A Week in Writing #519 - Report From the Front - San Diego Comic-Con 2024

Hope everyone is staying safe, and, of course, writing.

Just got back from this year's Comic-Con. While SDCC can be brutal and unforgiving at times, it is still one of my favorite things we do every year. There is so much, too much, to do and see (and buy) at the Con, also called the Show, that it would be impossible to go through everything here, but I will try to share what I learned in the panels related to writing that I attended in hopes that something I learned might be of use.

How to Get News Coverage, this panel is moderated by Rik Offenberger, the editor at First Comics News, and a creator in his own right with the G-Men series of books. The panel is meant to help comic book creators, but much would be attributable to other media as well. 

Rik mentioned there are two types of marketing that a creator needs to do: first, is to the Comic Shops to buy it and secondly, to the Comic Shops to help them sell it.

When doing a press release, many on the panel wanted the press release to be in the body of the email and have links to the images. They don't want you to send them the comic book yourself.

Know the outlet that you're sending the press release to. If they cover comic books of a different genre than yours, don't send it to those outlets.

A press release should be about something that is about to happen, like the release of a book. It is important to send them as part of an EPK, or Electonic Press Kit, which should include, in addition to the Press Release:

• Bios of the creators
• Images
• the Cover
• Synopsis of the Book

Note: If the press release asks a question, it should answer it as well.

Also, Rik made the point of trying TV News to get coverage. TV news has to fill in with stories about puppies, why not a story about you and your work? And if you can get that coverage, it can really help you seem more legit to other outlets as well.

What to Know When Selling an Animated Series, moderated by Siobhan Murphy (manager, The Gotham Group). One thing to note that most of the people on the panel represented channels like Nickelodeon or platforms like Marvel and Disney, which wouldn't really be open to something from the outside, however, they do get pitches.

If you do get the opportunity to make a pitch, again, make it to an outlet that would be interested in your story.

Their advice:

• Know your stuff
• The shorter the pitch, the better. Your window will be about 30 minutes, so you want your pitch to be 15 minutes because you want to be conversational.
• Don't flesh it out too much with not everything filled in
• Practice makes perfect
• If you get notes, don't freak out about them
  
• Why now? Why you?

Once you've made your pitch, the person you gave it to will then have to pitch it internally.

Pitches most likely will be over Zoom.

And remember, you're never done pitching yourself.

The final panel was Pitching Your Comic to Publishers. This was a panel made up of a combination of editors and lawyers and was more of a getting your foot in the door with a new project, not necessarily one like Powers Squared that has been around for quite a while.

What Creatives think trade publishers want in a pitch:    

• Story
• Art
• Creative Team

What Publishers Want in a pitch:

• Story
• Art
• Creative Team
• Target Audience
• Marketability
• How it Fits in with Publisher's brand
• Will you be a Good Partner?
• Cost and Revenue Analysis

Thankfully, they don't expect you to provide everything they're looking for.

The project should must have the same number of pages in each issue and be PG-13.

In Writing Your Pitch, be sure to include:

• Title
• Contact Info
• Story Hook
• Project length (parameters)
• Genre, intended Age Group
• TELL the story
• Character Bios
• Artist Attached
• Thank you

Thinks to remember about a pitch:

• Should be Inviting
• Written in the Active voice
• Have Clarity
• Be brief
• Exciting
• Check grammar and spelling
• No Marketing needed

All Cliffhangers need to be addressed in the pitch. They're supposed to be cliffhangers to the reader, but not to the publisher.

For Art with your Pitch:

• Professional Art Only
• One Splash Page
• Character Designs
• Five pages of sequential Art (consecutive pages)
• Clear Storytelling
• Contact Information

Be sure to follow the Publisher's Submission Guidelines. Follow them like the letter of the law. Be sure to follow their technical specs as well.

The panel then discussed what a partnership will look like:

• Do you know how to be a project manager?
• Are you a good communicator?
• Do you hustle?
• Do you strategize well?

As an Indie Creator:

• You will be required to submit "Final Files"
• If the Publisher has to rework your files, that costs the publisher time and money they didn't budget for
• They won't want to work with you again

4 Point Criteria system for Approvals:

• Is the STORY well told?
• Is the ART good?
• Do the Creators have a large fanbase already and do they HUSTLE
• Is the Concept Marketable?

You need to have at least three of those four.

Most importantly, know what's in the CONTRACT:

• What rights are you giving up?
• What do you get paid? And when?

Pitching to more than one publisher at a time is OKAY and acceptable practice. If you wait to hear back from someone, you may never hear back.

10 Reasons Your Project May Be Rejected (and there may be more):

• The project is of a genre the publisher doesn't have a track record with
• The project is for an audience the publisher doesn't have a track record with
• The project may deal with topics the publisher wants to avoid
• The project is of a length that makes it unlikely to be solvent
• It's in a format the publisher doesn't do
• The company has a project in development that is similar to yours
• The publishing slate is full
• The project has production issues which make it onerous to work with
• The publisher doesn't think they can execute the marketing the book will require
• Doesn't fit in the publisher's overall vision for its line

How any or all of that helps you with your projects.

While we were away, X-Men month continued on Trophy Unlocked. Starting with Tuesday, it was Paul's Second Look - Deadpool 2 (All Three Cuts), on Thursday it was my review of Dark Phoenix, followed on Saturday by Trevor's review of The New Mutants.

And finally, while we were gone, the show went on with Julia Canon and Jen Moreno co-hosting an episode called  Artist Takeover!! Chill Art & Yap Stream While the Bois Are Away. It will soon be available listening on our website and on Wednesday can be viewed on our YouTube channel, if you missed the live Twitch broadcast.

Well, that about does it for me. Keep writing and I'll see you next week.

A Week in Writing #518 - And It Gets Worse

Hope everyone is staying safe, and, of course, writing.

I have not been able to do that for most of the week and it's starting to drive me crazy. My computer has been at Geek Squad since Sunday afternoon, and the two to three days has stretched into four. If it's not ready by Friday, I'm going to go take it back. I can't go another day without it. I'm starting this on Wednesday night using a Chromebook and the whole process is only adding to my aggravation, with the small keyboard and several sites not logging in for whatever reason.

I can't make posts on some sites, like LinkedIn, which doesn't trust that my password is my password. (Agghh!) And some apps I haven't logged into in years, like Grammarly, won't stop trying to launch. (Double Agghh!!) The Chromebook is better than nothing, but not by much.

And, if that wasn't bad enough, my glasses broke for the second time this year and I've had to resort to an old pair, vintage unknown. Just what you want to have happen a week before you're going to a five day convention.

For writing, this has been perhaps my worst week so far. I'm finding without being able to write, my whole routine is thrown off and I'm losing my mind in the process.

I finally did get back the laptop on Thursday, but the damage was already done to the week. Add to that planning for SDCC has taken up time as well, even though I don't do the heavy lifting in the process. We usually have several sessions working in all the things you can and cannot do at Comic-Con, as there are events and panels that conflict with each other. Even with planning, nothing is guaranteed. You want to do something and so do another 100,000 people.

We did meet on Thursday night with Jen Moreno, the current colorist and future artist on Powers Squared. Jen has shown some talent, but has never done a comic book before. Feel like we're both experimenting. Paint me cautiously optimistic. She probably won't start drawing it until September, but I would really like to get another issue done this year.

Speaking of that, I did do some rewrites this week on the script, following Paul's feedback. I haven't shown him the rewrite yet, but I hope we're closer.

Our podcast, On the Air with Powers Squared, which started this week's problems, went off without a hitch. The Geeks couldn't make the update; per the agent I spoke with, some older computers cannot handle the OBS upgrade, which was my problem, but he re-installed the older version.

The podcast itself was Paul and I talking about our prep for SDCC. You can listen now here, or wait until Wednesday, when Comic-Con kicks off, to watch it here. We're planning to talk about our experience the week we get back. But in the meantime, the artists will take over the podcast again, hope you watch when it goes live next Friday at 6pm PDT on twitch.tv/powerssquared.

Our salute to X-Men continued on Trophy Unlocked, with three posts starting on Tuesday with Paul's second look at Deadpool, followed on Thursday with my review of X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), followed on Saturday with Trevor's Second Look at Logan and Logan Noir. I'm now two reviews down, having missed last week doing a review of Three Faces East and now Scarface (1932), which we watched last night. Not sure when I'll get to them, but it probably won't be this week, as it is another short one for me.

Again, Skylar got left out in the cold.

Now, just as a reminder, everything will be a little slower next week. This post will be a day late and will be another Report From the Front with what I learned at the Con.

Well, that about does it for me. Keep writing, and I'll see you next week.

A Week in Writing #517 - From Bad to Worse

Hope everyone is staying safe, and, of course, writing.

As if things couldn't get worse...

After going a couple of days without air conditioning, and just when things are getting back to normal, it looks like my computer will have to go into the shop. It all started with trying to update OBS, a software we use for our podcast, On the Air with Powers Squared. What should have been an easy update not only delayed us going live, but after spending three plus hours online with Geek Squad, now appears that the issue couldn't be resolved, at least not over the internet, and I'll have to take the computer in. Not sure that means they can fix it, but that's my next/only alternative.

I'm hoping it won't be long in the shop, as it will impact me if it's even overnight, let alone several days. Not only do I write, including this blog, but I also post on social media in support of Powers Squared and Trophy Unlocked, update the website, etc.

Speaking of Trophy Unlocked, X-Men Month is still going strong, with reviews of  X-Men Origins: Wolverine by Paul going up on Monday morning, followed on Wednesday by my review of X-Men: First Class, followed by Paul's review of The Wolverine on Friday and Trevor's review of X-Men: Days of Future Past as the Saturday Morning Review.

The delayed podcast on Friday was also about the X-Men franchise, with an emphasis on the films, though there was some talk about the animated series that have been based on the comic books. You can listen to it here, where you can also find links to various platforms, or watch it on Wednesday after 2:30 pm here. You can also find links to our video podasts at https://powerssquaredcomicbook.com/videos.

I'm a little frustrated on the progress of Powers Squared of late. We're waiting for the final pages from our current artist and I reached out to someone whom I believe wants to be the next artist and all I'm hearing back are crickets. I'm not really seeing the advantages of texting and will have to resort to actually calling them to get updates. I feel like that's the old way to do things, but I don't see much of a choice.

I tried to do some writing on Skylar this week, but didn't get far on either Monday or Tuesday. Monday night was sans air-conditioner and I'm finding my creative juices flow better at 73 degrees than say 93 degrees. Tuesday I was too tired after a lousy night of sleep to make much headway.

Prep continues for our annual trip to SDCC. We're in the panels stage now, with each of us reviewing the panels as they're released. As always, you can't do them all. The family will sit down soon to go over what we found and then map out some sort of strategy for the con, which also includes the floor, autographs and exclusives. It's very involved.

So, depending on the RX for the laptop, my writing might be curtailed in the new week. Fingers crossed it will go fast.

That about does it for me. Keep writing and I'll see  you back here next week.

A Week in Writing #516 - Not the Best Holiday Break

Hope everyone is staying safe, and, of course, writing.

I won't go into details, but the time I've had off from work was very expensive for me personally and I mean that in the dollars and cents way. Nothing really bad happened, but keeping up a house can sometimes be very expensive, not to mention maintaining cars. It's been a large financial hit all the way around and time has been spent on other things besides writing because of it.

I did manage to finish a chapter and write a new one for Skylar, including over 1400 words today, which has been a long-time goal not oft reached; hence the name of the page: https://1000wordsadayeasily.blogspot.com.

I'm also working on a review of Man's Castle, a 1933 melodrama starring Spencer Tracy and Loretta Young. As usual, no idea when it will appear on Trophy Unlocked, especially since we're in the midst of X-Men month on the blog. So far, Trevor's review of X-Men (2000) kicked things off on Tuesday, followed by Paul's review of  X2 (2003) on Thursday and my review of X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) as the Saturday Morning Review. During July, we will review all of the X-Men movies and a video game, culminating with Deadpool & Wolverine at the end. See, there is method to the madness.

On the Powers Squared front, Paul, Trevor and myself, the creators of the comic book, did our own character tier list as this week's OAPS podcast. This was in reaction to a similar tier list done the week before by the artists (Julia Canon, Jen Moreno, and artist emeritus, Rachel Wells). You can listen to ours here or watch it later, on our YouTube channel (@powerssquared), on Wednesday at 2:30 pm PDT, here.

To give you a preview, here's the artists' version:

and here is ours:

You can decide which is right. (See last week's post for links to their podcasts (audio and video).

We opened the banner we ordered for LA Comic-Con and it looks good. I was worried that the QR code wouldn't work, but it does. Haven't put it all together yet, but will share when that happens. We also received the t-shirts we ordered for the Con as well. While we're not going to be selling them there, we wanted to be able to wear everything available. There will be a discount for anyone who buys during the Con online.

Well, that about does it for me. Keep writing and I'll see you back here next week.

A Week in Writing #515 - The Artists Takeover

Hope everyone is staying safe, and, of course, writing.

We're a day late since I was driving most of Sunday. Too tired to really think much after 9+ hours behind the wheel. I have to give longhaul truck drivers credit, as I don't think I could ever do that.

Thanks to the artists, both past and present, for taking over our podcast in our absence. They decided to do a tier list of the characters from Powers Squared (there's a tab on the home page) if you want to play along. You can watch them on Wednesday at 2:30 pm on our YouTube channel. The audio is coming to https://powerssquaredcomicbook.com/oaps. Not sure I 100% agree with their ratings and am proposing the creators of the book do one of our own.

We're trying to map out podcasts for the month of July, and the artists will return at the end of the month, when we're off at San Diego Comic-Con. Speaking of which, last week, I heard from SDCC about tabling for this year's show (I was on the waiting list). As great an opportunity that would have been, I'm not prepared enough for that show, so I had to respectfully decline the last minute offer. Perhaps I would have been more ready to go if we had tabled somewhere before, but I'm not even sure I have everything I'll need and don't want to blow the opportunity by not being ready for it (and the additional costs associated with it as well).

Part of what I want to learn about tabling, for LA Comic-Con is, hopefully, going to come from speaking with small press exhibitors at SDCC. They are, hopefully, in the know and we can get advice before ordering our books. If the opportunity comes up next year, we'll be ready or at least better prepared to go from standing still to the big show.

Speaking of Powers Squared, we had a nice feature in the patreon magazine Mystic Mind #10 from Kirin Comics. I responded to a post, I believe on Facebook, looking for indie comics looking for publicity and we were selected. I'm told we will be considered for a Reader's Choice at the end of the year. You can support them at https://www.patreon.com/kirincomicstuff. If another way comes up to get the magazine, I'll be sure to let you know.

No new reviews from me this week, though my review for American Graffiti was the Saturday Morning Review on Trophy Unlocked. Next month, though, July, will be devoted exclusively to X-Men and Deadpool. If you've been reading along, you know that we've been watching all the X-Men franchise films, including Deadpool, now that all pays off. So, keep checking for the first of 15 reviews, including a Deadpool video game and, of course, Deadpool & Wolverine, which will conclude the month. The movie, unfortunately, opens during Comic-Con, but we've reserved seats for the 29th, so it will be reviewed as promptly as possible.

Travelling Friday to Sunday and prepping for that trip, unfortunately, took a hit on my output this week. I did work some on Skylar and feel like I'm finally getting to new parts of the story. I've already mapped out an ending, but there are still several steps before I get there.

Well, that about does it for me. Keep writing and I'll see you back here next week. Happy Fourth of July!