Tag Archives: design

Marketing … WTWL pt 5

Greetings once more!

Are you as excited as I am for tomorrow’s debut of your new favorite comic, Where the Witches Lurk??!?! I’m pretty nervous, truth be told.

As promised, today is the final part of a five-part series about the creation and production of the comic book, and I thought it fitting that, since the book is out tomorrow, we could talk a bit about the marketing.

In today’s world, marketing a low-budget, creator-owned comic from an independent publishing company is a tough gig. Add to that the fact that the issue is digital only (available at Keyleaf’s store page as a $0.99 PDF), and, well, we don’t have the advantage of brick and mortar stores posting up signs (or do we? Are you out there, physical entities?!).

What we do have is the Internet. This “World Wide Web” is a wondrous place with endless paths and corners in which we can post updates about our books, from release dates to new artists to a new TPB collection. But where do we begin?

I have no background in marketing, and given my experience trying to shill my short films on the film festival market…well, let’s just say I’m pretty lousy at self-promotion. Even this blog’s look is pretty basic and not very telling of my personality beyond people I already know. But thank you for the compliment you probably just thought of 😉

Thus I must rely on the kindness of others, friends and strangers alike, as well as the boss-man, Ben. Ben hired Shannon Forrey to help not only with book designs, but also marketing plans. And WTWL was the first new book on which Keyleaf could try different techniques. Here’s what they (we) did:

We announced the book in August on Keyleaf’s Facebook group page and through Twitter and the website.

We went to two conventions since the announcement of the book: Rose City Comic Con in Portland, and the Las Vegas Comic Expo.

At those conventions, we GAVE AWAY a bunch of clearly labeled marketing goods, including broomstick pens, pencils, bubbles, and small containers of ooze/goop/slime. You know, for kids.

Each item was labeled with “Evil Lives”, which was the marketing concept that represented the overall conceit of the book: What if evil lived right around the corner from home?

Promo Piece #1

Promo Piece #2

Promo Piece #4

The marketing was bolstered by the release of a new image each month, digitally via Keyleaf’s Facebook page, tumblr page, and twitter account.

Shannon created a fantastic logo on the cover, and the title itself now evokes a past age, a timeless feel still in modern day. From the book’s inception, Shannon has tirelessly worked for the book’s benefit, asking me early on what tone I was aiming for, the mood, the types of imagery that would stand out the most, etc.

She’s encouraged all levels of creation, and included me on the majority of decisions while still surprising me throughout. I thank her and everyone at Keyleaf for the support of this project.

I hope you enjoy reading and experiencing this book as much as we enjoyed piecing it together.