Hello folks!
September is almost coming to an end and I have finally had a chance to update! I have lots of things to catch you up on, so this might be a big big post. I’ll have things separated out into sections of interest.
Conventions
Emerald City Comic Con has passed back in August, and I’m grateful for everyone who had came by and given me their kind words about my work. I think my biggest highlights were talking shop with lots of artists at different stages of their careers, along with people mentioning that they’ve read my War for Rayuba comic! Will I be at ECCC next year? Probably, since it’s local. Is a 4 day convention becoming too long for this old millennial (according to some young folk I sat next to on an airplane)? Yes…
Boise Comic Arts Festival had just happened too! It’s a lovely festival based in Boise, Idaho and I loved being there. I was a special guest along side some amazing artists, and I will say, I’ve never been treated so well at a festival in my life! It has a lot of growing pains, but I think it has a special spark. Josh Shapel, the event coordinator, did so well and I will highly recommend getting in touch with him if you are ever interested in attending it someday. Especially if you love to talk to librarians and educators, there’s a lot of need for more progressive voices out there!
I’ll be at MICE this October and will be walking around SHORTRUN in November!
The Baby-sitters Club #12 Released
I am happy to announce that BSC 12: Jessi’s Secret Language is out in stores! It actually came out on September 6th, and I’ve been on the road and doing lots of things since then. But as of this post, there’s some crazy news about it.
Debuts at #4 on Indie Best Seller Children’s Interest list
Debuts at #25 on USA Today Best Seller list
Debuts at #1 on Publisher’s Weekly Children’s Frontlist Fiction
What does this all mean? For a book that just came out, these numbers are quite fantastic. It shows the power of the BSC IP is really strong, and Scholastic’s power in the MG category of Graphic Novels. If you look at the Units Sold on any sort of reporting article, even on PW, those are BookScan numbers that only cover retail sales. This doesn’t include libraries or other wholesale school related sales, which are significant numbers to how books do! Hopefully this information is an interesting look at the publishing industry, it’s more crazy complicated than this.
ShortBox Fair
ShortBox is almost upon us! It’s an ONLINE fair dedicated to releasing all new comics by 100 creators. I was fortunate that they would have me. I created this comic sort of on a whim, and it will be available for PAY WHAT YOU WANT starting October 1st. That’s right, my comics are free, again! I personally have such a hard time believing anyone would want to pay money for my work, so I always put it up for tips only.
This is a high resolution preview, so feel free to take a closer look if you so choose.
Some of you might relate it to SoftLead, and while I’ve been afraid of that, I also have come to realize that at this time… I really only have so much I can and WANT to say lately. So I hope that it resonates with any of you, even if it’s generally the same message but slightly nuanced in a different direction.
Poster Giveaway Incoming
I did a really fun poster for an incredible nonprofit recently. I don’t know why they thought I would be a good fit at all, but the editor and art director was so kind and patient while I was flailing around relentlessly! I am honored that Molly, my agent, encouraged me to get this done. Here’s a secret preview for you all!
The nonprofit will give me a few copies to give away. I’ll post the full piece here when it’s revealed and folks here can request one from me when I do!
That’s all I have for now! I have updated my downloadables last month, so there’s a few new things. But I hope I can release more stuff soon. Maybe I’ll talk about making stickers sometime soon!