Marketing is Crucial

Marketing is a crucial step in the process of publishing a comic book. It involves promoting your book to potential readers and building a fan base. In this blog post, we’ll discuss some tips for effective marketing.

Marketing is also one of the hardest things to master in the creation process. It’s so foreign to the process of making a comic book but so very necessary. This is also one of the make or break moments along the process. What makes marketing so hard is that it requires you to really dig into the audience of whatever book you are currently trying to market. This most certainly means that having a previous marketing plan for Book A will not work on Book B. You have to tailor your efforts for each book. Which makes this step unable to be a simple rinse and repeat.

Below are 7 vectors that you can (or can not) pursue to try and market you book.

1. Social media: Use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to promote your comic book. Share updates about your progress, post artwork or previews, and engage with potential readers.
   To me this is the most important of all of the steps. You have a good social presence and build an audience your marketing plan pretty much can write itself. However what’s most important is that you need to start thinking of your social media plan early on in the process. A simple idea would be to chronicle your journey from idea to finished product using social media. You can focus on one social or configure your post for multiple. One simple thought though is go where your audience is. Each social platform has a set demographic that is prevalent. Match your book to the platform.
2. Website: Create a website for your comic book that includes information about the story, characters, and creative team. Make sure the website is easy to navigate and visually appealing. This feels like an old school thing to do with the plethora of social platforms out there but guess what unless your a trillionaire, you probably do not own one of the platforms. It’s a good idea to make sure that your content have a home on something that you solely own. A website can be such a thing. So once you figure out your social plan utilize your website as sort of a backup for that hard generated content.
3. Conventions: Attend conventions and other events to promote your comic book. Display your artwork, offer previews or freebies, and engage with potential readers. I said go where the readers are and conventions are an amazing place to be. HOWEVER the cost of selling at a convention can be costly and requires you to be dedicated to being there across multiple days. It can be rewarding meeting your audience but monetarily and time wise this might not be an option.
4. Reviews: Reach out to comic book bloggers or reviewers to request reviews or features. Positive reviews can help generate interest and attract new readers. Sites like ours are great for getting your book up for review. If you have a special book shout about it to everyone and hopefully they see how special it is as well. This can be harder than you think because review sites are pushed a ton of books per month and they have to pick and choose who to review. Going back to step 1, if you have a good social media standing it will make it easier for review sites to consider your work of art over another creator.
5. Advertising: Consider using paid advertising to promote your comic book. This can include online ads, print ads, or sponsored social media posts. There are full on courses out here that deal with how to use online advertising whether it be through google, meta or any other ad outlet. This can be daunting because your paying for the pleasure to either get it extremely right or extremely wrong. Launching an online ad campaign without knowing what to do can end up costing you hundreds of dollars with little to no return. I do not recommend advertising for those who have not dabbled in it before. If by chance you do have some online advertising chops it can be quid pro quo way of paying for users who in turn could purchase your book. Do it correctly and skies the limit the amount you spend on advertising will be less than what you make and you have almost no limit to how you can make pushing your book via advertising.
6. Cross-promotion: Collaborate with other comic book creators or brands to cross-promote your book. This can include guest posts, social media shoutouts, or joint events. I mentioned quid pro quo with advertising but really this is the way you want to do it. Exchange across creators is sort of like advertising without the cost. you might have a certain niche of followers that read your content however you new book might tap into a different niche. If you find a creator who might be in the same boat as you, you can offer to promote each other’s work to each one’s audience. This is hard to come by but hey it is easier to build a following as a group working together than individuals repeating the same work singularly.
7. Community engagement: Engage with the comic book community through online forums, Facebook groups, or other platforms. Build relationships with potential readers and fellow creators. The catch all for any other random way to get your content out there and be seen. This is a bit of a scramble but this also might come easier to you, as you might already be part of some group which allows you to speak to potential readers across different platforms and even across real life meetups.

In conclusion, marketing is a crucial step in publishing a comic book. Use social media and a website to promote your book, attend conventions and reach out to reviewers, consider paid advertising, collaborate with other creators, and engage with the comic book community. With careful planning and attention to detail, you can build a fan base and attract new readers to your comic book.