(I'm the guy who keeps sending those emails about comics and the Fantasy genre and such.)

I guess since you haven't responded, it could mean any number of things, but. . .

It's weird.  -In comics, ruthless self-promotion is not only respected, it's pretty much the only way to put your stake into the ground, so to speak.  However, in the world of bookstores and non-comics literature, (what an odd way to describe text-only books. . .), but in that world, people find virtually any kind of self-promotion to be rather off-putting.  I mean. . .

Well, here's an example:

I do a fair bit of traveling around the country.  Whenever I'm in a new city, I like to visit the local comic shops in the area.  I'll walk into a comic shop with a box full of books and chat with the owner and customers.  Often, I'll end up doing an impromptu signing and I'll draw a bunch of sketches and sell a few books, (sometimes a whole bunch), and I'll walk out again feeling good about the world and people and things in general.  That's usually how it goes in a comic shop.

In a bookstore, however. . .

Whoah.

Different world there altogether!

When I walk in with my box of books and introduce myself, generally the store manager has never heard of me, which is no surprise.  After a short introduction, though, almost without exception, the manager warms up to me and the idea of self-published comics.  If the shop is not run by a mega-corporation, the owner will nearly always buy a handful of the collected volumes from me on the spot, and I'll sit and draw pictures in them so as to make them easier to sell.  (If the store is run by a mega-corp, however, the manager can usually only shrug and tell me to talk to the purchasing department in New York, or wherever they keep their suits and haircuts.  -Talking to those people is an entirely different matter!)  Anyway, within a few weeks, the non-mega-corporation store will often sell through the copies I left and nearly always calls back for more.  I have a couple of small accounts like this around the continent, but they're not the easiest things in the world to maintain, since that kind of work requires a sales staff, which I'm not.  I prefer to spend most of my time writing and drawing.  The business portion of the operation is incredibly time-consuming as it is.

But anyway, here's my point:

When I'm in the book store, sitting there drawing pictures into a bunch of my books, nobody, and I mean NOBODY, comes up to ask what the heck I'm doing.  (Publicly defacing books?  Who is that guy?)  -In a comic shop, you'll usually have a three or four-way conversation going within about twenty minutes.  Bookstores, and the culture surrounding bookstores, however seem to have no pre-designated set of rules for people to refer to when faced with that kind of situation.  Instead, I get a lot of quick, shy glances and when I smile or say 'Hi!' people turn their backs and pretend like I'm not there.  -And boy!  Does that ever make you feel terrible.  Of course, I doubt if this behavior is meant to be interpreted as an affront, rather, I believe that the rules for a bookstore simply don't include protocols for talking to strangers with pens.  -Partly that, at least.  I think there is something else at play; I believe there is definitely something about the kind of people drawn to genre fiction which defines a whole segment of our population; the segment which finds itself more comfortable in the safe confines of a novel than in the unpredictable world of strangers with pens.

I know she's not the benchmark indicator of the mind-set of all genre fiction readers, but. . .

A past roommate of mine, (who also writes and draws a comic book series, incidentally; that's how we met), works part time in Toronto's science fiction bookstore, Bakka Books.  (Great little place, btw).  She is a prime example of somebody who loves the medium but just shivers at the thought of any kind of behavior which might remove her from the shadows of inconspicuousness.  We'd have these hilarious discussions, (as always, when you get past the veneer with people like her, you invariably find some of the most interesting and often somewhat bent individuals beneath.)  Anyway, I'd try to explain to her just how important it was to be 'in your face' with comic book promotion.  Big Color, and lots of display and all that kind of stuff is what gets you noticed in the comics world.  (Having a good comic, naturally is the thing that counts, but it ONLY matters if you can get people to pay attention first.)  Meanwhile, using words like, 'Gaudy', 'Unsubtle' and 'Tacky', she'd be trying to explain to me that walking into a science fiction bookstore and smiling at everybody is a sure-fire way of getting scuttled and ignored and generally run away from.  (Hm.  It occurs to me as I write this that I've talked at length about this very topic before. . .  I wonder why I forget so easily. . ?)

Well, I suppose I don't.  My friend and I learned from each other and we each changed a little.  She's increased sales of Galaxion, (her comics work), by doing a little more of the kind of blunt promotion expected in the comics world, while I've learned not to smile and say, "Hi!" so much. 

But evidently not enough, since you haven't responded to my last couple of emails. . .

So. . .  To make a long story not quite short enough,

Earning a living as a writer/comic artist is difficult at best; you absolutely have to spend time making sure people are aware of your work.  And that's no mean feat!  As more than one marketing professional has told me, contrary to popular belief 'Word of Mouth' simply doesn't work.  -Not in isolation, at any rate.  The best products in the world regularly fail simply because nobody knows about them.

Running a web page which deals with fantasy literature makes you an important element in the media for me, and all I want to do is send you some comp copies of my work.  I have to.  After that, you can do what you will.  You may choose not to review Thieves & Kings or post anything about it; it may simply not tickle your interest.  You may even advertise to the world that you really hated my work.  That doesn't matter.  That's not what counts!  For whatever it's worth and regardless of what happens, the simple fact is that I must heed my internal imperative and try my best to put my work out there.  If I don't do that, I might just as well pack up and go home.   -Or sell out to one of the big fish, which I'd really rather not do.  (I can rant endlessly about that, so I won't.  Suffice it to say I've turned down some of the most powerful and recognizable corporate names in the media because. . .  Well, because my story is about a kid who decides to go it alone.  Thieves are not team players and they don't put up well with being organized and mis-used, and I've always thought it would be hypocritical of me to not live according to my own words.  But like I said, that's a whole other essay, and this one is quite long enough.)

So please. . .

Get back to me.  (I'll send you free comics?)

That's all.  I'll shut up now.
 

Best wishes,
 
 

Mark Oakley
I Box Publishing
www.iboxpublishing.com