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Join the thousands of comic book authors on KDP. Here are some of their stories:

“KDP gave us the ability to have the final say on what we were creating, allowing us to not compromise on quality.”

Brandon Perlow, publisher of Watson and Holmes

Like many fans of comic books, I felt compelled to get my stories out there. So, when the opportunity came to work with Karl Bollers and Rick Leonardi on a new take on Sherlock Holmes, I was thrilled. Creating comics has been something I’ve wanted to do since I was a child and I got extremely excited as the pages started to come in.

It’s very difficult for a smaller publisher to get their books into comic book shops and ultimately into the hands of readers. KDP has allowed us to reach an audience that we wouldn’t normally have access to and build an international fan base. Through the ratings and reviews on Amazon, we get to see the impact our work has had on people throughout the globe.

KDP makes it quick and simple to get our books in front of our fans, to build a fan base, and allows us to have the final say on what we’re creating.

“KDP enables me to create manga for readers across the globe, while living in Japan.”

Sayuri Sakai, author of Because I’m a Maid

When I was about 18 years old, I started taking manga written by me to a reputed publishing house in Japan. A year and a half later, I participated in and won a competition to create a comic based on a simulation game. That was my debut as a professional manga writer. I still remember how difficult it was for me at the time to create a whole series of comics as my first professional endeavor.

While my family continued to support my efforts to become a manga writer, I struggled to find the time to write manga as I lived on my own and was also working elsewhere at the time. Acquiring the skills required to become a professional manga writer through self-study and understanding industry trends was also a challenge.

However, production and distribution through independent publishing using KDP enables me to create manga that are translated into English, French and other languages for readers across the globe, while living in Japan. Further, the numerous customer reviews that I receive allow me to reflect on my work objectively and serve as a source of inspiration for future manga writing.

Five-star ratings, in particular, reinvigorate me and make me happy that readers around the world enjoy my manga in many different ways.

BECAUSE I’M A MAID!’s success as a long-time best seller has served to enhance awareness of manga worldwide. Buoyed by its popularity in the U. S., I plan to publish the manga in Japan and Southeast Asia, with the objective of enhancing my skills as a professional manga writer. I hope that by launching the digital version of BECAUSE I’M A MAID! through KDP, more people will be able to enjoy reading it.

“You can't lose with KDP!”

Peter J. Ang, author of PANDORA End of Days

It seems everywhere I look online these days, there are dozens of success stories from self-publishing authors being posted in blogs and pop-culture news websites. These stories usually have to do with a decision to abandon the traditional route of approaching major publishers by diving headlong into the e-book industry, and driven largely due to the explosive growth of the Kindle.

But how does Kindle Direct Publishing offer success to comic book (graphic novel) creators? I can say that it is in many ways similar to "novel authors," yet in some ways very different. My love for writing began in high school upon my induction into the messy world of fan-fiction. Reading the best of Marvel and DC comics was one thing, but being able to control the fate of my favorite superheroes by writing my own renditions, then receiving feedback from fellow fans, was invigorating. Soon after college, I decided it was time to go in for the real thing. Collaborating with a very talented artist, Jin Song Kim, our first comic book series was accepted and published. But after a bad experience with the publisher, it was time to go look for a real job.

Fast forward to 2011, and the buzz around the e-book market got too loud to ignore. Since I still owned all the copyrights to our comic book series, I gave self-publishing a try using Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing. Initially, this endeavour had its own challenges, namely EPUB format conversion problems. While many e-book authors use professional conversion services, my extensive background in graphic design and web development enabled me to handle this task myself. I didn't get my hopes up after listing my first graphic novel in the Kindle store as I went on with my usual grind in life. For three months after it was listed up online, I did not even check my sales reports. Basically, I just forgot about it. Then one day, I was contacted by KDP support telling me that I needed to update my bank account information in order to receive some $2,000+ in royalties. What? I couldn't get back home fast enough to verify it online. Sure enough, the numbers were all there. I felt light headed, almost euphoric. This was it, I thought. The e-book industry had levelled the playing field for us against the looming mountains of broken dreams surrounding major publishers.

Nearly six years after our first project, I called Jin and pleaded to meet for lunch. I said there was no way I could explain the good news to him over the phone. Full control over creativity, instant delivery of digital files with no overhead printing costs, and a no-nonsense royalty payment system. It didn't take long to convince him for another collaboration. Just over a year later, we published our newest 200-page graphic novel online, PANDORA End of Days.

Although our comic book dream was effectively rekindled, largely thanks to Amazon's KDP, I still hesitated to opt in for the KDP Select program. Determined to give all e-book markets a good try. However, the multitude of authors blogging about the program was hard to ignore. I decided that the safest time to test KDP's 90-day exclusive agreement would be this summer, just enough time before the usual holiday winter rush. Lo and behold, in the first month of June alone, downloads increased significantly, rising even more with the launch of Kindle Unlimited. Our book also skyrocketed in sales rank. Should we have been in KDP Select all this time? Maybe.

Lastly, to all self-publishing comic book creators aspiring to enlist their works on the Kindle, Amazon's Kindle Comic Creator is a superb new (free) tool that eliminates all the hassle of EPUB Formatting and auto-resizes images to fit all Kindle models perfectly. You can't lose with KDP! This isn't just the future of reading comics, it already is. Give it a go!

The New York Times drops its graphic novel best seller lists

Last week, the New York Times announced the surprising news that it plans on dropping its best seller graphic novel and manga lists. (Or “graphic books,” per the paper’s less-conventional term of choice.) The decision’s effective as of February 5. Also being dropped are mass market paperbacks, middle-grade ebooks, and teen ebooks lists. However, it’s the loss of the graphic novel and manga lists that’s getting the most attention online.

The Times first started running the lists in 2009. The reason given for the list-dropping is that the lists “did not reach or resonate with many readers.” Despite this, the paper promises to provide future comics coverage, as they stated on Twitter:

Quick note to fellow comics/graphic novel fans: The Times is not cutting back on coverage of these genres/formats but rather…. 1/2

…expanding on coverage in ways that reach more readers than the lists did. To wit: new graphic reviews by comic artists, more reviews 2/3

…and more news and features about then genre and it's creators. We are big fans, and want to recognize growing readership. Stay tuned. 3/3

The Times also states they’ll continue to list graphic novels in the mainstream best seller lists.

Downsides of the New York Times’ decision

Online reactions to the Times’ decision are pretty negative, and for good reason. Having a novel (graphic or prose) on the New York Times’ best seller list is a strong selling point. Libraries could also use the list to figure out what graphic novels are particularly popular.

The best seller list also gave prominent credibility to the comics medium among the general public. That’s something that the industry’s struggled for years to gain. A newspaper like the New York Times (that doesn’t even run a comics page) seeing value in comics says a lot.

The idea the lists “did not […] resonate” seems at odds with prevailing sales trends of graphic novels, which have risen in recent years. They’ve also received a lot of attention recently; see John Lewis’ “March.”

The types of books on the best seller list also are a varied bunch. Women and minority authors often dominate the charts; Raina Telgemeier’s a major presence. They’re also from a variety of genres, versus the superhero-heavy Diamond sales charts.

It’s nice that graphic novels will still be listed in the main best seller lists. However, it’ll be harder for them to gain attention when up against popular prose novels.

Alternatives?

I do wonder what non-Diamond alternatives that leaves. I’ve been trying to list the New York Times’ best sellers along with the Diamond ones in my comics sales posts, for the sake of a broader view.

A Google search turns up Publishers Weekly’s own graphic novel list, but it seems less organized (based mainly on BookScan data/its organizing) than the Times’ lists. If anyone knows of any alternatives, please list them in the comments below.

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Amazon’s DC Comics Graphic Novel Memorial Day Sale is Massive

By Sean Fallon - May 24, 2018 10:12 am EDT

Amazon frequently runs sales on Marvel digital graphic novels, but a big sale on DC Comics doesn't happen quite as often. However, they’re busting out a massive sale on over 1000 DC titles for the Memorial Day holiday, which should give you plenty of reading material to fill your time over a long three-day weekend.

You can shop the entire sale right here until Monday, May 28th. If you prefer, you can Shop the sale directly through Amazon’s Comixology. Either way, the vast majority of the graphic novels are priced in the $5.99 range, which drops the price around 65% on average. That’s a helluva deal for a collection that includes tons of popular classic and current titles. Take advantage of the deal while you can.

On a related note, the beloved Batman: The Animated Series is getting a new board game from IDW Games this August, and you’ll want to keep tabs on Amazon’s pre-order page in the coming weeks so that you can be among the first to secure one (a Series Blu-ray is also in the works). The official game description can be found below:

"Batman: The Animated Series – Gotham Under Siege is game for 1-5 players who take on the role of the caped crusader and his allies as they protect Gotham from the full range of Batman’s Rogues Gallery. Designed by Richard Launius (Elder Sign, Planet of the Apes) known for creating thematic and challenging tabletop games and co-designed by Michael Guigliano, Batman: The Animated Series – Gotham Under Siege puts players in the role of Gotham’s heroes as they use dice allocation and threat management to defend the city against henchmen and bosses, and fight to save the city from being destroyed."

"This game features all new artwork, character miniatures, 3D city buildings, and other board game elements, Batman: The Animated Series – Gotham Under Siege captures the action and adventures of the animated series right on the tabletop. The Box Top art is by Matt Ferguson and miniatures are sculpted by Brian Dugas."

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