So Lulu & Mitzy have gotten some great reviews. In fact, Just got a great one in Publishers Weekly last week and that really meant a lot to me (scroll to bottom). There are also a couple of interviews with me that should be coming out in January. For those in the Bay Area, be on the look out for the next issue of 944, which you can pick up for free at dozens of locations around the Bay. I saw some at Pearl Hamburger and Ted Baker all within a two day period.

People keep asking me “how’s the book doing? Selling a lot of copies?” And I always have to give the same answer: Graphic novels don’t become best sellers like a Tom Clancy book or a tell-all from some former Bush staff member. Graphic novels sell mostly in what we refer to as ‘back list’, which means that they sell on a more gradual pace over a longer period of time.

So, funny story: I have access to Book Scan, which is the Nielson sales tracker for publishing and even though I knew that Lulu & Mitzy would not be flying off the shelves and that sales for my first book were never, ever going to be amazing, I checked my book sales. Seven. I sold seven copies in a month according to Book Scan. My fragile ego and my big, big dreams shattered. And I knew it would before I checked Book Scan.

But here’s the thing, Book Scan only tracks the sales data of stores that participate in its service (i.e. Borders, Barnes & Noble, Amazon). It does not track direct market sales, which are sales in comic shops, indy stores, boutiques, ya know, the places where my book would actually sell. It also doesn’t track sales at comic conventions, which is where a lot of comic publishers do a lot of their selling. So Book Scan is not a good judge of how a graphic novel is selling. And most importantly, smaller publishers tell authors don’t even ask for your Book Scan info for at least six months. If you are a graphic novelist wait at least a year. Seriously, don’t break your heart over the stark realities of the trade.

A book like Lulu & Mitzy really does need word of mouth and that has been slow. I was completely blown away that PW reviewed the book AND gave it a good review, but it would be nice if the book was recognized within its own segment of the industry. These things take time and I think I am impatient because it took me ten years to get to the point that I could complete a book. I never felt confident about my art and I certainly never felt like I could tell a coherent story. Plus, I always balked at the amount of time required to actually finish a comic, let alone a graphic novel. Lulu & Mitzy took me nearly eight months. That’s a huge sacrifice for something that will never make me rich or win me an award. And that’s my point, I had to get past the point of thinking that I was wasting my time and effort and get to another level where I just did what I did because I loved it and wanted it to happen.

Enough rambling, how abouts some drawings? First, my take on a couple o’ X-Men. This is why Marvel will never hire me.

My attempts at some sort of realistic bent to my usual style.

How fuckin’ rad would it be if Native American warriors were mounted with high tech weaponry? Real fuckin’ rad! Don’t really know what the little girl is doing there.

I’ve noticed I have this habit of drawing cartoon women whose clothes don’t quite seem to do what clothes are supposed to do, which is cover the bod.

Until the next time I feel compelled to write for no apparent reason whatsoever.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 18th, 2008 at 5:41 pm and is filed under Doodles, Reviews, miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.