Possible comic adaption?
I’ve been thinking about trialling a comic-style release. It would be sold in hardcopy and Kindle via Amazon, and as a PDF on Patreon for a small fee.
(I've used my Tales from the GC series as an example and no doubt the style would be different for the Black Shil)
This would be a test run before we consider a full Black Ship comic. That project would still be months away. The goal is to learn the pitfalls first, then improve the process.
These examples are AI-generated. For a real release, I would commission an artist. A professional will cost $2–5k per comic. I’m not sure that investment would be recovered.
What do you think? Is this realistic?
Comments (8)
Will buy everyone you make
I’m not sure a comic is the best representation of your work. Your story is well written and moves at an even exciting pace. If i compare your work to say for example Jack London, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlien and many others, most have only one or two pictures and rely on great narrative allowing the reader to develop their own ideas for the characters and actions. I think adding someone else’s art work takes away from the original thought and story. Too many artists and movie directors etc take artistic license too far and in doing so, hobble the imagination of the reader or listener. Your episodes are of the same high quality as the old radio shows. Don’t mess around with the style. It’s wonderful. imho
I too would consider purchasing a PDF of each "book", with corrections and images would be best. Do you have a chat for text corrections? Or do you not want that kind of feedback?
I like the current version. A comic version may be nice, but if you have to pay for each episode when we already support you on Patreon, I would not be impressed. It would also be nice if you had a few English scrip reviewers. The English is better than most competitors, but could be better. Some readers speak the ... as "dot dot dot" in text lol
IDK about comic but if you release it as a book (since we already have 2 books story) I would get a copy.
I agree with Daniel; as an existing patron, I want a book, (with corrections) but if you are trying to attract new readers, perhaps your idea of a comic would draw in more new readers.
I can't comment on the US market so I can only speak from a UK perspective. Ive been in business for about 30 years and am fully supportive of anyone who wants to generate an income. Ive watched from the start your efforts to monetise and diversify your products. The Patreon subscription base is probably a pretty accurate reflection of your potential paid customer base. Speaking for myself and if you look at the comic tradition in the UK we are used to complete stories not cliff hangers that are not resolved in a book as this tends to lead to fall off of some customers and not a growth in customer base [ as can be seen in the metrics of the black ship audience ] So as long as the comics are complete stories I think there would be a market. I am a massive fan of sci-fi but now only seek out those stories where I know there is a start middle and at some point an end thats why I cant commit to anything further from you as yet as your models of storytelling give no commitment to having an end point. The quality of the writing is good and I have nothing but praise [ for the record]
Would love a Black Ship comic, but dont stretch yourself to far! Personally I’d love a hard copy of the Black Ship, or even a Kindle version to own, before I’d want a comic. Just need an editor to go through as Ive noticed many errors throughout, lots of ‘she’ where it should be ‘he’ and vice versa, or using the wrong name when in group settings. Nothing major but guessing its not having enough time between episodes to properly proof read