HTDC Comic's Independent Creator Initiative serves to bring the indie community together by giving creators access to a wider audience. Our aim is to make it possible for creators to produce, publish and sell their work without having to depend
on the whim of a larger publisher. We believe that creators have earned the right to tell their own stories, with their own characters and share them with the world starting right now. HTDC's Online Comic Book Store is here to give you that platform.
Across the globe their are new and original stories inspired by the imagination of passionate creators. Each a unique gem in and of itself, giving readers something individual and special that lies outside the mainstream. And that's exactly what readers are after - something fresh! Which is why we think independent creators hold the future of the comic book industry in their hands.
HTDC Comics recognizes the hard work that goes into realizing an endevor as gargantuan as creating your own comic. And we believe that regardless of how far we're able to push your sales, the greater majority of profit earned from your book should go directly back into your pocket.
If you're an independent creator read below for detailed instructions on how you can submit your comics and begin selling them through the store.
HOW THE HTDC COMIC BOOK STORE WORKS
HTDC's mission is to be a place that people come to learn the skills needed to make a comic book – and then to help creators actually get the comics they want to make out there. This allows them not only to learn how to do it, but enables them to do it for real and hopefully earn some money along the way.
This is done through HTDC’s online comic book store where you, the creator are able to showcase your books. As well as generating exposure through organic traffic, HTDC also contributes money to advertising the store as well as promoting it via HTDC’s e-mail list and social networks to help you reach a wider audience.
When a potential customer visits the store and clicks on your comic, they’ll be sent via an affiliate link where they’ll be able to purchase a digital copy of it. This will be done using Gumroad as the chosen platform since their commission fee is minimal and they have an easy to use affiliate set up. HTDC becomes your distributor and you maintain all rights to your work, no contracts required.
You name the price. HTDC keeps 25% from sales made through our store using the affiliate link, while you keep 75%. One of the reasons our share is so low is because we feel the 50/50 split from sites such as Comixiology is simply unfair on creators given the hard work they put into their projects.
All profit made by HTDC goes back into website hosting fees, advertising, and promoting our creators.
SUBMITTING YOUR COMICS FOR REVIEW
The HTDC Comic Book Store is a choreographed library of creator owned titles. Before making your comic available in the store it must be submitted for review. This is super fast and easy!
Simply send your submissions to claytonbarton@howtodrawcomics.net. Include the title of the book, it's credits, an image of the cover and a preview of at least three interior pages in your e-mail.
You'll get a reply within 24 hours hours letting you know if your comic book is eligible for the store along with further instructions on what to do next.
GETTING YOUR COMIC ON HTDC'S COMIC BOOK STORE
The HTDC Comic Book Store uses an affiliate link generated by Gumroad to promote and sell your Comics. Gumroad is an online store platform for creators where you're able to host digital products such as comics, courses, music, subscriptions and pretty much anything else that can be sold digitally. It's purchasing and checkout process is ultra-smooth for both you and your affiliates, as well as the customer, with weekly sales payouts made every Friday via Direct Deposit.
It's extremely easy to use and very straight forward as far as getting set up. You'll also have access to all your sales stats, demographics and traffic sources.
After your comic book has been approved you'll get a return e-mail requesting your comic's Gumroad Affiliate link. We'll then use this link to promote your title through the HTDC Comic Book Store. You'll be able to easily keep track of each sale we help you make, and Gumroad will automatically take care of the 25% sales commission.
GENERATING AN AFFILIATE LINK FOR THE HTDC COMIC BOOK STORE
In order to generate an affiliate link for the HTDC Comic Book store simply go to the Gumroad Affiliate page: https://gumroad.com/affiliates. and fill out the form fields as follows:
Enter a friends e-mail: claytonbarton@howtodrawcomics.net
Select Products: (select the comic you'd like to sell on the HTDC Comic Book Store)
Percent: 25%
Then just hit the letter envelope icon and you're done. Your comic will be available to buy through the HTDC Comic Book Store within 24 hours.
Q&A
WHAT IF I DON'T HAVE A GUMROAD ACCOUNT?
If you're new to Gumroad and don't yet have an account you'll need to set one up at gumroad.com. Sign up is easy and completely free - simply follow the prompts and you'll be set up in no time. Once you've got your Gumroad account ready to go you'll then want to fill out your payment info (so that you can get paid when we make sale for you) and upload your comic to the site - for more detailed instructions on how to get your Gumroad account set up, see the links below.
Adding a Product To Gumroad: http://help.gumroad.com/11162-getting-started/adding-a-product
Setting Up Your Gumroad Payouts: http://help.gumroad.com/setting-up-your-gumroad-account
Getting Paid By Gumroad: http://help.gumroad.com/11164-payments/getting-paid
WHY WASN'T MY SUBMISSION ACCEPTED?
We take great care to carefully review each submission for the HTDC Comic Book Store. Since How To Draw Comics is first and foremost a learning website, we strive to teach our learners and the potential creators we might someday partner with how to get their skills to a level where they're able to produce comic books to a high standard of quality. It's this high standard of quality that we believe will help independent creators leave a footprint in the industry and grow a new customer base detached from mainstream publishers.
When reviewing a submission, we look for efforts made to harness the skills used to create it - that great effort, time, passion and energy has been dedicated to it's production. We're looking for comics that are loved by their creators, that pack a punch visually and encapsulate you within the world their story takes place it.
We approach the review process diplomatically so that any decisions made are fair and unbiased. If your initial review is unsuccessful, we'll explain why and give you some pointers to work on for your revised submission.
PRICING
You choose the price for your comic via your Gumroad account. As far as the HTDC Store goes you can price it at whatever value you like, you've got complete control.
Keep in mind that exchange rates may cause some fluctuation in final sales revenue depending on where you are in the world and what currency you're using. For example if an AUD customer purchases your comic for a US price listing, the US charge and/or revenue from that may appear higher or lower due to the currency exchange.
The HTDC Comic Book Store only earns money if you do! So we've got your back all the way and will do as much as possible to boost your sales and get as many eyes on your comic book line up as possible.
WHAT FORMAT DOES MY COMIC NEED TO BE UPLOADED IN?
PDF files are a widely accessible format for customers to read your comics on any Mac, PC or Portable Device. Because of this we request that your comics are compiled and uploaded as PDF's.
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