Longform comics: Web-publishing approach

I've been giving a lot of though to longform comics -- mostly because I think we're at a place right now where longform comics could really blossom. But I think it's going to mean adjusting the traditional approach that I see happening among longform comic creators. Let's start with the preliminaries -- which longtime readers of this site are going to recognize immediately. And then we'll transition into the part that I think could really make a difference for longform comics.

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Taking it to the Next Level - 5 Tips

We have a lot of information on this site for first-timers. And we have a lot of information here for people who have been doing comics at the professional level. But I wanted to challenge myself to write a post that strictly addresses the in-betweeners -- the people who aren't exactly new, yet definitely aren't doing pro-level work yet. What can you do to take your comic to the next level?

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"On the Spot" Hot Seat, Part 1

This is a new Hot Seat critique series that I'm experimenting with. It reinforces the idea that you're only as good as your latest update. Participants have submitted their URLs knowing that I'm going to view their site on a random day and talk about only that latest update. Of course, as is the case with all Hot Seat critiques, that's only the beginning of the discussion. Members are encouraged to jump in from there and carry the conversation further.

A La Mode

Keystone

Rival Angles

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Existential Crisis: Why are we here?

I've been working though Google's Digital Analytics Fundamentals workshop. It's a free online course that is designed to help you use and understand Web traffic data better, and I highly recommend it.

One of the repeated themes is that you need to know your business objective(s) before you can implement intelligent data tracking. And that's where I came to a bit of an existential crisis: What is the business objective for my webcomic?

It sounds funny... do be doing something for this long and to be unable to easily answer the question, but to be honest, I was a little torn between two choices...

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Saturday Deep Dive: Loss Leader

Today's dive into the deeper archive of Webcomics.com comes from Oct. 27, 2009, when I shared some advice on pricing merchandise.

When your local grocery store offers an item -- say a loaf of bread -- at an extra low price, that item is being used as a loss leader.

A loss leader is an item that is sold for little or no profit (even, literally, at a loss) for one reason and one reason only. To encourage you to walk into the store. Because, the grocer knows that once you walk into the store, you're not only going to buy bread, but you're going to probably buy milk, eggs and maybe even those little cookies with the chessmen on the

When the total sale is rung up, the grocer had made a tidy little profit. All because he was willing to take a loss on one of the items.

And you can, too.

One of the best things you can feature in your store is a small, inexpensive item that you can use to drive people to your store.

For example, last year, I offered a set of three buttons. (The link is for example purposes only; the offer is no longer available.) The buttons cost me about 50 cents apiece to have manufactured, and I offered to sell all three for $3. It was a decent profit, but certainly nothing that was going to make-or-break my year.

But where the buttons really came in handy was when I offered to include all three buttons for free with the order of any book from my store. Orders jumped instantly. People were willing to place an order that they most likely wouldn't have placed otherwise -- and all because I was willing to include free merchandise that set me back all of a buck-fifty.

In the end, I was able to spur sales at my store -- and make my readers happy -- all at the same time.

Hardly a loss.

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