You've gotten here just in time!
I'm bad at marketing...
Final Hours for THE CLOAKROOM
Welcome to the new subscribers! Some of you have just joined us after backing Reign of Dracula. Thank you for letting me clutter your inbox with my brain dumps and comic books!
You may not know this, but anyone subscribing to this newsletter AND backing one of my Kickstarter campaigns, is entitled to a $4 break on shipping. This applies to both foreign and domestic shipments.
And I just so happen to have a campaign that’s ending in about 12 hours…
SCOTT SNYDER PRESENTS: THE CLOAKROOM
This is my last pitch for The CloakRoom until our next issue in a month or so. It’s a collection of short stories, created by students of Scott Snyder who participate in his writing class/workshop. Scott has helped guide many of these stories by mostly first time creators. These are largely creators who are new to creating comics and this is often their first ever published work. If you want to support the next generation of creators, this is a great way to do that!
I’m the publisher and co-editor, along with my partner on this project, Veronica Howell. We take our jobs as curators of this project very seriously, partly because we want to put our names on a good book and get better as editors, and partly because we want Mr. Scott to continue to take our calls.
Anyway, it’s a good series. We’re on issue 2, and you can pick up the earlier volumes of a project called “Tales From The Cloakroom” which is our predecessor series. All in, there are up to 350 pages of comic shorts that span all genres, including one that was nominated for an Eisner, available in this campaign.
Pretty, pretty good deal.
I’m very bad at marketing
In my TV producing career, I’ve always struggled in “development” because development in reality TV isn’t really the developing of new shows/ideas (and I would argue that a lack of actual “development” of concepts is a huge problem in my industry). It’s really just code for “sales”, and while I come from a long and distinguished line of bullshitters, I’ve never been good at superlatives.
“It’s the GREATEST…”
“The most exclusive access….”
“MINDBLOWING STORIES!”
“You’ve never seen anything like it!”
Ugh.
I think I’m finding my sweet spot though. Part of the key is believing your own bullshit. I honestly believe that the stories in The CloakRoom are really good, or I wouldn’t be able to tell you that I did.
Another key is coming up with attention grabbing phrases that are actually demonstrably true and not just a sales line. For example, the headline on this post. You really have “gotten here just in time” if you’re looking to support my latest Kickstarter. This is a true statement, and so I don’t have to feel like I’m feeding you a line of nonsense.
As self-publishing requires self-promotion, I’ll continue to try and ONLY put out projects I believe in so that I can bring myself to tell you about them.
RECOMMENDATION
I’m reading KLAUS by Grant Morrison and Dan Mora. It’s a lot of fun and very pretty:
It’s a Santa origin story that a friend recommended. Light and fun and kinda badass with a mystery wrapped in. Highly enjoyable escapism. I picked up a hardcover of the first arc. I think there have been two since.
Let me know what you’ve been reading!
Jerry
An early congratulations on another successful Cloakroom campaign. I'm loving seeing what you and Veronica have been able to make of it.
Sales always feels icky - even when it's for something you believe in. I totally get that, but I've learned that people will ignore what they're not interested in. If you're selling and someone is listening to you, it's because they want to hear it. I have to relearn that all the time.
Speaking of Dan Mora's work, have you read ONCE & FUTURE by him and Kieron Gillen? I started reading that at the library while visiting Calgary, trying to escape the -40c weather. It's sooo good. Highly recommend seeking that out.
(Also some fun trivia: -40 celsius is also -40 in fahrenheit! Both are stupid cold either way.)