Gamal Hennessy—The Business of Independent Comic Book Publishing Pt. 2

In October, 2019, I attended a Comic Artist Workshop meetup featuring Gamal Hennessy.

This is the first part of what I learned from his talk. Below is the second part:

• "How will readers get the comic"?
• choose idea
• set goals
• own the idea
• get money
• build team
• find market
• determine distribution
• "How will you produce the comic"?
• What form will it take?
• web. 1 panel-20 pages
• single issue. 20-24 pages
• trade paperback. Collection of 4-8 comics
• graphic novel. 96-192 pages
• anthology
• When will you publish?
• Define production schedule
• Never deliver a book late.
• Ensure there are redundancies for team communication
• "How will you inform the market about the comic"?
• communicating only with your audience
• for advertising—
• cover art
• pedigree (of the creator[s])
• hook
• description
• purchasing information
• find the biggest voices for target market (influencers) to use for advertising
• press releases to comic book press and comics adjacent press
• can use social media paid advertising once exhausted free social media
• get the word out in the right channels at the right time
• "How will you sell the comic?"
• revenue with selling books
• monetization
• sponsors
• affiliates
• now is the time to crowdfund
• will use sales funnel
• social media → web → mailing list → free content → digital issues →  digital graphic novel → print graphic novel → merchandise
• "How will you divide the revenue?"
• outstanding liabilities
• division of profits
• recoupment
• royalties
• taxes
• "What happens after you publish the book?"
• merger
• sale
• IPO
• continue indie publishing
• freelance
• creator-owned
• media outside comics
• will need to determine what happens to the comic and company after you're gone

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