Sales Tax at Conventions

Something happened at Comic-Con in July that really made my eyes pop open.

And it had nothing to do with cosplayers.

A representative from the California State Board of Equalization dropped by our booth and asked to see our sales tax documentation. And then he started asking some very direct questions about how much merchandize we had brought, how much we sold last year, how many years we had been exhibiting in San Diego, and so on.

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Friday Archive Dive: What About 'About'?

Today's Archive Dive comes from May 28, 2009, when we discussed the unsung hero of webcomics, the About page -- and how many of us are underestimating its worth.

Is there are more under-sung hero on the webcomics home page than the About page? In one, simple file, it allows us webcartoonists to achieve something that no previous cartoonists were able to efficiently do: Quickly indoctrinate a new reader. Newspaper comic strips have to be ruthlessly standalone. Every day they have to be completely accessible to a new reader. While the same is somewhat true for the daily webcartoonist, we have an ace in the hole. The About page, when organized and presented well, takes that moderately interested onlooker and prepares her to become a new reader. It's easy to become jaded with the About page. It's as obligatory as the copyright at the bottom of the page. But with that familiarity comes a degree of contempt. Many webcartoonists aren't using them to their full potential. So let's look at some aspects of About pages that work:

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Thumbnail Sketches

Sometimes we get so immeshed in the routine of doing regularly updated art that we forget to pay attention to some of the small things that make a big difference in our work.

One of these often-overlooked details is composition.

A well-composed panel will direct the reader's eye, in the correct order, through all of the important visual elements. For long-form cartoonists, this same concept is applied to the composition of the panels on the page.

But good composition doesn't just happen; it's planned out.

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Logo Design

Designing a logo for your comic is an exercise in branding that, unfortunately, many people don't put a whole lot of thought into. However, that logo often says as much about your comic as your comic itself. In fact, it might be argued to have a little more weight -- since it sits there as a repeated visual on page after page... reiterating its message to your readers.

Here's how to help make sure the message comes through loud and clear.

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Tips on Storing Merchandise

Once you begin offering merchandise, you're liable to be faced with the challenge of storing your stock.

Here are a few options and some thoughts on each.

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