Huh, that is really interesting trivia. I didn’t know that Stella did Amelia’s voice in the old podcast. When you first released that podcast, I remember thinking “this is a great voice for Amelia. It fits so well with how she’s presented in the comics.”
On New Year's Eve, I went to see A Complete Unknown, which is a tour de force depiction of Bob Dylan's coming of age as a musician. In one scene, at a Newport Folk Festival, they showed the very tyranny you describe - Bob went from acoustic to electric and somehow that was a sin, a crime specific to the world of folk music apparently. Like you, I found it confounding and ridiculous. He is a genius regardless of instrument.
I read “the dumbest idea ever” when I was 10 and it was a big part of what got me into doing comics. It’s great to hear you talk about this. Also, is shades of gray available anywhere?
That’s awesome to hear! Thank you for sharing that. You can find old printings of the shades of Gray comics but it’s not currently in print. But I have thought about doing a restored edition someday.
And I’m glad I got to tell you - the book was assigned to me in 5th grade and my assignment after was to make my own comic. And I’ve more or less kept at it ever since. So thank you, truly. 😃
I agree wholeheartedly. Constructive criticism can be a very helpful thing. Call me crazy, but I’m still waiting for my “bad” reviews! This month marks the one-year anniversary of the release of my first book, and there are still only TWO people on the internet who wrote reviews. One of them is Shaylee Robson (God bless her!) and the other is from BookLife, which I PAID for out of desperation! Were their reviews great? Yes! Did they improve my sales? No. Not many people know my book exists yet, but the lucky few who have read it absolutely love it. (Not just people in my family or friend group, mind you.) Which makes me wonder, is my book really that good? Or is it struggling so badly that not enough people are reading it to give it varied opinions? I’m not saying I “want” bad reviews per se, but come on! They have to come sooner or later, and I need to be ready to either consider people’s suggestions for improvement, or brush off their toxic remarks.
Well first, stop thinking that your book is struggling. You created it and it’s an original work and you published it yourself. All of that is great and is the part that’s most important. That IS success. That IS being an author.
In the Good ol’ US of A, traditional publishers put out between 300,000-500,000 NEW titles each year. When you add in self published books, that number climbs to over two million. So of course your book isn’t getting reviewed out of that sea of titles. It’s absurd to think it WOULD be reviewed. That’s why people think being a successful writer is like winning the lottery. Because they assume it happens by chance, or by raw talent. It doesn’t.
So let’s break this down..
First, internet reviews like you’d find on goodreads or personal websites will not help or hurt, because absolutely no one cares about those. The only types of reviews that move numbers are in places like publishers weekly, library journal, the New York Times, kirkus reviews and similar places. They review books that are sent to them by the publishers. They aren’t ordering copies of random titles off of Amazon to review. You need to send the book, along with some information about the title and the author to those outlets and request a review. Even then, they will most likely (Read: definitely) ignore you. I am a New York Times bestselling author who has sold over a million books and comics and I have never been reviewed by the New York Times. Nor do I care.
So don’t worry about reviews at this point.
And as far as them telling you if your book is good or not, reviews won't do that either. It’s just some random person’s half baked opinion. If they knew what they were talking about, they would create books themselves. Only you can decide if your work is a success. Do not give that power away to anyone. And please never pay for a review again. It’s a scam, and those types of services really are a blight on the industry. I wish them nothing but failure. Worse, it reflects poorly on the author who use them, and will do more harm than good.
The way I built my career was going to comic book conventions and hand selling my book to readers one at a time. I did two shows a month for YEARS before anyone heard of me or I made any money. I wrote and drew three entire graphic novels totaling about 700 pages and that is all before Amelia Rules. No money, low sales, almost no recognition.
That’s how badly I wanted this.
If I was starting out today? I would do the same thing. Sure, I’d probably have a strong social media presence, but nothing replaces a potential reader meeting the author. Now, none of these conventions I did were large shows. I’m talking about conventions that last one day in some podunk town. People appreciate it when authors visit places like that and you can slowly grow your readership.
When I wasn’t doing that, I did school visits. Hundreds and hundreds of them. Those are good because they pay. But you have to be a good presenter to get those gigs.
And when I wasn’t doing THAT, or working a job to try to have enough money to survive, I was drawing my NEXT comic. Every single day. For YEARS.
Was it a slog? Yeah. But I was lucky to have two people, Karen Applegate-Gownley, and Dave Wert, who went to those comic book shows with me, and lifted my spirits when it was hard. I am beyond grateful for that.
And at the end of the day, it was worth it. Not because I “made it.” As far as I’m concerned I made it with my first self-published comic when I was 15. The rest…critical acclaim, or awards, or great reviews… all of that is beside the point entirely.
The reason it was worth it is because I’m an artist and that’s what artists do.
Yes, Jimmy, I think it does. I will certainly give this some thought. I admit that when I first released Zoe Richards, part of me hoped that it would become the next Judy Moody or Dork Diaries by the end of year one. But now I understand that was WAY too big of an expectation.
On the other hand, I’m still very happy with what I’ve accomplished so far just by bringing my characters to life! After I finish my next book, I might reconsider trying to sell some books in person at various events. Who knows? Anything could happen in the next few years.
A few weeks ago, a lady at my church gave a copy of my book to one of her friends, who is autistic like I am. This young woman enjoyed my book so much that she came to our church just so she could meet me! We talked for ten minutes after the service. She said it was the best book she ever read, and was glad to meet an author who was also on the spectrum. She even gave me a hug! It was so exhilarating to meet one of my fans, and it reminded me of the day I met you at the Baltimore Comic Con.
So I need to constantly remind myself that there are no wasted efforts in the creative work that I do.
Huh, that is really interesting trivia. I didn’t know that Stella did Amelia’s voice in the old podcast. When you first released that podcast, I remember thinking “this is a great voice for Amelia. It fits so well with how she’s presented in the comics.”
Great episode as always, Jimmy. ^^
On New Year's Eve, I went to see A Complete Unknown, which is a tour de force depiction of Bob Dylan's coming of age as a musician. In one scene, at a Newport Folk Festival, they showed the very tyranny you describe - Bob went from acoustic to electric and somehow that was a sin, a crime specific to the world of folk music apparently. Like you, I found it confounding and ridiculous. He is a genius regardless of instrument.
That was a great movie!
I read “the dumbest idea ever” when I was 10 and it was a big part of what got me into doing comics. It’s great to hear you talk about this. Also, is shades of gray available anywhere?
That’s awesome to hear! Thank you for sharing that. You can find old printings of the shades of Gray comics but it’s not currently in print. But I have thought about doing a restored edition someday.
Oh cool, I’ll look into it!!
And I’m glad I got to tell you - the book was assigned to me in 5th grade and my assignment after was to make my own comic. And I’ve more or less kept at it ever since. So thank you, truly. 😃
That’s amazing!
I agree wholeheartedly. Constructive criticism can be a very helpful thing. Call me crazy, but I’m still waiting for my “bad” reviews! This month marks the one-year anniversary of the release of my first book, and there are still only TWO people on the internet who wrote reviews. One of them is Shaylee Robson (God bless her!) and the other is from BookLife, which I PAID for out of desperation! Were their reviews great? Yes! Did they improve my sales? No. Not many people know my book exists yet, but the lucky few who have read it absolutely love it. (Not just people in my family or friend group, mind you.) Which makes me wonder, is my book really that good? Or is it struggling so badly that not enough people are reading it to give it varied opinions? I’m not saying I “want” bad reviews per se, but come on! They have to come sooner or later, and I need to be ready to either consider people’s suggestions for improvement, or brush off their toxic remarks.
Well first, stop thinking that your book is struggling. You created it and it’s an original work and you published it yourself. All of that is great and is the part that’s most important. That IS success. That IS being an author.
In the Good ol’ US of A, traditional publishers put out between 300,000-500,000 NEW titles each year. When you add in self published books, that number climbs to over two million. So of course your book isn’t getting reviewed out of that sea of titles. It’s absurd to think it WOULD be reviewed. That’s why people think being a successful writer is like winning the lottery. Because they assume it happens by chance, or by raw talent. It doesn’t.
So let’s break this down..
First, internet reviews like you’d find on goodreads or personal websites will not help or hurt, because absolutely no one cares about those. The only types of reviews that move numbers are in places like publishers weekly, library journal, the New York Times, kirkus reviews and similar places. They review books that are sent to them by the publishers. They aren’t ordering copies of random titles off of Amazon to review. You need to send the book, along with some information about the title and the author to those outlets and request a review. Even then, they will most likely (Read: definitely) ignore you. I am a New York Times bestselling author who has sold over a million books and comics and I have never been reviewed by the New York Times. Nor do I care.
So don’t worry about reviews at this point.
And as far as them telling you if your book is good or not, reviews won't do that either. It’s just some random person’s half baked opinion. If they knew what they were talking about, they would create books themselves. Only you can decide if your work is a success. Do not give that power away to anyone. And please never pay for a review again. It’s a scam, and those types of services really are a blight on the industry. I wish them nothing but failure. Worse, it reflects poorly on the author who use them, and will do more harm than good.
The way I built my career was going to comic book conventions and hand selling my book to readers one at a time. I did two shows a month for YEARS before anyone heard of me or I made any money. I wrote and drew three entire graphic novels totaling about 700 pages and that is all before Amelia Rules. No money, low sales, almost no recognition.
That’s how badly I wanted this.
If I was starting out today? I would do the same thing. Sure, I’d probably have a strong social media presence, but nothing replaces a potential reader meeting the author. Now, none of these conventions I did were large shows. I’m talking about conventions that last one day in some podunk town. People appreciate it when authors visit places like that and you can slowly grow your readership.
When I wasn’t doing that, I did school visits. Hundreds and hundreds of them. Those are good because they pay. But you have to be a good presenter to get those gigs.
And when I wasn’t doing THAT, or working a job to try to have enough money to survive, I was drawing my NEXT comic. Every single day. For YEARS.
Was it a slog? Yeah. But I was lucky to have two people, Karen Applegate-Gownley, and Dave Wert, who went to those comic book shows with me, and lifted my spirits when it was hard. I am beyond grateful for that.
And at the end of the day, it was worth it. Not because I “made it.” As far as I’m concerned I made it with my first self-published comic when I was 15. The rest…critical acclaim, or awards, or great reviews… all of that is beside the point entirely.
The reason it was worth it is because I’m an artist and that’s what artists do.
Also, between you and me?
I had a blast!
Hope this helps, my friend!
Yes, Jimmy, I think it does. I will certainly give this some thought. I admit that when I first released Zoe Richards, part of me hoped that it would become the next Judy Moody or Dork Diaries by the end of year one. But now I understand that was WAY too big of an expectation.
On the other hand, I’m still very happy with what I’ve accomplished so far just by bringing my characters to life! After I finish my next book, I might reconsider trying to sell some books in person at various events. Who knows? Anything could happen in the next few years.
A few weeks ago, a lady at my church gave a copy of my book to one of her friends, who is autistic like I am. This young woman enjoyed my book so much that she came to our church just so she could meet me! We talked for ten minutes after the service. She said it was the best book she ever read, and was glad to meet an author who was also on the spectrum. She even gave me a hug! It was so exhilarating to meet one of my fans, and it reminded me of the day I met you at the Baltimore Comic Con.
So I need to constantly remind myself that there are no wasted efforts in the creative work that I do.
Thanks for your help!
BOGC,
Joshua
Dude. That moment with that girl is the only review you will ever need. Congratulations. Let it fuel the next book.