Releasing GC as a book

[nyarmathotep]

If this was asked before, or is addressed in a FAQ, then I'm an idiot and I'm sorry and all that and please tell me where.

Tom, have you looked into publishing GC in a non-internetty format, hence kicking it graphic novel style? 'Cause I really want to buy some copies to give to people.

[kevin]

The first 7 chapters were once published as a book once on lulu.com. But Tom wasn't happy with them (for reasons he hasn't yet made clear) and so he pulled it. Many of us are waiting for him to publish book 2, and the t-shirts he promised a couple months ago.

[spritznar]

to clarify, he only promised the t-shirts, correct?
my impression was that book two was still up in the air.

[Tom Siddell]

The shirts aint happening because they were no good (also I don't remember promising them). As for printing, my definite official answer is "Who knows?"

[spritznar]

hard to go wrong with a good firm "maybe"

it is, however, extremely unsatisfying


although it's infinitely better than a negative

[nyarmathotep]

Is there anything we fans can do to help turn the "Who Knows" into "yes"?

[cenit]

specially with the books.. I want th books!!!

[Tom Siddell]

All you can do really is have patience. That is my non-exploitive answer, of course.

[nyarmathotep]

A Game designer named Grag Stolze held a gaming book "hostage" until he got enough preorders to guarantee its profitability. I think he ended up publishing it through Lulu. Would that appeal to you?

Another option is, of course, for me to shut up and wait, which I am also willing to do.

[monkeybucks]

I would probably buy a GC book this time around. I am a lot more hooked now. And also I have a job.

However I am happy to wait because I still don't have a debit plus card

Edity: I think nyarmathotep (sheesh, that is one hard name to spell) has a good idea!

[uthor]

I've started reading the archives yesterday (just started Chapter 8) and I saw a couple notes mentioning a book. I'm really disappointed that I can't get one at this time. I was actually hoping to find one by the time I read the third chapter. This is a really good comic and I would love to see it on my shelf.

I know Spike over at Templar, Arizona held a pre-order drive, if money is a concern. She didn't place an order until she had enough money to cover printing costs. She also gave an option to donate more money in exchange for sketches in the inside cover, which was nice but gave her much more work to do.

Rice Boy has printing on demand, but it's through Lulu and really expensive.

Maybe there are other concerns besides cost. I don't kow and probably can't help you there. I just wanted to say I'm really interested and would definitely order/pre-order given half a chance.

EDIT: Starting Chapter 11 now. I should be working...

/Durr, just realized you're a goon. You probably already know everything above.

[cenit]

I'll buy a GC book right now...don't care if I have to ship it all the way to South America.

And Uthor, most of us should be working...

[nyarmathotep]

It's probably not just a matter of printing costs & such - a friend of mine who does a webcomic and with whom I was speaking about this mentioned having to rescan (and hence occasionally redraw) all the panels because the scanning was done at a good dpi for webviewin, not for bookpublishin.

Which would be a time commitmnt which Tom might not want to do.

Add on to that all of the other factors that I haven't thought of yet and might even have no way of knowing, I think the best we can do is send him money, tell him we love GC, wait, and not be too heartbroken if it never happens.

[uthor]

Yeah, my post went a bit off topic from what I wanted to say, which was that I would buy/pre-order given half a chance, if that makes any difference. Otherwise, I'm almost done with the archive and look forward to reading new pages three times a week.

[rallan]

kevin said:

The first 7 chapters were once published as a book once on lulu.com. But Tom wasn't happy with them (for reasons he hasn't yet made clear) and so he pulled it. Many of us are waiting for him to publish book 2, and the t-shirts he promised a couple months ago.

I don't think it's physically possible to be happy with lulu.com if you're publishing a colour comic book. Evan Dahm (the dude responsible for Rice Boy) sums it up nicely on the merch page of the rice boy site.

Why are they so gosh-darned expensive? Lulu.com offers the appealing service of printing anything for no up-front fee. This is how they manage to get 25 dollars of every 30 dollars paid for one of the Rice Boy books (I get 5 bucks). I greatly appreciate that anyone at all has given up this absurd amount of money for the book, but if you want to support me and my comic-making lifestyle for smaller amounts of money, feel free to donate through paypal to riceboyart(at)gmail.com (button below).

[Koz]

Oh dang, you actually pulled it from Lulu's, I didn't notice that. Why were you unhappy with them? I've been using them for a freelance project, a series of autobiographies, so lots of long running copy. Totally different style of book than yours, I know, but I'm interested in hearing why they sucked and if you've found other options.

[Tom Siddell]

Lulu wasn't a bad service, and Print on Demand is a legitimate form of getting your wok out there on a small scale. However, since my book was in full colour it was impossible to offer it at a decent price. As it was I didn't actually make any money off the books because I tried to set the profit margin as close to the selling price as possible. I made about $1 dollar per book, which in the UK turns out as 50p or less per book. It was good in that it was easy to use and didnt cost me anything to set up, but as the readership of the comic grew bigger, I felt it wasn't the best way to get the book out there. There were a couple of other issues such as printer quality that meant I decided to just retire the book.

[Aspen d'Grey]

I was very happy to get my book before the Lulu copies stopped being published, and I'd like to see them again. Then again, I understand Tom's arguments very well and while I wouldn't hesitate to pay out up to $30 for one of his books, I know that it's not that common.

Since this is about the 5th topic like this, maybe it ought to be stickied?

[pandapandapie]

I made an account just so that I can say that if Gunnerkrigg Court is not released as a book again, I will cry.

I didn't buy it the first time around because I like to wait until there are lots of things to buy, then just get them all at once. I didn't start buying Order of the Stick until he'd released three books. But I adore this comic beyond anything and I need a book version of it.

And since this is a webcomic, I'm not going to be holding my breath for this or anything, but I think that posters and t-shirts would be totally sweet as well. I hope you haven't given up on the t-shirt idea forever.

[optern]

Hey. I hate to be the annoying newbie "me-too"er, but I've been following this comic for a while now and am convinced it's exceptional. That said, if a book version returns, I would certainly purchase a copy. It's only reasonable to support the artists and writers who spend their hours to give us such wonderful things.

[uthor]

Woah, the book is coming and it's gonna be a hardcover? Sweet.

[UbiquitousDragon]

Congratulations, Tom, on the new print version! I'm very excited about it. A hardback copy of GC sounds simply beautiful!

[Midnight Meadows]

I want this book so bad it isn't even funny.

[fr4tbrn]

midnightmeadows said:

I want this book so bad it isn't even funny.

*awaits laughs*

[uthor]

I see you're getting a lot of press over at Newsarama. That's cool. Hopefully it helps you with sales and makes you very rich!

[Tom Siddell]

Hey cool, I didn't realise they had those up.

[Mezzaphor]

Oh man, April. Nice.