by Gamal Hennessy

I’m in the process of writing a book about different careers in the comic book industry (See Your Four Careers in Comics) so I’m reading a lot of books related to the comics profession. While there are a lot of books about how to create comics and how to self-publish them, few of them are as broad or as thorough as Jason Brubaker’s Unnatural Talent.

Brubaker is the creator of several books including ReMind, Phobos, and Sithrah. Unnatural Talent is the distillation of advice and lessons he learned while creating these books. The book walks a new comics creator through several steps of the modern self-publishing process including

• Creating and completing a comic
• Negotiating social media
• Finding a fan base
• Crowd funding
• Dealing with the technical issues of printing
• Getting your book into comic shops and libraries
• Creating both primary and secondary streams of revenue

When reading Unnatural Talent, you need to keep in mind that Brubaker’s process involves doing almost every aspect of production, sales, and marketing on his own. While this approach removes the obstacles of collaboration and work for hire deals, it also makes the process much longer, especially if there are creative/ and or technical skills you don’t have. He also focuses on finding an audience among current comic fans. The book was released in 2013, but since the overall amount of comic book readers is allegedly shrinking, an aspiring creator should also consider finding a new audience while they fight for market share in a dwindling universe of readers.

Unnatural Talent is a beneficial addition to the library of any comic creator. It explores the art and business of comics in a manner that is accessible, informative and realistic. It’s available on both Amazon and Audible.

Have fun.

Gamal

 PLEASE NOTE: THIS BLOG POST IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR LEGAL ADVICE. IF YOU HAVE A LICENSING OR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ISSUE, DISCUSS IT WITH YOUR LEGAL ADVISOR OR CONTACT C3 AT gamalhennessy@gmail.com FOR A FREE CONSULTATION.