7/15: Career Shifts & Moving House
Behind-the-scenes of the creative process as I attempt new directions
A house keeping post as I move house!
I must to downsize the comic book stock and I’m closing down my webstore at the end of the month! Take advantage of a desperate queen! There’s a 50% off sale of my LIEBESTRASSE, TRICK PONY and DC PRIDE books here!!!! Other items might go up as the month progresses and I clear my shelves!
As always, thank you for all the support! And if you can like/retweet/”regram” when you see my sale posts on social media… everything helps fighting the algorithm and is greatly appreciated!!!
Recently, I’ve been taking account of my creative efforts and how best to focus my writing time as I continue my day-job as an editor and Talent Manager at Tiny Onion. One conclusion I’ve come to is the need to focus my promotion on behalf of the publishers and shops instead of my own booth sales. I’d rather not keep stock in the future and drag my own books to shows for sale around the country.
I truly LOVE standing behind the table, though! Doing small press and independent shows with Tim Fish, Monica Gallagher, Michael DiMotta and so many other friends count as some of the best times of my life. And I think they give me a perspective on the industry that a lot of my peers don’t have (unless they are artists) and I’m supremely grateful for the experiences.
And I will still be at all the shows and conventions possible! But I will shift from bringing my own stock of books to focusing on booth appearances for publishers, panel discussions and bookstore/library events. Everyone benefits from more focused attention and I can direct sales to the hard-working librarians and bookstore employees that keep me employed at my dream job.
It seems really logical to say but my love of “tabling” has really blocked me from being able try a new approach… we’ll see how this goes!
On the social media front, I’m reflecting too… it just seems like a no-win situation. I was never good at Twitter but I loved it. I was “good” at Instagram but it’s now nearly useless for artists and creators. And the newsletter flow is difficult to keep up with. I have an approximately 40 newsletters I’m subscribed to on Substack and beyond. It’s difficult to keep up with the daily/weekly ones and there are a number of which I/we never seem to get updates from.
I’m somewhere in-between! My pace has been almost bi-monthly here for the past three years (17 newsletters in 36 months). Which is better than I thought! I really want to make these useful and pick up the pace.
One example of how I’d like to utilize this newsletter can be found in Jeff Lemire’s “Tales from the Farm.”
I did some work as a part of the Tiny Onion staff on Jeff Lemire’s new memoir, 10,000 Ink Stains, out today from Dark Horse Comics. This memoir grew out of the writing from his Substack over the past few years and I can’t recommend it enough if you are a fan of his work. Of course I am slightly biased by my work on it (and other Lemire-created books) but this transcends that involvement, I promise you! It’s deeply encompassing review of his career thus far with behind-the-scenes insights to his singular viewpoint and process of creating. Check it out here! It’s in stores everywhere TODAY!!!
And another Substack I am modeling my vision of the future after is Jami Attenberg’s CRAFT TALK.
Jami is a New York Times bestselling novelist and her #1000wordsofsummer writing exercise is how I became aware of her work years ago. The #1000wordsofsummer group is a community of writers of all levels who are all challenged to write 1000 words a day for two weeks and break through blocks, doubts or just regain their focus on their creative projects. I missed it this year as I was working on a graphic novel pitch but the newsletter subscription helps me to stay on top of my long-term goal to complete a novel and expanding my career into prose fiction.
You can learn more about #1000wordsofsummer here and you can subscribe to here!
I love Jami’s discussions of process, of course, but I also really enjoy that she focuses on the “letter” aspect of the “newsletter.” She writes to the readers like they are friends. She involves other writer-friends in the process. It’s conversational. And that’s brilliant!!! Otherwise, these always become a slog of self-promotion for the writer… and it becomes a slog for the readers too.
I’m going to try and carry more of that energy here. While I still haven’t figured out the exact thesis that’s the core of this “PROCESS PEACE,” I’m committed to making it more consistent and learning while writing.
I’m hoping to loop some friends and colleagues into the mix to get their perspectives as well… I think I fun way to think about work and craft is to hear other people’s process. And while I think it goes against my comfort, documenting the pitching and ideation parts of the creation might be useful for others reading this newsletter and lead to more discussion and community building. We need all that we can get these days!!!
Thanks again for reading! Hang on tightly to the good where you find it!
Talk to you soon,
Greg
Congrats on all the growth changes! I will miss you behind the table but as long as you're still table adjacent, I think I can manage ;) Excited to hear how this works out for you!