It’s been a hectic month for me, and I haven’t had much time to write anything, let alone this newsletter.
But, I didn’t want to leave you all high and dry, so I went back to my files and wanted to share this interview that I did with John Anderson from Soaring Penguin Press - a UK indie comics publisher now located in Canada.
As a comic creator I want to learn more about the different aspects of creating and distributing comics, and while there are lots of great articles focusing on creators there are far fewer focused on the publishing side, particularly in Canada.
Over the past few months, Soaring Penguin Press have become a familiar face at comic conventions. Although they are not a new publishing house, they are relatively new to the BC publishing landscape. Co-publisher John Anderson launched the company while based in the UK, giving it a wonderfully evocative yet oxymoronic name. Like many creators, he pursued a DIY strategy because he loved great stories and wanted to share them with others. Their extensive and diverse library now includes a range of books from the anthology Meanwhile… to genre books like Watching and The Bad Bad Place, and to contemporary OGN’s such as Perfume of Lilacs.
I asked John a few quick questions about his publishing company and what stories they are looking for, and his thoughts on how crowdfunding is changing the comics landscape – not just for creators, but also for publishers.
Can you tell us about the origins of Soaring Penguin Press?
Soaring Penguin Press began in 1997 when I decided I wanted to publish anthology title Meanwhile and help promote all the brilliant artists I met when I arrived in the UK back in 1992. I would go down to London to attend events and there I would meet a fair number of creators who had nowhere to be published. I decided to start an anthology title and curate the contents so that the entire book would be to a certain standard and could be put in front of an editor without being embarrassed by the rest of the book.
Fast-forward to 2010 and I made the decision to "up my game" and began pursuing further titles, notably Peter Pan - the English translation of the Loisel's 6-volume bande dessinee To End All Wars which was nominated for two Eisner Awards - and The Black Feather Falls by Ellen Lindner that was nominated for an Ignatz Award for Outstanding Series. In 2015, I revived the Meanwhile… anthology in order to provide a platform for Gary Spencer Millidge to complete his long-time series, Strangehaven. Then in 2018 I took on a business partner, Tim Pilcher, who keeps things running in the UK now that I'm based here in Canada.
What kind of books or stories are you looking for?
Our mission statement is Stories worth telling from voices worth listening to. We will consider any kind of story so long as it's good. If you have a shorter story we would consider it for our anthology title, Meanwhile... We offer editorial support to those projects that we feel need it. That having been said, I would love to see a decent science fiction story. We’re always looking for more books with challenging and thoughtful narratives. While we’re not opposed to telling a flashier story, our focus is always on good storytelling. Soaring Penguin is well-known in the UK, but having a second pair of eyes here in Canada means that I'll be looking at more stories from Canadian creators.
How do you find books or creators you want to work with?
I get a submission a day, which I struggle to keep on top of, as I try to reply to every submission we get. I also get emails from foreign publishers offering the English language rights for their books. But I also try to get to every table at any event I attend to see if there's anything there that might be suitable for our list - or that I could help. Additionally, I have a number of foreign language anthologies I go through, and I sometimes trawl the internet looking for material.
For those who want to pitch to you, do you prefer the book to be finished?
There are advantages and disadvantages of submitting a completed book. If it's terrific as it is, then it's easy to say yes. But in many cases the story could use a bit of work, and that can be something the creator or creative team is reluctant to do.
What are the biggest challenges of being an indie publisher and what lessons have you learned?
Our printing costs are higher because we don't have economy of scale. We generally don't have the deep pockets for marketing that the bigger publishers have, and the team is smaller, so we don't have the ability to get our name out in as many ways, nor do we have the time to spend on it.
In terms of lessons learned, you can never compete on price. This is a big one. Trying to reduce your price to make your book more competitive is only going to bite you in the backside. If someone wants your book, they will pay what you're asking. If they don't, reducing the price won't make any difference. Also, be sure to talk to your printers. There are new methodologies and new processes coming out regularly. There might be something new in, say, binding that would be perfect for an upcoming title if only you knew about them. Also, make sure you know their paper sizes and the dimensions when the pagination changes. (As an example, I printed the first Beaver and Steve book. We had been given a quote by the printers, who noted that, if we were to reduce the book size by 10mm, we could save £1000 on the printing costs).
We use crowdfunding as a means of covering the print costs up front and to provide more money to the creators. But a decent crowdfunding campaign can also provide a means of promoting the title in general: as the campaign passes a milestone, you have something to post on social media that's more newsworthy.
Now that you are based in both Canada and the UK, do you see any differences in the business models? Is it harder to get established here?
In the UK there are events almost every weekend, sometimes two and all-too-often three. This allows a publisher or a creator who has self-published the chance to appear at a circuit of events to sell their titles. It also helps that the table prices are considerably lower and that the events are closer together, so that transportation costs are cheaper. Print costs are cheaper too. I've been having books printed in Eastern Europe at a fraction of the price of printing in North America. But even UK-based printers are less expensive than their counterparts in Canada and the US. That having been said, the audience is much larger here (if we include the US) so there's more opportunity to find buyers. Efforts to find a market for Soaring Penguin Press books should, in theory, be rewarded by greater sales. The difficulty will be in finding the audience.
What do you have planned for the future? What are the next books you’re putting out (if you can talk about them)?
The next book that we'll be crowdfunding is Blessed Cure, the story of a young Brazilian boy who undergoes conversion therapy in an effort to be less gay. He does this to please his family, as homosexuality is still considered a perversion by both church and state. Translated into English by Mário César Oliveira, the Brazilian creator, it is not an easy read, but it's a brilliant book. After that will be Salmonella Smorgasbord, a collection of short comics by Mark Stafford, who is criminally unknown in North America. His work is breathtaking is its invention - not something you've seen before. Then there's Meanwhile... 12, the next volume of our anthology title. Meanwhile... 11 was 136 pages. I'm looking at bringing Meanwhile... 12 in at over 150 pages. If anyone wants to be kept apprised of upcoming publications or crowdfunding campaigns, I would urge you to sign up for our newsletter. You can find the form on the website.
Who are some other indie publishers who inspire you?
Knockabout, SelfMadeHero, Oni, Dark Horse, Avery Hill, Timebomb Comics, Subversive, Myriad, Top Shelf, Scout Comics, Cinebooks, to name but a few. Each of them has demonstrated a vision to get good comics into the market and into the hands of readers. I’m also inspired by every creator who gets their comic printed themselves and stands behind a table for a weekend. You guys are the real heroes. You do it because of a genuine love of the medium.
Thanks for sticking with me. I’ll be back next week (I hope) with more thoughts and updates. Let me know what you thought of this short interview in the comments!
John