Zub Tales

People have been asking about the pre-orders and what-not for the book:

Web traffic has been pouring in from new Schlock Mercenary and PVP posts about the Makeshift book. Checking my server logs, it’s pretty incredible how many eyeballs are checking out the story. More unique loggable IPs have visited the site today than there will probably be copies of the book in print, um, ever.

Obviously all those eyeballs don’t instantly turn into pre-orders, but the sheer promotion of the name/imagery is helpful when it’s on store shelves – assuming a retailer actually carries it. I have to be realistic about it – most stores won’t give a damn about a surreal-teenage indy graphic novel with a no-name creator attached to it, even if it’s a sweet price and in full color. That’s not me putting myself down, it’s the reality of the comic industry.

In just over a week we’ll get the majority of comic retailer orders in and see how many are giving the book a shot. Pre-orders at the site are going okay, but are still a far cry from the 350 needed to cover the print run all by itself. Still, each one is important and I’ve gotten some amazing orders/letters from places like the Netherlands, Australia, Switzerland and the UK.

I’m currently expecting that between a combination of comic store orders and website pre-orders I’ll still come up short budget-wise, but not brutally so. The book will go to press and I’ll have copies to sell at cons and to take care of reorders. It’ll eventually pay for itself in the long run, which is crucial. The last thing I’d want is to leave the company on the hook for my stuff.

That’s the update. Once I get the Diamond numbers I’ll truly know whether to jump for joy or pee my pants in terror. 😛