There's also a bigger question here: why are you self-publishing? I first started as I had a comic shop and someone sent me in a small press comic that I thought was as good a story as most out there (it was Grant Springford's Pest Control if you're wondering). So I thought I could sell the best of those, alongside Fleetway reprints (so I got a license for the Leopard from Lime Street) in the same comic, alongside my regular 2000AD/X-Men/JLA etc etc sales to get creators better known.
I'm guessing that's a little different to why most start. What exactly you want to do is actually pretty crucial to where you either submit, self-publish (I know this is a self-publishing thread but I'm also including more indie press), give away for free (ie a webcomic) or sell.
I guess the choices are that you:
- want to get some samples of your scripts/art for portfolios
(in which case, Lulu or Ka-Blam can give you a few nice copies for little lay-out)
- want to be read by as many people as possible
(probably best then to try to get Starscape/FutureQuake/Insomnia etc etc to publish, although that can take time, plus there are various submission guidelines, plus different publishers have different rules, e.g. some Diamond distributed, some TPB only, different genres, completed submissions, chance of profits etc etc etc)
- want to be read by as many people as possible but without waiting or submitting
(free webcomics are probably best then, submitted to DrunkenDuck/ClickWheel etc etc)
- purely fan art/stories for fun
(fanfiction.net can host text stories of all kinds but manga is way the most popular, Starscape does Marvel/DC, plus soon Classic TV fanfic and there's obviously Dogbreath/Zarjaz and I'm sure many more, such as particular sites dedicated to characters, companies, genres etc)
- as part of a long-term profit plan
(there are instances but it's difficult to get readers. The free-er the more popular - certainly at the start but if you want to make a decent profit, then spend spend spend your way there to get noticed. You really have to get Diamond distribution to get into comic shops (not quite true but pretty much), you really need to fork out cash for a big promo drive and you need the luck of the gods just to get noticed -- but who knows, Sly Stallone or Kevin Smith might just be interested eventually and the hard work pays off)
Probably everyone wants more than one of those but it does really focus the mind as to which path to go down as they all have their ups and downs.
