Self-Publishing "Secrets" Revealed, Part Five: Direct to Graphic Novel
BY JANE IRWIN In last week's Comics are Open Source, I talked about the hard realitites that led me to give up single issues and go direct to graphic novel with my new book. This time, we're talking with Jim Ottaviani, who decided to take the direct route right from the beginning. Jim's been in the business ten years now, and was one of the first people who helped me out when I first got started; it's a nice complete circle for me to interview him for this column. We also have a preview of each of his new projects: Wire Mothers and Levitation.
THE PULSE: Unlike many who started self-publishing in the nineties, you were one of the first to publish direct to graphic novel. What made you decide not to use an intermediate step like single issues?
JIM OTTAVIANI: A combination of things factored into the decision, but a not-so-secret secret is I originally thought of Two-Fisted Science as a three issue mini-series. (The biggest clue to that is the Feynman "Safecracker" story comes in three parts which were intended to span the issues.) But as I got further along, I couldn't cluster the other pieces to fit single issues. So the stories were yelling "trade paperback!" and I listened to 'em.
I did put out "Safecracker" as an individual issue as well, and people responded very positively. I'd already committed to the graphic novel at that point, but I had a splendid cover by Bernie Mireault that I had to use. Had to. This single issue turned out to be a fine advertising tool. Great art, a compelling character, and a satisfying story helped.
THE PULSE: Over the years, you've done some really fun promotions for your books, from Bohr's Tippe Top to the Free Comic Book Day promo for Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards. Which ones have been most successful, and why?
OTTAVIANI: I've done posters, tops, minicomics, single issues...and after all of those I really have no idea what's been successful! All of them, from my view, but in terms of sales, who knows? As with any advertising it's almost impossible to say what will be money well spent in terms of promoting the books and what will simply be fun. So I aim for fun and if I don't manage to hit effective along the way it still works out fine.
THE PULSE: You write your own books and hire artists to create the illustrations. What advice would you give to a fellow writer who wants to get started in self-publishing, but is having trouble finding an artist to work with? What led you to choose some of the artists you worked with?
OTTAVIANI: Answering the second question first, it's simple: I choose artists based on my admiration for their work and a conviction that their work is right for the story I want to pitch them.
The first question is harder. I think I got incredibly lucky and approached that first group of artists at the right time and with the right material. Many artists (Colleen Doran, Steve Lieber, Paul Chadwick, Linda Medley, and the list goes on) agreed to work on the books just because the stories I'd written were so unusual and they thought the idea was a good one.
And...it wasn't just an idea. I also had:
A publishing plan that didn't sound foolish (no overblown "This will push Marvel and DC off the racks in less than a year!" or underblown "I'll print a couple dozen and maybe my friends will buy them");
An uncomplicated and short, but real and legal, contract to offer;
A royalty percentage written into that contract and a page rate in mind; deadlines that were reasonable, and; scripts that the artists could read and consider.
Those first stories were fairly short as well -- I wasn't asking Colleen to do a 437 page OGN for me, you know?
Concrete stuff, in other words, and what passed for having all my ducks in a row. (I'd say I didn't really, and I certainly didn't have a good marketing plan at the time, but that wasn't unusual.)
So at the risk of sounding harsh, if you're having trouble finding artists, there's probably something about your story -- length, subject, whatever -- or your ability to pay that's making this difficult. I don't think starting out as a self-publishing writer will ever be easy, I'm afraid.
THE PULSE: You've worked with a lot of artists over the years. How do you handle page rates and royalties? Do you handle them differently when you have several artists creating short stories (Dignifying Science) versus one team doing a complete book (Bone Sharps)?
OTTAVIANI: Each artist and project is different in the specifics, but the way I handle the rates and royalties hasn't changed much over the past 10 years. In terms of dollar amounts, each artist and project is a little different.
Something I wish I'd figured out sooner is dead obvious to everybody reading this, but somehow I missed it. I'm a writer and a publisher, and they're not the same business. They're coupled, but different to require separate accounting and approaches. As a publisher I've had to become more careful how I count expenses.
Pro-rating costs that don't directly correspond to an individual book and factoring in my own time and effort wasn't an issue early on. About five years ago, though, I realized I wasn't paying G.T. Labs (yeah, I know that's me, but I have to think of it that way) enough money to sustain the books. So I'm more honest with myself about costs now, but still and all I think the contracts are very artist-friendly. They always get paid at least as much as I do for each story we work on together.
THE PULSE: You have self-published five graphic novels through G.T. Labs, with two more on the way. How difficult has it been to keep each book in print? Can you recommend any financial strategies for supporting such a large catalogue?
OTTAVIANI: This is going to sound glib, but it's the only honest answer I can give: print enough for long-term sales, and publish books that sell.
To the first point about printing enough copies, consider your graphic novels as an investment that pays out over years, not months. If you get a 10% annual return over the years, on average that's as good as being in the stock market, and a hell of a lot more fun. If it doesn't pay that much, it still might be worth doing, of course...
But that leads to the second point, about publishing books that sell. The stock market analogy still pertains, in that there's risk here. Many wonderful books haven't earned the money they should have. That's been true for some of my wonderful (!) books, and it might be true for some of yours. I published them with eyes wide open, though, and was ready for that possibility. That means not spending money you can't afford to lose -- and that means I haven't quit my day job to self-publish. I was able to reduce my time there last year to work on books for other publishers, but quit? Not yet.
Jim Ottaviani has been self-publishing under the G.T. Labs imprint for 10 years. You can find information about all his books at www.gt-labs.com. Coming soon are the first two graphic novels about the science of the unscientific: Levitation (a story about stage magic, with art by Janine Johnston) and Wire Mothers (a story about the science of love, with art by Dylan Meconis). You can find information about ordering both of those books at www.gt-labs.com.
Jane Irwin is the creator and publisher of the Vögelein series. Her new book, Vögelein: Old Ghosts is available through her Fiery Studios imprint, appears on page 305 of Diamond's May 2007 PREVIEWS catalogue (order code MAY073475, ISBN 978-0974311012) and ships to stores in early July. You can read a 24-page preview of it in this PULSE article.
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