and use litho printing. Bulk litho printing is cost-effective while print on demand is not. Remember, colour printing is much more expensive and requires a higher print run before you break even.

I think that for DMFA, Amber's idea of an interactive CD is excellent - somehow, that medium just seems to fit that comic better. 

[GreenReaper]

Using online publishers like CafePress or Lulu who do print on demand is vanity publishing that will give you a lot of work and no money. Even if you sell a lot of copies, you will earn little, as there literally is no profit margin. Seriously, it's a racket - the only ones who are certain to make a profit are the companies offering the service. If you desperately want to see your stuff on paper no matter what, heck, go for it, but expect to sell little and earn nothing.

I think both Lulu and CafePress allow the seller to set the profit margin. That said, there are probably better options if it were actually to be done.

[CameronCN]

Too bad it's pretty expensive to get published. ;_;

Argh... It really isn't! Gone are the days of Cafepress... People don't realize how easy it is to take their digital works to an online publisher and have it done cheaply and professionally in a short amount of time.

The question is - will they make any profit off of it though? O.O I've heard of Lulu publishing - but I was under the impression that it was like Cafepress. Is it better? I'd still love to see a DMFA book or two...

Using online publishers like CafePress or Lulu who do print on demand is vanity publishing that will give you a lot of work and no money. Even if you sell a lot of copies, you will earn little, as there literally is no profit margin. Seriously, it's a racket - the only ones who are certain to make a profit are the companies offering the service. If you desperately want to see your stuff on paper no matter what, heck, go for it, but expect to sell little and earn nothing.

So. Either make something you can get published by a real actual publisher who pays you real actual money, or self-publish if you're certain you can sell at least 800-1000 copies, and use litho printing. Bulk litho printing is cost-effective while print on demand is not. Remember, colour printing is much more expensive and requires a higher print run before you break even.

I think that for DMFA, Amber's idea of an interactive CD is excellent - somehow, that medium just seems to fit that comic better. 

I don't mean to sound negative, but Paul obviously has absolutely no idea how print-on-demand publishing works. I myself just sold a print on Cafepress last Thursday. It cost me nothing, and I made four bucks, which is what I set it to pay me when I sell something.

[Alondro]

You can even buy many copies of your book and sell them yourself with many print-on-demand places, which lets you set the price as high as your slavering fans are willing to pay.  Plus, you can autograph them, which makes the slavering fans pay even more cuz they think you like them.   

And to CameronCN from the previous page:  I too live with my parents.  But I'm paying all the bills because my father's been out of work for a year and a half.   

[Paul]

I think both Lulu and CafePress allow the seller to set the profit margin. That said, there are probably better options if it were actually to be done.

Yes, they allow you to set the sales price. Just remember, if you set the price much higher than what a similar book made by a real publisher costs, practically no one will buy it. You may sell a handful of books to a few hardcore fans, but where's the point in making twenty times five bucks considering the time it takes to prepare a book for print?

I don't mean to sound negative, but Paul obviously has absolutely no idea how print-on-demand publishing works.

Yeah right. I only happen to have worked professionally in publishing for ten years, but obviously I know nothing about it. You missed the point: Like I said - if you desperately want to see your stuff on paper no matter what, go for it - but it's for vanity. So you made four bucks - for a reasonable wage, that justifies, what, ten minutes of work? Making a book is a massive amount of work. Gotta sell a lot of copies with an actual profit margin to justify that. Unless, again, you're doing for reasons of vanity. Which is not a bad reason, I suppose. Whatever floats your boat.

[CameronCN]

You can even buy many copies of your book and sell them yourself with many print-on-demand places, which lets you set the price as high as your slavering fans are willing to pay.  Plus, you can autograph them, which makes the slavering fans pay even more cuz they think you like them.   

And to CameronCN from the previous page:  I too live with my parents.  But I'm paying all the bills because my father's been out of work for a year and a half.   

In that case it's called your parents are living with you. 

[CameronCN]

I think both Lulu and CafePress allow the seller to set the profit margin. That said, there are probably better options if it were actually to be done.

Yes, they allow you to set the sales price. Just remember, if you set the price much higher than what a similar book made by a real publisher costs, practically no one will buy it. You may sell a handful of books to a few hardcore fans, but where's the point in making twenty times five bucks considering the time it takes to prepare a book for print?

I don't mean to sound negative, but Paul obviously has absolutely no idea how print-on-demand publishing works.

Yeah right. I only happen to have worked professionally in publishing for ten years, but obviously I know nothing about it. You missed the point: Like I said - if you desperately want to see your stuff on paper no matter what, go for it - but it's for vanity. So you made four bucks - for a reasonable wage, that justifies, what, ten minutes of work? Making a book is a massive amount of work. Gotta sell a lot of copies with an actual profit margin to justify that. Unless, again, you're doing for reasons of vanity. Which is not a bad reason, I suppose. Whatever floats your boat.

Well, obviously nobody is going to be making a living writing books for print-on-demand. But if it's something you made anyway that has a lot of fans who want a book, you can make pretty good money for a relatively small amount of work. You have to remember that I only sold one print and only made $4 because I've got maybe 35 readers.    Amber's got what, several thousand?

[Amber Williams]

Its always been an unsaid rule of webcomics that for every 1000 readers you have, expect only 1-10 to be willing to buy something from you.

I've seen waaay too many comic artists make the mistake of saying "If I only got $1 for every reader I had..." or something like that.  Its a dangerous assumption that everyone who reads your comic is a fan enough to want to buy something from it.

[Paul]

Well, obviously nobody is going to be making a living writing books for print-on-demand. But if it's something you made anyway that has a lot of fans who want a book, you can make pretty good money for a relatively small amount of work. You have to remember that I only sold one print and only made $4 because I've got maybe 35 readers.    Amber's got what, several thousand?

Just to be clear, there's nothing wrong with vanity publishing. Hobbies are fun - I have a website I've spent many hours making, solely for ego feeding purposes. But what I was addressing was profitability: Amber just made $3635.99 selling her original artwork, and a few people said she should rather have made a DMFA book. Could she really have made that much by selling DMFA books via Lulu? Only a fraction of the readers of your webcomic will be willing to buy a book with it, which is a lesson many webcomic authors have made.

Edit: Oops, ninja'ed by Amber. What she said.

[Netami]

Well if you're looking at it strictly as a numbers thing, she could always do both. Publish it, by whatever means, AND sell the originals. Kristopher Straub wouldn't use Lulu if he didn't think it would make him some cash. It's not as much as a loss market as you think.

[stiletto]

Everyone can quit with the $3635.99; when I sent Amber the money I added an extra penny to counteract that 99 cents.

[Netrogo]

But pointing out your hilarious bid amuses everyone ^^

Hehe... too cheap to bid a penny... heh heh.

[stiletto]

Well it wasn't really my doing. Someone else bid to that 99 cents, and I could only increase in dollar increments from that.

[GreenReaper]

Well it wasn't really my doing. Someone else bid to that 99 cents, and I could only increase in dollar increments from that.

It was I! Muhaha!

You could perhaps have increased by a dollar and 99 cents one of the times, but I agree that would have spoilt the fun.

[Alondro]

People would have bought the DMFA book... else Charline would hunt them down one by one, slaughtering them in an unspeakable manner so hideous not even Hostel III would dare to feature it!   

*Amber's potential book sales quickly surpass Harry Potter*   

[RobbieThe1st]

People would have bought the DMFA book... else Charline would hunt them down one by one, slaughtering them in an unspeakable manner so hideous not even Hostel III would dare to feature it!   

*Amber's potential book sales quickly surpass Harry Potter*   

That would do it! 

So... Um... About the comic-archive effort, where Greenreaper was going to have them all scanned, is this still going to happen? It looks like Green has most of the chapters, Tape has one, and he is certainly going to archive them, but what about _dave_m_walter and Freyman? Im hoping they can be convinced to scan the ones they won, otherwise, well, we wont be able to restore high-quality copy's of the entire archive!

Also, with regards to the Abel's story arc and reconstruction, im thinking that set, being recent and all, wouldn't be too hard to reconstruct via using the low-quality colors, stretched and restored, and newly-scanned high-quality lines. If amber could do that or let us fans do it, it might save her alot of time, to be spent on more important things(actually doing the cd, new comics, new arcs...).


-RobbieThe1st

[GreenReaper]

So... Um... About the comic-archive effort, where Greenreaper was going to have them all scanned, is this still going to happen? It looks like Green has most of the chapters, Tape has one, and he is certainly going to archive them, but what about _dave_m_walter and Freyman? Im hoping they can be convinced to scan the ones they won, otherwise, well, we wont be able to restore high-quality copy's of the entire archive!

I am picking my 500 strips up at Anthrocon so I will be doing nothing with them until then. After that, yes, although no guarantees on timing. Two other large sets were won by known forum regulars. The other two, I don't know. I would note that they are relatively small sets, particularly the first one - only 52 strips in total. It would not take an insane amount of time to record them for later, on either end.

[Amber Williams]

Actually Chapters 6,7,8 was won by a forum regular...who just happens to be a big ole lurker with a sneaky auction name so I didnt realize who it was till he mailed me.

But he's pretty easy-going cool and also going to AC...so at worst I could probably try to scan those chapters in myself if need be since they are small.

Once I get word back from the winner of Chapter 1, I think most things will be covered for and I can start mailing things out or prepping stuff up.

In case peeps are wondering, Stiletto won as part of the awesome suprise aspect: a bonus commission of up to 2 figures, and a cameo in DMFA.  I kept them secret mainly because I have a horrible sense of humour, and got the feeling people would bid simply because of those rather than on the strip itself.  But still...good fun.

[GreenReaper]

In case peeps are wondering, Stiletto won as part of the awesome suprise aspect: a bonus commission of up to 2 figures, and a cameo in DMFA.  I kept them secret mainly because I have a horrible sense of humour, and got the feeling people would bid simply because of those rather than on the strip itself.  But still...good fun.

stiletto: I bet you're glad you paid the extra cent now!

[Netami]

It's spelled "Stielletto"

[GreenReaper]

It's spelled "Stielletto"

Where?

[Netami]

Stiltelo. Right in the user name. Just... sort've get real close to your monitor.

[GreenReaper]

Stiltelo. Right in the user name. Just... sort've get real close to your monitor.

My optometrist says I shouldn't do that, it's bad for my eyes. And we norns have big eyes, so if they mess up we're in trouble!

[Netami]

Well just remember the amount of O's, T's, and L's in the name Stiletto.

[Indilee]

Actually Chapters 6,7,8 was won by a forum regular...who just happens to be a big ole lurker with a sneaky auction name so I didnt realize who it was till he mailed me.

But he's pretty easy-going cool and also going to AC...so at worst I could probably try to scan those chapters in myself if need be since they are small.

Once I get word back from the winner of Chapter 1, I think most things will be covered for and I can start mailing things out or prepping stuff up.

In case peeps are wondering, Stiletto won as part of the awesome suprise aspect: a bonus commission of up to 2 figures, and a cameo in DMFA.  I kept them secret mainly because I have a horrible sense of humour, and got the feeling people would bid simply because of those rather than on the strip itself.  But still...good fun.

What an awesome surprise. I bet Stiletto is thrilled. !

[Alondro]

*sighs*  I can just chalk this up to one more reason I really miss my old job.  I would only have been able to beat the going price by a few bucks even if I could have bid from work (Furbid is blocked), so even adding my bid on Tuesday before I left for work wouldn't have guaranteed success. 

At my old job, I worked from home Tues-Thurs, so I would've been able to track the auction to the very last second!  Not to mention I'd have had something like $10,000 saved (or more, since I'd have been able to catch the metal futures market at the beginning its price surge and quintupled my money at the very least).

The whole comic would have been mine... MINE!!!  But all my plans are foiled... all thanks to one country...

Damn you Ireland for stealing my job!  Dang job-stealin' Irish!  *agrees with "Blazing Saddles"*  We won't take the Irish!