PRESS RELEASE: Comic Book Writer Seeks Burgeoning Artists For Experiment in Comic Book Creation

Contact: Ian Thomas FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Email: ianthomas1225@yahoo.com

Website: www.ianthomascomics.blogspot.com

WRITER LAUNCHES EXPERIMENT IN CROWDSOURCED COMIC BOOK CREATION
Seeks Burgeoning Comic Book Artists to Compete for Weekly Prizes and Promotion
My name is Ian Thomas. I am a writer, trying my best to break into the Comics Industry. I run a blog called Ian Thomas Comics, which I use to examine my own tastes and to explore what goes in the annals of today’s Geekdom.

I have found one of the greatest challenges in building a body of work to be engaging potential collaborators. With limited financial resources and no reputation, it is difficult to make the case that working with me will benefit them.

On the flip side, I know there are plenty of artists out there in my situation, looking for writers with which to collaborate, but unsure how to approach them. I see them on message boards, networking sites, and in the Artists’ Alley at the cons. They are hungry to work in the industry, but can’t afford to give up their services for free.

With all the noise and distraction of today’s industry, it is difficult to get a solid line of communication with potential collaborators. This dilemma forms the basis of my experiment. I have stories to tell, but no resources to tell them. Given the nature of the Internet, though, I have a voice. While I can’t pay what the Big Boys are paying, I can pay some. I intend to pay in the form of weekly prizes worth around $25 that will usually be given in the form of online gift certificates. In addition, I am bringing promotion to the table, because every entry I receive will be featured on my site.

Here is how it will work: Every week I will post an assignment and a deadline for participating artists. These assignments will begin with the character design. Once designs are cemented, I will post the script at a rate of one page a week, with each page corresponding to one prize. At the deadline, I will post all of the entrants and open the polls for voting. The winning entrant will receive a prize, recognition, and their page will be sent to a letterer to become an official page of the story. The result, assuming this experiment takes, will be a sort of jam story, showcasing the industry’s next wave of talent.

I am not seeking to publish this story outside of the site. I am not trying to make money off of these artists. My reward for this project will be the promotion it creates for me and the finished pages that result, showing I can work successfully with artists.

I am aware that the nature of this project is highly unorthodox. But if ever there were an industry receptive to experimentation, the Comics Industry is it. Further details, along with the first assignment, will be posted on my blog on Friday, August 8, 2008. Please come to my website, ianthomascomics.blogspot.com, to see what happens.

If you have any questions about my project, please contact me through the channels listed above.