Recommendation for a reliable vanity (hybrid) publisher？

CaoPaux · Sep 12, 2018

Since this is a General Publishing Discussion, moved from BR&BC.

andreafuyu · Sep 12, 2018

Sophia said:
Hi andreafuyu! In case you haven't seen it, we have a room full of information about publishing: Publishing FAQs and Resources. It does take some time, but you will benefit from doing your own research here, rather than asking people to summarise it quickly for you. You risk missing some useful information because the people who are generously and helpfully replying can't know all the details of your needs.

WOW. It is so kind and helpful of you! I'll check it right now.

andreafuyu · Sep 12, 2018

Curlz said:
Have you checked out Lulu? They probably will be closest to what you need and are legit and all.

Are you in China? Selling comic books is more difficult than selling regular novels. In some countries comic books are mostly sold in specialized or independent stores rather than regular bookshops. And to get your comicbook to those specialized or independent stores you need to go there in person. Which, of course, will depend on where in the world you are.

In general, comicbooks published by vanity/hybrid publishers will hardly ever be picked up by bookstores because there is no quality control at publisher level and the bookstore has no chance of knowing what they are getting. They can't read every book in order to decide if it's good, right? Again, you'll need to go around in person, offering your book to them.

True. Thank you very much for enlightening me of it.
I noticed nowadays there are many yaoi or yuri Chinese comic widely spread outside China. However, most of them are webcomics but not publications. I wonder how the traditional bookstore treats with the comicbooks adapted from the webcomics.

andreafuyu · Sep 12, 2018

ctripp said:
There is a "comics" sub forum on AW that might be of some help https://absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?89-Comic-Books-and-Graphic-Novels

I'm not sure there are any Agents who rep comic books, unless your goal is to be published by one of the big comic names, like Marvel.
There are many who are interested in Graphic Novels but don't know if what you have done could be a GN nor if you want to go that route.
My impression (no personal knowledge) is most Comic book artists/authors go the self publishing route. They sell at shows like comic con, on-line and approach comic book stores in hopes they might stock. There are also comic book publishers, this requires submitting and waiting as with other publishers.

Thanks for the info. How about the illustrated edition of the comicbook, like the character illustrations. I assume it is the same case that the comic creators also sell at shows like comic con, on-line (self-publishing) and approach comic book stores.

Any impression of a comicbook from China, similar to Chinese style you noticed recently?

Maggie Maxwell · Sep 12, 2018

andreafuyu said:
True. Thank you very much for enlightening me of it.
I noticed nowadays there are many yaoi or yuri Chinese comic widely spread outside China. However, most of them are webcomics but not publications. I wonder how the traditional bookstore treats with the comicbooks adapted from the webcomics.

If the webcomic can get a publisher behind it one way or another, then they are more than welcome in bookstores and have been for years. The first I remember was Megatokyo, years and years ago by a publisher that's now defunct, but it was available on shelves. Here's an article with a bunch of webcomics and their physical publishers. Image and Dark Horse are the biggest publishers outside of Marvel and DC, and unlike M&DC, they publish a wide variety instead of their own specific lines. There's one coming out next week called Check, Please! that's being published by Macmillan. Basically, in a very long answer: if the webcomic is good, absolutely.

andreafuyu · Sep 12, 2018

Maggie Maxwell said:
If the webcomic can get a publisher behind it one way or another, then they are more than welcome in bookstores and have been for years. The first I remember was Megatokyo, years and years ago by a publisher that's now defunct, but it was available on shelves. Here's an article with a bunch of webcomics and their physical publishers. Image and Dark Horse are the biggest publishers outside of Marvel and DC, and unlike M&DC, they publish a wide variety instead of their own specific lines. There's one coming out next week called Check, Please! that's being published by Macmillan. Basically, in a very long answer: if the webcomic is good, absolutely.

Thanks for sharing the article. Yes, being good is the only key.

Recommendation for a reliable vanity (hybrid) publisher？

CaoPaux

Mostly Harmless

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Maggie Maxwell

Making Einstein cry since 1994

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