Once A Week...

So, a couple of days ago, Chris Smits issued a challenge:
What I'm proposing to you is that I will dedicate my time and energy in spreading the word on this very page about buying creator-owned books, and all I ask in return is your participation in it as well.

What do I mean by participation? I mean giving me the ok to use your artwork here to promote your books. I mean posting the updates from here on your Facebook pages, your Twitter accounts and wherever else you kill time on the internet (whether your book is featured that week or not). I'm no stranger to your ramblings outside of the books you all work on, so if I'm going to tell comic book readers that it only takes them once a week to help keep you in print, then I'm going to tell you it only takes five seconds to spread the word.

And I'll even do the heavy lifting.

Why? Because, like you, the world of comics means so much to me and I believe it to be important. When the sales figures came out for 2010 I noticed how many of you were upset about the lack of creator-owned titles in the top spots and it got me thinking. Personally, I made the decision (as a weekly buyer) to try to pick up at least one creator-owned book a week. It's not a lot to do considering the amount of titles a lot of us purchase, but I figured that would be putting my money where my opinion was.

Walk the talk, so to speak.

I threw this out there on Twitter, it got re-tweeted a few times, and I was really encouraged by the responses I received. Readers want to do their part, I really believe that. I just want to point out to them that buying a creator-owned book is not a charity, it's not a chore or community service...nothing need change in their regular routine. If someone loves comics, then they love comics. We devour this stuff over and over and all we want is to enjoy what we read. I want this blog to be nothing more than a way to say "Hey, these books come out this week, so when you make the trip to your local shop you should totally check them out." People are already going to see some of your books on the racks, hopefully something like this page can just give them a point of reference they might not have had before.

That's all. No hawking, no shilling, no soft or hard sell, just comic books.

Obviously I can't write up or feature everything that comes out every week by every creator, but I can do some, and I figure that's a start.

But I need your help.

If you are the force behind a creator-owned comic book in any of it's forms, hit me up at CPSmits@gmail.com and let me know what you think.
This is, I think, a brilliant idea from Chris, and one that could really work if people get behind it. I don't for one second believe that this blog is anything even approaching popular or read by anyone, but if you do read this post and head over to Once A Week to either participate or even check out what comics are being plugged, then this post will have worked. It's worth remembering that not all comics are superhero stories from The Big Two, and that blog could be a way of finding stuff that doesn't feature spandex and big fights. Trying something new is always good.

Now stop reading this and get that blog bookmarked!
Once A Week... Once A Week... Reviewed by Unknown on 11:21 am Rating: 5
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