2020 vision

It’s taken me a while to home in on what my creative priorities for the year are, but I think I’ve arrived at them. With an overarching goal of trying to reach a larger audience– ideally one so big that I haven’t hand sold to each of them, but leveraging retail partners and online outreach to help my work reach them. Promotion has never been a strong suit for me, so it will require stepping out of my comfort zone more than I usually do. Some steps that I think will help me get there include:

1. Revamp my website: it’s been a while since I’ve done that, and my current theme has a few limitations that aren’t serving me well. I still really like the functionality that WordPress offers, so I’m not ready to ditch it for a self-run site. I think I’ve settled on a theme that will work better for me, and I’ve already begun some behind-the-scenes work to make that transition…

2. Better stock and promote my online stores: I have a few places where I sell my work online (e-comics at Selz, t-shirts & merch at TeePublic), but I want to beef up the number of items I offer that way. I also want to make it easier for remote readers to purchase my handcrafted print editions…

3. Create more short comics for anthologies: I’ve got a few anthology-like venues where I can produce stories without being so concerned with the publishing aspect. They’re a great space to make shorter comics (vs. my 200-page “Watusi in Oz” epic), so I should take advantage of the opportunity to do so…

4. Find a store to carry my work year-round: yes, this is a mulligan from last year. My local-themed artwork sells pretty consistently at festivals and markets (even when I’m not there to hand sell it), so I need to find a place where it can do that all year long…

5. Search for a literary agent: this may be a bigger step than I’m ready for, but I’ve got a pretty good track record of making comics and a pretty substantial body of work for an agent to see. Again, it’s stepping out of my comfort zone to risk failure & rejection. I think my comics are good and could connect with a larger audience than I’ve been able to reach on my own, so it’s time to see what professionals have to say about them…

Okay, that’s what I’m aiming for in 2020; I’ll report back with results in about a year…

[May 2022 UPDATE: I’ve closed my Selz store, but have a new storefront for digital publications at Gumroad. Check it out!]