Audience
Plus! KAPTARA issue seven finale!
I’ve been thinking lately—HUGE MISTAKE—about careers, readership and numbers. A lot of it is because I watch successful comic creators (from a healthy distance because creators BITE) struggle with their metrics of said success. Is it how many copies they sell? The money they command? Is it being beloved by everyone who reads their work, like me?
A friend of mine from my newspaper days, Barry Hertz, interviewed David Cronenberg several years ago. It was a great conversation, and there was one quote that really jumped out at me.
I remember talking with Oliver Stone and he asked me, “Are you happy being a marginal filmmaker?” I said, “Well, how big an audience do you need, Oliver?” They’re both legitimate questions. How many people do you need to see your movie before you feel justified? There’s the money aspect to it, but also the artistic satisfaction aspect. There’s no universal answer.
How big an audience do you need?
And I think the follow-up question is: what KIND of audience do you need? Because I think a lot of times the creators who strive for the biggest audiences end up with fans who they … uh … probably don’t like. That they’ve tried to appeal to an audience by changing how they write, changing the kinds of stories they want to write, creating stories they themselves wouldn’t want to read.
I mean, that’s a kind of success, for sure. Just maybe not the most fulfilling one. I don’t know! I’m just one guy!!!
All this to say that I’m really enjoying posting here and sending these newsletters out. It’s nice to have a little slice of internet where I can make stuff that I want to make and people read it because they want to read it. I really do value your support, whether it be the free subscribers or the far superior paid ones.
In related news, I just got notified that our final volume of Sex Criminals is going back to press. Which reminded me of all the amazing fans of that book that I got to meet in The Before Times. I loved, like, 99% of those interactions. And the 1% was just Matthew Rosenberg. I get it, Matt! Our book changed your life! Stop offering me chocolate milk! It’s just weird!
IT REALLY IS
See? Even THIS guy agrees!
In other “I love my readers” news, a preview of our Stillwater antology, THE ESCAPE, is up at CBR!
I love this issue because it features work by my talented friends and people who I WANT to be friends with. The preview is by Friend Of The ‘Stack Jason Loo, who is such a goddamn rising star right now I’m stunned he even takes my phone calls. Technically it’s his assistant taking the calls, but I’m still grateful!!
Also, I should point out that the article says that we “resolve Stillwater’s mysteries,” when, in fact, we do not.
But what we DO do (ha ha “doo doo”) is tell several amazing short stories and also set the stage for our GRAND FINAL ARC where we, yes, “resolve Stillwater’s mysteries”.
ABOUT FUCKING TIME
Ugh I hate trying to satisfy you
AND YET YOU KEEP COMING BACK
…I know.
And now, for the lovely people who have paid to be here in this HOT CLUB, the grand finale of issue seven of KAPTARA!