comic books Posts

Greetings, Nifty Ones!

I am very happy to announce that Nifty Comics will be returning to active comic book publishing in December 2008 with the release of Cadre #6, the first all-new issue of the Cadre since the end of 2007. With issue 6, the Cadre will be going back to a bi-monthly release schedule with Cadre #7 following up in February 2009.

Cadre #6 is written by Mat Nastos, with scripting by Cary Kelley, fantastic artwork by Tim Rees, lettering by Shane Woodis and an amazing cover by Johnny Saturn creator, Scott Story. Issue 6 focuses on the White Dwarf and a new love interest for the Tiny Titan. Check back here at Nifty Comics online in the next couple of weeks for full solicitation information for Cadre #6, along with preview pages and some other Nifty stuff. For now, check out the image below for a sneak peek at Scott Story’s cover for the issue.

Check out the incredible cover artwork for Cadre #6 by Scott Story.

Until next time, Stay Nifty!

-Mat Nastos
http://www.niftycomics.com

October 2, 2008 | No Comments

Comic Book Marketing for the Mentally Challenged, Part II: 6 Internet Marketing Tips for Comic Book Publishers

Most comic book publishers these days will have their own websites. The smart ones will have their own domains, the less-smart ones will only be on free hosts such as Myspace, Comicspace, Geocities or one of a thousand other choices. Unfortunately, most publishers stop there when it comes to their online presence.

Today I’m going to give you a list of 6 ways to expand your market by leveraging the Internet to its fullest extent. Read More »

March 2, 2008 | No Comments

Comic Book Marketing for the Mentally Challenged, Part I: An Introduction

In general, the comic book industry lacks business sense. This is almost universally true with comic shop owners, comic book publishers and comic creators. Just because you have a lot of comic books in your collection does not mean you have the ability to start and run a comic book store. And, just because you can write or draw does not mean you should publish your own books. Well, let me rephrase that, you can give it a try but odds are you are going to fail. I know as an indy publisher I’m supposed to be all warm and fuzzy when it comes to talking about creating comic books and the industry. However, while comic books are my first and one-true love, I love running a successful business almost as much and am not by any means a hobby publisher. If you’re a hobby publisher then this post is not for you. If you are interested in trying to take your business to the next level, then read on! Read More »

March 2, 2008 | No Comments

Comic Book Publishing — Marketing Techniques for Dummies

Greetings!

I get a lot of emails asking me about my thoughts on the state of the comic industry in general and about the state of the indy side of the industry in specific. It’s funny that I get this email because my actual involvement with the industry is very limited — I don’t really sell to many comic shops, I only do a couple of convention appearances a year and those are generally science fiction oriented ones (go BayCon!) and I don’t really participate in any of the thousands of comic message boards out there (sure, sometimes I get sucked in to posting a couple of responses on the Dimestore forums, but the overall attitude of comic “fans” these days really turns me off).

Now that I’ve written a few times about what I’ve done in order to get Cadre comic book sales up in nearly the 9000 copies sold per issue range the emails have changed focus to “what about comic book distribution.” The problem with emails like that is what the writer is actually saying between the lines: “Okay, now you’ve told me that selling comics on my own is hard work and I’m a lazy bastard, tell me how someone can create a new distributor because my books weren’t good enough to be picked up by Diamond.” Or “were picked up by Diamond but I don’t support my books with marketing or money to make them successful.”

Truthfully, for the industry as it is now, Diamond is great. Sure they don’t support indy books, but why should they? The majority of indy publishers think “advertising” or “marketing” means to set up an account on Myspace or ComicSpace. Sure they might be doing a couple of conventions or take their books around to some local shops so they can act like “big men on campus,” but they have no clue what it takes to run a successful business. Read More »

September 19, 2007 | 1 Comment

The Ancient Chinese Secret for Indy Comic Sales and the History of Nifty Comics

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. Read More »

September 19, 2007 | No Comments

The Cadre ranks in Diamond’s Top 300 Comics Sold…well, kind of…

I’ve been neglecting Nifty Comics a bit lately because of my other work. As most of you reading this know, I do a lot of film and television work in addition to running a small internet business outside of the entertainment industry. Unfortunately, that stuff takes up most of my time…as you can probably tell from the fact that the Nifty Comics website hasn’t been updated in a few months (heck, the last comic we put up for direct order was Cadre #4 and Cadre #7 was just released in stores!). I’m hoping to change that and get back to posting once a week, along with adding more content to the “Storytelling” section of the website. In theory, anyway.

Well, this weekend I’ve spent a lot of time working on getting the Nifty Comics house back in line and one of the things I did was send out all of the Cadre #7 orders to retailers, distributors and fans who have ordered the issue. I knew that we had a little over 7000 preorders back in August but what I very quickly realized was that we’d sold out almost completely of the entire 8000 unit print run we’d done. By “almost completely” I mean “I’ve got about 15 copies left and that’s it.” That’s right, Cadre #7 has sold more copies in its first month than any other normal issue we’ve done. Fionn #1 sold more but it was a special issue done for an event which boosted sales on it. Now, all of the past issue have sold around that number or more over time (Cadre #1 is up around 15,000 units sold), but this is the first time we’ve hit 8,000 units at release.

I was excited about the number, but not overly so because we’ve been selling pretty well for the past year. I wasn’t excited, that is, until someone suggested I take a look a Diamond’s Top 300 Comics and see where I would rank with those numbers. Read More »

April 19, 2007 | No Comments

Who is the Cadre?

Welcome to the online home, and your source for all information, of Nifty Comics’ premiere super team, the Cadre! Stop by here and get the low-down on the team’s new adventures, as well as information on all of the members of the Cadre.

April 1, 2007 | No Comments

Success Kills — why more comic sales might not be a good thing!

I like to ramble on in this space from time to time about my experiences as an independent comic book publisher. Recently I wrote about some of the things I do to expand the sales and reach for the comics I publisher under the Nifty Comics banner. I also talked about how our initial orders (meaning upfront orders that come in either before printing or right as the comics are released in the first week afterwards) have started to hit the 8000 mark.

Now, I’m going to tell you why getting 8000 in sales can be a bad thing if you’re not ready for them. (read entire article at www.ComicBookMarketing.com)

March 19, 2007 | No Comments

Cadre Issue #5

The action comes to a head this issue when the Cadre team up with the government super-agent, Adept, to face Arachne and her mutated spiders. Can our heroes defeat the villainess before her powers cause them to destroy one another? Pick up the issue to find out!

Check out what Diamond Comic Distributors says about the Cadre: “It’s just the sort of saga that got you hooked on comics in the first place.”

Written by Mat Nastos, with art by Gabe Alberola and Chad Sergesketter.

“Cadre is a thrilling tale of danger and adventure. An edge-of-the-seat, can’t-put-it-down comic book with potential for classic status!”
– Jazma Online

Title: Cadre #5, 32 pgs. B&W, with a full color cover
Created By: Mat Nastos
Written By: Nastos
Art By: Gabe Alberola and Chad Sergesketter
Price: $3.50
Ship Date: Available Now!

BUY NOW!

CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGES

BUY NOW!

December 1, 2006 | No Comments

Origins of the Cadre Issue #3 (of 4)

Origins of the Cadre #2 Cover

The hit mini-series, Origins of the Cadre, continues with issue 3. This issue features the origin of former world champion wrestler turned superhero, the White Dwarf.Diamond Comic Distributors calls the Cadre “the sort of saga that got you hooked on comics in the first place,” and “a great team comic for fans suffering from X-Men or Teen Titans withdrawal.”“Origins of the Cadre is viscerally exciting, an extended tense tour de force, an expertly crafted ornate suspense thriller! “
– Jazma Online

Title: Origins of the Cadre #3 (of 4) – 28 pgs. B&W, with a full color cover
Created By: Mat Nastos
Written By: Mat Nastos and Andrew Pellerito
Art By: Mat Nastos, Sidney Teles & Jackson Gebien
Price: $3.50
Ship Date: Available Now!

BUY NOW!

CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGES