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This year’s Free Comic Book Day was probably my favorite one yet! I was invited up to Willoughby to help Comic Heaven celebrate the industry holiday, and was treated to a fun afternoon meeting the store’s regulars, talking comics, and even selling a few copies of my book.
Comic Heaven isn’t exactly my “local” comic book shop. Willoughby’s a good 45 minutes from Akron. The kiddo’s godparents live about five minutes from the store, but all the times I’ve stopped in over the years has been when store owner Jim was out. We’ve talked on the phone numerous times since I published Deus ex Comica (he graciously has had promotional postcards for the book in his store at various times over the last year), but this was the first time we’d actually met face-to-face.
(If you have a copy of Deus ex Comica, Comic Heaven is the store I reference at the bottom of page 129 in the Daredevil anecdote.)
When I arrived around 11:45 for my noon to 3pm appearance, the store was hopping due to members of the 501st, Darth Vader, Sinestro, and the handful of Iron Man 2 advanced movie tickets the store gave away when they opened at 11. I got settled in with my book displays and all, and immediately I had someone wanting to hear about my book and asking to buy a copy. Both the store and my table was crazy busy for nearly two hours straight.
I had one of my best sales days yet for an in-store signing, but more than that, I just love talking about comics and hanging around with other comic fans and seeing kids excited about the medium. That connection, that common ground is what it’s all about. Although I was disappointed my own kiddo couldn’t hang out with me at the store (he and Tracy had afternoon plans), I was able to snag him a couple of FCBD books, and I got to see my godson when Diane and Ivan stopped in.
And the perfect end to my signing... The guy who bought that first copy of Deus ex Comica right when I got set up was there with his girlfriend. Later in the day, sometime around 2:30, his girlfriend came back with her young son to get some free comics. She made a point to stop back at my table and tell me that her boyfriend was so excited about my book that he made her read the back cover and start to read the book out loud to him while they were driving home earlier. That’s what makes this little non-money making venture of self-publishing worthwhile.
Busy week or so on the horizon for Deus ex Comica...
Last weekend’s C2E2 experience (or lack thereof!) has me really jazzed for the Pittsburgh Comicon this Saturday. Although I don’t have a table at the show, I am scheduled to be on the “How to Get Published” panel in Room 3 at 2pm. It should be fun to chat about the book, as well as get a chance to visit with friends.
Next Thursday, April 29, I’ll be talking about and reading selections from Deus ex Comica at the Nordonia Hills Branch of the Akron-Summit County Public Library as a part of their Meet the Author series. That kicks off at 7pm and will be followed by a question and answer session.
Then on that Saturday, May 01, I will be in Willoughby signing copies of Deus ex Comica and visiting with other comic book fans as a part of Comic Heaven’s Free Comic Book Day celebration! I’ll be there from 12-3, but the fun lasts all day, with a store sale planned, along with various super heroes and Star Wars characters (I hear there will be biker scouts!) all in attendance.
I'll have copies of Deus ex Comica: The Rebirth of a Comic Book Fan with me at all these appearances for anyone interested. I appreciate everyone who supported me and my little book over the last year. If you’re around for any of these events, please feel free to stop by and say “hello.” It’s always great to meet and hang out with other comic fans!
- April 24, 2pm-3pm: "How to Get Published" (Room 3), Pittsburgh Comicon, Monroeville Convention Center, 209 Mall Boulevard, Monroeville, Pennsylvania
- April 29, 7pm-8pm: Nordonia Hills Branch (ASCPL), 9458 Old Eight Road, Northfield (330.467.8595)
- May 01 (Free Comic Book Day!), 12pm-3pm: Comic Heaven, 4847 Robinhood, Willoughby (440.942.6960)
If you're unable to attend any of these events but would still like to pick up a copy of Deus ex Comica, Lulu is offering free shipping on the book with the use of coupon code FREEMAIL305, now through May 01. And, as always, the book is available through Amazon and signed copies are available direct from me. Thank you, again, to everyone for your support!
So if you read the papers in Northeast Ohio this past weekend, you probably saw a little something about Deus ex Comica. On Thursday, the Canton Repository ran a nice write-up based on my press release to promote my in-store book signing appearance at Bill's Books and More for Saturday's Free Comic Book Day. If you read the Cleveland Plain Dealer Saturday, you may have seen the write-up by Michael Sangiacomo about my book, complete with a full-color image of the book's great cover art by Dave Wachter. And a review of Deus ex Comica ran in the Sunday Premier section of the Akron Beacon Journal.I had a great time Saturday hanging out with Bill Pappas, his family and staff, and meeting and chatting with his regular customers at his Canton store. Between the time Bill asked me to do the signing for FCBD and the day of the event, I realized that his is the store at that sponsored Aaron Archer's Gumbo comic back in the day. I haven't seen Aaron in a while, but keep up with him through our mutual friends and the internet.
I sold a handful of Deus ex Comica copies during the signing, which was cool, but what made the day was my parents, who were babysitting the kiddo, bringing him to the store so he could get his free comics and hang out with me for the last hour of my signing. And the timing couldn't have been better. The store opened at noon and was busy for that first hour and a half or so. The steady stream of customers never completely dried up after that, but it wasn't packed like in those first couple of hours after opening. There are worse ways to pass an afternoon than hanging out with my kiddo in a comic shop and selling my book.
I picked up the Avengers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles books, and the kiddo snagged the Wolverine and Sonic free comic book offerings. We each came away with undiscovered gems, too… I picked up the Nancy/Melvin Monster one-shot, which has gorgeous art on faux aged paper. The kiddo scored the Star Wars Clone Wars book that included Usagi Yojimbo, Emily the Strange, Beanworld, and -- most importantly -- Indiana Jones stories.
Bill had a local artist on-hand doing free sketches for customers on request. The kiddo asked for a Wolverine and walked away with a fantastic pencil sketch of the feral Canadian. Also, there were box lids full of free stuff -- among which, most importantly, were Star Wars game cards, so the kiddo made out like a bandit.
Saturday night my wife, the kiddo and I headed downtown for dinner at The Lockview (tried the Number Three and a Brooklyn Pennant Ale on this outing -- good stuff!), then over to Rubber City Clothing to hear my friend Dave's band play. We caught the last hour of the Marble Champs' in-store set, with their eclectic roots rock overflowing out front and into the street. It was really a great move by both Sarah at RCC and Dave to coordinate the gig. The Marble Champs take their namesake inspiration from one of the RCC logoed t-shirts. From a certain twisted point of view, I guess Dave and his band could claim that they have something in common with Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders: They both have official merch available only through RCC.
RCC is also one of the locations around town where both promotional postcards and a display copy of my book are available. After the gig we were chatting and Dave apologized for not pimping my book during the show, and then he got back in front of the crowd, introduced me, and put me in front of the mic to say a few words about the book. Totally caught me off guard (if you were at the show, I can assure you I am usually much more articulate than I probably came off Saturday night!), but it was very nice of Dave to do it and I appreciate the exposure.
Speaking of accessibility, Deus ex Comica is now available via the publisher, Lulu, as well as through Amazon. Bill asked me to leave him a few copies of the book on consignment for him to have and sell in the shop and at the regional shows he goes to, so if you're in Northeast Ohio, you can get a copy of my book from Bill's Books and More in Canton at my "convention price" of $15.50 per copy. Thanks to Zack Kruse over at Discount Comic Book Service, if you're outside of Northeast Ohio you can still take advantage of that pricing by ordering the book through DCBS where you can find the book in the May listings under order code MAY099007.
If you've bought a copy of Deus ex Comica and enjoyed it, please take a moment to rank and review it on Lulu, Amazon, and/or GoodReads. I appreciate everyone's support!
This Saturday, May 02, is Free Comic Book Day, an industry-wide "holiday" since 2002 where all kinds of comic book publishers give away special editions of various popular titles or previews of titles they're about to launch through comic book shops. Bill Pappas of Bill's Books and More invited me to sell and sign copies of my book, Deus ex Comica: The Rebirth of a Comic Book Fan, about my love of comic books at his in Canton store from 12 noon to 3pm (and longer if things are hopping) to help celebrate the day!
So if you’re in Northeast Ohio, please stop in and say hello to me at Bill’s Books and More and get some free comics! If you’re outside the area, find the local comic book shop in your town and go there Saturday to discover whole new worlds.
The students in my kiddo's second grade class have been working on writing books all year long. I have been volunteering what amounts to one Friday a month to help edit the kids' stories in the Writers' Workshop. When the teacher found out I was writing a book of my own, she asked me if I'd like to talk to the class about the experience.So with Deus ex Comica done, the kiddo's teacher and I picked my April Writers' Workshop volunteer session to come in early and talk to the class. The teacher had me set up in the bright-colored rocker in the corner, and 20 or so sweaty, fresh-from-gym-class second graders huddled in a tight semi-circle on the floor around me. I talked for a half-hour or so about having the idea, the seemingly endless cycles of revising and rewriting, and publishing the book.
Having a seven-year-old, I knew I should expect just about anything from the class when it came to question and answer time. And they didn't disappoint. I was asked stuff like how long it took me to write the book (about nine months for the first draft, including the online essays that started it all), did I draw the cover (nope, that was Dave Wachter), how old do you have to be to write a book (anyone at any age can write a book!), how do you pronounce the title and what does it mean (I made up the title and "God is in the comics"), and who did I dedicate the book to (the kiddo). But my favorite question was how old I was when I started writing the book (37). It was just subtly off-the-wall enough to tickle me just right.
I think they went easy on me because my book is about comic books, which is kinda cool to a grade schooler. And I think being able to hold my book in their hands and pass it around helped make things real for them.
Saturday began with the discovery that Deus ex Comica is now available for sale on Amazon.com! Lulu had advised me it would take six to eight weeks for the book to be listed on Amazon, but after just four short weeks it's already there. The book is also listed on GoodReads, so please feel free to rate and review the book on any or all of those three sites if you feel so inclined. I appreciate everyone's support!
That afternoon was my book signing at JC Comics and Cards. They gave me a corner of the counter to put up my displays and set out my books. There were only two sales I was hoping for going into the signing -- my buddy Jeff said he would stop by and my wife's cousin and fiancé said they'd be there too. Both came through for me, each stopping into the store and buying a copy of the book.
Of course the wife and kiddo stopped by and snapped a few photos as well, but what made the two hours go even faster and so much more fun was that I sold six other copies to people I didn't know! It was very cool that people came out specifically to meet and talk to me, buy my book, and in one case take pictures of and with me!
Sunday I made the two hour drive to Perrysburg for the Toledo Comics & Sci-Fi Convention. Organizer Jeff Harper set me up with a nice table to sell and sign copies of Deus ex Comica, and made certain to let everyone know I was at the show during every hourly door prize announcement.
It's tough when you're self-publishing a book like mine because the pricing structure is a bit different, and that can make things rough when you're up against fifty-cent comics and half-off trade paperbacks. This was a really small show compared to Jeff's Akron-Canton Comic Con and it seemed like the dealers were more interested in the book than the customers at the show, but I managed to sell three copies of the book. I doubt I'll make the trip back across the state for that show again, but I'll definitely do more of the local shows Jeff puts on (Akron, Canton, Richfield) and maybe even Columbus.What made the trip all the more worthwhile, though, is that along with selling half the inventory I took with me, I struck up a conversation with Bill from Bill's Books and More comic book store down in Canton. I asked him if he'd be willing to put out some promotional postcards for my book in his store, he said sure then turned around and asked me if I was booked anywhere for Free Comic Book Day. I told him no and he immediately asked if I'd be willing to do a signing at his store that day. So now it looks like I'll be at Bill's Books and More (2215 6th Street SW) on Saturday, May 02 from 12 noon to 3pm for an in-store signing to help celebrate Free Comic Book Day! Mark your calendars now and come out to support the industry, say hello to me, and maybe pick up a signed copy of Deus ex Comica!
Because our Cavaliers couldn't finish off the Wizards in Game 5 on Wednesday night, we ended up missing the Cavs' convincing win in Washington on Friday night because we were out with good friends seeing Iron Man. Wow, what a great movie! It lived up to both the hype and my personal expectations. Robert Downey, Jr. was born to play Tony Stark, taking the character seriously while never losing sight of the fact that the source material is a comic book. (And while I never would have pictured Tony Stark of the comics listening to Suicidal Tendencies while working on his armor, it was absolutely appropriate for Downey's Stark to be doing just that at one point.) Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Terrence Howard all were fantastic in their respective roles as well. The A.I. Jarvis was a little disconcerting to me until I read a post on the Marvel Noise forum that pointed out that it allowed Paltrow's Pepper Potts to take on a "keeping Stark's life in order" role, which helped make that dynamic even more satisfying. We stayed until after the credits for a scene I didn't much care for. I'm not a fan of Marvel's Ultimate Universe, so the Sam Jackson cameo was more off-putting than exciting for me. In all, a fantastic movie, and based on the weekend's numbers, it looks like we should be treated to at least a sequel, if not a franchise!
Saturday was Free Comic Book Day, so my son and I went to the local comic shop to stock up on some of the freebies! I came away with Hellboy, G.I. Joe: Sigma 6, X-Men, and Dan Dare, while my son scored with Sonic the Hedgehog, Little Archie, Donald Duck, and Gyro Gearloose. He also got his picture taken with Batman on the way into the shop, and on the way out Batman came up to the car window and told him to stay in school. Sage advice, indeed, from the Dark Knight.
Sunday I surprised my son with a trip to the Canton Comic & Sci-Fi Convention. These shows that Jeff Harper puts on are a far cry from the mega-super-duper events that have taken over the industry. Jeff's conventions are designed for collectors and fans to fill collection holes and find some real bargains, and are family friendly. For a couple of bucks my son hauled in a Superman Adventures, a Spider-Man/X-Men Team-Up, a Web of Spidey with Venom, a Sensational Spider-Man with Swarm, and a Bone Holiday Special. As a bonus, when he opened the Sensational Spider-Man he found an Iron
Man trading card inside. Double prizes! And when he saw the animation style cells Brett Pinson over at Boomtown Press was doing, my son was completely sold. He decided to buy one of Pinson's small animation style cells of Darth Vader. And the weekend was complete!
This year’s Free Comic Book Day was probably my favorite one yet! I was invited up to Willoughby to help Comic Heaven celebrate the industry holiday, and was treated to a fun afternoon meeting the store’s regulars, talking comics, and even selling a few copies of my book.
When I arrived around 11:45 for my noon to 3pm appearance, the store was hopping due to members of the 501st, Darth Vader, Sinestro, and the handful of Iron Man 2 advanced movie tickets the store gave away when they opened at 11. I got settled in with my book displays and all, and immediately I had someone wanting to hear about my book and asking to buy a copy. Both the store and my table was crazy busy for nearly two hours straight.
And the perfect end to my signing... The guy who bought that first copy of Deus ex Comica right when I got set up was there with his girlfriend. Later in the day, sometime around 2:30, his girlfriend came back with her young son to get some free comics. She made a point to stop back at my table and tell me that her boyfriend was so excited about my book that he made her read the back cover and start to read the book out loud to him while they were driving home earlier. That’s what makes this little non-money making venture of self-publishing worthwhile.
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