"The Hive" is a collaborative brainstorming project, open to everyone, with the ultimate goal of creating a new market for comics instead of simply poaching fans from the existing one. Each column will present a specific idea, which we will then work on to make better as a group. I advise all those new here to read the FAQ before posting -- there are rules, and posts that break them will be deleted.

Today we start getting into marketing. We’ve talked about design and we’ve talked about distribution, now we need to talk about how to advertise our books so people know they’re available. If you’ve been reading these articles, you know how much importance I place on promotional web sites, so I’d like to kick off our marketing discussion by talking about ways to get people to your web site. Because you can spend time and money (especially if you don’t have time) on making an interactive and informational web site, but if no one knows about it, it’s going to be nothing but an ego stroke that your mom occasionally visits.

For the younger, internet-savvy crowds: viral/networking sites

This isn’t really a new idea but it needs to be talked about. You look at Warren Ellis -- he has MySpace, LiveJournal, his Flick’r account, The Engine, Bad Signal -- all of which serve as forms of networking that ultimately lead people to his central hub, WarrenEllis.com. A lot of comics guys are following his example; I recently got my LiveJournal started up and plan on having a POSTCARDS MySpace page (but for now it has a production blog). The Hive is my (much smaller) version of The Engine. I won’t lie, I’m copying him; but who isn’t?

One area I don’t feel we have tapped into, yet, is YouTube. Neil Kleid recently asked me what I’d do to market his wonderful Ursa Minors (available this month from Slave Labor Graphics) and I told him to go to the Bronx Zoo with a video camera and make a funny video about how the Ursa Minors bears are more extreme (yet, also, much lazier) than the bears at the Zoo. Ticker the web address across the bottom, post it on YouTube and have everyone you know rate it high.

I have a similar idea for POSTCARDS where I want to make a rap video set to Rick Ross’s “Hustlin’”, a song about moving cocaine. Except, you know, I’ll be hustlin’ graphic novels, so it’ll be funny. Again, ticker http://www.allyouleave.com and post it up on YouTube, see who bites.

LiveJournal memes based on your comic aren’t that bad of an idea either; sort of a “what character are you” kind of thing. You need to make it funny, though; make it so that people get it without knowing your story. Recently someone hot-linked an old picture of me onto a meme; this one:

It was a “How gansta’ are you?" meme (and, yes, that picture was associated with "0% gangsta’"). I couldn’t believe how many hits it got, especially considering the fact that it was a really, really bad meme. Do something like that with your characters’ pictures and line the images with your URL. Post it up and tag everybody on your friends list to do it next. It’ll be passed all over LiveJournal and beyond in no time (provided it’s entertaining).

Something else I plan on doing with POSTCARDS are e-Postcards. Little animations or art cards based on illustrations from the book that people can customize and send out for free. Since the postcards I’m using are public domain, I’ll likely even make some of the actual postcards available; a fun little, “Send an antique greeting” spin on it. Anything to get people back to my site, and from there I’ll introduce them to the book.

For the younger, non-fanboy crowds: sniping fans from non-comic message boards

I would never suggest jumping into some other forum and start talking about how great you are, but hey, I love Chuck Palahniuk and he has a “Comics, Graphic Novel, Manga and Anime” section on his message board. And wouldn’t you know it, I’m the only comics creator who hangs around there.

Most of these guys aren’t hitting CBR, Newsarama and PCS. They’re Palahniuk fans with an interest in comics. And, as a comic creator with an interest in Palahniuk, that forum just becomes a place where I can talk about my books. It goes back to our earlier discussion on adopting neighborhoods, both physical and virtual.

For the older crowds: sites you don’t want appearing in your cache

We are making books, after all; books about something that transcends “I’m making a comic book.” My book is about postcards. There are postcard collector websites. There are antique collector websites. There are the Reader’s Digests of the world and POSTCARDS is an all-ages, feel-good book about a simpler time. Again, you don’t just start showing up at these places and firing off emails to the editors and advertising departments, you try to make yourself at home a bit.

Yahoo Groups seems to be great for this kind of stuff. Unlike LiveJournal, it seems like Yahoo has a lot of groups that cater to the 40, 50 and 60 year-olds of this world and you have a lot of people joining them. For POSTCARDS I come in as a postcard collector, which I am, and casually mention my book whenever I get the chance, and people will ask about it, even though it’s a “juvenile” comic book. (I firmly believe the perception that we have that non-comic fans view comics as juvenile is greatly exaggerated by comic creators who can’t figure out how to reach these people.)

Look, if you have a comic about a mother/daughter relationship going bad, where your character is a crochet expert and you want to sleaze some interest by going to a crocheting message board and asking about certain techniques as “research” for your book, go for it. Who’ll know? And it’ll take five minutes out of your life and you might snag an old lady or two who’s interested in the story. (Hell, with the reemergence of the “Bitch & Stitch”, you’ll likely snag some twenty-somethings, like my girlfriend).

Basically, there’s a difference between coming at it with a love for their loves and coming at it with a love for yourself, dig?

And that’s it from me for this week. You guys have any ideas of your own? Any other viral sites or techniques I’m not thinking of? Writers or communities with an interest in comic books (video game communities, for example)? Any ideas how to get the older crowd interested beyond getting an Oprah’s Book Club endorsement?

Let’s talk it out; how would (or do) you get folks to come to your web site?