I’ve finally recovered from my three-day odyssey in and around the Javits Center and dug myself out of the massive pile of unanswered emails, so it’s time for me to provide my rundown of the first major post-pandemic convention of the year.
There have been plenty of news stories about the con from a general perspective (check out this good one from Comics Beat), but I want to focus on the professional panels that will be relevant to CPI members. I’ll proceed day-by-day and provide links where appropriate.
Thursday
Panel to Publisher Legal Education Seminar: I was a panelist at this three-hour presentation designed for lawyers who want to get into comic book law. While it covered a lot of ground in terms of intellectual property, contract negotiation, technology impacts, diversity issues, and relevant court cases, there wasn’t a lot of practical advice for the comic book creator. Anyone who wants to do a deep dive into these subjects should pick up Thomas Crowell’s Pocket Lawyer for Comic Book Creators
How to Sell Your Books to Libraries: Libraries are a huge untapped distribution channel for comics. This panel provided some insight into how emerging and independent publishers can find the right libraries to approach and what kind of information they need to consider your story. Here are a few highlights
o Libraries have several ways of finding comics to buy: This includes trade publications (like Library Journal and Publisher’s Weekly), specialty blogs, and direct requests from library patrons.
o There is a big opportunity for digital library distribution: Libraries like comic shops have limited shelf space. Digital books give them more ability to buy without reducing the demand for physical books. If you place your book into digital services that libraries use (Overdrive, Bibliotechia, Comics Plus, and Libby) you have a better chance of getting your book circulated in libraries.
o Start small and build a network: Every library has different submission guidelines. Some have large comic collections, some have no comics and most are somewhere in between. To break into libraries, you need to visit the website of each library and see what the submission guidelines are. Once you break into your local libraries, you can branch out into different cities, states, and regions.
o Information is Key: Libraries have to be very aware of the content and nature of your comic before they can consider it. They need to know where your book fits in the collection and who the appropriate readers are. Calling your book an all-ages graphic novel doesn’t help. Detailed information including target age group, detailed plot descriptions, metadata, ISBNs, and review copies are all helpful tools you can give the librarians.
o Make the books easy to buy: Libraries don’t typically buy from Diamond. They buy from distributors like Baker and Taylor and Ingram. Adding another source for your books is key to tapping into this market.
o New types of books needed: Libraries are looking for books that serve diverse audiences. That means they are looking for comics aimed at 18–24-year-olds, not just kids. They want books with non-European international perspectives. They want emerging and independent publishers, so now is the time to look into libraries.
o If you want more information on library distribution, check out chapter 46 of The Business of Independent Comic Book Publishing. (ICP)
Pitch Perfect: This panel offered tips and advice on how to pitch your comic ideas to publishers. The essence of the discussion focused on condensing your story into a short, single idea. This idea needs to encapsulate your entire story and create the kind of visceral, emotional reaction that will inspire someone to spend thousands of dollars and years of work publishing your story. There were also some guidelines on networking, building relationships, and the verbal skills that you need to make your pitch effective. If you want more information on pitching, see pages 41-42 of ICP.
Friday
Critical Comic Book Contracts: This legal panel focused more on the comic book creator than the lawyer. Many of the concepts discussed here can be found in chapters 20-25 of ICP and Lesson 7 in CPI, but the one new wrinkle they added was the importance of checking the social media history of people who you are working with to publish your comic. You don’t want to put years into a project only to find out your artist is the center of a firestorm on Twitter.
Kickstarter Secrets: Crowdfunding continues to be a major source of distribution and revenue for emerging and independent publishers. This panel highlighted a lot of information you can find in Chapter 68 of ICP, but they also mentioned a book by comic book veteran Greg Pak called Crowdfunding Secrets that I think we all should check out.
Saturday
Comic Book NFTs: Non-fungible tokens have been in the comic news cycle for months, so this panel was both expected and well attended. Most of the discussion focused on the various opportunities for creators and publishers to use NFT’s to create community and generate ongoing revenue, but they also addressed decreasing the environmental costs of the technology to make it more sustainable. If you’d like a more basic introduction to NFTs for comic book creators, you can check out this post I made over the summer.
Overall, NYCC was a cathartic, enjoyable, and productive event for comic book professionals and fans alike.
CPI members who want to discuss these panels in more depth can jump into our open Q&A session next Wednesday at 8:00 pm Eastern.
If you’d like to join CPI, please visit https://bit.ly/IntroCPI
If you have questions about the business or legal aspects of your comic book publishing and you'd like a free consultation, please contact me and we can set something up that fits in with your schedule.
PLEASE NOTE: THIS BLOG POST IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR LEGAL ADVICE. IF YOU HAVE AN ISSUE WITH YOUR COMIC PROPERTY, DISCUSS IT WITH A QUALIFIED CONTRACT ATTORNEY OR CONTACT C3 FOR A FREE CONSULTATION