[F**K] I had it right the FIRST time...
Finding Clues with Detective Blue is LIVE and FUNDED on Kickstarter!
Hey everyone! Once upon a time I created a system for making comics that was super helpful and I think this “system creation” could honestly help you in any aspect of your life. So. I hope this newsletter helps you achieve a goal that you have.
ALSO! We are FUNDED! Thank you to everyone who has backed FINDING CLUES WITH DETECTIVE BLUE #1 on Kickstarter! The goal is to hit $5k by the end of this week, and if we can hit $7k, we unlock the first stretch goal! Check it out :)
By the way I’m writing this on like 3 hours asleep.
This third baby is something else y’all.
Anywhoo. Let’s get into it.
So while rocking my baby to sleep today (and attempting to play Cyberpunk for the first time), I was asking myself this question:
“I use to draw 300+ pages a YEAR, publish 1-2 videos a week online, and post 12-page chapters bi-weekly on Patreon. How did I do this?”
For me, this was the GOLDEN years of Draw and Talk.
And don’t get me wrong, what I have currently is great. I have more being made then I would if I continued with this “golden” year system. But here’s the thing…there’s something that I felt has been missing, and I keep going back to this “golden” time.
I was growing my Youtube audience, making the best videos I had ever done, and was really focused on the entire ECOSYSTEM that I was creating. Everything was planned and aligned. There was no guessing what I was doing on a weekly/monthly basis.
I had a system, and I executed on it.
It all came from TWO things.
The DRAWING BALANCE SYSTEM and the WALT DISNEY ECO-SYSTEM.
I hope these next sections help you create systems that push you forward in achieving your goals.
Let’s talk about the DRAWING BALANCE SYSTEM.
When I started creating THE GIRL WITH THE MEGA FISTS, I wanted to put out ONE chapter every two weeks to my patreon. I wanted each chapter to be a consistent length of pages. But which made sense?
4? 10? 20? 30?
I had no idea what I could do on a consistent basis. So I did an experiment.
For 12 days straight I drew as many pages that I could while keeping the quality of the comic that I wanted. The other 2 days would be used to post the comic, and to sketch out the next chapter. By the end of the 12 days, I had drawn 15 pages in total, but I could feel myself pretty weak and tired from it.
I came to the conclusion that 12-pages was my happy place. And that’s what I did.
Consistently for a year I put out a NEW chapter for THE GIRL WITH THE MEGA FISTS every two weeks, which is how I was able to do TWO volumes of that series in a year.
This system did TWO things:
It kept me consistent and on a schedule. There was no guessing of what to do. It was making the time TO do it.
It gave me the feeling of a WIN every two weeks. This is important.
Having a win EVERY TWO weeks felt great. It allowed me to tell myself that I finished an entire chapter of a book, and it allowed me to post that chapter online, get that social feedback, and want to continue to make more.
The consistency and positive feedback helped me keep going.
The next system was the Walt Disney Eco-System
If you’re a creator, please understand this diagram and maybe make one for yourself.
In a nutshell, in the middle of the ecosystem is the MAIN THING that Walt Disney wanted to focus on, and every other aspect that was in the ecosystem was built/created in order to bring attention to the MAIN thing. For him, it was THEATRICAL FILMS.
Everything he built was to support the growth and stories of the Theatrical Films.
For me, the main thing was the COMICS. The things that I built around the comics were the following:
Youtube + Social Media Channels: to grow the audience to build awareness for the comics
Newsletter: to nurture the audience I had built to have them buy more comics
Website: a place for people to buy and read the comics
Patreon: a place to give people exclusive access to early released comics
Everything was made for the PURPOSE of getting the eyeballs on the comics.
Not views. Not clout.
To get people reading my stories.
And I had a system for this eco-system.
Every 2 weeks the following would happen:
2 Youtube Videos
4 Patreon Posts
an exclusive podcast
early access chapters to The Girl with the Mega Fists
2 Newsletters
12-pages of The Girl with the Mega Fists posted.
There was never any guessing. There was just doing.
And I was doing. I was producing. I was in a good habit.
But then I got derailed. I got pulled into drama. I started shooting for views. Instead of steady EARNED growth, I was trying to get QUICK HACKS that would get me fake growth.
This led to TWO THINGS, one positive and one negative.
The Positive: I was able to leverage these hacks/moments of clout to fund my comics had bigger numbers than I was used to, and with that capital launch multiple series that all did well. This is how Super Plumber Sisters, My Sexy Witch Academia, and Bullet Assassin Living in a Fantasy World came to be. ‘
The Negative: I lost my consistency, I lost my system, and I lost my growth and the new audience I was building on my channel. My Patreon went from doing $500 a month to $20. My views went from a few thousand to barely a hundred. My books were now late, and I was always playing catch up.
Here’s the thing.
I don’t regret any of it. All of it was a learning lesson and things that needed to happen to push me into the life that I currently have.
I’m now running my own business, working with multiple clients that are paying us anywhere from $2k - $10k a month. I get to go into work when I want, leave when I want, and be my own boss.
This also gives me a unique opportunity to build out a workflow where I can start making comics throughout my day.
This week alone I was able to do the following:
Leave work early so that I could package SUPER PLUMBER SISTERS Kickstarter rewards
On my lunch break send Tommy an 8-page script that needed to get made
Stay a few extra hours early to get 10-pages penciled for THE GIRL WITH THE MEGA FISTS Vol. 5
Finish lettering BULLET ASSASSIN #3 and getting those digitals sent out to backers.
My plans for this week:
Greytone all of MY SEXY WITCH ACADEMIA #4 so I can get that to backers in the next 1-2 weeks
Script out another chapter of THE GIRL WITH THE MEGA FISTS Vol. 5 and get it penciled
Get SUPER PLUMBER SISTERS #4 packages sent out
Now…
I’ve got some thing cooking in the kitchen of my brain that I’ll save for another newsletter (maybe)…
But I’m thinking of re-creating these two systems that we discussed and to begin posting chapters of my books online for free before launching them on Kickstarter or even my Website.
I also want to do more with Amazon going forward as I get my books as trades by the end of the year.
Because at the end of the day the reason why those two systems were working and keeping me focused on the production of books and growth is because I was not money focused. The moment that I started thinking about the money, I started making decisions that included views, clout, and money.
And I understand why. For 6 months I was unemployed and living off of comic money. I NEED to focus on the money.
But now that I’m running my own business and financially I’m doing stable (currently), I can just focus on the BOOKS and the READERS, and ultimately that’s what I should have been doing all along.
Okay thanks for reading!
Please check out FINDING CLUES WITH DETECTIVE BLUE on Kickstarter! Here’s the goals I hope to achieve for this campaign:
$5000: I can start working on the next book of the series ahead of schedule
$7000: I’ll add an additional 12-pages to the chapter
$10000: vanity metric
Alejandro and I are having a blast with this series. He’s working on the final 10 pages right now!
Okay! Have a great week!
Tyler
PS: for those that have made it to the end of this newsletter (congrats), I’m thinking the following will happen in the next few months:
New website
Two new youtube channels
Updated Patreon Site (maybe) or we beef up the Substack as a place to post new chapters each week (along side Global Comix)
Damn. That’s a lot.
Time to get to work.
I learned something from this, thank you!