WLP's Schedule C on Tax Day...

[redneckgaijin]

Gross receipts or sales (not including donations): $12,598
Cost of goods sold: $7,180 (print costs plus/minus change in inventory)
Gross profit: $5,418

Car & Truck expenses (mileage deduction): $3,201
Office expenses: $571
Rent or lease other property (convention booths): $1,026
Misc. supplies: $124
Travel expenses: $520
Deductible meals and entertainment: $456
Utilities (phones, Internet, web hosting): $1,360
Other expenses (copyright royalties & license fees): $1,510
Total expenses: $8,768

Net loss: $3,350

Comments

[jinwicked.livejournal.com]

I think if you can better the usability of your website you will probably see a noticable increase in your online sales. When I was looking through it at one point, it is kind of visually overwhelming (lots of text, busy background, confusing # of links) and difficult to navigate. When I redesigned the Lunch Break site last year to have the buttons in the left column with *pictures* and brief descriptions on them, where it was very clear exactly what it was I had to offer, my email inquiries and sales went up. The things I have for sale are readily visible above the fold.

My sites' traffic went up when I also stopped using things like dark backgrounds, patterned/tiling backgrounds, and went to simpler, more user-friendly designs. At the time it was kind of a "Why haven't I been doing this all along?" thing for me.

I think the TPB formats are a really good idea. I don't know anyone personally that buys comic books, but a lot of people (self included) that will buy the thicker trade paperback books and book-style mangas. It takes me about ten minutes ot read a comic book then I'm done with it, most people I know prefer to have more pages/story to read in one sitting and feel like they're a better value.

As for advertising, I've had really good luck advertising with Randy. It didn't translate to immediate income, but it did get a whole new set of people looking at my comics and art, and in the following months those people have bought books, original comics, and the other things I sell. I advertise (for free) my pet hammocks on some rat communities (NOT spam I'm a regular poster there), and I've sold a lot that way. I may experiment with advertising my Lulu bookstore directly when I finish my art book and the next volume of the comic. I think it can be great if you just know your audience.

Good luck with the cons — I'm just going to be sticking with A-Kon for the time being, and any in-town ones I feel like going to since it requires little effort. I don't enjoy them all that much even though Oni-Con did pretty well financially. The people at A-Kon have never even been direct contact with me (they must've seen I'm going on my website) and were bugging me to do panels for them. Ugh.

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

Agreed re: the number of links. Unfortunately, my efforts at tiled backgrounds suck even more, and I *LOATHE* black-background pages... and my tastes in other solid colors tend to turn other people off. (I -like- green. Green is a friendly, cozy color.)

I would LOVE to have picture-based navigation... but believe it or not, I have more luck getting people to draw full-length porn comics entirely on speculation than in offering actual cash to people to draw icon-usable images for website design. I give detailed ideas and lists of needed icons, negotiate a price, and the answer is, "I'll get back to you..." with the unspoken addendum, "... after my round-trip vacation to Mars."

As for conventions... consider this. I'm an avid gamer and a fan of anime-style artwork (plus whatever makes me laugh- laughter and happiness are too rare in this world). I live about a hundred driving miles out of downtown Houston. The nearest gas station is twenty miles away... but within a twenty-mile radius there are no fewer than a DOZEN fundamentalist churches. If there were no conventions or Internet, I'd go stark raving insane...r. So even if I spend every bit of my convention time behind a table, going slowly nuts from my agoraphobia, working or being bored for lack of business, it's still a lot more fun than staying home!

So I'd better make my sanity breaks pay, hm? }:-{D

[jinwicked.livejournal.com]

So even if I spend every bit of my convention time behind a table, going slowly nuts from my agoraphobia, working or being bored for lack of business, it's still a lot more fun than staying home!

Ha... I went to my parents' house for dinner on Sunday this past week and literally did not set food outside my front door again until Friday afternoon. You're talking to the wrong person to use that argument...

[morphyloon.livejournal.com]

Sounds like Knoxville, deep in the bible belt... (Tho I've yet to visit The Mouse's Ear club, heh) Lots of churches around here.

As for little images to go with a navagation menu, heck, grab a few off the multitudes of royalty-free image sites? They'll be kind of generic but having something now sounds better than waiting (as you have) forever for someone to draw custom images.

[jinwicked.livejournal.com]

Mine are photos of the end of my pencil, a T-shirt, two of my books... only one of them is a drawing clipped out of a comic.

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

Incidentally, I'm a bit surprised you admit to visiting the site. }:-{D Sticking to the gen-aud version of the page?

[jinwicked.livejournal.com]

I don't have a problem viewing porn or seeing sites with adult images. I am not offended by pornography. It doesn't do anything for me and I have no personal interest in it, but that's just my own taste and seeing a pornographic image is about as exciting to me as reading instructions on how to assemble a bookshelf in Chinese; i.e. not at all.

I just don't want my work/my image to be associated with pornography in any way lest it affect other people's opinions of me. I would not work a booth selling porn with someone even though it's not my material, as it gives the wrong idea about me and implies I have something to do with it. I have enough problems with people judging me by how I look and making rude comments and assumptions about my personal life. I don't want to give anyone more ammunition for people to find imaginary problems and faults with me or judge me in any way.