Scott:

Have you had any luck signing on sponsors that aren't in a gaming-related business?

------------------
Chris Crosby
Co-CEO, Keenspot Entertainment ( http://www.keenspot.com )
Cartoonist, SUPEROSITY ( http://www.superosity.com )

You make bad art sound like a bad thing. If "brilliance" was all anything needed to power a great comic strip, then why not just write text stories? Why bother with sequential art at all?

If a comic strip is "brilliant" but has
horrible art or mediocre art, it's gotta
be plenty extra brilliant to make up for
a huge chunk of what it's missing from the
comic strip equation.

I'm still amazed by your assertion that
PVP and Sinfest get so many readers by some
grand mistake or fluke, because their comics
are actually really dull and boring.

Anyway, class is starting, so I can't go
on any more. Bye!
--David

Goat:
Why don't you just fess up and let us know the name of your comic strip that isn't taking off and has made you so bitter towards those experiencing success.

Chris:
I haven't tried yet. My readers buy games and comic books. I have contacts in both those industries. Win win situation.

The great thing about it is that gaming and comic companies have smaller purchase items that are easily sold over the net.

And since I never charge them more to advertise then they can potentially make back in a month selling these products, they come back to sponsor the site again.

So, I'm not busting ass trying to land that big Toyota account.

[This message has been edited by Scott Kurtz (edited 10-16-2001).]

David:

I think part of what he's saying is that some comics are just more marketable than others. If you had the choice between reading a comic called SINFEST or a comic called HOUND'S HOME, which would you choose? I think most people would choose SINFEST, for obvious reasons.

And I'm not saying that's a BAD thing (SINFEST's one of my own favorite strips), I'm just saying that's a FACT. It's easier to get people to read some comics than it is to get them to read others because of certain elements (title and concept, specifically). Because of those initial attracting elements, AND because of other elements that KEEP those people reading(excellent art and writing, etc), some strips have more readers than others do. But it doesn't mean that the strips that have fewer readers aren't as "good" as strips with more readers, or vice versa.

------------------
Chris Crosby
Co-CEO, Keenspot Entertainment ( http://www.keenspot.com )
Cartoonist, SUPEROSITY ( http://www.superosity.com )

You make bad art sound like a bad thing."

uh...what?

"If "brilliance" was all anything needed to power a great comic strip, then why not just write text stories? Why bother with sequential art at all?"

Matt Groening. Gary Larson. Traced.com. Jason Shiga. None of these people draw that much better or any better than you or me. All brilliant - in comics form.

"If a comic strip is "brilliant" but has
horrible art or mediocre art, it's gotta
be plenty extra brilliant to make up for
a huge chunk of what it's missing from the
comic strip equation."

I couldn't agree more. Look at the above artists mentioned.

"I'm still amazed by your assertion that
PVP and Sinfest get so many readers by some
grand mistake or fluke, because their comics
are actually really dull and boring."

Did you read anything i actually wrote? Those were the words of Mr.Kurtz and yourself. if you reread my post, i give plenty of reasons as to why I think those comics are popular, none of which have anything to do with being a fluke or a grand mistake. please don't make me type it again.

Scott:

>My readers buy games and comic books. I
>have contacts in both those industries.
>Win win situation.
>So, I'm not busting ass trying to land >that big Toyota account.

Totally understandable. I would be doing the exact same thing if I were in your situation.

>And since I never charge them more to
>advertise then they can potentially make
>back in a month selling these products,
>they come back to sponsor the site again.

That's excellent. Though one thing concerns me with your pricing... according to your Media Kit, the most your site can currently make in a month on advertising revenue is $2,800. That's with 100% of your slots being sold, which I believe is the case, being sold for about 48 cents CPM (to use an oldschool web term) on average if you're generating 6 million pageviews.

What I'm wondering is, does $2,800 even pay for your bandwidth costs for the month? How much net profit are you seeing on your ad revenue, minus your server/bandwidth costs?

------------------
Chris Crosby
Co-CEO, Keenspot Entertainment ( http://www.keenspot.com )
Cartoonist, SUPEROSITY ( http://www.superosity.com )

[oy. computers.]

[This message has been edited by goat (edited 10-16-2001).]

Hell yes. My montly bill for bandwidth is not expensive at all. The biggest chunk of that 2800 I lose is to the government.

And ask yourself this: would you rather get 2800 every month, or have the potential to earn tens of thousands but make nothing?

I mean, you have an open end to your pricing and you sell it for a lot more. You have the potential to earn more than I do. But are you earning anything? Are you selling any of it?

When you do sell it, is it effective for your clients? Are they coming back and asking to advertise again?

So yeah, right now 2800 bucks is the most PvP can generate in sponorship revenue right now. Rates will increase, maybe the site will expand.

But I'll take the 2800 bucks a month over zero.

[This message has been edited by Scott Kurtz (edited 10-16-2001).]

I remember listening to your interview in talkaboutcomics.com (plug!). I remember hearing something about your bandwith and, excuse me if I'm mistaken and blame it all on my bad english, that a reader/friend of yours provides it for a low cost. That explains a lot, because I'd think PvP has very large bandwith requirements. The strips are somehow large (even when it's in greyscale except for Sundays) and the site design includes a lot of graphics. Could you elaborate?

I'd say Sinfest *probably* helps more Keenspot than brings it down. The strips are very small kb speaking and they're viewed by a lot of people.

As for the popular vs. quality example, I think there's not always a correlation. However, a strip has to have *something* to be popular. Remember we're talking about web strips. A bad product can be artificially hyped but you need to spend millions of dollars in advertising and bribing the critics [img]/resources/ubb/smile.gif[/img] Web strips are mostly advertised through word of mouth.

And a good strip can be unpopular because of a bad promotion job. A good cartoonist can have an extraordinary sense of humor, timing, good writing and art, and still be a bad promoter or don't figure a good slogan/banner, or have no clue how to promote or which audience to reach. This is all marketing. It barely has to do with cartoons. BTW I'm not saying that developing such skills are not necessary. Yes, it's a necessary evil. But not inherent to the quality of a comic strip.

Maritza
CRFH.net

Oh, of course. But that doesn't account for repeat viewers over the course of a long period of time. If you name a strip "Big Boobies!" and people flock to your site, they aren't going to stay if the strip doesn't continue to appeal to them.

All these people who flock to PVP solely on nice art and its pandering to the gaming community... That alone isn't going to make the comic books sell out. There has to be some quality there. Or blackmail, who knows? [img]/resources/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

I think it's realistic to be able to say that a strip is a quality strip without liking it yourself. I know several strips that I could point at and say "That's a good, well-put-together strip," but never read them because I don't like them.

I mean, "Cathy" has to be reaching SOMEBODY...

--David www.itsboobies.c-- er... www.itswalky.com