Independent Propaganda

Interviewed by Wesley Craig Green / Head Cheese at Independent Propaganda

Self-publishing comics can be a bitch. It is full of jagged mountains you have to climb if you are to have any chance of seeing your hard work on a comic shop’s shelf. Not only do you have to be accepted by Diamond for distribution but there is also the struggle to get a retailer to take a chance on stocking your book. All of that doesn’t take into account the work and money put into making the book.

This is the first in a series of interviews done with new self-publishers & publishers who have seen their new books come out this year. First up is Steven Earnhart, publisher of HARD-BOILED COMICS, which hit comic shops this month.

Independent Propaganda: I imagine you did your fair share of research in regards to pre-press, printers, and working with Diamond. But no matter how much you research a subject, things will come out of the blue which you were not expecting. Did this happen when you were dealing with your printer and/or Diamond?

Steven Earnhart: For me it was a matter of never feeling like I got it perfect. I continued to do edits and find typos up until the day before I sent my pages off to my printer. Also, seeing as to how I learned how to letter while putting together the debut issue of Hard-Boiled Comics (thank you, DC Comics Guide to Coloring and Lettering), I was constantly discovering new ways to do things as I improved.

As I put together HBC #2, I was literally re-lettering every page of issue #1 as I went along because where I am now as a letterer is light years from where I was when I first started this whole insane endeavor. Think about this: My first promo and review print run was completed eight months ago by Comixpress, but every single day I was learning and practicing and getting better at letters, balloons and SFX. The end product hitting the stands this month has been improved 1000% in that department, but that isn’t what reviewers saw. Kind of sucks, because the copies I sent out were pretty much “rough drafts” and I really got hammered by a few reviewers about the lettering. In retrospect, I would have waited to print and send out review copies until I really had it right.

Independent Propaganda: Which printer did you go with and why?

Steven Earnhart: I went with Brenner for two reasons:

1. When I was researching printers and reaching out to people, Brenner’s Kristin Matthews got back to me the fastest and in the most professional manner. Anytime I sent an inquiry she got back to me almost instantly Dealing with her and Brenner has made my first time out a piece of cake.

2. Because of the ease and convenience of dealing with them. Diamond sends me a PO, I send it to Brenner along with my pages on PDF along with an order form, and they handle the rest. I won’t even see the copies that are going to Diamond’s warehouse to fill the orders, which is exactly how I want it: Nice and easy. Doing this whole thing by myself is hard enough and by dealing with Brenner I basically sidestepped any headaches related to the whole “get the comics from printer to Diamond’s warehouse” process.

Independent Propaganda: One of the toughest nuts to crack if you are a new independent publisher is for indy-friendly retailers to take a chance on you and carry your books. How did you market your company and your books to comic shop retailers? Did you target those retailers you knew would be more open to carrying your book? Did you work with Diamond to market your book to retailers?

Steven Earnhart: I pretty much went for grass roots attack on every retailer I could reach, without (foolishly) doing research as to which shops I should target. What I did was personally visit almost every comic book shop I could in Los Angeles, introduce myself, then hand the owner or manager a preview copy of the first issue with order codes stuck to them. Then I worked my way to the immediate surrounding areas (The Valley, OC, Long Beach, etc) and did the same. Eventually, I ended up road-tripping all the way to San Francisco then working my way back down to Los Angeles and hitting shops in San Jose and Santa Cruz as well.

While I was doing this, I also created a database from the master list (available through the CBIA website) that has over 2500 comic book shops in the US, Canada, and Europe. No joke, this thing is massive and took well over 40 hours to assemble and format so I could print mailing labels from it. I then designed a double-sided glossy postcard, had 1700 of the them printed up at an amazing and cheap print shop on the west side of L.A., and then sent one to every shop I could in the United States. I targeted shops I knew of, shops I used to frequent, shops I see advertising online, and shops with multiple locations first, and then I basically sent one to every one else I could. I hit several shops in all 50 states. Of course, much of the listings on the master list are out of date so I imagine a whole slew of the postcards didn’t reach their intended destination, but I did what I could. In the future I’m going to pay Diamond to stuff postcards in with the Previews catalog and pay for 6000. I was just out of time, having missed the advertising deadline. I had to do something.

Independent Propaganda: There have been a number of indy publishers who hit the scene only to vanish in a short amount of time. While it is never a good thing to see an indy publisher go out of business, people can learn from their mistakes. So how is your publishing company going to be different from those who have come and gone before you?

Steven Earnhart: I’m keeping my goals realistic and trying not to over-extend myself too far as this time. I’m happy just releasing the first fives issues of Hard-Boiled Comics, collecting them to trade with awesome bonus features and then taking a 2-3 month break while we work our second title to retailers. As we approach the TPB release date, we’re going to be releasing said second title (a 3-4 issue limited series), and we want to devote all our attention to its production and promotion. Seeing as to how Goodbum is a 2-3 person operation, and all of us have day jobs, we want to give this title the push it deserves. It fits in perfectly with what we’re trying to do with Goodbum Studios - Give mature comics readers kick-ass, no holds barred comics they can really sink their teeth into and have blast reading so needless to say, we’re super excited about it.

I’m perfectly content working the “slow and steady” approach, and have seen “too much too fast” burn many an indie to the ground. That ain’t happening to us. We believe in taking care of our people, so we pay our artists up front to avoid any hard feelings if something doesn’t sell as well as we thought it would and an artist agreed to get paid on spec. That can get ugly all around and I have read about situations where books were released, companies went under, and people didn’t get paid. That’s a situation I will never be in.

All that said, I’m WAY in the red at this point. Thankfully I have a pretty sweet day job which has allowed me to do this thing exactly the way I want to do it, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to be profitable. It just means I can maintain the level of quality that I myself expect from publishers while I get off the ground. We’re actually looking to get some local advertisers involved in some pretty cool ways (I can’t say more than that at this time) to help offset some of the production costs, but for now it’s all on me.

Independent Propaganda: Conventions can be a good way to network, and market your self to new fans and retailers. What cons have you hit to promote your books and what did you take away from exhibiting? Does the cost of attending them outweigh the pros? What marketing tactics worked for you at the cons to get people’s attention for your comic(s)?

Steven Earnhart: The aforementioned “sweet day job” doesn’t allow me much time for travel so I have thus far been unable to exhibit at any cons. This past summer I hit the SDCC pretty hard (see my article right here at IP) but other than that I’ve been reaching out to the world via the internet and USPS.

Next year I plan on getting booths at SDCC and WWLA, but like I said, my day job doesn’t allow for me to take any more time than that. While that indeed sucks, it allows me to publish HBC exactly the way I want to so I can’t complain.

Independent Propaganda: How did you feel when you held your first published comic?

Steven Earnhart: When I held those “rough drafts” in my hands for the first time several months ago the feeling was indescribable. I almost wept. It was like this thing I had always wanted to do, always dreamed of doing was actually happening, and it happened because I took like by the horns and made it happen. When I was in middle school I used to “publish” (with the help of my school library’s photocopier) an underground comics series for my friends expanding on the “Warriors” mythology featuring new gangs every month, massive brawls, orgies, profanity, and every other variety of mayhem a 14 year old mind can concoct. Eventually this series became a hotly sought item amongst the boys in my grade and ever since then I wanted to try it for real. To actually see it through to this stage is a feeling that is indescribable. An author I had dinner with recently told me that there was no feeling in world like walking into a book store and seeing something he wrote sitting on the shelves. As my release date fast approaches, I can already anticipate this feeling and it is awesome.

Independent Propaganda: What advice would you have for those thinking about going into self-publishing?

Steven Earnhart: Take your time and do it right. There’s no rush. Get all your ducks in a row and then strike. Don’t compromise quality on the altar of ambition. Do your research. Talk to the pros at the cons. Work the message boards and websites. Arm yourself with as much knowledge and know-how as you possibly can, and then go get some more. Here’s the kicker, though: No matter how much you think you know, you will make every mistake there is your first time out. I was told those exact words by an Independent Publishing panel consisting of Terry Moore, Dave Foglio, and several others at SDCC 2005 and I didn’t believe them. Sure enough, I went out and shot myself in the ass about twenty times.

Independent Propaganda: In closing, what are your future publishing plans, and where can people buy your comics?

Steven Earnhart: In addition to the aforementioned second title we’re releasing next year and the first Hard-Boiled Comics TPB, next fall we launch Hard-Boiled Comics’ second story arc entitled “Dead Zep”. It’s about Billy Blackburn’s investigation of rock star Zeppelin Monroe’s murder. Funny thing is, Zep’s still out there playing stadiums. I have something spectacular planned for the release so be sure to stay tuned to www.hardboiledcomics.com for the details. Currently though, we’re running a contest where if you name the HBC letter column we’ll kill you on-panel in issue #4, so be sure to send those entries to baldsteve@hardboiledcomics.com.

Hard-Boiled Comics #1 can be found this month (October) at Local Comic shops across the country and is available for direct order at www.hardboiledcomics.com. If your shop doesn’t have it, ask ‘em to order it through Diamond Previews with the following codes:
AUG063322 for Hard-Boiled Comics #1
OCT063441 for Hard-Boiled Comics #2

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