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Page count
Feb. 27th, 2013 09:36 pmIn my year-long to-do list (yes, I have one of those), March is labeled "Kismet". My goal for the month is 50 pages, penciled and inked, though probably not colored. That'll give me a year of weekly updates. It sounds like a lot, and it may end up being an unrealistic goal, but I'm starting to realize that sometimes it's good to challenge myself. And it's been awhile since I've regularly, consistently done comics. I'm sort of curious how fast I'm going to be once I settle into it.
I know it's technically still February, but I started penciling tonight, so hey! Progress bars.
Pages penciled:
Pages inked:
0 / 50 pages. 0% done!
Pages colored:0 / 50 pages. 0% done!
I know it's technically still February, but I started penciling tonight, so hey! Progress bars.
Pages penciled:
1 / 50 pages. 2% done!
Pages inked:
0 / 50 pages. 0% done!
Pages colored:0 / 50 pages. 0% done!
Happy Thanksgiving – and a book giveaway!
Nov. 21st, 2012 09:06 pm
Happy Thanksgiving, to those who celebrate. (Above: the shelf above my desk, all decked out in fire hazard fall regalia.)
In other news — FREE Freebird!
In honor of my upcoming week of book signings (and the holiday season), I’m giving away a signed copy of Freebird! I’d like to find more webcomics to read, so enter to win by posting a comment below, recommending a webcomic to me. Give me a link to it, and tell me briefly why you like it. I greatly prefer narrative comics (as opposed to single-strip gag comics), but regardless, if you think it’s cool and awesome, tell me about it — the more obscure the better. Just one per person, please! Pick your favorite. 
If you don’t read webcomics or can’t think of one you’d like to recommend, you can still enter by recommending me a book you liked — again, the more obscure the better, to increase the chances that it’ll be something new to me.
And if you really can’t think of anything to recommend, just leave me a comment and I’ll enter you anyway. 
ALSO! To be absolutely shameless about the self-promotion aspect of this, if you mention this contest on your own blog, LJ, Facebook page, etc, I’ll give you two slots in my random number table instead of just one. Twice the chance to win! (Just let me know that you did it, in order to get credit.)
Comments stay open ’til Wednesday night, Nov. 28 and I’ll randomly choose a winner on the 29th. (It doesn’t matter if you recommend something I already know about or didn’t like. You’re still in the contest. 
)
And hey, if you see someone in the comments recommending something you like, feel free to chat about it!
Originally published at Layla's Wordpress blog. You can comment here or there.
Happy Halloween, everyone! I carved my last two home-grown pumpkins and put one of them out in the snow after dark, with a candle inside. It looks AWESOME. I can see why jack’o'lanterns would have been such a cool thing in the days before electric lights and TV. Doesn’t photograph worth a damn, though.
In book news, the Freebird book is now carried by Gulliver’s Books (our awesome local independent bookstore) as well as The Comic Shop. (It may not be on shelves at Gulliver’s quite yet, but will be in the next day or two!) I also have some book signings scheduled:
Sat, Nov. 17 – Gulliver’s Books (this date is tentative, and may change)
Sat, Dec. 1 – Forget-Me-Not Books/Literacy Council of Alaska
I will definitely be doing a signing for The Comic Shop, but don’t have a date for that yet; I’ll announce it when I know more!
Originally published at Layla's Wordpress blog. You can comment here or there.
Freebird book!
Oct. 27th, 2012 09:08 amLOOK LOOK LOOK! I have a BOOK!
All the info: The book is 8.25×6″, 152 pages, and retails for $12 US. It collects all of the Freebird strips from 2006-2008, the ones that ran in the now-defunct Fairbanks entertainment paper fbx square plus the online ones that I did after square died. There are also new strips (bringing the story to the conclusion that it was originally supposed to have) and two backup stories, plus extra sketches and previously unseen strips from the development process.
How to sample: You can read nearly all of the story online, starting here — although the book contains about 30 pages of newly drawn strips that aren’t online, plus all the backup stuff.
How to buy:
- You can buy it from Amazon.com. If you’re in Europe, you can get it from your local Amazon in your local currency — I’ve checked Amazon.co.uk, and Amazon.de, and both of them have it! (Since I’ve never done this before, for those of you who are in the UK and continental Europe, could you tell me if the price seems really wrong to you? I just based it on the US price — it’s a more or less straight currency conversion from the US price into UK pounds and euros, so you pay just what you would if you bought it in the US. But I have no idea what “common” book prices are like in those currencies.)
- You can also buy it from my estore on CreateSpace. Amazon still handles payment processing and order fulfillment, but (fair warning) it’ll be more of a hassle for you than buying it from Amazon’s main site, because you’ll have to create a CreateSpace account (if you don’t already have one), can’t get Supersaver shipping, etc. The advantage to me is that I get a significantly higher percentage on sales through the estore than I do through Amazon, but frankly, I am absolutely delighted and flattered if anyone wants to buy my book, and you are definitely encouraged to do it wherever and however is easiest and best for you!
These books will be available locally in Fairbanks at The Comic Shop very soon (possibly even today; I’ve been severely hampered this week by Lack of Functional Automobile or they would be there already!) and subsequently in every other local bookstore that I can convince to carry them. 
ETA: They are available in The Comic Shop now!
At this point I don’t have anything set up for people to buy the books directly from me, aside from catching me locally at a book signing. (There will be book signings, but I don’t have dates/venues yet — more information forthcoming soon!) I did my own book shipping in my last self-publishing venture, but honestly, living in Alaska, so much of my profit is eaten up by shipping costs that it’s just about as cost-effective for me to sell them through Amazon. On the other hand, I know how some people feel about Amazon (I am entirely sympathetic, believe me!) so I’m hoping to have more non-Amazon options available for you soon.
Questions? Please ask! I will have a reaction/discussion post for the book up soon.
In conclusion: BOOK! \o/
Originally published at Layla's Wordpress blog. You can comment here or there.
Announcing the Freebird book
Sep. 19th, 2012 06:44 pmThings have been busy around here on the self-publishing front lately. I can finally say with certainty that there is going to be a Freebird book! In fact – soon! There was a years-long delay involving a publishing deal that wasn’t, but ultimately, aside from being later with the book than I would have hoped, there’s no harm, no foul — I never signed away any rights and I’m still on excellent terms with everyone involved, but now I’ve pulled out completely and I’m all set to self-publish. I’ve spent the last week typesetting files and getting price quotes, and barring circumstances unforeseen, I plan to have the book out in November (using POD through Amazon’s CreateSpace), for the holiday shopping season. Unfortunately I am traveling for most of October — well, it’s not unfortunate at all, really, because I’m greatly looking forward to the vacation, but it’s making it difficult to figure out exactly when the book will be available. Right now I’m aiming for early to mid November; at the very least it will be available by mid-November from Amazon, from me, and (hopefully) from stores in Fairbanks. I’m going to try to do a couple of holiday bazaars and book signings, but this is all quite tentative since I just today worked out a rough publication schedule/plan and haven’t started contacting anyone yet.
The book will be 80 pages, 8.5×11″, with about 30 pages of new (i.e. not online) strips and bonus material. Retail price will be either $10 or $12; that’s another thing I’m still working out. (Currently leaning towards $10, depending on how my cost calculations come out.) I’ll keep you guys posted here, of course.
And here’s the cover:
ETA: And after the Freebird book will be the Kismet: Hunter’s Moon book … at long last! I’m doing Freebird first because the timing is just too good to pass up — Freebird is a book that I think might work very well as a holiday gift (plus I think it’ll sell well locally). So Hunter’s Moon will be a project for early 2013. But at long last, it’s gonna happen.
Originally published at Layla's Wordpress blog. You can comment here or there.
I'm uploading Freebird comics today! \o/ The strip will begin updating twice weekly (Sundays and Thursdays) on Nov. 16 and will run through Christmas, wrapping up the major storylines and bringing it to a tidy stopping place rather than the mid-story-arc cliffhanger where I broke off when "square" stopped publishing and I lost my dead-tree venue for it.
The strips are all drawn and scanned; I just have to finish toning them. (The only reason why I'm not starting 'til November is so that it will end on Christmas; the last strip takes place on Christmas, in their universe, so it's nicely synchronous to have it fall on Christmas in our 'verse too.) And then I'll be able to check a major item off my creative to-do list. I hate wandering away and leaving a creative project unfinished -- I may waffle between them frequently, but it's nice to leave each one in a good stopping place before I waffle off to something else.
It feels so good to be making comics again! *eyes Kismet to-do pile*
The strips are all drawn and scanned; I just have to finish toning them. (The only reason why I'm not starting 'til November is so that it will end on Christmas; the last strip takes place on Christmas, in their universe, so it's nicely synchronous to have it fall on Christmas in our 'verse too.) And then I'll be able to check a major item off my creative to-do list. I hate wandering away and leaving a creative project unfinished -- I may waffle between them frequently, but it's nice to leave each one in a good stopping place before I waffle off to something else.
It feels so good to be making comics again! *eyes Kismet to-do pile*
