There have been several articles already calling this the “year of the creator-owned” as more authors (I’m using the word to mean cartoonists, and prose writers) by-pass the middle man of publishers and shoot straight for the consumer via digital publishing.
Last year, I was very on the fence about it. Not digital publishing as a whole, just my part in it. I love having books on my shelf to hold, read, and just flip through for inspiration, and I thought long and hard about if I even wanted to bother digitally publishing anything I do.
Then I realized, it wouldn’t stop me from printing, it’d just get people to read my work sooner, which is what it’s all about. so, I completely jumped on the digital bandwagon. I’m still working on scanning and formatting some short stories to give away, and some to sell.
In the meantime, here are some interesting articles to read through. I particularly like the last one. Despite the fact that the author is a known writer and that’s why he’s getting those kinds of numbers, he makes a strong point about intelligent pricing and quantity.
http://www.comicsbeat.com/2012/01/06/2012-year-of-the-artist-entrepreneur/
http://welcometotripcity.com/2012/01/publish-or-perish/
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=36342
http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2012/01/100000.html
Just food for thought.
