figmentPez
Staff member
I think there's something to be said for every Walt having their own Roy.
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If you want to be treated as a 'business professional' for your work, you have to act like a 'business professional'. I would never suggest that each comic creator finds their own Khoo because, frankly, a good business manager is just as rare as a good comic creator. I would suggest that they learn from the work Khoo does, or even look outside of comics in general to customer service companies to see what those (Oh god, I'm going to sound like an MBA) best practices are. At the end of the day, your "value" if we measure it against income, is intrinsically linked to the interactions you have with your customers. If your customers are advertising agencies putting marketing on your website, it's up to you to continue putting up content to drive eyeballs to your site. If your customers are people buying your printed book and other material, it's up to you to ensure you have a professional production environment for getting those goods out to the people asking for them.
Yet, as you well know, many people don't do comicking as a full time job. It's something put together because 1) right now they have capacity for it or 2) it's something they've always wanted to do or 3) it's their first step into larger things. Eventually circumstances change and unless they're prepared to do it full time, they should have the wherewithal to recognize that at one point they may have to take either a step back, or to be the grown up and say "Hey, it's been great, but it's time to step away now."
I cannot applaud you enough for 10 years of TH, and being professional enough to step away in a manner that recognizes how dependant your success was on the community you built.
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Tom Brazelton
I agree with everything you've said. There are learning opportunities everywhere. Part of being a professional is having a interest in those topics and a proclivity to integrate them. And you're absolutely right - if you're out of your depth, you need to learn when to scale back.
I think we might be talking about two different groups of people, though. There are comic creators who WANT to be professional and fail at even the most rudimentary customer service. Then there are those who are just kind of dicking around, stumble onto a formula for content that works and kind of get swept up into producing books, selling ad space, etc. because they get the impression that's what they're supposed to do.
If you want to be treated like a professional, you absolutely have to act like one. But I think for the majority of webcomic creators, the thought doesn't even enter their minds.
I mean, look at the number of creators who are living on their work - you could probably count them on your hands. Those who turn a mild profit like I managed to for a few years are maybe a couple dozen more. The majority of webcomics are either just making enough in ad revenue to cover hosting or they're throwing money down a hole (willingly, I'm certain, because they love doing it.)
I think we might be talking about two different groups of people, though. There are comic creators who WANT to be professional and fail at even the most rudimentary customer service. Then there are those who are just kind of dicking around, stumble onto a formula for content that works and kind of get swept up into producing books, selling ad space, etc. because they get the impression that's what they're supposed to do.
If you want to be treated like a professional, you absolutely have to act like one. But I think for the majority of webcomic creators, the thought doesn't even enter their minds.
I mean, look at the number of creators who are living on their work - you could probably count them on your hands. Those who turn a mild profit like I managed to for a few years are maybe a couple dozen more. The majority of webcomics are either just making enough in ad revenue to cover hosting or they're throwing money down a hole (willingly, I'm certain, because they love doing it.)
I think we've got four different groups of creators then. (Yes, there's actually an infinite number of groups, but for simplicities sake, let's narrow it down)
1) Creators who want to be professional and succeed because of it.
2) Creators who want to be professional and fail because they cannot be.
3) Creators who dick around and succeed despite it.
4) People who dick around and fail because of it.
In a perfect world, everyone would fall into 1 and 3.
In an average world, everyone would fall into every category equally.
Unfortunately, like you said, there's only a handful who fall into #1. A larger group in #3. And then 90% in #4.
#2 concerns me and you brought this up as well. There are comic creators who WANT to be professional and fail at even the most rudimentary customer service.
If not for Khoo, I think P-A might have ended up in #2.
1) Creators who want to be professional and succeed because of it.
2) Creators who want to be professional and fail because they cannot be.
3) Creators who dick around and succeed despite it.
4) People who dick around and fail because of it.
In a perfect world, everyone would fall into 1 and 3.
In an average world, everyone would fall into every category equally.
Unfortunately, like you said, there's only a handful who fall into #1. A larger group in #3. And then 90% in #4.
#2 concerns me and you brought this up as well. There are comic creators who WANT to be professional and fail at even the most rudimentary customer service.
If not for Khoo, I think P-A might have ended up in #2.
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Tom Brazelton
I think PA might have succeeded despite itself only because the content is so strong. But they wouldn't be doing charities and conventions without Khoo, that much is for sure.
Through the lens of history - knowing what we know now about Mike and Jerry both having a certain level of social anxiety - customer service wouldn't have been their primary focus or interest.
Through the lens of history - knowing what we know now about Mike and Jerry both having a certain level of social anxiety - customer service wouldn't have been their primary focus or interest.
I don't think anyone goes into business hoping to knuckle under to a rabid customer base
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Tom Brazelton
I don't think Mike or Jerry really considered Penny Arcade "a business." Didn't they sign their book rights away before getting into a legal wrestling match to re-obtain them?
I think they intended to make a run of it at a business at one point before Khoo stepped up.
From Wired
I hope that other artists use the PA example as a "What not to do"; at least to begin with
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