My Credentials?

Jaqrabbit graciously posted a comment on this blog's very first post, asking me about my credentials. (Thanks, jaqrabbit, for taking the time.)

The truth is I hesitate to reveal my identity and credentials because I deem my experience as still "disputable." I have created comics, but I don't have a huge body of work, and I'm not a popular creator. I have design experience, writing experience, marketing and PR experience, self-publishing experience and teaching experience, but I would never consider myself an expert in any of these fields. I just know enough to get me through over 15 years of corporate and freelance life.

So all I offer in this blog are insight, a few stories, suggestions and recommendations, coming from someone who isn't in the thick of the comics industry. Whoever has stumbled upon this blog is welcome to comment on what I post, and maybe some sort of dialogue can take place. But what I really hope to impart is encouragement. That comics creators try something, ask questions and seek answers, explore a strange road or two, make a few mistakes, and learn from those experiences. To be good at something, you have to go through a bit of the bad.

Many dream of landing a gig with the top comics companies, but in my opinion these companies don't run the industry, the same way that Microsoft doesn't run the OS business. The comics giants may have multimedia influence because of their stockpile of iconic characters and connections, but the comics industry as a whole won't suffer if they turn and fold. Creative people--not companies--make good comics.

I only have one graphic novel out there, one that 99% of comics enthusiasts have never heard of because it caters to a specific market. It's published by a small book publisher, not a comics company, and my bookstore sales approaches 10,000 copies.

I don't know if that's significant enough, but I feel I'm one of the few who's fortunate.