Many of you have general questions about exactly what we are trying to do. Although, we are still figuring out a few things in our pre-launch phase, we will try to answer some of those questions here. If you have additional questions, send them to us via our contact page.
How can I read the CBR on my computer?
Its easy. CBR and CBZ is the most common format of digital comics today. We recommend Comical and ComicRack. Google is your friend. Try that if you have trouble.
What kind of comic book publisher is Dog Star Comics?
Dog Star Comics is a digital comics publisher focused on a Web media experience. That means that we publish comics that are intended to be consumed digitally. Specifically this means via our Web based magazine style interface or by downloading the comic as a digital file for consumption on your electronic device of your choice such as PC, iPad, or whatever else is available.
Will you publish other things besides comics?
Absolutely. The plan is to publish other things besides comics that lends itself to the Web. We think concept albums would be a compelling experience on the Web. Imagine listening to Pink Floyd’s The Wall or Rush’s 2112 will illustration and text to help you follow the story. We think prose can be well represented as well. The popularity of “books on tape” has proven that people love to listen to stories. Think about how compelling that could be with some illustration mixed in.
When will you starting making your publication available to the public?
As of October 2010, Dog Star Comics is in pre-launch mode. “Pre-launch” will enable us to work out the finer details of our business model, raise funds that will allow us to operate, and recruit a complete creative team. However, we have released the digital edition of Black Opus Vol. 1 by Donnie Lee, R. E. Brown and Howard Daniels. You can read Black Opus Vol. 1 and experience the alpha version of our Web view for free. Or donate a dollar and download a higher resolution version in .CBR, ePUB, or most anything else you need. Please stay tuned for our launch date.
What do you have in the pipeline right now for publication?
We have a few things right now that we are eager to show you. We’re going to lead off with very contemporary and gritty vampire story called One Night Stand that will lead into weird mini-series that involves murder, the occult and other evil things. We believe anthologies are a great way to discover new talent and story concepts. With that said, we are planning such in Revelations: The End of Days. Our first experiment with music will be a morbid crime and punishment story called It Breaks the Silence. You will also see The Illustrated Adventures of the Drunken Bastard, an underground favorite come to life with narration and illustration. See our projects page for more details.
Why do you think you will be successful?
There are so many reasons. Here’s a condensed version to help you wrap your mind around it. Dog Star Comics will place a high value of storytelling with strong stores and excellence in art. Comic book readers are eager to consume and pay for quality digital content. We have a strong leadership team that understands the digital realm and loves comic books. Dog Star Comics will operate as a co-op for talent and integrate proven and aggressive marketing techniques to reach a wide audience that may have only limited access to traditional comics.
Are you accepting proposals?
Dog Star Comics is taking submissions for our initial lineup. We are looking for your proposals for comic series and graphic novels, shorts for our anthology series and webcomics. Our basic requirement is that your proposal must have a strong story. If you have that, then it might be a good idea to have some fantastic art and fit somehow into the Dog Star Comics concept. We are specifically looking for creator owned projects that are well thought out and developed. See our Submission Guidelines for more detail.
Are you accepting portfolios from artists?
Short answer is YES. Do you have skills with penciling, inking, coloring, painting, Photoshop, lettering, etc? Lay it on us. See our Submission Guidelines for more details.
What about writers? Are you accepting submission from writers?
We are accepting proposals from writers. Please only submit your original creator owned stories.
Are you going to pay your creative talent?
One of the primary reasons we dreamed up Dog Star Comics is because it is very difficult for comic book writers and artists to make money unless they are working for the “Big 2”. Even creators at the larger independent publishers can find it difficult to make money. We think our model will allow creators to earn more for their creator owned projects than traditional models that are based on unit sales.
What is your payment model?
We are still working on some of the details, but our primary goal is to be fair. Our primary revenue source will be subscriptions to Dog Star Comics’ member area. The creators will earn based on revenue from that membership and their share of consumption in that area. For example, if TITLE A gets 20% of reader consumption for a given month and TITLE B gets 25%, then revenue share will be distributed as such. One of the best things is that revenue is reoccurring month to month. We’re hoping that we can also pay advances based on sales predictions, but we will have to launch and see trending data and see the real demand for our product.
Aren’t there enough comic book publishers already?
Dog Star Comics is a different kind of comic publisher. We think we are the evolution of comics. Comics have evolved from the Sunday funny pages, to newsstands, to specialty shops, and now to the digital realm. So, no, there aren’t enough publishers catering to consumers that want their comics in a digital form.
What makes you think people want their comics in a digital format?
Amazon is selling more ebooks than hardcovers. We won’t even mention music sales. According to a recent story at The Comics Journal, only about 300,000 people show up at their local comic shop every week. We’re not mathematical geniuses around here, but we think there are more than 300,000 people that like comic books. Comics left the mainstream along time ago, its about time they come back. It is a well understood concept that writers and artists that choose comics as an outlet for their stories are as good story tellers as any other format.
Aren’t you helping to kill off comic specialty shops?
Comic shops are like clubs, the consumers who like to buy their comics that way will continue to do so. Contrary, digital comics might even drive consumers back into those shops to pick up hard copies of their favorite digital comics for bookshelving. Really, our true concern is the story telling medium of comic books and the people who produce those stories. We are for any vehicle that moves those stories into the minds of readers.
Why do you hate paper comics?
We love comics! Paper or otherwise. Let’s face it… comics are about the stories, the characters, the art and other intangibles, not the paper. See previous question.
Will I be able to download these comics from other sources besides dogstarcomics.com?
Our plan is to release these comics via other outlets as well. We are actively working on partnerships for other means of unit digital distribution. These deals may vary from title to title, however we do want to offer this option to our creators.
Can I buy hard copies of your comic books?
We have some ideas for this. Our plan is to open an online store where you can buy hard copies of our comics. We may partner with a traditional publisher to bring these comics to you. Creators that we sign may already have a traditional publishing deal in place, if so we’ll utilize that avenue to bring you hard copies. However we have to make the deal we will our members will have the option. Maybe not out of the gate, but it is important to us.
Will I be able to buy your comic books in specialty comic shops?
We believe that traditional comic distribution is fundamentally broken, that’s one of the reasons we have started Dog Star Comics. We do believe that some consumers are more likely to buy our comics if they see them on a stand. We are open minded about this and may develop a partnership with a traditional publisher. We refuse to allow our fate to be decided by one company, Diamond Comics Distributors.
Will buying a membership to Dog Star Comics be worth it?
We think you will get more than your money’s worth. You’ll have access to every last drop of content that we publish. Not just the stuff from the current month, but to all archived content. We will have multiple comics available every month for reading online in our Web viewer, or for you to download (.CBR, ePUB, PDF, etc) to your favorite device. You’ll have access to all of our non-comic content such as illustrated concept albums and narrated stories. You’ll be able to download these and enjoy them in your car or mp3 player. Maybe the coolest thing is that you will be able to follow the creation of our content with blog posts from the creators, see raw artwork and sketches, read the scripts, interact with the creators, etc. There is a lot planned to make your membership one of the best values in the comics business.
When can I buy my membership?
We are working hard to get Dog Star Comics launched as soon as possible. Once we have funding in place. (It does cost money to do all these wonderful things.) We need money to pay legal fees, marketing and Internet related costs, etc. We are hoping to pay our creators advances to motivate them to create! Stay tuned for more information…
How can I help?
You can help us in a few different ways. You can make a donation. You can download Black Opus Vol. 1. You can tell your friends about our website and our plan. You can write something in your Facebook.