Champion City Comics: blog tips

Monday, September 14, 2015

The History of Champion City Comics - Part I - It's Terrible

"It's terrible"

- Someone's opinion concerning our website c.2010

From late 2009 until early 2014 Champion City Comics experienced a creative period that I view to this day as tremendously successful. Opinions of our success will vary, but my overall assessment of our output is extremely positive and it happened because a group of enthusiastic people sacrificed time and money to create webcomics, comic books, articles, and reviews. Words cannot express my gratitude to the writers and artists and colorists and letterers that made us a great but very special community.

It was never supposed to be a community, but it happened. My Bob Ross opinion of it all was that it was a happy accident. Friendships were developed, bridges burned, and other shenanigans were experienced. My initial plan was to use Champion City Comics as a proverbial springboard which would send us into the world of comics as paid writers and artists. There was never a windfall of cash from publishing our work online or from advertising nor were there contracts from publishers to be signed. We had promises of being published but a small publishing company or two gave us the silent treatment following some brief publishing deal discussions. Is that considered ghosting?

Our work has been praised and ridiculed. Our use of embedded PDFs created some moments of outrage and was frowned upon by our peers. Comic Related (RIP) and The Two Headed Nerd Podcast gave us plenty of publicity and we are very thankful. People told us that they loved our comics or took the opportunity to tell us how much we sucked. The bumps in the road were rough at times but it didn't slow us down initially.

Then there was that moment where I quickly discovered that I was the "boss" of Champion City Comics and my management of projects and website updates ranged from dreadful to successful. Current and former members of Champion City Comics will definitely give you the details if you ask them nicely.

This morning I realized that October 2015 marks our six year anniversary. The past year and a half has been interesting for me when it comes to Champion City Comics. I'm frustrated, proud, burned out, and nostalgic when it comes to this site.

It's my goal to write more about our history, so you can better understand what we've experienced the past six years.

Tony Wright is the owner of Champion City Comics. Follow him on Twitter @TonyDougWright.

Posted by TonyDoug Wright at 12:00 AM

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Monday, July 8, 2013

GREETINGS FROM WEBCOMICS LAND: PEOPLE ARE READING

My wife is a big fan of home decor blogs. She will usually show me images from those sites because they will use a paint color in a room that sparks a painting vision in my wife's head. A few weeks ago she showed me a blog that featured a picture of a paint color that she wanted to use in our kitchen. As I looked at the blog I noticed the author had posted a message that stated she was quitting the blogging game because nobody read her blog and nobody commented. Big mistake.

A good way to lose readers is to complain about nobody reading your blog. When I was a disc jockey for a college radio station, there was a sign posted that read, "DO NOT COMPLAIN ON AIR ABOUT THE FACT THAT NOBODY IS LISTENING. THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE LISTENING THAN YOU REALIZE." I spent a summer at that station and these three guys would call in with requests. There were moments where I felt like I was doing all of this work for three people. I did follow the rules as stated on the sign and didn't complain on air. A few months after finishing the show, some people I knew would tell me, "Hey! I heard you on the radio over the summer." People were listening to me on the radio. People are reading your blog, so don't complain.

Just because you start a blog doesn't mean you're going to get a million hits in one day. I'm under the impression that rookie bloggers believe a large number of people will magically find their blog.

You need to get the word out about your blog and you need to connect with other bloggers who blog on the same topic. Champion City Comics is one of many blogs dedicated to webcomics and it has taken me four years to develop a steady readership. I've created professional relationships with other bloggers who have given me some valuable advice. Most importantly, you have to be consistent with your blog. You can post every day or once a week.

When you post that you're shutting down the blog because nobody is reading then you have pretty much enraged the majority of your readers and readers remember the names of blog quitters. Nobody goes to a blog to read your pity party post.

People are reading.

Tony Wright is the owner and editor of Champion City Comics. Check out his webcomics Day 165 and The Red Devil at Tapastic.

Posted by TonyDoug Wright at 9:05 AM