Hey. Matt Ligeti, The Comic Book Yeti here.
Thanks for signing up for this. (You did sign up for this, right?)
If you’re new here, we’re gonna use this space to catch you up on things you might’ve missed, give some helpful advice to creators from the POV of comics critics, and maybe have a discussion or two.
You’re not scrolling down to that “unsubscribe” button yet, so I take that as a good sign.
What’s New?
Between the holidays and doing some serious journalistic work investigating publishers, this newsletter needed to take a backseat. To be honest, things have changed for us quite a bit since we last talked!
We started TWO NEW INTERVIEW PODCASTS, Into the Comics Cave (With Comics Heartthrob Grant Stoye), and Cryptid Creator Corner, which is run by Media Editor Byron O’Neal and Interviews Editor Jimmy Gaspero. They were soon picked up by the Geek Collective network, and are available wherever you get your podcasts. Please subscribe and leave a review! It helps us tremendously.
The Comic Book Yeti YouTube Channel has become more active, showing video versions of some of our podcast interviews, Byron’s KICKSTART MY HEART crowdfunding round-up monthly series, and some bonus material here and there, like this panel discussion with comic book anthology editors, finding out the big DOs and DON’Ts of pitching to anthologies.
The Comic Book Yeti Discord is OPEN. We have general chats, a place to find creative team members or look for work, a place you can shamelessly plug your crowdfunding campaign or other work, and more. Come say hi!
We launched a Patreon, where patrons can read in-depth articles far before they get featured on our site. All the proceeds from this go to the article-writing team because we want to be able to pay our writers. Hopefully, it’ll bring in enough money regularly that we can expand it to the entire CBY team!
We released a coffee in a partnership with Rootless! Jack Foster did all the artwork for our COSMIC BREW blend. Only a few more days left to pick up some of your own!
Several of our Li’l Squatches moved onto new projects, so reviews slowed some and we had to close down our studies on Comics Literature and Publications. We’ve recently brought on new critics and interviewers to help us get back up to speed!
Our Content Editor for Webcomics, Alycia, has been expanding our coverage beyond traditional comics, and Chris Rundt has started helping run our News Desk, publishing some of the press releases we get sent our way.
Many of our creators have done cool, noteworthy reviews, articles and interview series with us, the kind of which I haven’t seen at any other comics site. This includes Bella Croff’s new series, where she makes comics that review other comics, and Jimmy’s THE LETTERER OF THE DAY IS… series where he interviewed 22 of the industry’s top letterers! We’ll go into more of those, now.
March Spotlight
Reviews:
ShootAround – “…a high school basketball team and their well-meaning coach [learn] to survive the zombie apocalypse.”
Friday, Book One: The First Day of Christmas – “Brubaker & Martin's character-driven approach to the story and art fleshes out Friday as a compelling protagonist with her own baggage that's methodically revealed to readers...”
Iris Complex – “An amnesiac college student must use a keyring filled with unmarked keys to help recover her missing memories. An unsettling, eerie trip down memory lane, Iris Complex is a tense and captivating mystery.”
Chronophage – “Chronophage is sexy, it’s gory, and it offers a unique perspective on life and surviving it. It asks you to look at life as little pieces and think about what could happen if some of those pieces are taken away.”
Interviews:
INTERVIEWS WITH 22 TOP COMIC BOOK LETTERERS (Who Had A Minute to Let Us Interview Them) – Jimmy Gaspero chats with Todd Klein, Aditya Bidikar, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, Jim Campbell, Nate Piekos, and more. This collects all of the interviews in one place.
And Here I Dreamt I Was A Drug Lord – An Interview with BRITTANY MATTER & DAILEN OGDEN – “It’s a fun challenge to try and push the medium and make it work for your story in new and unexpected ways.”
No One Has Ever Accused My Stories of Being Straightforward – An Interview with RYAN K LINDSAY – “...I want them to feel like they are all in on this wild ride from soup to nuts. And I am plenty nuts.”
Articles and Bonus Content:
EXCLUSIVE: Band of Bards Reveals the Cover & Prologue for SENTIENCE Only at Comic Book Yeti! – In which your favorite yeti gives you the first look at the cover for Sentience, by Elyse Russell and Dany Rivera, as well as a peek at the book’s Prologue and the process of how the cover came to life.
The Punisher #1 is a Nothing Comic That Pulls the Teeth from Punisher's Skull – In which Gatecrashers’ own Dan McMahon expresses his disappointment in the missed opportunity for this controversial character.
Ian Mondrick’s 4-Part Series Promoting TOMB OF THE BLACK HORSE – In which Mondrick details himself being beat up and ultimately killed while promoting his Kickstarter campaign. part 1 / part 2 / part 3 / part 4
On the Importance of Promotion
Likely, you’ve learned at some point in your life that you shouldn’t talk about yourself or your work or try to sell stuff to your friends. And for the most part, that’s good advice.
Just not in comics. Especially not if you’re crowdfunding.
Granted, there are tons of variables to a campaign’s success or failure, but promotion is one of the big ones.
You should be your own biggest cheerleader. If you don’t tell people about your new work, your successes, anything else you have going on that you want to draw attention to…who will?
No one. Well, not unless you pay them. Do you have a marketing budget? You do? Oh, good.
You still need to market yourself.
So, why is some rando-yeti comics critic talking about something that doesn’t seem to have any real ties to comics criticism? Because if we review your comic or interview you or feature you in any other way, and you don’t share it with the people who already follow you, you’re wasting your time and ours.
Yes, comics websites have some built-in following, but it’s not enough to ensure those followers read every review, listen to every podcast episode, watch every interview on YouTube. You have friends, family, and fans who are already following you because they are interested in you and your work. You need to promote yourself and the things you’ve done to them. Because if you can’t win over this audience, how do you expect to capture the attention (and the money) of total strangers?
This means more than just retweeting the news outlet once. Talk about your favorite part of the review or interview. Say you had fun. Give people a reason to spend their time reading/listening/watching this.
A huge part being successful in non-traditional hobbies or careers like creating comics is networking. Part of networking is promoting your stuff. It would be nice if you could just make something, put it out in the world, and have everyone stumble upon it and empty their wallets at you, but that’s unrealistic.
Self-promotion looks different for different people – find your strengths and lean into them. Post often. Be friendly and engage with others. Find a community to support who will also support you, then grow that. Share your reviews and interviews and victories with your followers and your community and don’t be afraid to ask for support. If people found you annoying, they’d have muted you or unfollowed you already. Everyone else? They’re in your corner. They’re rooting for your success.
Give them what they want.
Thanks for reading, friends. Got an idea for what we should talk about in next month’s newsletter? Email TheComicsYeti@gmail.com.
CBY BIOS — WELLS, AKA “WELLS”
Wells Thompson is the review editor for Comic Book Yeti, most recognizable for his striking good looks and monthly column on crowdfunding campaigns. The co-writer behind books like MechaTon, Descent into Dread, and Frankenstein the Unconquered, he hopes to one day quit his day job to pursue comics full time. In his spare time, he rescues and rehabilitates cats in the Nashville area and gets his butt kicked on repeat playing chess online. You can find his comics and support him at https://ko-fi.com/wellsthompson or follow him on Twitter @WellsThomp.
HELP WANTED
Social Media – Facebook, Instagram
Looking for a volunteer to spread the good word of the Comic Book Yeti on these platforms. Must be proficient in puns and wordplay, or comically un-proficient.
Consistent reviewers for AWA, Mad Cave, Vault, Scout and other publishers + indies
We are always looking for more volunteers with a critical eye and a way with words. If our format seems like something you’d be into, let us know.
Consistent interviewers for comic book creators
Specifically volunteers who will conduct written interviews, will transcribe their own audio interviews, or will edit their own video interviews.
YouTube Hosts, Podcasters, Livestreamers and more!
Established hosts who’d like to join the Comic Book Yeti ‘Squatches are welcome, as well as those interested in starting their own multimedia endeavor. If you’ve got a pitch, I want to hear it. If you want to join the CBY Network, let’s talk.