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It’s official: you can now apply for an internship as a coloring assistant on Wrong About the Stars!
Right now they’re only open for Wrong About the Stars, but I may open them for other titles at a later date. Read the details on Internships here. Now that I’ve printed all sorts of comics on KDP, I have THOUGHTS, and I wanna share them with the folks who are also considering KDP for printing their comics! This post is targeted at full-color comics, but I may do a post on black and white comics at a later date if there’s interest. While this isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list of differences between color options and general information, feel free to leave questions and I can try to answer! ♥️ Strap in! This’ll be a long one! First off, KDP is hard to learn, especially for comics. The formatting is very specific and sometimes very infuriating. Your text goes one pixel out of the proper zone? Congrats, your file is rejected! After publishing a few books through KDP, I’ve started making my art with very generous margins to try and combat this. No matter what you do, you’ll have to finagle your files a lot. (Thanks for putting up with my anguished late night texts when KDP sends me another error email, Beth 🤣) Once you figure out how to assemble your files and what settings to use, it can be really fun to see everything come together. Not having to worry about overhead costs, packaging, and distribution for the books is really helpful, especially with how long comics already take to make! I’ve printed three graphic novels using premium color so far, and while I prefer the smooth, slightly shiny paper texture you get with premium color, the standard color option is perfectly serviceable and much more reasonably priced. Premium color generally reproduces your colors more accurately, BUT the higher quality will up your costs a lot. A 200 page paperback in standard color will run you around $8.05 to print (with a minimum list price around $13.45), meaning $20 is a reasonable list price. At that price you’ll earn around $3-4 in royalties per copy. A 200 page paperback in premium color, however, is about $14.85 to print, and the minimum list price is around $24.75. You’d have to charge at least $30 to make the same royalty per copy with premium color. This isn’t terribly unusual pricing, even with books from larger comic companies, but people will bat an eye at these prices. Oddly enough, Indie comics are expected to be less expensive than mainstream comics. For hardcovers you can generally expect to add at least $10 to that premium color price—coming out to about $40 for a 200 page book—and you’ll still earn about $3-4 per copy, at least in my experience. Standard color is not currently available for hardcovers on KDP. Trim size doesn’t affect pricing at all, by the way! That was something I wondered back when I started, hoping smaller trim sizes would save me some cash. It does not. 😂 (These prices aren’t exact of course, and may change or vary depending on when you’re reading this and where you’re from.) Some cons I’ve noticed with standard color books is that there is print banding in some places, and the papers in the front and back of the book are at risk of some nasty creasing, likely occurring during manufacturing. It isn’t awful, but it is something to be aware of. Planning your comic to have some sort of buffer or non-important pages (such as title or decorative pages, or just plain sheets) may help prevent your pretty art from getting crinkled. Lettering in standard color books suffers. There’s often a red offset on the text, and this offset or halo can also be visible in the art. On occasion it can make lines fuzzy. Blacks won’t be reproduced richly in standard color, and may give the art a washed-out appearance. This is due to standard color paper’s matte finish. It’s fairly close to copy paper, frankly. Other colors reproduce better than I expected though, and are fairly close to the premium colors, ignoring the dulled black ink. All that said, I don’t mind the results. I’ve seen worse, and you may not even run into all the same issues I’ve mentioned here. Remember, all of these tradeoffs can—and often are—reasonable for the price difference. It’s up to you. If you’re wanting to have a nice stock of author copies for cons or something, the standard color price is much more appealing and much less likely to make you weep the tears of a broken person…and wallet. Premium color is beautiful. It’s my preferred option budget-wise for paperbacks that are under 150 pages. I personally feel like page counts above 150 in premium color start getting a bit too expensive for most buyers, since you’ll likely need to charge $25-35 depending on how many pages are in your book. The paper is smooth and a bit thicker, more like what you might find in a trade published by the Big 2. The ink is glossy and vibrant, and the crisp line quality it gives in both the art and lettering is great. There’s a reason it’s the recommended option for comics! Good color reproduction. Their printers sometimes struggle a bit with reproducing blue tones, but that’s a very common issue across all printing. Their rich blues print more accurately than books done through Ka-Blam! Printing. I much, MUCH prefer KDP’s paperbacks over Ka-Blam! Printing’s paperbacks, despite Ka-Blam! being an easier company to work with in general. Now a quick bit on paperbacks vs hardcovers! (Which isn’t really comic-specific, but the information is a bit different for comics). I love both book types, though keep in mind that the trim sizes for hardcovers are much more limited than paperbacks, which you can even do custom trim sizes for. Hardcovers are bound really well and much sturdier…but with that solid binding comes a much narrower inside margin. You’ll probably need to add bigger margins in the middle, or you won’t be able to see the art or read the dialogue as easily! With paperbacks you can bend the book open wider with ease. KDP only offers case laminate hardcovers, though you could make custom dust jackets and offer those elsewhere if you really want. No doubt I’ve overlooked some info, but for now we’ll leave it at that. Got more questions about publishing comics with KDP? General comic questions or anything? Lemme know! ☺️ Thanks to anyone who made it through this mammoth! I hope it was helpful to anyone else out there who is having a hard time finding a decent print-on-demand place for paperbacks, or folks who can’t decide which color option to use.
All the best, -Lissie Dixon I’ve been quietly plugging away on volume 1 of The Pumpkin Sells Real Estate (along with everything else, because I have no sense of self preservation, it seems). I’m in the home stretch with the sequential pages, which means my mind has turned towards the cover designs. That’s right, designs. Plural. Because I’m planning on releasing two print editions of The Pumpkin Sells Real Estate—paperback and hardcover! I’ve never done a hardcover book before, but hey, I’ve only been getting my books printed for a year, so I’m still pretty new at this. Kindle Direct Publishing recently rolled out hardcovers, and while they’re viciously expensive, the price is a bit more justifiable if it’s a deluxe edition, no? Let’s take a look at the cover mockup for the paperback edition first. It’s rough, and all of the text on the back cover is just holding the place for now so I can figure out the composition better. It’s shaping up though. While I feel like I’m getting much closer to getting another book printed, it’s still a long way to go! It was a real challenge trying to fit everyone in without covering them too much with titling, barcodes, and other nonsense you put on covers. But I think I managed it without it looking too forced! Now let’s look at the in-progress version of that deluxe edition cover… Inspired by my family’s small collection of antique books, the hardcover’s design is going to be a lot more ornate. Many details are still up in the air, and the final version will be even prettier than this, I can tell you that much. It’ll also be about double the price of the paperback, but with good reason, I believe. I’m hoping to make it a sort of collector’s edition—not that I think I’m at a point in my career to justify that. I assure you, this is purely self-indulgent. Here are some of my inspirations. That’s all from me for now, though.
All the best, -Lissie Dixon 2020 wound up being a lot less productive than I had hoped. I throw that word around a lot—“productive”. Highly subjective, and generally not the most motivating, no?
It’s no secret the year was rough for almost all creative folks. While I, honestly, wasn’t nearly as affected as many people were, the constant bombardment of negativity, fear and fighting I got every time I went online, stepped out of my room, or even had a simple conversation did quite the number on my motivation and energy. I’ve been fatigued 24/7, and that hampered my plans. I had intended to illustrate most—if not all—of the first volume of my upcoming series Detective Rosengarten, but things went south. But not in all bad ways! I finished Lunar the Moon Rabbit during the summer, and prepping it for publication took a lot of time and effort. Then, in autumn, The Pumpkin Sells Real Estate got accepted into the Webtoons ad revenue program, which meant I was now obligated to update at least once a month, and the new influx of readers meant weekly updates were expected. I’m generally not one to cave to reader expectations. I personally believe that if you let readers take the reins of your story, it loses a lot of its genuine spirit and can fly off the rails very easily. But this is different—the amount of updates I post in a month is directly tied to my earnings. I may not be doing it exclusively for the cash, but let’s be honest. When you’re self-employed, sometimes you have to shift your plans to have money to keep doing the thing. The plan had been 100 pages of Detective Rosengarten by the end of the year, and I definitely didn’t hit that, nor have I through the first half of 2021. But that’s okay, because instead, I threw spaghetti at the wall to see what would stick. If it stuck, great! If it didn’t...well, I made some tweaks to my plans accordingly. Here’s what I found. Instagram hasn’t stuck for me. It was fun for the first few years, but honestly, the platform has become stagnant for me. I held onto it for “business reasons”, thinking that was my biggest opportunity for commissions, readers, and various means of support. Most of the people who really support my work wind up following me multiple places. Instagram hasn’t held my interest, and frankly, I only really open it to reply to DMs from people I can chat with elsewhere. I’ve had my Instagram for about four years now, but it just doesn’t have the same glow to it anymore. Social media in general hasn’t held my attention well lately. I much prefer spending my time making comics and projects that hold water outside of social media. The feeling of holding a book I made is far more rewarding long-term than posting a piece of art on Instagram. I don’t regret the effort I put into Instagram things though! I’ve made many good friends and learned a lot from it, but in the end, what will I have to show for that? I prefer tangible results. Books check that box. Plus I really, really love books. The Pumpkin Sells Real Estate has performed well on both Webtoon and Tapas, as well as in my hometown—I got the opportunity to do an art show at the beginning of 2020, right before things went bonkers, and a piece featuring Lantrell was one of the most popular illustrations in my display. The love for my saucy pumpkin man has definitely shown that it’s a series worth pursuing, and I’ll be keeping with it long-term, it looks like. Volume 1 of The Pumpkin Sells Real Estate is slated for a 2022 release in print. The Heyday Kids, Aces, and Little Lady and the Misadventures did not stick in 2020, nor really 2021. They all performed fairly poorly. I have full intentions of finishing the narratives for the two formers, but it might take longer than initially planned since I will, ultimately, need funding of some type to complete them. They’re now hobby projects, and I don’t foresee them selling well when I publish them as books. I still will though, even if only for myself. Lunar the Moon Rabbit took well in 2020, even if I was wrapping it. The support for that series was lovely, and quite surprising! I consider that one as having stuck. It’s still garnering new readers, too, and the paperback sales have been decent. Circadia didn’t stick in 2020, but I didn’t do well talking about that one, and it didn’t get a print release until 2021. It’s done better than I expected in print, but still not great. For a project I prodded at for three years, the reception was, admittedly, a bit disappointing. YouTube was fun, but I don’t think it stuck. I put out quite a few videos in the second half of the 2020, but didn’t experience much growth or interaction. It was still fun though, and I’ve continued posting videos through much of 2021. Editing is a nice hobby. I started streaming on Twitch recently, and it’s gone fairly well. One of my streams got 100+ viewers, which…I still have no idea how that happened. I’m about 10 followers away from applying for Twitch Affiliate, which I’d like to do. It’s just difficult to stream with the bogus internet connection available in the country. I’m hoping to move sometime soon, and perhaps I’ll get better internet then, and can stream more. It helps keep me accountable and on-task for work. Go For Rich! has not performed very well. I’m hoping to publish Volume 1 of it in mid to late 2021 though, and it might just perform better in graphic novel form. I need to change some approaches. Again, I’m trying to not be motivated by money, but at the fresh age of twenty, I need to be more liquid than I am. It would do my work wonders if I could afford a house of my own, and based off my rocky income history, I’d never get approved for loans...not to mention how nervous I’d make a landlord! So I need to rearrange priorities and throw more spaghetti at the earnings wall. Need to try new things. I keep feeling like books are the answer though. Print books! They just tend to take a year or two to make, which makes them a bit tricky. Another plate of spaghetti I’ll be throwing relating to that is a full-length novel. I’ve mentioned Brightlite Records: ‘87 here and there, but it’s coming together. I’m in what I believe to be the final third of the book, and with any luck I’ll be publishing it in 2022. I’ve heard it takes a few novels to get any sort of traction—I figure that means I shouldn’t expect Brightlite to be any kind of breakout hit, but hey, we’ll see when I finally throw the pasta, right? Animation is a realm I want to keep delving into. I finished storyboarding my short film awhile back, and have started final animation for it. Animated projects usually sit on the back burner, but hey, maybe I’ll be able to bite off more involving that in the future. I need to cast the voice actors for it. I really want to make a decisive pipeline for the coming months, but after the past couple of years, I’ve realized my career is simply too tumultuous to even start making any concrete plans. So instead, I’ll make a checklist. Maybe I’ll come back to this list at the end of 2021 and give an update on how things went, if I remember to do so. So. To put it plain, what do I want to do in the remaining half of 2021?
Those are the big points. I have a few personal goals, too, but creatively, those are the major plans. Here’s to making some of it happen! All the best, -Lissie Dixon I recently rewrote all of the (currently) published issues of Aces. This comic has been written and rewritten at least half a dozen times now, but I want to say it’s finally been rewritten for the last time. I also have been working on coloring Aces #1. The comic will be receiving a reboot on Webtoon and Tapas, with new and improved lettering and formatting, some tweaks to the visuals, and much better planning. The rewrites will make the first volume far more polished and cohesive, and I’m excited about the slight change in direction! It’s the exact same story, just…a bit better. I’m working on writing #4, #5 and #6. Volume 1 will consist of six issues, but Aces tends to have long issues (in the ballpark of 25 pages to 35 pages), so if I had to estimate a page count, I’d say vol. 1 will be around 180 to 200 pages. We’ll see though. Aces is such a dear story to me. I want to do it right. That’s why I’ve spent so long writing and rewriting. I still don’t have an timetable on when it’s coming off hiatus however, nor do I know when the soft reboot will happen. I’m just slowly plugging away at the comic, and when things are done, they’ll be done. I look forward to the day I’m done rehashing the comic though, because I want to tell the whole story!
There’ll be a blog post when the reboot goes live, so if you aren’t subscribed to Aces on Tapas or Webtoon, you can keep an eye on this here blog! There are some other exciting things happening in the coming months, so this space will be more active if all goes to plan. All the best, -Lissie Dixon I was inspired recently by the illustrations done by Carson Ellis and Diana Suzuka for one of my favorite book series, The Mysterious Benedict Society. The simplicity of the art still conveys a nice bit of information, and I wanted to try my hand at something a bit like it. Granted, these pieces are far from my first foray into this sort of look, but they’re the most polished yet, I dare say. I enjoy the loose nature of it quite a bit. The uneven and wobbly lines make it efficient, but energetic, and the loosey goosey coloring style keeps it fun and interesting. I’m slowly experimenting with more detail in the illustrations, but it’s a tricky balance. Too much detail and you’ve deviated from the point of the style, but too little detail and it just feels unfinished. Though I’ve done pieces with this look purely for my own enjoyment, I do hope I get commissioned to do a cover in this style. It’s great fun, and I think the lopsided look lends well to a cover. It feels playful and light. That’s all from me for now, though. Quick reminder that you can hire me for book and album cover art—check out the Commissions page on the site to learn all the details.
All the best, -Lissie Dixon Interested in having me illustrate your book or album cover? Check out the terms, conditions and estimates on the Commissions page of this site. Personal commissions are not currently open.
Hope you’re having a good February. Check back in soon for some more art! All the best, -Lissie Dixon Since I’m in the final stages of having braces, I’ve been experiencing a lot of discomfort. I scheduled 2 weeks off from updating my comics on Webtoon and Tapas, and in that time, I’ve cut myself some slack and done some art for fun. “Aimless” art is really helpful when you’re experiencing some burnout or fatigue. These days most of my art ( if it isn’t comic pages or covers) tends to be either concept work for future projects or promotional work for currently projects. This week I’ve gotten to draw pieces just for my own enjoyment. I watched all of the Rocky films recently and wanted to give some fan art a go. I’m pretty happy with the results, and the two pieces were a good opportunity to stretch some muscles I haven’t used in a long time. That’s a perk to fan art. It often challenges you to draw things you don’t draw often—or at all. Hoping to make weekly blog posts a thing, often including some art or a pic of what I’m working on that week. I’m also thinking it won’t be a specific day...gotta keep you on your toes! Also because my schedule fluctuates greatly from week to week, so I don’t want to commit to a hard schedule that I can’t keep. In other news, I’ve been working on my novel Brightlite Records: ‘87 this week as well. It’s hovering around 54k words currently, but frankly it feels like I’m only at the midway point with the story, so we’ll see how long it winds up being. I’ve always wanted to publish a hefty 300+ page novel, so this might be the one! That’s all from me for now though.
All the best, -Lissie Dixon In 2019, I started and finished the first issue of Wrong About the Stars.I published the first issue just in time for a local craft market, where I was able to sell a few copies. I didn’t launch the comic on Webtoon and Tapas for a few months, waiting until Valentine’s Day of 2020 to set it free online. I have a love of launching things on Valentine’s for some reason. It didn’t do great at first. It did finally have a little uptick on both Webtoon and Tapas, enough so to justify avoiding a hiatus. On January 14th, 2021, I posted the first page of #3 on Webtoon and Tapas. Since I’ve only been putting out one page every time I update, progress is slow, but at least it’s something. I’m hoping to sit down and chart out the rest of the series over the next couple of weeks, which has been bouncing around in my head without really being committed to paper for too long. The first two weeks of this year have been delightful in regards to the planning I’ve gotten done. I’ve made the roadmap for multiple comics, and I’ve finished the scripts for multiple volumes. Ideally I’m aiming for at least two paperbacks released this year, but if I only get one I’ll be thrilled. Wrong About the Stars isn’t going to be one of those paperbacks. The series is, however, projected to have about two or three volumes by the time I finish the series, and I’m aiming to finish the scripts for volume one this weekend. A major part of planning the first volume is nailing down some character designs! I confess that I tend to put off character design until the last minute. Most of the time I know what someone will look like when they come onto the page, but I learn a lot about them when I start drawing them, and sometimes what you imagine in your head doesn’t look nearly as good as you think it will. Plus, having a full-body reference I can go back to is quite handy!
I’ve changed the approach to the art for Wrong About the Stars multiple times over production. The first issue was a blend of 100% traditional pages for the “present day” segments, and 100% digital for the flashback portion. When I make the paperback, I’d like to redo parts of the first issue and help make them more cohesive to the rest of the series—it isn’t urgent, but I do think the digital portions stand out too much, and not in a great way. Partway through #2 I realized the fully traditional pages weren’t sustainable with my income. I used quite a few Copic markers, and the ink was adding up. I did a few tests and found I was able to imitate the Copic look with Procreate on my iPad Pro fairly well, so I switched to that for colors. I currently sketch the pages digitally, then either print them out and ink them using my light box, or I turn up the brightness on my iPad screen and transfer onto paper that way. I ink traditionally with a brush pen and fineliners, then scan, edit the pages in Clip Studio Paint to get the lineart clean and ready for colors, and transfer the pages to my iPad Pro for colors in Procreate. Once the art is done, the pages go back to my laptop and Clip Studio, where I letter and finalize ‘em! Admittedly it’s a lot of steps, but the result is nice in my opinion. The PDF edition of Wrong About the Stars #2 should be available on my Gumroad this month, and I’m looking forward to getting #3 available as well! If all goes according to plan, the PDF edition of #3 should be available in February! Stay tuned. I’ll be updating with more insight on timelines, projects and production if you’re interested! I’ll also be sharing illustrations in future posts. If nothing else, come for the pretty pictures? Pretty please? All the best, -Lissie Dixon |
Lissie DixonArtist, author, general wearer of many hats. Creator of many things. Archives
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