Profiting from Indie Comics is a Marathon

My latest email asking for advice on making Indie Comics

Hello Mr. Newby,

I want to thank you again For all the advice you have given me personally. I know this is not your job, nor do you get paid for this. I have just talked with an artist that I think would be perfect for my comic. However if I were to hire him, I fear I will not turn a profit. He has requested $5000 for the art for this project. I plan to have 100 copies printed for $312. I have not thought about the price of advertising yet. Do you think I could make back what I put in?

Thanks for your time Bill

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Hi Bill,

Not a problem helping you out. I am getting busier lately as my YouTube videos are starting to connect, which is a good thing. Your question is right on time as I am literally editing a video on how to hire a comic book artist right now. It's posting next week.

But for now, know that turning a profit with comics is about volume.

Are you doing a 22 page comic? Artist typically get paid by the page. Is he doing pencils, inking, coloring lettering and the cover? If that is the case he is charging $227 a page (cover not included) which is not too bad if he is doing all those jobs.?

?My follow up question, is he good at all those jobs??

I have seen great pencilers and inkers who were not so good at coloring or just okay at lettering. There are people who are good at splash pages, but not good at sequential art. When you look at comic book credits you see there are usually different people doing different jobs, because most people are not great at everything.

As far as making a profit, for the sake of argument if you are spending, $5000 for the artist and $312 for the printing. At $5312 to get your 100 books in hand, no, you won't make a profit with 100 books. You would have to charge $53.12 a book just to break even, and I don't know anyone who would buy a new floppy comic at that price. Even if It's really good, and I like you, and I want to support?you.?

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Take a moment and look at this entirely from a business cost aspect.

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If you made the book 100 percent yourself and got 100 printed for $312 with no other cost involved, the books would cost you $3.12 a piece. If you are selling them for 5 bucks, you are making a $1.81 net profit for each book and you would break even on your investment at 63 books sold. After selling 100 books you would have a total profit of $66.97.?

Now let’s look at it with you hiring an artist to create your book. (I slightly changed some of the numbers to keep the math simple.)

If you spend $5000 to get someone to create the book, and then you get each book printed for $3.00 each, and you are selling the book at $5.00 a piece, It will cost you $12,500, for 2500 books. You would then have to sell every book at $5.00 each just to break even.

?There are also several other charges that are not included in my quick math equation like shipping, advertising, copyrights, trademark, barcodes, certain supplies, splits with the comic retailers etc.

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Making money at Indie comics is not a quick flip, unless you are the sole creator and basically just doing hand to hand sells. ?(This is not including your sweat equity, because there is definitely a cost to sweat equity.)

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So what do you do?

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If you really want to create and profit in the Indie comics space you have to treat it as a real business. Most real businesses are marathons. You work and invest into the business at a loss, sometime for a few years before you see real profits.

This is why it is important to build your brand and your business infrastructure while selling your books. If you have a good product, with each book produced it will get easier and more cost effective to produce and sell.

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As you are building your indie comic empire, remember, pennies count, so try to make good deals. (Don’t cheat people.) Your printing cost should be lower as you order more books. Shop around. But also remember, you can’t cheap your way through making books or you will probably have bad comics.

If the person doing your book is doing a phenomenal complete job at five grand, and you know you now have an extraordinary comic on your hands with a great cover, and you get on your marketing grind then moving a couple hundred plus books in the first year shouldn’t be too hard. You will have to calculate give aways as part of your budget as well.

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This is why this is a marathon. It will help for you to look at your business venture as a three stage growth entity. First you have to feed and nurture it in its infancy, then it will grow to the point that it can feed itself (breaking even) then it grows to the point that it feeds you. (profitability)

Lastly and most importantly success is not guaranteed; so when running this marathon, be sure to enjoy the journey.

Shannon Newby is a writer, filmmaker, book publisher, educator, and owner of Snooby Comics a subsidiary of Out the House Media LLC.