What I’ve learned about ‘making it’ in comics after 10 years

Secrets reveal! Myths debunked! Words typed!

Hello and welcome to my first paid subscriber post on Substack! 👋

I decided to test the water with premium posts to see if there was an appetite for them, and to hopefully find another way to help fund my comics in today’s economic hellscape.

(Jesus, that started off dark didn’t it?)

You can access my weekly premium posts by subscribing here for just £3.50 a month. You’ll also receive my monthly free newsletter, with updates on all my creative writing projects.

Paid posts will include commentary on the ever-changing indie comic scene, including tips and guides on self-publishing, writing, crowdfunding and the likes. I’ll also post fun stuff like reviews, essays, exclusive project looks and much more.

So yeah, let’s dive into this first one and see how it goes, eh?

The biggest truth about how to make it in comics is…

…there isn’t a single, clearly-defined set of steps you can follow to guarantee it’ll ever happen (sorry!)

If that sounds thoroughly anti-climactic, just know that this is actually a positive thing, I promise.

I’ve been self-publishing comics for just over ten years now. I’ve had a publisher, recently landed a new one, had huge success on Kickstarter, and I’m only now at a point where publishers are starting to reach out with offers.

I *could* tell you all the particular steps I took to get here, but the hard fact is that every comic creative - be they a writer, artist, colourist or letterer - has their own unique trajectory towards success.

No two creatives are made equal. We each have our own specialisms, styles, projects, interests and networks - and we all go about chasing success in different ways.

There is no one, linear path you can follow to get there - but there are tried and tested steps you *can* take to help things along and improve your chances of making positive things happen.

Let’s start rattling them off now…