So God impressed on me to make a short Christian comic with the message of Matthew 11:12. I have completed it and I’m now looking for a way to publish it. That’s actually what led me here.
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For me, posting on social media helps generate public interest. It creates a waiting audience should you officially publish. It worked really well for MegaTokyo and Lackadaisy Cats. I like to share story snippets, character bios, comic strips, shirt stories, scripts, etc. I'm just working on copyrighting my work before I re-post. Just so I'm protected.
A) Copyright: This online article by Agora Gallery( https://www.agora-gallery.com/advice/blog/2017/08/03/art-copyright-... ) is one of several current copyright tutorials. Most beginning or nonprofit cartoonists/artists don’t bother copyrighting their works because: 1) Your work is automatically copyrighted in the US the moment it is posted or printed, however it is important to sign/date your work. 2) Your copyright takes money and lawyers to defend, so an officially recorded copyright is usually not done unless the work is worth a lot of money to you.
B) How big is your comic, in megabytes of memory or pages? Is it a JPEG format so it can be easily uploaded? Is it on a site that has a web address?
C) Since you want to post your comic digitally, your cost is little to nothing. Your bigger concern becomes getting people to notice it by posting it on sites that already get a lot of internet traffic. Your situation is a bit different than many CCAS artists/writers who are trying to build a following or a successful website, because you want to post a single comic, right? Would you be willing to send it to Organizations, churches or people, who could then repost it on their sites for others to view(and credit you as the writer/artist) ?
D) I would welcome input from other CCAS creators that have experience in publishing online to jump ion on this discussion.
Protecting Your Art: Copyrights
Your art is a personal investment of time, money, and effort. Moreover, it is your intellectual property. Protect your property, protect your copyrig…
Okay sir. Should I create a website where I would post it? Everything is in JPEG. Or do you want to see a sample of one or two pages posted here? Pardon me. I reached out here because I’m green.
Brien Sparling > Femi OlowofoyekuMarch 10, 2019 at 8:25pm
No need to ask for a pardon, we're all learners here.
To upload your JPEGs, go to the very bottom of the main page and select the button "Add Photos." This will open a window that will ask you to browse your computer to find and select the JPEG to upload, then press the button "Add Photos."
Once your JPEG is uploaded, it should appear both on the main page and in your gallery on your page; although sometimes this can take a while. You can comment on your picture to explain any details that you want the viewers to know.
Hello Mr Brien. I haven’t heard from you in a while.
Brien Sparling > Femi OlowofoyekuMarch 7, 2019 at 5:47pm
I was wanting to give a space for other artists to weigh in on the issue of online publishing. Ok, do you have a sampler strip or page (JPEG format) that you can post on the CCAS gallery? Post it as a photo on your site.
1.) Alright. Thanks for the copyright info. I’m not sure I fully get it but it’s always re-readable. I always sign and date my work. I don’t know if that’s enough.
2.) It is about 100mb. I’m sure it can be compressed even smaller. Also it is not on any website right now. It’s just on my laptop and the phones of those it has been sent to for reading.
3.) Yes sir, the plan is to post a single comic.
If I send it to organisations, people and churches it’ll still count officially as a publication right? I don’t mind sending it to every church in the world but I just want to be sure it can’t be stolen and would still be credited to me the artist (forgive me. I’ve always been paranoid about plagiarism).
4.) I would very much welcome and appreciate the input of a few more CCAS pros (not many because many could breed conflicting opinions, hence confusion).
Thanks Mr Brien for the full and very realistic response. I replied on Sunday but apparently it didn’t send.
The comic is actually not manga style. It’s just a regular comic. It is an edifying message to Christians. It is not evangelical. My audience is all Christians of all ages. It is simple enough to be read by a child, yet the message is real enough for an adult to rethink his life. It’s meant to be something a Christian would read for just like 5 minutes and think about indefinitely until he gets the concept portrayed there. It even ministered to me as I drew it. Because of the “all Christians” audience, I want to publish it online and have it free to read. However, I want to make a few hard prints I can sell low at my local church. Then any church anywhere in the world that wants to print it to sell at their church, we can discuss that with them when we reach that bridge. But it is not intended to be printed for general distribution.
I conducted the probe you asked me to and they said they’d still read it. One because she liked comics and would be even more curious because it was a Christian comic. Another because it seemed good enough. I believe even a total stranger would read it if not for anything but because of how short it is. The 5 minutes is affordable to anyone.
I can imagine the skepticism of publishers, but I’m not asking them to print it. I’m only asking for a space which christians are found to post it. As for the approval of the Holy Spirit, what I feel I hear Him say is “you work and I’ll bless”.
Hi Femi, Congratulations on completing your short comic. Before you look to publish:
1) Who else has edited your comic? Have a number of people from your target audience give you feedback on both the art and story. And get their opinion on this question: “Is this the sort of comic I would spend thirty minutes on if it was done by a stranger?”
2) Consider the medium and market for your comic: free or for money? Paper or e-book or webcomic? Targeted for general distribution or handed out as a tract? Who is your target audience?
3) How much time and money are you willing to spend to get this in the hands of your target audience?
If you have a good response on the above three points and Holy Spirit approval, then consider that there is no publisher that wants to handle a comic done by an unknown artist. 2017 Summary of the American Mange Market, by Thought Co. https://www.thoughtco.com/american-manga-economy-broken-2282852 explains this better than I could.
Replies
For me, posting on social media helps generate public interest. It creates a waiting audience should you officially publish. It worked really well for MegaTokyo and Lackadaisy Cats. I like to share story snippets, character bios, comic strips, shirt stories, scripts, etc. I'm just working on copyrighting my work before I re-post. Just so I'm protected.
Hi Femi,
No need to ask for a pardon, we're all learners here.
To upload your JPEGs, go to the very bottom of the main page and select the button "Add Photos." This will open a window that will ask you to browse your computer to find and select the JPEG to upload, then press the button "Add Photos."
Once your JPEG is uploaded, it should appear both on the main page and in your gallery on your page; although sometimes this can take a while. You can comment on your picture to explain any details that you want the viewers to know.
I look forward to seeing your work.
Alright. I have posted it. How would you see it?
I was wanting to give a space for other artists to weigh in on the issue of online publishing. Ok, do you have a sampler strip or page (JPEG format) that you can post on the CCAS gallery? Post it as a photo on your site.
2.) It is about 100mb. I’m sure it can be compressed even smaller. Also it is not on any website right now. It’s just on my laptop and the phones of those it has been sent to for reading.
3.) Yes sir, the plan is to post a single comic.
If I send it to organisations, people and churches it’ll still count officially as a publication right? I don’t mind sending it to every church in the world but I just want to be sure it can’t be stolen and would still be credited to me the artist (forgive me. I’ve always been paranoid about plagiarism).
4.) I would very much welcome and appreciate the input of a few more CCAS pros (not many because many could breed conflicting opinions, hence confusion).
The comic is actually not manga style. It’s just a regular comic. It is an edifying message to Christians. It is not evangelical. My audience is all Christians of all ages. It is simple enough to be read by a child, yet the message is real enough for an adult to rethink his life. It’s meant to be something a Christian would read for just like 5 minutes and think about indefinitely until he gets the concept portrayed there. It even ministered to me as I drew it. Because of the “all Christians” audience, I want to publish it online and have it free to read. However, I want to make a few hard prints I can sell low at my local church. Then any church anywhere in the world that wants to print it to sell at their church, we can discuss that with them when we reach that bridge. But it is not intended to be printed for general distribution.
I conducted the probe you asked me to and they said they’d still read it. One because she liked comics and would be even more curious because it was a Christian comic. Another because it seemed good enough. I believe even a total stranger would read it if not for anything but because of how short it is. The 5 minutes is affordable to anyone.
I can imagine the skepticism of publishers, but I’m not asking them to print it. I’m only asking for a space which christians are found to post it. As for the approval of the Holy Spirit, what I feel I hear Him say is “you work and I’ll bless”.
Please what can you tell me about copyright?
Hi Femi, Congratulations on completing your short comic. Before you look to publish:
1) Who else has edited your comic? Have a number of people from your target audience give you feedback on both the art and story. And get their opinion on this question: “Is this the sort of comic I would spend thirty minutes on if it was done by a stranger?”
2) Consider the medium and market for your comic: free or for money? Paper or e-book or webcomic? Targeted for general distribution or handed out as a tract? Who is your target audience?
3) How much time and money are you willing to spend to get this in the hands of your target audience?
If you have a good response on the above three points and Holy Spirit approval, then consider that there is no publisher that wants to handle a comic done by an unknown artist. 2017 Summary of the American Mange Market, by Thought Co. https://www.thoughtco.com/american-manga-economy-broken-2282852 explains this better than I could.
Read this article and give me your feedback.
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