Sorry for the delay folks, look for a new comic Friday!
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The delay was an illusion! We have a new comic up today but a guest artist whom I will introduce shortly.
So, after a year of having jumped into creating a webcomic for the very first time, I’ve learned a thing or two that I wish someone had told me before I set out on this journey, that might have made things a little easier. Now, I want to start by saying that in no way shape or form do I consider myself a vast repository of magical knowledge – quite the contrary. But, I shared these thoughts with a few folks in random settings, and they encouraged me to share them with a wider audience, so here goes:
1) Just start already (and when you do, stick to it)! The phrase “50% of success is just showing up” definitely applies when you are just starting out. Once you get over the initial hurdle of simply starting, be consistent. “But no one is even reading,” you might say. Well, that may be true, however, establishing good habits and sticking to a defined schedule from the start will go a long way in ensuring you continue this pattern later on. And consistency is immensely important! Creating a webcomic, and assuming you actually want people to read it, is like making a promise. Fail to deliver (or forget to set expectations appropriately when you know in advance you are going to miss a comic or two) is devastating to your readership – especially when you are first starting out.
2) Don’t expect to get rich quick. In fact, don’t expect to make any money at all. If making money is the driving force behind your decision to start a webcomic, you are likely going to be incredibly disappointed. The truth is, webcomics are a fickle enterprise at best. There are tens of thousands of webcomics vying for eyeballs, and given the relative ease with which users can hop around, it is pretty difficult to amass a large & loyal following right from the get go. Due to this, your webcomic is probably going to end up costing you money instead of making it – possibly forever. The incredible success stories like Penny Arcade or XKCD are far few and in-between, and require the right mixture of good timing, exceptional quality, and prey luck. But, that doesn’t mean you should immediately give up! Creating something like this should be fun – and as long as it is, don’t worry about pageviews, ad clicks, or anything else beyond creating a great webcomic. In time, people will come around – or not. Either way, just have fun and don’t take things too seriously.
3) Surround yourself with like-minded individuals. By this I mean – take advantage of the massive, relatively helpful, and instantly accessible webcomic community. Most of us (usually) generally nice people. Reach out on Twitter and Facebook. Ask questions. Comment. Blog about how you do what you do or lessons you’ve learned. This type of good will generally finds a way of coming back to you – whether through other creators talking about your work an encouraging their readers to give you a look-see, getting a difficult question answered, or simply building a network of other creators who keep you going when you’re not feeling particularly inspired.
If you know someone who is a new creator, or simply think this advice is worth sharing – feel free to pass this along. And, if you want to get in touch, have a question, or would like to tell my I’m crazy, comment below, drop me a line: contact[AT]blomiclum.[COM], or follow me on the Twitters: @Blomiclum
Out with the old, in with the new! Its a new year, and our existing artist Mike will no longer be a part of the team. In the near-term, we’re going to be working with some new, incredibly talented artists that we are really, really excited to be working with. How this shakes out long-term remains to be seen, but we’re hopeful one of these new relationships will develop into a wonderful, sordid love affair.
Along with the new art (stay tuned for this tomorrow!) we’re also going to be updating less frequently (twice a week) and perhaps not on the usual MW or WF schedule. Sometimes it will be, but other times it will be TTH.
Anyway, now more than ever, we want to know what you think. Like the new art? Still think we suck? Drop us a line and let us know your deepest, darkest thoughts, preferably as they pertain to Blomiclum, but heck, Ill read just about anything.
{EAV:3680a4f8e5b3b6aa} Pay this post no mind – I am merely testing something RSS related.
Until this day, I have had very little to complain about Best Buy. In fact, when the deal to which I agreed to was made, I would have spoken highly of Best Buy and recommended them for pre-orders of games.
For those who were unaware, a few months ago, Best Buy was offering a free upgrade to the Collectors Edition of the game Dark Souls if your pre-ordered the game (See the article here: http://kotaku.com/5800063/the-dark-souls-collectors-edition-might-be-for-you-softer-players).
This seemed like a great deal, for the price of the game itself, I should have gotten a special metal case for the game, a game guide, a game art book, game soundtrack, and a bonus making of the game DVD.
After getting to the store, I waited 15 minutes as the customer service person dealt with someone who was in line ahead of me. Around this time, shortly after my arrival, another guy sort of stood outside of the line, but apparently was waiting too. After dealing with the one person ahead of me, she asked the person who should have been second to step up, where he corrected her saying I was next, and she refuted this claim saying he was next in line. Fine, ok, whatever, moving along. Now I said earlier I should have received the limited edition, because even though I placed this order, and with no warning of first come first serve, or advanced notice, I arrived today only to be handed a regular version of the game. Confused, I inquired as to if it was the special edition (which it plainly wasn’t) and she checked the game, and the order, and realized the mistake. After contacting the video game department, she could only tell me that they had no copies of the Collector’s Edition of the game, nor would they be receiving any copies. At this point I was slightly annoyed, and asked what we were going to do here. Her supervisor at the time showed her some paper that explained the situation, and she told me at this time she could offer me a $20 gift card.
Here’s where things just went from a slight downhill into a runaway train situation. Because I had placed the order online, she stopped short of giving me the gift card and told me I would need to call customer service in order to receive the card. So, getting angry, I went home and hoped to settle it over the phone. I get home, make the call, and begin the battle to get my gift card. After two transfers and around 20 minutes of “holding,” I was finally in touch with someone who explained that they had over-sold the pre-sale Collector’s Edition, and did not have any way of fulfilling the order. She said I should have been notified, and I explained that I received no phone calls, nor any emails aside from a confirmation of the sale, and an email saying my order was ready for pickup. She then told me I would be getting a $20 gift card, and an additional $10 for the troubles. I found it acceptable, slightly disappointed, but was happy to be getting half of what I spent back.
So I get transferred once again (what a surprise) and have to explain it all again to someone, who then places me on hold (again) to call the store location from which I picked up the copy to confirm this all. After 5 minutes or so, she confirmed this, and then told me I would be getting a $20 card, to which I replied I was promised a total of $30. She then stated she could not do that and would have to speak with her supervisor, and in turn said she could only give me a $25 gift card (because that extra $5 would have broken Best Buys bank). At this point I had been trying to get closure here, and as I was tired from trying to get this all done for 45 minutes, and had other things to take care of that night, agreed to take the $25 and leave it at that. Here’s where the last slap to the face came: I was told it would take a few weeks to receive the gift card. I abruptly ended the phone call, because at this point I was livid, and it was no fault of the Best Buy employee, and as unacceptable as the situation was, cursing out the employee wasn’t going to do me any favors.
Was it childish of me to get angry over this, I don’t know, I’m torn. It’s a small amount of money, but here’s the thing. I felt this was a legitimate Collector’s Edition. Having beaten Demon’s Souls (the spiritual prequel to Dark Souls), I had been eagerly anticipating this game. The deal from Best Buy was amazing, and was the only reason I bothered to order the pre-sale. For them to not notify me of the situation ahead of time, or to warn people that it was a first come first serve basis was a piss poor business decision. To not offer the money as a refund, and as a gift card is insulting. Not only did you fail to keep up your end of the bargain, you feel my compensation should be to get to spend $20 more at your store, that’s pretty shady if you ask me. This whole situation has cemented the fact that I will never place a pre-sale order with Best Buy again. In fact, I will choose to go to Game Stop for all my game sales now, and hell, I’ll go to Walmart before I go to Best Buy now.
Worse yet, this kind of put the damper on my eagerness to play the game. It’s left a bad taste in my mouth. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll eventually pop that bad boy in and enjoy the hell out of that game. But for there to be announcements that pre-orders would be collectors editions, but with no announcements of limited quantities, that kind of sucks and puts a negative spin on this whole deal. If that had at least given me warning, I could have cancelled the order and tried to get the same deal elsewhere.
I sent Best Buy’s customer service a message online as I was tired of sitting on the phone last night, explaining this whole situation, and asking to be contacted to further discuss it all. As such, I’ll reserve to leave this here: If Best Buy redeems themselves, I’ll be sure to tell all of you. I’m not holding my breath though.
Perhaps this could be considered a bit dramatic, but we’ve all done it. “Hang on just ONE minute, I need to beat the blah blah blah.” So, we present to you the “Hang on, I’m shooting a robot T-shirt.” Stock up now, Christmas is only four-ish months away. To purchase, hit up the store here!
Aug14
Comic now updates MWFS – Townsfolk largely indifferent
on August 14, 2011 at 10:07 pmPosted In: News
We’ve decided to take the plunge: Blomiclum will now be updating MWF+S. Depending on your viewpoint, this is either great news or it ruined your day.
We have a new T-shirt in the store! Now, when you forget your clever, trendy or hipster T-shirt, you can let everyone know it’s at home!
We have a new ASCII F*ck you T-shirt in the store! Now, you can tell everyone around you EXACTLY how you feel!
