Mercenaries, Dough And Dating Robots

First there was “Cartoonists, Moolah And Swimsuits”.  Today we bring you the highly anticipated sequel!

Following my previous response to Mel, one of our awesome WCG readers (and a nifty webcomic creator to boot) I bring you “Mercenaries, Dough And Dating Robots”!

(I know, I know.  You wish you could come up with titles like these.)

Dave Kellett, another Web cartoonist and author of “How to Make Webcomics,” says cartoonists can develop three streams of revenue on the Internet: advertising on the comic’s free website, book sales and original artwork sales.

We not only covered all of that but we pummeled you with several of our own, unique revenue streams.

My last post gave you a look at how to move towards a self-sustaining webcomics business.  I left no stone unturned, nothing to chance and no room for any misunderstandings.

This post however, is going to fill in all of the gaps by flipping over to the other side of the coin and looking back from the position of some of the creators that have already achieved financial webcomic success.

After all, sprouting out good advice doesn’t mean a hill of beans if we can’t prove that it works, now does it?  And proof we have.  Big buckets of it!

Chicks Dig Robots -- er -- Maybe...

Let’s talk about robots (because you can never have enough robots in webcomics, right?).

Richard Stevens created the web comic Diesel Sweeties in 2000. Depicting a world where humans and robots co-exist – quite often even romantically!  (That’s freaky, dude. Even for me.)

The individual strips he creates are largely self-contained and have a number of recurring characters. It was picked up for newspaper syndication back in early 2007, but in 2008 Stevens went back to the web-only version which is probably diametrically opposed to what most people would have expected him to do!

Now we’ve got it on pretty good authority that receives in excess of 30,000 readers a day. Of those, he said, he really only needs to find about one or two percent of his fan base to support him financially. That shows you that he has the monetizing aspect of his craft down cold.

So how does he do it?

Well, Stevens makes most his money through selling merchandise, especially T-shirts. He operates his business out of his home, purchasing the shirts in bulk and selling them on his website. In that sense, the web comic is more of a “lead generator” for lack of a better term.  It gathers and audience of raving fans that can be turned into paying customers.

Want another case-study?

Let’s talk about Howard Tayler, creator of the Web comic “Schlock Mercenary,” who makes a full-time living selling merchandise based on his cartoons.

Now we really dig Tayler’s pluckiness here at the WCG because here’s what a lot of folks don’t know; he was making a six-figure salary as a middle marketing manager when he decided to quit his job to work on his web comic, Schlock Mercenary, full time!  (I know! Even the hairy monkeys were impressed with this guy!)

Bit it gets even better (or worse, depending on whose sneakers you’re standing in) because the move came when the comic was losing money, leaving him in a sink-or-swim situation.  The boy’s got himself some steely gonads.

Now Tayler differs from many web cartoonists because he makes most of his money selling book collections of his comics.

Though most of his money comes from books, he also has gone the more traditional merchandising route by selling T-shirts, buttons, and even digital-only PDFs of his work. (Sometimes he uses these products to help raise money for charitable causes.  Is this guy likable or what?).

He also sells special edition books that include original sketches, an idea that turned out to be a particularly profitable moment of inspiration.

So there you have it, direct from the chops of people that aren’t just talking about making a living at creating webcomics – they’re living it!

We really need to keep the robots on a shorter leash.

(As a side note, last year the Daily Herald ran a really cool article on Howard that I enjoyed quite a bit.  Worth a read if you enjoyed this post.)

We could go on and talk about Pete Abrams, who’s been writing Sluggy Freelance and making a living at webcomics for yonks. Or Rich Burlew, the guy who managed to turn Order of the Stick into not just a paying day job but also sufficient reputation to do writing work for Wizards of the Coast.

Or Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, who have built Penny Arcade into not just a set of day jobs but also one of the largest gaming conventions in the United States, regular art work for Blizzard, and the Child’s Play charity which raises six figures a year for children’s hospitals.

The point is that it can be done.  We’ve peeked under the skirt of the marketing machine that makes it all possible and now its up to you to go out there and win one for the WCG monkeys!  Now, get scribbling!

Tweet it, leave your comments & never touch green, gooey stuff.  Booyah!

Tagged As: Schlock Mercenary, Sluggy Freelance, WCG, webcomics