Carson, here:
Just got written confirmation from Dave that I have his support trying to publish SDOAR and his best wishes.
Thank you, Dave, for not being an impediment to our attempts to move forward. That means everything to me
Hopefully with this permission in place we can secure an actual publisher. I would much rather the book come to you all without any further complications, fundraisers, asks for money, etc.
My intention is to offer publishers V1 and V2 as a single book, with the additional pages from V3 to be illustrated and included when a deal is struck and my time is guaranteed to be well spent.
Thank you all for the support in the comment section to my previous post.
Here is a preview of the work I did on V2 to hopefully build some hype and incentivize publishers reaching out.
This book will be in your hands and on your shelves as soon as I can make it happen.
Best,
Carson Grubaugh
14 comments:
Aha! Well, then: I'm back to being beyond excited.
great news!
Excellent news! Great! Carson, without you knowing what I can do (or if that what I can do is helpful), if there is something that I might be able to do to help please don't hesitate to contact me.
Bill
I've been looking forward to reading the final print version of SDOAR for a looong time.
Good to see that your requests are being met, Carson.
Hopefully someone will take you up on getting SDOAR published.
To Carson,
1/2
Sorry for this over-long reply, but my following response to your situation has been on my mind for most of the day…
Disclaimer: this is not intended to be gratuitous self-promotion and I have no affiliation with the Lulu company mentioned later on…
I’ve been drawing the Tales From The Wedding Present comics for David Gedge (semi-legendary indie band singer/songwriter) for nearly a decade; the 20th issue is due out at the end of this year. There’s no contract signing involved (punk rock!) and the whole project is based on mutual trust and respect which I think seems to be missing in your dealings with Dave Sim. This strikes me as extremely ironic considering his stand on ‘work-for-hire’ in the comic book industry.
I completely understand your frustration. If David Gedge decided to cancel the forthcoming compilations of the comics and go ahead and write a traditional ‘text only’ autobiography I would be completely gutted and feel like I’d wasted ten years of my ‘spare time’ life. Dave announcing that he’s more or less ‘done’ with this project (and not even mentioning all of the work you’ve put into it, along with YDKJ) is a terrible blow. I can still ‘see’ the YDKJ page where you drew the same photo-realistic image six times. It makes my stomach hurt just thinking about the amount of time and effort that must have taken. I tend to copy and paste images whenever possible these days (Wally Wood – ha, ha!).
Like you, I’ve never been paid on a ‘page by page’ basis. So far, I’ve created 400 pages of comics for Tales From The Wedding Present and I recently jokingly told David Gedge that he now owes me £40000 (at £100 per page). However, I do receive a 33% royalty payment based on the number of issues sold. I’m also on the guest list for any live gigs I want to go to and I receive their new records and t-shirts if I request them. Also, I’m fortunate enough to have a full time job as a primary school teacher (30 years and counting! I’m 53) so the comics are more of a hobby. From what I gather, you also have (had?) a teaching position teaching art at a much higher level than I do and your work is WAY more professional looking than mine. Not much of a consolation, but at least you’ll always have the TSDOAR and YDKJ artwork on your resume.
What is the plan for those who paid for the SDOAR Fundraiser Edition?
2/2
We usually sell between 300 and 500 copies of each comic. That’s a lot more copies than any of my own self-published work has sold, mainly due to my ineptitude at self-promotion, still being an ‘unknown’ in the ‘industry’, semi-professional drawing ability and the non-commercial work I’ve produced over the years. We self-publish the Tales From The Wedding Present comics twice a year and David foots the printing bill.
I’m currently spending my evenings working on editing pages (156 pages for Volume 1) for the first compilation due out in November of this year.
Because of the amount of work I’ve put into it, David has changed the royalty split and I will now receive 45% of the royalties for the compilation (‘trade paperback’), a very gracious and kind move since he’s the 'celebrity' and the reason fans will buy the book. We’ll be using Lulu to self-publish it.
I really think you should go ahead and self-publish TSDOAR yourself (and definitely say ‘NO!’ to digital only editions).
Anyway, why not use Lulu? No need for a Kickstarter campaign which might not get funded (and can become ridiculously exclusive and over-complicated with all of those ‘add-ons’). If it’s a case of pride (‘Oh, but my book needs to be distributed by Diamond!’) I don’t think that matters. We’re living in turbulent times and comic book distribution is fucked – especially for independent publishers.
Yes, Lulu’s basically a ‘vanity publishing’ site, but look at the positives:
1. High quality printing in my ten years of experience using them in a number of different sizes (including traditional comic book size, various paperback and hardcover options). This is not like Comixpress (or whatever they were called before they went out of business) who printed the Cerebus Archive comics
2. Global distribution. They have a number of printers around the world. I recently ordered proof copies of the Tales From The Wedding Present compilation and a guy who lives in Canada received his copy before I did in the UK!
3. All profits go directly to the creator
4. Options to sell online on Amazon and Barnes & Noble (not something I would choose, but it’s there)
5. Costs NOTHING!
6. Fans can order and buy as many copies as they want.
https://www.lulu.com/products
This advice is freely given and should only be used if you can’t find a ‘proper’ publisher.
Anonymous,
I can't speak to that. I surely cannot afford to honor Dave's promises or pay back what he apparently already spent.
As far as I know Eddie plans to fund the printing and fulfillment of that out of his own pocket.
Dave has asked that you all be sent all of the work in a digital format. If Eddie does this I would ask that you not further share those materials in that it may harm my attempt to see this book actually hit the shelves.
Best,
Carson
Carson, I think that we once spoke on the phone. You know me as the person who used to be Dave's primary proofreader (7 volumes, so far).
I am unhappy that you were disappointed and let down by Dave. Join the fuckin' club. The man, like most businessmen, occasionally writes checks that his ass can't cash.
BUT: Dave Sim *always* finds a way to make it right and, then, a lot more.
As Matt quoted, "Serah".
Rest. Relax. Wait. Just wait.
I know that you were excited about publishing SDOAR with Dave, and your part in it, and I *definitely* understand your current frustration (God knows, when it comes to Dave -- been there, done that, NO t-shirt), BUT...
My 20+ years of experience with Dave (either by correspondence or in person [one generous act about which I have sealed my lips, to the grave]), Sim is THE most stand-up person that I have ever known.
My brother is a drunk shithead who has only made one good decision in his life, buying a house with cash, but then getting tenants off of Craig's List. My brother is not a stand-up person.
My sister is married to a GM executive who controls about ... 80 ... 85% of what she does. But, she TOTALLY RULES the household. She's a stand-up person, but not towards me, except for making sure that I follow the rules.
Dave Sim is a stand-up person. For that matter, so is Gerhard. Dave called me a stand-up person in his monthly conversation with Matt, a coupla weeks ago.
That was nice.
As, Dave's mother said (I think, many times): I try.
Because he is THE most stand-up guy that I have EVER known.
Full Stop.
Except: Serah.
.
Oh! And:
Kay Sarah, Sarah.
Hi, I'm a SDOAR FE backer, I would like to say:
First, to Carson: MAN, look at those pages, WOW!!! (talking about the V2 pages posted, simply amazing).
Second, hope it all works out between everyone.
Third, personally, if I receive a digital copy of anything, I'm still buying a print version if created.
Best to all.
JV
Good on yer, JV!!!
We are all, even the AMOC Maestro, just completely confused now.
If I may, and please excuse me, AMOC, I consider myself to be a friend of Dave.
Dave doesn't "do" or have "friends".
But. There are some folks.
Carson is, I think, a "friend", but more, a collaborator.
Dave has some friends from his childhood, but only a few. As do we all. God bless 'em.
I am not his friend. He would publically deny that. But. We get along well enough.
And, by the way, good luck with the online dissing of Dave.
*That's* something new..
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