« April 2012 | Main | June 2012 »
May 2012
May 12, 2012
May 08, 2012
May 07, 2012
This is all.
From the incomparable John Hodgman's endorsement of the INNER HIVE:
"For the first time in culture, we may all become patrons of the arts that we love, at a comparatively low cost to us, and at a comparatively INCREDIBLY HIGH BOON to the creator.
This new relationship is worth celebrating, and not apologizing for. It not only helps you get the thing you like into your own hands, it helps the thing you like to CONTINUE, and it ensures that your taste is reflected and relevant in the culture at large.
SO DIG DEEP, FANS OF GOOD THINGS, especially those you can pay for directly. You have nothing to lose but mediocrity."
Thank you, John.
UPDATE: The amazing Neil Gaiman too!
"I used to spend 20 dollars a year on TOM THE DANCING BUG collections… Happy to support him and pass the word…"
Wow. Thank you, Neil. Everyone else: JOIN THE FUN!
May 06, 2012
GWEEK 050
Great fun doing this week's Gweek Podcast with regulars Mark, Maggie, and Dean, and guest Mitch O'Connell, an amazing illustrator/artist.
One of the highlights/lowlights for me: while enthusing about my twitter-enemy Paul F. Tompkins's "Laboring Under Delusions" and my twitter-friend Patton Oswalt's "Finest Hour," I unexpectedly found myself illustrating a point by describing part of an Oswalt bit. It wasn't until the taping was over that I realized I had basically TOLD one of his jokes, very,very badly -- a COMEDY SIN IF EVER THERE WAS ONE.
--
To comment, please use facebook or twitter (#tomthedancingbug).
May 05, 2012
May 04, 2012
May 03, 2012
May 02, 2012
A Statement from Me, Ruben Bolling.
TO SIGN UP FOR THE INNER HIVE, CLICK HERE.
Fellow Brains In Beakers:
Today, I’m starting a new phase in my little weekly comic strip, Tom the Dancing Bug. It’s an experiment that I hope will both make the strip more sustainable, and make the relationship between myself and my readers more direct.
Tom the Dancing Bug was originally conceived as a newspaper comic strip, and you may have heard about the financial problems newspapers have had over the past few years. Those problems have had a devastating impact on the financial viability of the strip. With my great partner, the Universal Uclick Syndicate, it still has print clients, for which I’m very grateful, and I'm so proud to work with web clients like Boing Boing and Daily Kos, which have become absolutely vital, mostly because of the huge exposure they afford.
The comic strip is more well-read and well-known than ever, but it makes far less money than it used to. This seems to me an anomaly -- as the comic is enjoyed (hopefully) by more people, it should generate more, not less, revenue.
This anomaly is one of the defining features of the digital world, and it’s up to me to figure out how to make it work. That led me to this idea:
I’m selling subscriptions to the appropriately cheesily-named INNER HIVE. It’s not a charitable support-me program, because I don’t think that will work by itself in this context. I wanted to make it a real transaction where the buyer gets something of real, greater value than the money spent. Plus I didn’t want to get involved in the logistical nightmare of distributing tote bags.
What I offer to members of the INNER HIVE is special access to Tom the Dancing Bug: a private email of the weekly comic, a day (or more) before it appears anywhere publicly, plus some contests / giveaways, as well as occasionally some other content, such as sketches and unused drafts of comics.
(For example, this week’s comic was written in a totally different way until at the last moment I came upon the premise that I ended up using -- I might have included that first draft in the INNER HIVE emailing of the comic.)
The cost will be $9.99 per six months. For less than the cost of a movie, members will be getting early and extra “content” (as the kids say), and the satisfaction that they’re contributing to the existence of Tom the Dancing Bug.
Is it worth it? I don’t know. I hope so. I guess it is, if you enjoy and are interested in Tom the Dancing Bug and its viability. And I’m about to find out how many people really do and are.
This should have no impact on my current print and web clients. Even if this program is wildly successful (doubtful), and even if members of the INNER HIVE never again look at the comic in its print and web venues (also doubtful), the numbers involved will be orders of magnitude lower than could have a meaningful effect on the strip’s readership and traffic for these clients.
This is merely a supplementary way to make the strip more viable while maintaining its current distribution system.
The comic will be sent out early and without digital restrictions to INNER HIVE members, so I’m relying on subscribers to honor the spirit of this project, and not re-distribute the content. If you think friends would like this, please encourage them to join! Also, for the logistics of membership maintenance, I’m using a company called Mail Chimp and, through them, Amazon Payments, so subscribers will be making that corporate leap of faith with me.
Okay. Thank you, and God-Man bless America.
-Ruben Bolling
For information on signing up, please click HERE.