The 25% Problem

Why Readers Aren't Coming Back for Issue Two

Photo by Connor Gan on Unsplash

I was at a convention selling my comics when I heard the guy at the table next to me say, “Ugh, why do I even bother?”

I asked him what happened, and he gestured to a stack of comics he’d bought when walking around Artist’s Alley. “Every convention, man! I buy all these indie comics I’m excited to try, but they always suck. Always! I should just save my money.”

It wasn’t a new sentiment exactly, but the way he said it got me thinking about self-published comics and how well-received they were.

I’ve seen plenty of Kickstarters do well.

And I’ve seen creators sell out their copies at conventions.

I love when creators find financial success with their books, but are most readers buying them to support the creators, or do they actually enjoy the stories they read?

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Since that convention, I’ve continued a sort of informal poll. Whenever I can, I ask fellow creators and random people at conventions this question: How many of the indie comics you buy do you actually enjoy?

Some say almost none. Others say all of them. But over the last decade of asking, I’ve found the most common answer is “about 25%.”

(I’ve found the number to be pretty similar for indie novels.)

When I go about my day, editing stories and helping writers spot strengths and weaknesses, I sometimes think about that informal poll and my table neighbor at the convention.

The thought that readers enjoy only 25% of indie books drives me to be a better editor. It pushes me to take my job seriously and help my clients create the best scripts possible.

Still, that number nags at me. Why do so few indie books resonate with readers?

After years of editing scripts, I think I know the answer.

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After I started editing comics and novels full-time, I began noticing the same problems in the indie books I read. I spotted them because they’re the same ones I help my clients recognize and fix.

These are fixable once you know what to look for, so I started compiling notes and developing solutions. I also collected the feedback that helped my clients most.

Early last year, I developed a couple of webinars and shared some of this information with about 40 writers. Their feedback mirrored what I heard from others:

• Some never knew what to look for

• Others didn’t have the processes in place to fix the problems they did see

That’s why readers aren’t coming back for issue 2. One or both of those is keeping your good idea from becoming a great comic book.

So I spent more than a year writing it all down. The problems. The solutions. The processes necessary to bring it all together.

The result is a book I’m thrilled to announce officially:

Self-Editing for Comic Book Writers: Revising for Story, Visual Storytelling, and Clarity.

This book is everything I know about why good ideas go wrong. This is where I show you how to spot storytelling problems in your script.

The most common problems.

The most detrimental ones, too.

The ones I see killing good comics week after week.

And more importantly, I provide a detailed process for fixing them before your artist ever sees the script.

Making comics can be challenging, but that 25%?

I want that number to improve.

I want to help you make comics that resonate with readers so they’re excited to back your second issue and your tenth.

This is my way of helping make that happen.

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The Self-Editing for Comic Book Writers campaign goes live on Kickstarter in July. Follow it here to be notified the moment we launch.

I’ll have secret/bonus rewards for The Fiction Coach subscribers.