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Printheads: The LongBox Digital Comics thread
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They do sound like legitimate questions though I doubt Rantz would actually answer them in full detail before Longbox has even announced their process in anything longer than a couple sentences so it might be good to just wait and see.
I also don't wish to be lumpt into either category whether I'm for or against their submission process when I don't have a clue what it completely is. When I first mentioned it I never said I was for or against it, all I said was that I understand that there's 2 legitimate sides to that issue. -
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CommentAuthorwarrenellis
- CommentTimeJun 20th 2010
They do sound like legitimate questions though I doubt Rantz would actually answer them in full detail before Longbox has even announced their process in anything longer than a couple sentences so it might be good to just wait and see.
Honestly. With all due respect to Rantz. He's publicly been in development for years. I don't think asking questions were unfair.
It does, however, need to be understood that Rantz is busy as all hell and dealing with questions and comments in probably a dozen different fora. No question's going to get answered quickly. -
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I failed to see the 'downtime' notice.
I spent the last hour writing up a 2 part detailed response.
I lost it when I hit 'submit' and couldn't connect to Whitechapel.
Fuckkitty fuck fuck fuck.
I will try to re-write it tonight or tomorrow. Shitdammitfuck. -
I'll try to be brief here because (as Warren accurately notes) I am busy as all hell. However, I will correct Warren that we've been publically in development for years... We had first discussions with publishers, showing them the application (the first time anyone outside of teh dev team and the advisory board had seen anything) at NYCC in Feb 2009. First time we showed the public anything having to do with LongBox, and announced details was at HeroesCon in June of 2009. So, while yes we have been working on it in various aspects since 2008 (design staging going back further than that) it's actually only been in the public venue for a little over a year (although god knows, it feel MUCH longer than that at times)
That aside...
I didn't take offense at the questions asked. I thought they were relevant, and frankly deserving of some detail in response, so I hadn't responded right away. Some items I can't discuss at this time in a public venue because, to be blunt, I don't feel like having another 'upcoming digital comic company' announcing they are knicking yet another aspect of LongBox. Let them figure out how to do this on their own for a change... this is why frankly, we've been in silent running for the last 2-3 months, because I know a.) what the infrastructure other companies are using is built on, b.) I know what their app structure looks like, c.) I know how quickly they can 'adapt', and d.) we wanted to make sure everything was solid and damn near release before letting anyone see it. To the point where we had not mentioned to content partners the details on the application changes. (The comic industry is small, and everyone, given a beer or two, talks. Even if they shouldn't) So, tablet deal got locked down, exclusive/first run content got locked down. Patents dealing with new features got filed, and here we are. (A bit of detail on this after answering the questions posed, so if you give not at all two shit about it, you can get your answers and ignore the rambling CEO guy...)
Preface and BG to questions:
I started doing comics in the mid 80s, doing work for Fantagraphics, Caliber, Innovation, Malibu, etc, etc. At the time, even though you THOUGHT the pay was crap, and sales were crap (with your black and white anthology ONLY selling 40k copies, and earning you 3k for your 8 page story), there were a LOT of opportunites for indie creators and aspiring creators to 'break in'. More importantly, if you didn't want to do spandex tales, there were plenty of books proving you could do just that. More importantly, that you could 'break out' and become a known entity in comics doing it 'your way'. TMNT, Puma Blues, Flaming Carrot, Concrete, Grendel, Dan Clowes work on Lloyd LLewellyn, Love & Rockets, Neat Stuff, the Crow, Beanworld, Omaha (and later) THB, Stray Bullets, Bone, Strangers in Paradise, on and on and on...
These are 'iconic' now, but none of them started that way.
When I 'returned' to comics in 2004-05, sick of the videogame industry, sick of not doing the stories I said I would 'get to' someday, the market was vastly different. In some ways, better... you didn't have to justify comics were a 'real' art form. They got write ups in EW and USA Today without a 'bang pow biff' headline. But the sales numbers... holy shit. On one hand you had these insane young creators coming out like a house on fire like Becky Cloonan, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Matt Fraction, Ivan Brandon, Johnathan Hickman... while on the other hand, most creators were in a happy state of elation if orders on their books broke 10k. By the time Comic Book Tattoo came out, it was even more obvious to me... if there was not another viable distribution channel, with mainstream reach (mainstream in the REAL world sense, not the comic industry sense), then I could easily see the day coming when comics were on a level with Knitting. An industry exists to support it, and there are people that participate in it, but that it's a Niche art form. It's no longer a vital form of mass communication. Marvel and DC would always exist in one form or another because (at the very least) they were IP farms. Films to be made. Games to be made. But what about the next Matt Fraction? What about the next Carla Speed McNeil? Diamond's contraction of baseline numbers made it all that much more obvious... if comics were to exist, and grow... comics with unique authorial voices and 'vision' behind them, then there had to be an infrastructure to make it possible.
Rambling aside, the point is this. LongBox was always intended to support and grow the independent market and creators. Last year, we stated that we would not be accepting self-published content from new/unknown creators for the first 6 months. The reason for that being this (and this point gets lost in many cases of 'selective quoting' of interviews and articles): We wanted to ensure that any creator, established or new to the field, who had their 'self published' work distributed through LongBox received:
a.) the same deal that publishers received
b.) that they received the same support and infrastructure that publishers received
c.) that, in a nutshell, they would feel that they were dealing with a level playing field, where the onus rests squarely on their shoulders to make sure that the work goes toe to toe with any other book available for sale on its merits alone (rather than placement in the diamond catalogue, or marketing dollars spent)
One of the benefits of the unexpected delay was that it gave us time to refine and iterate the production path, the publisher servers, the trafficking support system and the like. Which, long story short, makes it possible for us to distribute for sale, self published content much much earlier than expected or planned for.
Next post... ANSWER THE QUESTIONS ALREADY -
NOTE: YAY FOR CACHED INFO THAT IS NOT LOST!!!
(however, it'll be an hour or two before I can do part 2. thanks for the patience) -
Questions answered Part 1 below, part 2 will have to wait until tomorrow. Simply Too. Much. Shit. to get done tonight, and I have to be up at 6am (and REALLY want more than 3 hours sleep for a change...)
_______________________________
PART II - Answering the questions - Content Production Overview
I’ll answer the questions asked grouped into 2 sections/overviews 1.) Content Production and 2.) Content Distribution. I’ll do my best to cover all of the various queries and calls for clarification, but if I’ve missed anything, feel free to ask. Understand that it may be awhile before I can reply (as the next 3 days are nuts, and then I’m out of town with the family until Friday. There also may be questions I can’t answer in a completely direct manner (due to the aforementioned reasons) but in those cases, I’ll acknowledge that, and state when I’ll be able to disclose said details.
OVERVIEW – Key to adoption of any platform, be it music, videogame systems, or digital comics, is the content. With new content made available frequently. A ‘balancing act’ aspect of this is ‘gating’ content. A platform is often defined by the content it has (or does not have). Platform Companies (be they Apple, or Nintendo, Microsoft, or Hulu) are well aware of this, and choose to deal with this in a way that they feel will effectively ‘brand’ their platform. Apple is known for the hoops that developers have to jump through... to produce fart apps. Nintendo is known for it’s firm walled garden aspect to letting new developers create and distribute games through their digital store... Microsoft (ironically) has achieved a notable part of their success on the XBOX360 by the support of the XNA system, and the Indiegames channel on Xbox Live, allowing a couple of guys to create a game after school, and put it up for sale. Sony changes its mind every 3 months about how they deal with content (which is why so many devs have stopped creating content for Sony)
Removing for a moment WHAT content the platform chooses to support and/or emphasize, platforms get content in the first place (or increase the odds of them having content in the first place) by removing the content provider’s “barrier to entry”. Going back to Sony... one of the biggest mistakes Sony made with the last console launch was a.) having shitty, undocumented, unstable tools, and b.) having a tech support group who did anything BUT. Having developed on PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo, there is a reason that we haven’t ever mentioned Playstation on any of the lists or discussions of platforms we’re supporting. Nintendo and Microsoft have robust, well documented, VERY well-supported tools. Developing Star Trek, we discovered a minor error/bug in the tools Nintendo provided... we reported the issue, and they had fixed it in two days. We’re not the exception in that... developer’s might gripe that the DS or Wii are ‘underpowered’, but none of them will ever complain about tools being a barrier to entry.
So, going back to comics, when we began the development of LongBox, I knew that the platform had to be comprehensive if we wanted to have content... in a nutshell, putting content on LBX had to be quick, easy, and exist as part of their current print production pipeline. We never wanted to be in a place where publishers had to measure an ROI (Return On Investment) trying to figure out how many copies of any given book they had to sell, per book, to BREAK EVEN. It had to be a matter that (for digital versions of print books) from Unit 1, it’s profitable. With that in mind...
1.) Content Production (process is identical for large, mid size, or self publishers)
a. Content Provider Creates Comic (using InDesign or Acrobat – other formats are supported but will be discussed only as part of a confidential discussion)
b. Content Provider either:
i. Adds enhanced content (video, audio, concept art, page stages, multi-language support, etc) in InDesign or Acrobat (following documentation)
ii. Saves print-resolution .PDF or exports from InDesign using Free (for content providers) export Plug-In.
c. If Content Provider does step b-I then upon completion of adding enhanced content, Publisher does step b-ii.
d. Content Provider Uploads content in exported format (or .zip file containing .PDF, enhanced content files, and metadata file – template provided by LBX) via their private, secure PubServe Web Interface.
e. Content Provider may update content (adding new language support, adding enhanced content, adding storefront hyperlinks to other content by publisher/creator/etc) at any time by repeating steps 1-a through 1-d. -
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CommentAuthordavebaxter
- CommentTimeJun 21st 2010
Hey, Rantz,
I got to sit in on your presentation at CBS in LA today (many thanks for coming and doing that, btw, nice to get a presentation that doesn't take place an insane, completely unmanageable setting like a Comic Con).
Good luck to you on the big Alpha release this week! The platform is truly looking like the best of its kind out there. Good work, m'man. -
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- CommentAuthorhelloMuller
- CommentTimeJun 21st 2010
Right… I'm having a play with the beta now. -
It was once possible to make money off anthologies? It seems like not even Marvel and DC can do that anymore
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Next entry: I've broken this up into pieces to allow me to update more frequently, and to make it easier to cross link to areas of interest.
CONTENT PROVIDERS - SUBMISSIONS AND GUIDELINES - CONTINUTED
PART 3
2.) Scheduling, Submitting and Approval Process (as a head’s up, this has a number of areas that cannot be discussed publically in refined detail, but I will try to cover all the core aspects so there’s a clear understanding of what is involved.)
Submissions and distribution agreements occur...
For Companies/Groups
A.) You are a publisher with a content partnership agreement
B.) You own archival content/comics and have a content partnership agreement
C.) You are part of a ‘collective’ or affiliated group that has a content partnership agreement.
D.) You are a ‘non-comic’ Entertainment/IP company (film Studios, Game Companies, etc) which wants to create comics either to seed pre-awareness of a property, or to ‘branch out’ for an existing property without sub licensing the IP out to a comic publisher (which is being done with a number of film, game and TV properties)
These are all company-to-company contracts, and are ongoing distribution agreements ranging from 1-5 years (depending on the companies and deal terms). There is a ‘core agreement’ that has modifiers for each deal to allow for the specific needs or conditions of the publisher in question. For example, if a publisher doesn’t have the rights to do a comic based on the film BadKillingFucker outside of North America and the EU, the paperwork notes this, and metadata and schedule for said title has a specific include/exclude series of flags that designate which countries and regions a book may or may not be sold in.
Or, for Individuals, you are:
A.) An Established Creator
B.) A “New” Creator, or
C.) An “Unknown” Creator
Who...
D.) has archival content you own, which you want to distribute digitally.
E.) Has an ongoing series (or multiple series) that you want to distribute Digitally.
F.) Has a new book or series that you have not yet created, or are in process of creating, that you want to distribute digitally.
There are variations and special cases beyond these, but generally speaking these are the combinatorics. Since the inquiries on contributing are geared towards indie and self-publishers, let’s start there, concentrating on the definitions of A-C.
A. Established Creator – You’ve done enough ‘distributed’, completed work, that you have a ‘name’ in the industry. This can be Webcomics, small press, work done by a big publisher, and now you want to do your own thing... In a nutshell, you’ve worked the comics streetcorner long enough to be known as a ‘pro’ by your peers. (Note, this does not mean you are a ‘big name’ or that the comic-buying masses know you. There are lots of established creators, even at DC and Marvel, who 90% of the comic buying public has never heard of)
B. New Creator - If, under the revised standards of a convention like SDCC or NYCC, you qualify as a ‘pro’, odds are that you’ll qualify as an established creator. You’ve had work distributed (either in print or online) in multiple cases (a number of short stories in anthologies, more than one single issue comic. A graphic novel longer than 80 pages, or a webcomic updated multiple times a month for over 12 months). Again, this has nothing to do with being a ‘name’ in the industry, but rather that you’ve shown demonstrably that you are pursuing comics, and that you’ve produced enough content to have some idea of what it is like to actually produce work on a regular basis.
C. Unknown Creator – you may have done a story, or an online webcomic, or you may be in the Jonathan Hickman-pre-Nightly-News stage, where you’ve been working for a while on a story that you think is worth the effort and time, and that the current market doesn’t easily support. Or, you may still be in school, and can’t wait to get your stories out. In a nutshell, most people don’t know who you are, you haven’t produced comics in a real production environment (and production includes distribution, either digital or print). You may have completed a 400 page OGN, but if no one has seen it, then it hasn’t been through a full production environment.
MORE TO FOLLOW... -
CONTENT PROVIDERS - SUBMISSIONS AND GUIDELINES - CONTINUTED
PART 4
(cont.)
The majority of “self-published” projects distributed and sold through LongBox Digital will begin by completing the Content Submission Form. The form is broken in to 3 sections/documents.
1. Publisher/Label/Imprint information – All content (Whether on the production servers, sales tracking and marketing servers, or in the StoreFront) is organized by multiple criteria. One of these is ‘publisher’, but it’s more refined than that. It can include sub-labels/brands, affliations, or offshoots. For example, Wildstorm was an independent company, affiliated with Image, who then had a sublabel called Homage, and were then purchased by DC and became a sub-brand of DC. The structure allows a creator (or group of creators) to start as self-publishers, then a year or two from now, alter the ‘StoreFront’ organization to reflect their new distribution deal with Big Publisher A, and 4 years later, their purchase by Big Movie Company C, including the relevant changes in sales reporting and revenue disbursement, without ever causing readers or customers a disruption in content. A label or imprint is not required for self-published books, but is highly recommended for multiple reasons.
2. Creator(s) information – This includes credits, and a short biography. Creator-based sorting will be turned on shortly, and part of the purpose for it is to have accurate information (as well as links to previous content, if applicable) within the bio section. Hence, it is much better to have the creator(s) provide it. The creator bio and information area is also used to verify background for creator status. (Which in turn, indicates what approval process stages the content has to go through)
3. Content Submission Overview – This is the most detailed of the three forms, and includes:
a. Summary of Story (Treatment style – format specified)
b. Story format (Select from series of specified criteria, or specify unique type under “other”)
c. Publishing Schedule/frequency (monthly? Quarterly? One-shot?)
d. Character summaries (Top-level – Format specified)
e. Concept art (if applicable – maximum 4 pieces)
f. Completed pages – lettered (minimum of 10 pages)
g. Perceived Demographic (who do you think will buy the book, and why)
h. Marketing approach - These are categorized and specified in multiple categories. For example, channel (internet, print, TV) form (previews, interviews, early review copies) method (social networking, news-oriented, paid ad placement), etc.
These details and specifications serve two very important purposes. First, they give creators a consistent format for submission, so that in the case of new and unknown creators, the content given to the advisory board and executive committee for review (in theory) stands on its merits (or lack therof) and that the element of ‘packaging’ doesn’t come into play. (using the print example, when doing cold submissions to publishers, we used to do things like send it in black envelopes written with silver marker to make it stand out in the mail)
The second purpose is to make the creator(s) think very hard, and at a somewhat objective state of removal, about their content. It’s a cliché with an element of truth that a good story can be sold in 60 words on an elevator. That’s reductive and simplistic, but if you really want to sell your stories/content to customers (because, unlike the DM/Print market, on LongBox you ARE selling to the customer, NOT the retailer) you have to be able to hook them quickly, or at the very least get across to them why YOUR work is different/better/unlike anything. To be clear, this has NOTHING to do with WHAT your content is (genre, style, approach) and everything to do with how ‘complete’ your vision and concept is.
Part of LongBox Digital is that we put our production, trafficking and marketing behind the titles, both big and small, and at the very least, WE can’t help you sell a title if YOU don’t have a clear vision of it (or clear enough to be able to convey it to us).
NOTE: we recognize that part H: is more difficult for new and unknown creators. We don’t expect a AAA-level marketing plan, but we do expect you to spend some time thinking about it, before you try and submit it. Doing a story about a kid in the inner city that wants to be a chess master? OK, tell us where (in the world of Chess fans/players) we (meaning you AND LongBox Digital) might promote it.
MORE TO FOLLOW... -
CONTENT PROVIDERS - SUBMISSIONS AND GUIDELINES - CONTINUTED
PART 5
(cont.)
OK, so... how does my content or stories get approved for distribution and sale on LongBox Digital?
In most cases, in your first distribution of content with LongBox, you’ll need to complete a Content Submission Form. (Whether you’re an established, new, or unknown creator) After you’ve had a title or content distributed through the LongBox Digital Platform, you will only need to complete the Content Submission Overview for subsequent titles, comics and content. (Creators can, and should, update their biography/creator information, as need be)
For Established Creators, distribution is a matter of scheduling, production planning (if for example, said creator(s) wanted to add enhanced content to their LongBox-distributed content) and confirmation of rights (when appropriate... for example if a creator had a book through Epic in the 80’s, and wanted to sell it through LongBox Digital, we would need to ensure that the creator(s) had all of the required rights)
For New Creators, distribution is on a case-by-case basis, with some creators being immediately approved, and others being submitted for full formal review. Automatic approval will be based on a combination of creator profile, openings in the distribution schedule that coincide with the creator(s) planned publication and distribution date, and strategic market opportunity. For example, if LongBox is carrying a number of detective, horror, and superhero books, and a new creator submits a title that deals with historical Victorian England, said title is more likely to be immediately approved than a submitted title dealing with Horror, Detectives, or Superheroes will be.
All unknown creators, submitting content for distribution and sale on LongBox Digital for the first time, will be required to go through the full formal review process. Unless there are complications, or mitigating factors, (which the creator(s) will be notified of in advance) any subsequent titles and/or content will not be required to be subject to the full formal review process.
The Formal Review Process
If a title fails to meet the automatic pre-approval criteria, it is sent through the Formal Review Process. Formal reviews are done quarterly (Dates for the upcoming 12 months are listed on the first page of the content submission packet) and are conducted by the LBX Advisory board and the LBX Executive committee. The LBX Advisory Board is comprised of 25 high profiles members of the comic, film, animation, and digital entertainment industry, with a wide diversity in the genres, themes and styles that they are known for. (spanning from mainstream work, to avante garde experimental approaches) These individuals were selected because of the diversity they span, the success that they have achieved as individuals in their respective work, and because each of them is committed to growing comics, as both a business, and as the evolution of an art form. Names of the individual board members will not be released by LongBox, Inc. to ensure that there is no question of undue influence placed on the members of the board, or that the individual members of the board are harassed in any way shape or form as a consequence of decisions the board has made as a whole.
Submissions are evaluated on the basis of:
1.) Professional quality/execution (NOTE: this has NOTHING to do with style or aesthetic approach)
2.) Individualistic approach/subject matter/themes (doing yet another knock off of a post-modern deconstruction of superheroes will not gain you points)
3.) Solidity and Completion of production plan (Is it clear that the creator(s) has thought through all of the schedule, production, and practical aspects.)
4.) Self-awareness of Market (Is it obvious that the creator(s) knows who the market is for the content. Regardless of whether that market is 5 people, or 5 million)
5.) Platform and Artform value – Does the content do something (consciously or not) to push the artform of comics forward and help it evolve, or that takes unique advantage of the capabilities only possible through the LongBox Digital format.
NOTE: This evaluation process is not a majority rule democracy. If 10 members think a title should be rejected, and one member advocates for it, and explains why he/she thinks it should be approved, that holds a great deal of weight. The selection of the board members reflects the fact that we know everyone has individual tastes, and that often the entertainment enjoyed by the masses isn’t the ‘art’ that pushes the medium to grow.
If a title is rejected for any reason, the creator receives a detailed, itemized response, explaining the reasons behind the decision. The creator can choose to address the issues itemized, appeal the decision (writing tirades back is not appealing... it’s ensuring the door stays closed), resubmit at a later time, or say “F you! I Rock!” and choose to put it out through different avenues. Our goal with the process is that it is as transparent as possible, with clear feedback so that creators never sit there wondering “WTF... did my stuff suck? Was it my hat?” etc.
Once a title is approved, the creator schedules the title for release via the secure PubServ site.
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For self-published titles, completed content must be submitted/uploaded for production and trafficking production and platform/hardware compatibility review 3 weeks prior to the scheduled sale date. If, for any reason, the scheduled title will not be able to be delivered according to schedule, the publisher/creator is required to notify their LongBox production and trafficking contact of the impending missed date, and from there, has 2 options. First, they can pull the title until it is complete, scheduling it at that time to ensure the sale date is met. Second, they can submit a second sale date. IF, however, the second sale date is missed, LongBox Digital has the contractual right to pull the title, and no longer carry it. If a publisher, content provider, or creator misses four (4) rescheduled dates (Four separate incidents of a title missing its original date, being rescheduled, and then missing its second date) LongBox has the contractual right to no longer carry titles by the publisher, content provider, or creator (this is the case with Publishers as well as indie creators).
Ok, any questions I haven’t covered? I’ll try to swing back around before Monday.