Cutting Costs
How to Restart a Comic Writing Career - Part 2 of 5
As I mentioned in the previous posts in this series, my wife will join me in retirement life in April. With both of us on a reduced, fixed income, it makes it imperative that my pro-am comics career doesn’t interfere with our ability to eat. I say that somewhat flippantly, but it is actually a valid concern. For this to work, anything I do that is comics-related must be at least a breakeven adventure, if not profitable.
The word profit has become almost anathema in today’s political context, but in reality, it is merely the equation behind financial responsibility.
Profit=Revenue−Costs1
If you spend more (costs) than you earn (revenue), you end up with a negative profit — a loss. It’s a concept that predated any economic “ism” and was intrinsically understood by even the earliest farmers: the seeds you harvest minus the seeds you eat give you what you have left over to plant next year.
In my case, it is critical that my profit be at least zero. That was always the goal. What is really different now is that it can’t just be zero (commonly referred to as “breakeven”) eventually. I won’t be allowed to be less than breakeven ever. My profit will have to be greater than or equal to zero at all times.
In the ideal world, the revenue from my comic and merchandise sales would be predictable and reliable over time. While effective marketing, attending cons, scheduling regular Kickstarters, and other activities can increase the odds of that happening, these activities tend to cost money in advance, and their success is far from guaranteed. So, as much as I’d like to control the revenue side of things, that variable is mainly in the hands of the fans buying my comics and related merchandise.
The lever we, as creators, have the most control over is the “cost” part of the equation. If costs were zero, you’d be guaranteed to at least break even no matter how many books we sold. I’ve identified three key ways to reduce my expenses.
1. Subscriptions - The Perpetual Payment Trap
One of the financial realities that has changed dramatically over the course of my lifetime is the move toward subscriptions. Companies have discovered that it is much easier to attract new customers if the barrier to entry into their ecosystem is lower or even free. The subscription model also taps into our very human tendency to procrastinate and let things slide. Once they have us, they have us. It’s just too troublesome to unsubscribe.
Sadly, this becomes a trap. I’m not proud to admit that during tax time, when I review my financials in more detail, I’ve more than once discovered a small monthly payment going out to a cryptic business I don’t even recognize. It has never been fraud. It is almost always a repeating charge for utility software that I once needed for a specific project but will not need again for months.
Some subscriptions are unavoidable, and you need to shop around for the best value for that product. For example, when we move to Victoria in the spring, I will be shopping around for the best possible low-cost cellphone plan.
Other subscriptions provide a service that is the easiest, most cost-effective way to accomplish a goal. I could, hypothetically, run my own web server on my own hardware, but the money I’d need to spend on hardware and the time I’d have to invest in keeping the system up and running and safe from hackers is just too much to take on. Hiring Bluehost to take care of this is more like outsourcing necessary staff.
What follows is a relatively thorough list of the services and software that end(ed) up in my accounting:
Services and software without a subscription fee.2
Scrivener - Like Photoshop for writing, I find this next-level tool invaluable for writing scripts and novels.
Procreate - I will be using this drawing tool on my iPad a lot in the future.
Clip Studio Paint EX Ver. 3.0 Edition - perpetual license edition.
Apple iOS tools & software - eg. Preview.
Also, see “Alternatives” below.
Services and software I know I will continue to pay for even if I am no longer in comics.
Cellphone & internet plan
Bluehost - Web hosting
AVG AntiVirus
Would be a pain to lose, but I could unsubscribe from these in a pinch.
Microsoft Office - Having these industry-standard tools available makes collaboration easier, and currently, the yearly fee is not too exorbitant. That said, the key components of Microsoft Office are replicated by free software included with MacOS. e.g. Excel -> Numbers.
Canva - For visual content. I definitely get my money’s worth from the pro version of this tool.
Descript - This is my go-to tool for audio editing for podcasting and audiobook creation.
YouTube Ad free - I consume a lot of YouTube content for research, learning, and entertainment. If you have never experienced YouTube without ads, it is worth every penny. What I pay in money, I easily gain back in time.
Google Storage - For a small yearly fee, I avoid worrying about using too much storage for Gmail, etc.
ChatGPT - “Spicy Google” is like having a 13-year-old research assistant. Even with its limitations, it is frequently extremely useful.
Identifying the tools in the “could unsubscribe” category may be useful in the future, but I will not save any money until I actually unsubscribe from something.
Unsubscribed in 2024, but may restart temporarily for specific projects.
myEcovermaker.com - This is a fabulous tool for creating comic cover mockups to use in Kickstarter campaigns, but there is no reason to keep paying monthly for the service when I am not running a campaign.
Unsubscribed in 2024, and will learn to use alternatives.
I just unsubscribed from Adobe Creative Cloud. Instead, I have paid for
Affinity V2 Universal License (Designer, Photo, and Publisher),
DxO Photolab 8.0 (to replace Lightroom), and
a PDF editing tool with a perpetual license.3
Cancelling this service has filled me with dread and has put a learning curve in front of me, but spending $38.99 CAD a month really adds up quickly. $467.88 for a year seems doable, but paying at least $4678.80 across the next 10 years is not cool. Using Black Friday discounts, this bundle of alternatives to Adobe Creative Cloud should pay for itself in less than a year, and paying for this “perpetually licensed” software while there is still a paycheque coming in is a good thing.
Cancelling Adobe Creative Cloud is especially viable now that I use Canva for so many of the tasks that I used to use Photoshop to accomplish.
2. Buy Fewer Comics
It feels almost traitorous to say this, but buying comics is an optional expense. And when you are trying to cut costs, optional expenses should be the first to go.
As a writer, I’d argue that reading comics is far from optional. It is an essential part of learning the craft. However, in today’s digital age, where I can download more comics from my public library for free than I would read in my remaining lifetime, spending money on comics is less a necessity and more like a pleasant addiction or an obligation.
While I occasionally buy books from my local comic book store, most of my comic purchases have been made via Kickstarter. In the eight years I’ve been actively involved in comics, I’ve supported 392 comic-related Kickstarter campaigns. Even if the average pledge was just $10, including shipping, that adds to a serious chunk of change. I’ve met so many incredible creators, and I always want to support these friends and peers. The guilt of not backing each and every one of their projects is real. I suspect I have spent more on fellow creators’ Kickstarters than the gross amount I brought in from the three campaigns I have run for my own comics. That just isn’t sustainable. Until my own comics are profitable, I will have to cut back on funding others.4
To my friends whose projects I don’t back in the coming year, I hope you’ll understand. I’ll likely focus on purchasing trade collections rather than single issues, especially since shipping to Canada is ridiculously expensive. I’m becoming a “Kickstarter trade waiter.” And I’ve already prioritized backing lower-cost digital tiers to reduce costs.
I also need to rethink my spending on digital subscriptions to comic services. As discussed earlier, subscriptions are the bane of cost reduction. Over the past year, I’ve been subscribed to GlobalComix, DC Universe Infinite, Marvel Unlimited, and Shonen Jump. While GlobalComix is a must for me (since I host my own comics there, making it a valuable promotion platform and analytics marketing tool), I don’t need to stay subscribed to the others year-round. Rotating between them based on specific research or projects seems much more strategic. And honestly, there’s already enough content on GlobalComix to count as “comics beyond life expectancy.”
This rotation approach is similar to how many of my friends manage their streaming services—they subscribe to one at a time5 based on what shows they most want to watch. Being more selective about digital comic platform subscriptions will definitely help my cash flow.
3. Learn to Draw… ish
As a writer, the most significant expense I incur when creating comics is paying for work from my creative team. This is unlikely to change any time soon, and I’ll discuss how I plan to address this in my next post.
However, I also want to follow my own advice and learn to draw. While I’ll never catch up to the incredible skills of collaborators like Sergi, Stan, and Sterling, there’s value in having the ability to draw. I already have the tools: an iPad, an Apple Pencil, and software like Procreate and Clip Studio Paint. There’s no excuse not to give it a try. The ability to draw, even if it is only at a modest skill level, certainly can’t hurt.
If cartoonist Dave Kellett is right that it takes roughly seven years to reach a reasonable level of skill with your art, I’ll be 68 before I can draw comics comparable to the work my talented collaborators have already demonstrated for my stories. But even if my skills never match theirs, I might still get more stories out if I learn to draw. Simple, minimalist comics—think two-page “Flatland”-style comics—should be within reach.
In part three of the How to Restart a Comic Writing Career series, I’ll share more about how I plan to tackle this creative expense.
Specifically, net profit: Operating profit minus all other expenses, including taxes and interest.
In this business model, companies usually charge an upgrade fee when a new major version comes out. However, with few exceptions, the upgrade is optional.
I am testing this Acrobat replacement before mentioning it by name, as it may include a difficult-to-remove upsell subscription to premium features.
Ironically, I fear that cutting back on buying comics from fellow creators could make it more challenging to build support for my own work.
I wonder how long it will be before digital comic platforms only offer annual subscriptions. Some sports streaming services here in Canada lock you in for the whole year now instead of letting you subscribe just for the months around the playoffs. I suspect it is only a matter of time before comics services similarly follow suit, reducing our opportunity to switch.
I switched to Affinity a couple years back and it’s awesome. Doesn’t do everything that Adobe suite does but it’s pretty close and a fraction of the cost.