Nifty Comics Online

A friend of Nifty Comics and fellow indy publisher, Shawn Granger of King Tractor Press, asked me after my last post how we’re starting to hit semi decent sales now after a year and a half back at publishing. I actually get a lot of requests to go over the process — one guy emailed me after his saw the Cadre in a local Borders store up in Seattle — and so I thought I’d share what I sent him to see if it helps.

The first thing to keep in mind is that Nifty Comics has been around in various forms since 1995. We’ve run through Diamond and Capitol City (when they were around) in the past and had some pretty decent sales. During the comics boom in the mid-90s we had a mini series that sold right at 30,000 copies. Of course, this was when comics were selling hundreds of thousands and millions, so our numbers were considered crap for anyone trying to be serious publishers. A good thing that came out of it was that BKN International optioned a pilot of the Cadre. It didn’t go anywhere, but it’s pretty cool to have a 20 minute animated version of a comic I created.

We run a couple of issues post-crash, but the numbers were abyssmal — under 1000 (under 500, actually) through Diamond, direct to stores and FM International. Although the books we ran were all “Small Press Spotlights” and received great reviews.

At that point, in 2001, Nifty Comics disappeared for a while. It’s not widely known, but I was involved in a pretty bitter divorce and my ex-wife decided that she wanted Nifty Comics and all assets as part of it. Now, keep in mind that Nifty was worth absolutely nothing at this point, so the whole thing was pretty painful. Three years later I was able to buy back the rights to everything, although the ex had put out some pretty awful trade paperback compilations in the interim.

Nifty Comics began publishing again in 2005 with a new Cadre series and the release of our low, low, low budget film, Bite Me, Fanboy. The new Cadre #1 came out in May, although we did a small run through ComixPress in April for a Cartoon Network meeting. I made the decision this time to just do the comics for fun since they’d been a source of pain in the past. As part of this “just fun” plan, I opted out of using Diamond as a distributor. They don’t treat most indy companies very well, they are “rumored” to have some questionable business practices and just aren’t very “fun” to deal with. Plus, most indies only sell a few hundred copies through Diamond and I figured 300 extra sales an issue just wasn’t worth the headache.

So, with the launch of the new series I did what all new comic publishers do and hit the streets trying to get local comic shops interested in the books. What I very quickly found was that comic store owners really aren’t interested in black and white, mainstream style, super hero comics. One retailer told me he wouldn’t carry the book because his clerks would have to actually SELL it as opposed to Marvel/DC books that will sell without having to talk to customers.

This attitude irked me a little so I marched down to the local Borders (a place I haunt a couple of times a week) and spoke to the manager there, showing him the comics. He got me in touch with the store buyer who promptly order 100 copies of the book. We hit it off pretty well and he called a couple of other stores to recommend the comic to them (most of these companies are great at supporting local “talent”) and also got me in touch with a regional level buyer for Borders.

The whole process took a few weeks but I was able to backdoor my way in to a pretty large book chain. They said they would try me out for the first issue to see how it went and the regional suggested stores put the Cadre in with Graphic Novels/Manga instead of the magazine section. When all was said and done, I was in somewhere between 25 and 30 Borders stores in the Western part of the US.

After the success at the first Borders store, I got a little cocky and decided to go for the Virgin Megastore and Tower Records/video/Books right down the street. I talked to the managers at those stores and had even better success (my dad was a pretty well known guitar player in the 50s-70s and dropping that tidbit helped quite a bit). Tower stores in particular are fantastic about supporting indy publications.

Sales started out at around 700 and were up to 2000 by issue 4, almost exclusively through non-comic industry outlets. We do sell to a few comic stores (somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 shops), but that only amounts to about 230 sales an issue or thereabouts.

What follows is the email response I sent to Shawn when he asked what I’m doing to get sales (slightly edited):

Shawn:

Heck, I’ve told you just about everything I do. I talk to non comic retailers (with book stores I go in and get info on who their regional buyers are). I’m doing stuff that is considered pretty mainstream and accessible to a mainstream reader. The storytelling is solid and clear. Stuff actually happens in the comics instead of this decompression crap. The books are easy to get in to, even if you haven’t read any of the other ones. In other words, normal people can read the books and the buyers see something familiar to them (basically what they imagine superhero comics should be).

I alternate my advertising. I pick a niche/specialty arena and advertise in it, do promotions, etc. Once I get people talking about the books or, more importantly, buying them, then I move on to another nice/specialty arena. Places we’ve had success selling the books are at some big concert events, wrestling shows (big and small), movie premieres and local arts/crafts markets. College book stores are fantastic as well.

Speaking of schools, big outlet for me, outside Borders etc., is a company that does School Book Fairs for JR Highs and High Schools. Twice a year I get a monster boost in sales from those. They’ve been doing well with the comics and actually ordered a buttload in advance for this school season. Usually they order a few and then make them available for students to order and get sent to them.

The Celtic/Scottish festivals have been really successful for the Fionn comic. Since it features a Scottish hero and takes place in Scottland, the festival attendees really like them. It doesn’t hurt that no other comics are being sold at the events.

It’s all about getting out to where there are no other comics and no “comic industry style” fans. Be prepared to give books away to start. Remember, that I started out with only around 700 in sales, pretty close to what you have…and I didn’t have the benefit of Diamond.

Be willing to pay for advertising. We advertise in some Sci Fi/Fantasy magazines, Scottish/Celt mags and so on. Something else that has been successful is doing local targeted cable TV advertising whenever a new comic is coming out or when you attend a convention. It’s surprisingly cheap and pretty effective at giving you a sales boost. Mailers are pretty worthless.

The thing I don’t do that I should is take more advantage of the comic industry and get involved in the community. I’m just too burned out with comic people right now. Everyone is so negative and hateful these days. Press, fans and creators. I feel like the entire industry takes places in the “Android’s Dungeon” and that we’ve got 10,000 “Comic Book Guys” running around it.

No matter what, keep in mind publishing comics is a regular business…have enough to lose money for 3 years before you turn a profit.

That is all the wisdom I possess. Nothing secret or overly insightful.

I hope that helps.

Mat Nastos
http://www.niftycomics.com