Thinking of making a book of my web-comics

Krey you read my kind with the Pantone motif overlapping into the front & back covers! I think it works nicely on the spine.
 
Thanks for the link Dean. I did consider Kickstarter, but my audience (and possibly potential audience) is too small at the moment to hope that it would work. Maybe something to consider for future editions if it all progresses.

Cheers Jim, thanks for your help on this one. I think I'm happy to get a proof copy now. I'll post pics once I have it.

Still would appreciate thoughts on the price, or any other input about the cover or anything else. Thanks.
 
If its a hardback then the price sounds about right to me. If you're concerned about it looking clear at small sizes, might it be worth trying a solid, non-outlines font for the title? Or, if you've created that effect with blue text and a white outline/drop-shadow, what about white text and a navy blue outline/drop-shadow?
 
It's a paperback, I'm afraid.
The full colour print throughout pushes the cost up. The price is as lean as I can make it, realistically.
It's a by-product of print-on-demand. I can't put the cash up front to get a bulk run done.

It's the only way I can make this happen. Obviously if I don't sell any, I'll have to either have a re-think or save up for an alternative method.

I've looked at other comics and graphic novels and made sure that I could price it a little cheaper than most. I tried to keep the price on par with a CD or DVD. Within the bracket of a leisure expense.
 
Shh Typo, we don't want everyone to know!

You're right Krey, for some reason I was forgetting its 68 full-colour pages! My own experience with self-publishing should've waved it's hand up in my mind before I typed. With that in mind it's a decent price for self-publishing. Is it worth doing the maths and seeing how much cheaper a black & white version would cost? There's no reason why your strip wouldn't work in b&w - It works fine for many comic strip collections (Garfield springs to mind... and anything japanese is usually designed for b&w printing), and the cover would still be glorious colour.

Just tried Lulu.com, and a black & white A5 perfect-bound paperback of 68 pages would cost £2.18 to produce, compared to £9.52 for colour. Plus your profit margin.
 
Cheers Jim,
I'll have to have a think. I could easily make another book in black and white with the same content. It would probably knock a good £5-6 off the price.

It's all about providing a choice I guess. It's one less excuse for someone not to buy the book.

I need to look through the strips to see if the colour is integral to the joke.
The only thing that niggles at me is... I'll be charging money for something that is less than what I put up on my website for free.
 
Still think it might be worth doing. I haven't got to stump anything up, then it's down to each individual customers choice.
There's nothing critical about the colours in the strips that can't be gently changed so it still works in greyscale.

As long as the gags still work, I don't think black and white will be a compromise for most people. Like I said, I can leave the decision up to the buyer.

I'll keep you posted.
 
I like simple comic strips in black and white. Here's an interesting one, visually:
garfield-19891023.gif

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garfield-19891025.gif

garfield-19891026.gif

garfield-19891027.gif

garfield-19891028.gif
 
I'd be tempted to use Levels to move the mid-level up to about 1.14 and lighten the mid to dark tones a bit, but otherwise yeah it works just as well. It's a fine line really, will people prefer to buy a colour book so they have the original in printed form, or would they prefer a far cheaper option and get the same comic in greyscale. I wouldn't under estimate the appeal of a low price point.
 
Cheers Jim, you've been a great help.
I'll take some time to reformat the whole book to black and white, but I think it will be worth it.

I like the idea of giving any possible customers a choice. Like I said, I don't have to outlay anything to create them, apart from time.
 
No bother, glad some of my waffle was helpful. And yeah, it could be an interesting experiment actually. See which one sells the most!
 
We'll see if it sells (FULL STOP). Providing a cheaper options might induce a few more sales than having just the full colour version. We'll see.
I'll look forward to getting the proof copies then see how it goes.
 
Another update.
I've sent away for my prof copies today. That's for both editions, Full Colour and Black and White.

It took some time to sort out the B/W version, but I think it still looks good. The price is certainly a lot more respectable.
The Black and White version comes out at a price of: £6.50 + P&P (P&P on Lulu seems to be around the £2-3 mark.
I think, a 68 page comic book for under a tenner all told isn't a bad effort for a self-published book.

I'll let you know if the proof copies are up to scratch.
 
Maybe a bit late but having just seen news about an update to photoshop aperture I noticed that they now link with blurb and they look to have a bookstore too...

Before committing might be worth a look etc
 
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