Webcomics Confidential: George Rohac on Kickstarter

As part of the Kickstarter campaign for The Webcomics Handbook, my backers supported the launch of a new podcast series in which I will interview movers and shakers in Webcomics and drill down deep on topics and information that affect us all.

There's no better off-the-bat topic for this podcast than Kickstarter itself, and no better man to talk about its intricacies. Breadpig.com's George Rohac helped me with the Kickstarter for The Webcomics Handbook, and he's been behind some major Kickstarter fundraisers.

My Kickstarter backers got the first release of the podcast and members of Webcomics.com will get access to it next, with a public release scheduled later.

I hope you enjoy it as much as George and I enjoyed recording it.

3 easy steps to be listed FIRST as a graphic designer

Today's post was generously submitted by Michael Corley, the magician who makes comics about magic.

Are you tired of your Web site never showing up in searches? Are you so far down in Google they’ll have to create “Google Basement” just to show your site?

I bet right now you’re at your day job. In fact, I bet you’re reading this INSTEAD of doing your day job! Many cartoonists also do Graphic Design, Illustration and other creative avenues to still stay “in the biz” while working on their comic on the side. What if I could tell you how to increase your freelance work dramatically and help your comic strip at the same time?

I’m a cartoonist, but my day job is marketing. I’ve helped medical offices that make millions of dollars a year by increasing their online presence and I can show you how to make your local business sing when people search for it in Google and beyond!

THE SECRET: You must create a website promoting your local business. Then follow these three easy steps to make it show up first!

THE RESULT: A dramatic increase of work for your freelance business and increased Search Engine juice for your webcomic!

"Breaking Bad" creator: A vote for "work for exposure"?

In an interview with the BBC, Vince Gilligan, the creator of TV mega-hit Breaking Bad, gives partial credit to illegal pirating for the show's immense success. According to TorrentFreak.com, the show was illegally downloaded over a half-million times.

One of the main motivations for people to download and stream TV-shows from unauthorized sources is availability.

If fans can’t get a show through legal channels they often turn to pirated alternatives.

-- TorrentFreak.com

Gilligan's response?

“I see that there are two sides to this coin. If I’m being honest I see that the illegal downloading led to a lot of people watching the series, becoming aware of the series who otherwise would not have been... I see that in some ways illegal downloading has helped us, certainly in terms of brand awareness, so that’s a good side.”

-- BBC Newsbeat

So, time to stop sending cease-and-desist notes to comic scrapers and embrace pirating, right?

Saturday Deep Dive: Moderating a Comic-Convention Panel

Today's dive into the deeper archive of Webcomics.com takes us to the very first month of the site, October 2008, when we discussed a topic near and dear to my heart: Moderating a comic-convention panel.

A comic-convention panel can be an excellent opportunity to get people excited about your comic, but unless you do a good job of presenting the panel, you're going to wind up boring people. And no one is going to check out your work after you've bored them silly for an hour.

We've all been to the ubiquitous panel in which five cartoonists take turns answering the same question over and over again. They inevitably end up repeating each other's points, constantly flogging their own work, and the result is a droning mess.

Here's the secret to a good panel discussion: It's not what you talk about; it's how you talk about it.

The key to the the whole operation is the moderator. As the moderator, it's your responsibility to engender a comfortable, informal atmosphere -- even if your panelists just met on the stage. Add to this challenge the fact that many cartoonists are not be very good public speakers, and you've got your work cut out for you.

Read the rest of the post and join the discussion under the original thread.

WordPress 3.7 - Automatic Updates

For years, WordPress has had an Achille's Heel. Since it was the predominant CMS engine, it was the prime target for hackers. If they could hack WordPress, they could get into a tremendous number of sites.

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