GETTING ONTO SMALLZONE and into frontline Hi there. If you've clicked onto this page, the chances are you're a smallpress or indy publisher who wants to get their comic to a wider readership. Right, the first thing I want to say, is that having your comic sold by smallzone, isn't just a listing on the website. I also attend Marts and Conventions all over the country selling your comics to those who might never before have had an interest in small press comics. I also send out a catalogue called FRONTLINE to an ever growing mailing list of publishers, readers and comics retailers. (For more info on this go to: www.smallzone.co.uk/faq.htm ) So, that's what you get. 'How much does this service cost?' I hear you ask. Well there are 4 levels of service designed to cater for every type of self publisher, from the very small to the professional. The CLUB MEMBERSHIP, RUBY, GOLD and the SILVER rates. The only service that requires any upfront payment is the... CLUB MEMBERSHIP: This service is designed for serious self publishers who intend to make a profit from their comics, and print around 200 copies or more. If you are publishing your first book I recommend you start with one of the other levels. By subscribing as a member you will become part of the smallzone collective and will be entitled to many extra benefits and free stuff. The cost of Club Membership, as well as the Ruby Rate Commision, is just 8.00 pounds a month, which can also be paid as an annual payment of 96.00 pounds. With Club Membership you receive the following added benefits: You get all the services of the Ruby Rate plus...
You will receive a regular statement of your account and membership status, and be kept informed of any new benefits membership entitles you to, and there will be more as I think of them, that's for sure! To subscribe online with monthly payments click here: If
you ever need to unsubscribe click here: To subscribe with annual payments click here: To
cancel your annual membership click here: If you don't have a pay pal account, you can subscribe using our on line form, and pay by cheque. Just print out the form, and send it to the usual address. THE RUBY RATE: The Ruby Rate is a simple 50% from your cover price, and - for obvious reasons - only comics priced at 1 pound or over can be accepted under those conditions. With the ruby rate you receive all the Gold Rate smallzone services, but in addition, your comic is offered to retailers world wide via the website at a 40% discount. Retailers demand higher discounts, and to get your comics in the shops, we have to offer at least 40%. My 10% is just to cover my costs, e.g. P&P and phone calls to retailers etc. THE GOLD RATE: The Gold Rate is a simple 40% from your cover price, and - for obvious reasons - only comics priced at 1 pound or over can be accepted under those conditions. With the gold rate you receive all the usual smallzone services, but in addition, your comic is offered directly to readers at marts and conventions all over the UK.. I fully understand that some publishers can't afford a 40% discount so I'm still keeping my original discount structure in place as... THE SILVER RATE: With the silver rate you get a basic listing on the smallzone website, which offers your comics to readers worldwide. The Silver rate is a simple 30% from your cover price. All previous agreements with publishers will remain the same, unless publishers send me written confirmation that they'd prefer to swap to a new rate. Cheap promo comics, and mini comics that are priced 30p or below will be distributed for free, and charged no commission at all. I am trying to nurture small press comics not strangle them before they even start. So if you want to publish a low cost or free promo version of your comic to see how readers react, I can take it around the conventions and get you a response. So now you have the commission structures you need to know how to submit your comic for distribution: First of all I need a sample copy of your comic. The sample copy will be sent to Comics International or TRS2 for review, after I have read it to see if it's what I'm after. Don't worry if your comic isn't perfect, or if your not the worlds greatest artist. That's not what small press comics are about. They're about free expression, and also a good training ground. If everyone waited until they were happy with their artwork before they published, most probably never would. But the publishing is part of the learning, and each comic you bring out, will be better than the last. Anyway, I'm rambling now, to get back to the point: You also need to email me images. I will need a gif. or Jpeg. of the cover, and a couple of images of interior artwork at 300dpi or over If you are planning to be listed in Frontline. You can also send images on a disk with your sample copy if you like. If you have a website for your comic you can also send a link gif. for our links page. All new featured links are charged a one off payment of 10 pounds to be included on the page. Please make cheques payable to smallzone. Alternatively you can add your own free link by following the instructions at the bottom of my links page. (Members can get a free link). Once we are both happy with a service level, you can print out and fill in the Conditions Of Agreement form ( keeping a copy for yourself ) and send it along with any copies of your comic that you wish me to sell on a sale or return basis until you need the comics back or they're all gone. In which case I will order some more. Orders through Frontline from retailers will be paid for as of the terms and conditions with no risk of returns, so long as you deliver within the shipping deadline attached to your order.. I will send you a quarterly cheque with your share of the money raised from web sales, along with whatever you are owed from retailer orders. If you prefer, you can receive payments via Pay Pal. If you wish to do this, please remember to put your pay pal email address on the COA form. If you are only interested in a Frontline Listing, without full membership please complete the Catalogue Listing Application Please send all deliveries to: Smallzone Distribution UK, c/o Infinity & Beyond, 31 Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury, Shropshire SY1 1XF. UK. USA publishers, please go to: www.smallzone.co.uk/shipping.htm Submitting Your Comic For Sale As A Download: This new service from smallzone is a very simple way for creators and publishers to make money from their comics without having to pay for printing. Full comics can be sold as downloads in either CBZ or PDF format. (To find out more about CBZ and to download the free software go to: http://www.geocities.com/davidayton/CDisplay) The readers pay 40p for the CBZ version and 90p for the PDF. Artists can also submit 1 - 10 page stories for download which will be 30p for the readers. Larger stories and graphic novels can also be sold. These will be priced at 30p per 10 pages once the page count goes over 40. The cost of the proccess is 20p. The profit will be split between smallzone and the publisher 50/50. To submit your comics for download I need the following:
Try and keep the files as small as possible for fastest downloads. Earnings form your work will be sent to you on a monthly basis via pay pal or a cheque. If you have any further questions please, check the Frontline Faq Page, or you can telephone me on: 01952 770013, or you can email me: shane@smallzone-comics-shop.com |
