Posts Tagged ‘Comics’

esterday on Twitter I mentioned something I’ve been thinking about for a while now – The Honesty Box.

Every comic creator who runs their own website and checks the statistics now and again (just now and again, not obsessively… honestly) will have come across the same thing we have; in the list of search terms people have used in order to get to your site you see the words “download”, “scan”, “torrent”, etc, followed by the title of your latest book or series. It’s a weird feeling knowing that the people who are sharing and downloading your work are also (albeit accidentally) visiting your own site.

So, I wondered if there was anything that we, the creators, could do about it. Not in a GET REALLY ANGRY AND SHOUT ABOUT HOW YOU MUST STOP THIS NOW sort of way, but instead more like a “Hi search engine user, I’m the creator of the thing you just searched for”, kind of thing.

I just thought it might be good to actually address the situation in a realistic, non-hysterical, yet non-fatalistic way and explain things from a mid level comic industry creator’s point of view to those download searchers who end up on our site. So, The Honesty Box was born.

The header of the page contains many of the most popular search engine terms (broken down into single words and titles) which seem to be leading would-be downloaders to our site. The rest of the page is basically an honest, polite and hopefully friendly piece of writing explaining our position on the whole thing and how illegal sharing and downloading affects us as creators.

It’s not a solution, it’s not a deterrent, but I feel better for having done it and if other creators out there who are in the same position feel like doing something similar on their own site, I think that would be very cool.

Warren Ellis says:

@leahmoore on comics justice for women and a new revolution – http://bit.ly/xtpfzT

This month we’re doing something a little more special than usual, the MCC and Sandbar will be hosting the first BIG Drink n’ Draw on the very first day of the Not Part Of Fringe Festival!

As always the Drink ‘n’ Draw will be FREE to attend, and we’ll have the usual drawing games, FREE snacks AND pizzas, FREE comics at the Comic Swap table, materials provided and 10% off at the bar! But that’s not all…

As part of the BIG Drink ‘n’ Draw we’ll have a LITTLE Comic Fair! We will have tables set aside for selling YOUR comics! We’ll have a few of table for creators with lots to sell and one communal table for anyone’s comics, minis or zines! Tables are FREE but limited, so please leave a comment to show your interest and I’ll be in touch! If you can’t make it but would like to sell your comics, please drop them off at Sandbar with a note saying “For the BIG Drink ‘n’ Draw”.

As if that wasn’t enough Matt Badham will be hosting an informal chat and Q&A with Andy Diggle, writer of The Losers, Daredevil and former editor of 2000AD! This will start about 6pm and last about an hour.

Our second talk of the day will be with acclaimed writing duo Moore & Reppion about The Thrill Electric and their many other projects. This will start at 5pm and be followed by a Q&A.

AND the BIG Drink ‘n’ Draw will be continuing late into the night. There’s a comedy event starting at 8pm and after that a short film night running through the evening, but all the while the DnD will continue in a reserved area of Sandbar with a BIG Comic Jam on a Wall!

It’s going to be a brilliant, creative and social day and I hope to see as many people there as possible!

RSVP on the Facebook Event page and see who else is attending! Join the Drink ‘n’ Draw Facebook Group while you’re there too, for updates of all future events.

Venue:

Sandbar
120 Grosvenor Street
Manchester
M1 7HL
0161 273 1552
(Map)

Keep up to date with what’s occurring at the Bristol International Comic & Small Press Expo this weekend here.