Every day of month of October I am doing Ink art mostly Halloween theme, because I really do love Halloween. Halloween is my favorite time of year. In the video below is Day 4th of Inktober 2019. In the video is a code for Free Shipping to any order over $21.00 at www.mariahargis.com.
You can follow me everyday on Twitter for a new Ink art at @hargis_maria. Check out the “Spider and Qrow” T-shirt and I also have it on a jacket perfect for Fall.
So recent I have choice to pull out of Zazu Zine + Comix Publisher in Oct 2019. This was not an easy decision to come up with, however, it did not sound good for my business. From the beginning, I kept hearing that we will not talk about sponsorship, distribution, and marketing until after we get comic done. As we where getting closer to the deadline for the submitting comic, we start to discuss sponsorship, distribution, and marketing a little.
The conclusion with sponsorship was that it was going to pay for start up cost of publishing and first round of prints of comic. I asked will we have continuously revenue coming in to pay for re-stock and marketing because if we divide up the revenue from sales to all artists, and publisher individual, than where will the money come for paying for re-stock and marketing? However, will you start up a company on the first project without investing money from product to keep it up? The answer I got was we will deal with it when we get there. That answer sound too much like “Lets wing it.” The publisher say that she will pull money from her other business to pay for marketing and more re-stock.
So I made the decision to pull out because I don’t think this will be any different than publishing myself. Yes, I would not pay for the cost of publisher if I do that, however, I would we be doing more work to promote this publisher and not get much out of it. I believe a company need to invest in it self from the very beginning or it will not be able stand on it own very long. I also believe that many investor would not support a company that is not willing to create it own revenue coming in to keep it running.
I have deciding to look into self publisher or another publisher company. I am working on writing out the first five chapter of Angie’s Adventures. My plan is to still plan for the release in Oct for Chapter 1. I will be looking at digital comics as well. I am hoping that I could get three Chapter done by Jan 2020. For I have plans to go to Mars Con Jan 2020 in Williamsburg, VA.
I would like to hear your thoughts on self publisher vs publisher company. I know there is more work and investing more money when it come to self publisher. However, I feel it is do able and I have the skills to market myself. Also, I would like to hear your thoughts on how long is a series you enjoy reading. I am looking into making Angie’s Adventure into a long series or break it up in parts. I am also thinking about making one shot comics for individual characters such as Fredrick and Alphonse background and Two-bit background. Fredrick and Alphonse story will be very different from Two-bit story. One will be very serious and the other will be more humor. One story will be around tragic and revenge while the other story will be around heart break and money.
The good news out of all of this, I will be bringing more content to the viewer than what I had plan previous. Which Chapter 1, I will be able to add more papers to it than what I original plan under ZAZU.
You may wonder why the title of
this blog is “Little Elf in Big Pond of Drama, The Comic Industry.”
“Little elf in big pond of drama prefer to “little fish in big
pond”. I am a comic book writer starting out and trying to get my name out
by using what I was referral by other people. They say use social media to sale
yourself and get your brand name out there. However, it has been almost
impossible to grow my followers on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. I am getting
a lot of growth on Instagram but little to no one on Instagram click the links
on the post. So, I cannot get traffic to my website or other platform such as
Etsy and YouTube. And YouTube is no better, I have been getting like 2 views
per video on YouTube after I follow the instruction from education tutorial on
SEO keywords, making better thumbnails for video etc. I ran a few tests myself
and found out that YouTube is not recording the external views I get from
linking the video on other site such as my website, Facebook, Twitter, email,
WordPress, and more. For I have reach out to a few business relation and
friends to asked them to review my video. They have told me yes, “I have watched
your video and love it.” News is growing on the web that Facebook, Twitter, and
YouTube are censoring people who disagree with them, small entrepreneur, or
anything that maybe against the large tech company that support the three giants.
In reality, it is hard being a
creator in today social media. You may ask why they would do something like
this to me that is not very known, I don’t think they are target me directly. I
think they are censor small entrepreneur, so we will not become competition
later in the future.
I will start by explaining what
my business is and what I have been working on. I will be publishing my first
comic series call Angie’s Adventures in Oct 2019 under the first ever graphic
novel and comics publisher call Zazu Zine + Comix Publishing. I also have a
digital comics series on Webtoons call Nocturnal Orphan. I am working with Kim
Eley of Kwe Publishing LLC to promote Zazu Zine + Comix. I created a video on
YouTube talking about the vision for Zazu Zine + Comix. The vision that Eley
have for ZAZU is to give new artist a chance to introduce new content to comic
industry and to give new artist a chance to shine. You would think this is good
news and no one would have a problem with it; however, when I post this
information on Facebook or Twitter, I get crickets… The reason why I know
something is not right with views on Facebook and Twitter is because I share
the news about my business with my two blogs on WordPress NC Outdoor Adventures Mia and The
Fun World of Dating yesterday. I receive several likes and new followers in the
last 24 hours.
It got me thinking about how
much news is out there that the comic industry is dying and how people should
give up on making comics. It left me with the thought what if Facebook,
Twitter, and YouTube are supporting this news and want everyone to think comics
is dead. If that is the case, it would explain when I made videos that comics
is not dead and more people like the idea of having more diversity genres of
comics than I am going against what the main media is saying. It makes me an
outsider by default which is sad. For there are many people in the education
field who like the idea of new comic writers. I have at least three people in
the education field have asked for me to come talk with the students about
making comics; one was a professional at VCU who would like for
me to talk to the college art students about alternate educations, one was a
recreation coordinator in my apartment community center in section 8 housing
apartments who want me to talk to the children about a future in comics, and a
librarian in urban setting who want to hired me as public speaker to talk with
the children that visit the library about comics.
There are real people who want
original content in the form of graphic novels and comics; however, there are
people out there that just want only a hand full of people to make comics. They
do not understand the disservices they are doing to the many people who want to
encourage children from reading. Graphic novel is growing because school have
open to the idea that it is better for children to read graphic novel than not
read at all. People in the education field are trying their best to keep
children in this model age interesting in reading and graphic novel and comics
help in this area. However, the current comics industry is not meeting to the
needs that education required. They are blocking self-publishing comics from
getting into comics stores which in return the comics stores cannot stay in
business that way. However, there are a few comics stores that have adopt more
diversity of publishers, self-publishers, and brought in tabletop games. They have
created an environmental of community welcome of families. These comics stores
are not in the large cities, they are in the small cities across the country.
That is why you never heard about them in the social media and that have been
the key to their success for small entrepreneur.
I am adopting this concept into
my business practice. I am focus on my location community here in Richmond, VA,
USA. Therefore, I go to network meeting in my area for they cannot stop me from
getting in contact with the other business entrepreneur in my area. I also
travel to anime and comic con. I have staff at a couple of anime con and make a
few connections with other writers who are more successful than me and publishers’
companies.
I also have not given up on
social media, for I still have a voice; I will keep sharing my brand and
promote Zazu Zine + Comix Publishing.
If you would like to learn more
about my business Maria Hargis Art, visit my website at www.mariahargis.com. And if you would like to learn more about ZAZU, the website
is www.zazuzine.com.
Oh, if you were wondering why a
elf instead of a fish, it is because my main character in Angie’s Adventure is
an elf. I have a soft spot for elves.
So I have been working the Shipt thing, you know shopping for groceries for other people and delivery them to their home. Shipt have a Facebook group when the shopper and I guest customer share their experiences on the group. So it was post of a cart full of kitty 20 lb litter and it was a joke it was order only. However, I comment about my experiences because I did once have a simpler experiences of someone ordering a lot of kitty litter and I had to delivery it to apartment.
So I made the comment that kind of stuff happen a lot and it have happen more often at apartment when I would have to go to the fifth floor and delivery it to them and they would not tip me. And that is why I don’t accept order for apartment. I had two people response to my comment and say that I am discriminated against apartment order and say that it was lazy not to accept order for apartment.
I try to explain myself and say it is due to me having a bad back and I cannot afford to not work due to injury helping customer who would mistreat me. It have happen before and where they have taking advantage of my kindness and I would do a lot of hard labor and not be tip.
That did not stop another people from comment and saying that people in apartment are disable too and have bad back and what I was doing for judging them. So I asked you should I ignore my back problems and do apartment where I may end up injury myself because their problems mean more than mine?
I end up tagging the Admin to the group and reporting the last person comment as Harassment to the group Admin. I did have one person come to my defense and agree with me that I have the right to say no apartment due to my back problems and say that it is my free choice to do so. The post end up getting taking down most likely by the Admin team in the group. I think what it is there are people on Facebook doing this on purpose attacking people and it is Facebook bullying from the woke.
This is not the first time I have seen this on Facebook groups. I have seen this happen on several Facebook group. I believe there are a lot of woke people joining these Facebook group just to try to start drama and discourage other people from wanting to share their opinion in the group.
If you was wondering what I have been up to. I have been working the Shipt as a part time job while I work on my business. And sorry that it have been a while since I last post anything. I will be starting up school soon in computer programming. I will be going into the IT field and I plan to learn game design on my own. I hoping to do combination of my skills in engineering and art in game design and IT field. I will have more on that soon.
I am currently working part time jobs while I work on my business. It have been super hard. I am currently trying to get my certification in computer programmer, however, I am doing though my state. The process is super slow and I have financially having a hard time. I am trying not think so much about how my store is getting no views…
Holiday are right around the corner which reminds me how I don’t have family to support me. It just remind me how alone I am.
I have friends but I don’t know how long that will last. I mean I have been told in personal test that I am no good with interpersonal relationships. And the last few years, I have seen that. Friendship for me normally run from 1 to 3 years. On the surface, I am good but if I let my friends know too much about me then most likely they are to run from me.
Lately, I feel like I have made good friends but I am scary. I am telling them a lot and I am worry that it will come all falling apart again.
The only good thing about my depression is I til created good art, but I don’t know how long I kept this up. I really don’t want to be one of those artists that get famous after death. However, I don’t know how I can keep pulling myself up each time I fall. I think we all have a limited and I not sure what my limited is. Will my limtied be tomorrow, the next day, a year from now, or 10 years?
And yes, I have been fighting depression for years now. Some days it is worst then others. Right now, I maybe losses to it. And yes, I am having negative thoughts right now.
I have to say I was wow… when I say the movie Joker. It left me speechless. At first it was very daunting because it felt like a prediction. I have been following the “woke” and “metoo” movements. It felt like the Joker was the spark that set off chaos. You could tell thought out the whole move that there was problems with society and it could be set off into chaos with just one little blow.
We live in a society that is very simpler to what is in the movie. Just yesterday I heard of a story where a 23 year old woman is fighting for her right to die because her mental health is so bad and she cannot handle the pain from crippling from her period. We are having more young people who are not able to handle the normal cruel world when they want to give up on living. Children are being raise being protection from the cruel world to the point, they are not prepare for how cruel it really is.
“We live in a society…
Years ago I heard of a story when 2 out 3 people deal with depression or some type of anxiety. And the media does not help with this, it make things worst with fake stories and dividing whole groups of people from others. Now we have more people believes things such as the moon landing was not real but fake. Because if you keep putting out fakes stories than people will start believing rumors and what is on the internet forms.
“We live in a society…
Also, if we think about how the labors workforce are being treating than you would see more problems. They are starting to be treating less than human. Many company human resources departments are a joke. I don’t think telling people to treat each other nicer is going to fix that. I think the problem is many people are not made for the regular workforce such as me. I am lot happier now because I am working for myself and controlling my own future.
We live in a society…
However, it is very hard to start a business when your only way of getting your name out is social media. Social media is turning more pro corporation which is making it hard for small time business owners. In fact, I have been shadow ban on Facebook and Twitter. They are shared my content less and less. I know I am not the only one having this problem, it is starting to be notice by the media. There are expect who came out and say that it is a real problem.
“We live in a society…
And if that was not bad. There is talk about a civil war may happen to the US. The extreme left Democrats in Congress are fighting with the Trumps Federal agencies over border security concerns. The last year, the Democrats have say some crazy things and the media only report “Orange Man Bad.” Like we live in some stone age period where intelligent is left out.
“We live in a society…
Oh, and the trade war with China is getting worst. It is possible that China have their hand in our money too and may have control over a US recession.
“We live in a society…
I think our biggest problem is mental health because if we don’t have adults with mental toughness than many will not be able to deal with the troubles that may come our way in the future. I believe that movie may end up being a wake up call for many. I just hope that it would do that because if we cannot handle failing a test or rejection than we are in trouble if our peaceful times come to an end.
As an artist you have to deal with criticism. However, for me my biggest critic is myself. I am very impatience went it comes to my art and I hate waiting for people to look at my art and tell me what they think. There is times I feel like I almost cannot breath due to the pressure of waiting to heard people tell me what they think.
I think it have gotten worst in past years for me. It have to do a lot with the many failures I have in my life. Such as getting an degree in Biological Engineering and never really working in my field. As well as having a divorce after 11 years of marriage with two children and losing my children in the process (which I have not seen my children in six years). I have this hidden pressure to be successful. I feel like I am trying to make up for the many failures I have experiences.
You may asked why I am talking about criticism. It is because I have to fight my own feeling that I may fail before I know the results of what kind of impact my art have on people. I was feeling so happy early today right before I release my latest chapter for Nocturnal Orphan. However, as the night went on and I got lost with my thoughts in my head that “Oh no, what if my art is not good?” “What if I did not do all I need to for the story?”
The only things that kept me from giving in to these thoughts is “what if I used this feeling for more content?” I thought of manga that I love very much call Skip Beat. The main character when though a lot of heartbreak and she was an actress in show biz. She used the painful feeling to remember what her face expression look like for acting. She used the hard times toward her professions.
I guess you could say I am writing this to talk myself out of allowing my feeling control my actions. I am not giving up.
So today I watch a video from a so call news media on YouTube that put on the Video description that DuckDuckGo giving data to Google. However, the video as an so call expert on it saying that “he assume that DuckDuckGo is giving data to Google because they have cookies on their site.” It is really annoyed when company use fear tactics as a well of marketing. This is a case of that because most likely Google pay them to release that clipbat video because they know that thousands of people are looking up DuckDuckGo on YouTube to learn more about them. Below is the video that I watch that say this.
And here is my video with my response. I had to vent because I really do hate fear tactics.
Please let me know what you think of this. I do believe we have a choice in who we want to do business with and it is good practices to make sure you check your facts and not believe what everyone is telling you. That also includes me.
You may have heard the term comicsgate which is thought to come from gamergate. However, it have another meaning. Check out the video below.
The most important thing to remember is to never give up on your dreams. If you want to create comics than you should do that. Just know like anything, it take work to be successful. And don’t let a few people on social media determine what path you take. That is your choice alone.
Here is a video that I have made of my tips for design and sell your t-shirt using Printful. Printful is very easy to used and the design on the T-shirt and other items are very high quality.