Last week I attended two conventions back-to-back (and coast-to-coast), and although I am completely exhausted from all the traveling, both trips went really well.

First was Penny Arcade Expo (aka PAX)which was held August 25-27 in Bellevue, Washington (just north of Seattle). As the name suggests, the convention is sponsored by Penny Arcade, the world's most popular webcomic, and it is an extravaganza of gaming. There were tournaments for on-line, console, and tabletop games (i.e. board games and RPGs), and the exhibit hall featured the biggest names in the industry previewing their upcoming products. This is only PAX's second year, and already it's outgrown the convention center. Here are two pictures I took of the crowd waiting to hear the opening keynote on the first day of the con. See what I mean?



Despite the crowds and crazy-long lines, I was able to talk to a number of people about Lulu, particularly after the panel on RPG publishing. I hope that next year, when they move PAX to the Seattle Convention Center, there will be more room, and more opportunity, for independent creators to participate in the madness and mayhem that is Penny Arcade Expo.

I flew back to Raleigh on Monday (August 28), but on Friday (September 1) I was back in the air--this time headed to Atlanta, GA for a one-day blitzkrieg of Dragon*Con. Dragon*Con is a huge convention that runs the gamut of geek culture. Comics, gaming, sci-fi literature, sci-fi media (past and present), science and technology, and costuming (below left) are all represented. I was invited to speak on a Self-Publishing panel, which, despite the fact that our room wasn't even marked on the convention maps, was very well attendend with a nearly full house. Sitting on the panel (below right) with me was internet legend Earle Wheeler and two Lulu authors: sohma g. dawling, and Jennie Breeden (creator of The Devil's Panties webcomic).



Immediately afterwards, I had to rush off to an entirely different building to sit on the Podcasting for Promotion panel. The panelists were a diverse and talented group of podcasters, including the ubiquitous Mur Lafferty (of the podcasts Geek Fu Action Grip and I Should Be Writing and author of Lessons From a Geek Fu Master). In my capacity as host of Lulu Radio, I had the unique persepective of being involved in a podcast that not only discusses the issue of promotion in general, but also has featured several authors that have used podcasting as a successful marketing tool.

Thankfully, the convention season is pretty much over...time to start planning for next year!

Posted on Thursday 07 of September, 2006 [15:32:16 UTC]

Since I'm sure you guys think that we're all VERY serious, here's a nice videoclip of some downtime in the booth at HeroesCon:
Lulu is Everybody Disco Dancing!

Posted on Tuesday 01 of August, 2006 [20:18:43 UTC]

Leah here. Annie and I have finally recovered from San Diego Comic-Con - the only convention I've ever been to that I would actually use the word ginormous to describe (and yes, I know, it's not even a word). Comic-Con was a lovely time for Annie and I. We saw tons of Lulu creators, caught a couple of cool panels, had a business lunch, snagged some freebies, and bought comics - and of course talked to everyone we saw about Lulu.

Pictured: Aang, Leah, June, and Kiki
Wednesday was preview night, and we went to check out the layout and put some Lulu Creators #6 and Lulu TV flyers out on the freebie table. We wandered around and figured out where all the cool Lulus were: Paul Friedrich and Eric Knisley, Blank Label Comics group, Steven Cloud, Maverix Studios, Billy Tucci, Donna Barr, and so many others. I even saw Candykillers for sale at the Doma booth (with their super-cool Astronaut Jesus toy).



Things that probably could only happen to be at Comic-Con:

• Annie got her picture with She-Ra, and I got my picture with Voltron (pictured above)
  
• We got free Avatar: The Last Airbender shirts at the Nicktoons panel (oh man, I absolutely love that show)
  
• There was a giant snake - walk in its open mouth, and you can see props from the upcoming Snakes on a Plane movie
  
• I got smelled by Pete Abrams of Sluggy Freelance (trust me, the story is really mundane, so I think I'll just leave it sounding weird)
  
• A goth cheerleader got her fishnets caught on my bag and we had to struggle to break free of each other (yeah, I have no idea what was going on)

I was on my way to Artist's Alley to talk to some artist friends, Andy Lee, Chris Moreno and Nigel Sade (you know, the pirate), when I noticed I was behind two guys - "Talk to us about Cyanide and Happiness" printed on their shirts. I assumed they were the creators of the same-named webcomic I regularly read (they were) and remembered that they've been selling tons of their Cyanide and Happiness book on our site. I stopped them, gave them some free Lulu stuff, probably high-fived them, and we went along our merry way.

Pictured: Blank Label Comics crew - (left to right) Kristofer Straub, Dave Kellett, David Willis, Paul
Taylor, Howard Tayler, Steve Troop (partially obscured, with Melonpool puppet), and Brad Guigar
The Blank Label Comics panel on Friday morning was totally Airwolf! They had an introduction with Dave Kellett's new puppets chatting with the BLC'ers themselves, plus hilarious jokes, good Q&A, Lulu-name-dropping (thanks Brad for that!) - pretty much everything you could want. Kristofer Straub and Dave Kellett did a great job co-moderating, and the BLC guys really know how to put on a panel. They really have a lot of fun together. I think the way they treat their webcomic collective as a business is smart and pretty innovative (only a few others built like it). One quote I remember from the panel "The people that I know creating syndicated comics are now starting to get day jobs. The people I know doing webcomics are all beginning to quit their day jobs." That information struck me as something to ponder. Though I forgot who said it (I think it might have been Brad Guigar), it's an interesting shift to think about. They were completely mobbed following the panel, and Paul Taylor sold out of his Wapsi Square book. Oh well, I know where to get it.


I'm thinking that next year we really should have a booth at Comic-Con - it's such a big convention, and there are so many Lulu supporters there now, it would almost be silly not to. We'll probably organize some times for Lulu creators like any of you guys that have books, to come and use our booth to showcase your work and your products. I'll have to check into how that's going to work, but if you're interested, please feel free to contact me at comics@lulu.com.

Man, just processing that much sensory overload took a few days of recovering once we got back to North Carolina, so that's why this blog post took so long (that and my car threw a rod on the highway - nothing says fun like a basketball-sized hole in your engine, am I right?). Anyways, I enjoyed seeing everyone, and I'm looking forward to my next convention, Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland, October 13th. The next convention for the comics and Role-playing-game group is GenCon Indianapolis. Nick Popio and Clinton Nixon will be attending GenCon, and they'll be in a big Lulu booth - if you're there be sure to stop by!

I guess that will be it for now. See you guys at the next convention!

Posted on Tuesday 01 of August, 2006 [15:36:15 UTC]

The Lulu Comic Subversives in the Lulu booth at HeroesCon
from left to right: Joe Komenda, Annie Broadwater, Nick Popio, Leah Riley and Jason Adams

Even though we've been back for at least at week from HeroesCon in Charlotte, NC, the glow of fun hasn't faded. HeroesCon is a very indie friendly convention, and this year, with its growth, it really was the best one yet. I've been going to HeroesCon for a couple of years now (since 2003) and this year they did a great job of organizing the convention, the aisles, and getting some big names to pull in a varied audience.

The cool stuff at the Lulu booth
The Lulu booth was pretty popular, due to two things - 1) we had so many cool comics, RPGs and novels on our table to show people and 2) We had a lot of free stuff. We were giving away Lulu Promotional Comic #5, Lulu stickers (there at the bottom of the picture) as well as finger puppets (because we love toys) and some Lulu buttons we had.


We even had creators like Van Plexico, author of Sentinels: When Strikes the Warlord (shown to the left) come up and request that we display his lulu book, which of course he had a copy with him, at our table. We happily obliged - we met so many Lulu creators there that it's hard to list how many we saw, but I'm going to try anyway!


Lulus we saw at HeroesCon:
Sandy of Wham! Comics
Jerem Morrow
of Oblivion's Repose

Jennie Breeden
of The Devil's Panties

Jared Axelrod (in Green Arrow costume)
of 365 tomorrows


Angi Shearstone's booth

Angi Shearstone
of Painted Comics



From left to right: Stephanie Freese, Matt Wood and Dave Milloway
of Likely Stories

and Paul Friedrich
of Onion Head Monster



Danielle Corsetto - Future Lulu? We have our fingers crossed!
There were tons of interested parties who are planning to put their latest work through Lulu - including the illustrious and awesome Danielle Corsetto of Girls with Slingshots. Her drawings were just excellent and I'm excited that she wants to use Lulu to make her book. I also talked to Dove McHargue and Julie Collins-Rousseau (Trailers) professors at SCADwho were both interested in what Lulu offers to professionals and students in the comic creators field.


Since there were so many of us there at HeroesCon, we might actually have more than one post about it. Overall, it was very successful, and I really look forward to attending next year. We hope to see you there.

Coming up next, we have Clinton talking about Origins. And next week (on the 18th) Annie and I head off to San Diego Comic Con to get over-whelmed, spend a lot of money, and of course, talk to tons of people about print-on-demand publishing.

Posted on Thursday 13 of July, 2006 [14:43:17 UTC]

Wizard World Philly was just two weeks ago, but we're still recovering! With over 30,000 attendees, Nick and I were crazy busy meeting people and spreading the Lulu gospel. We took a two pronged approach this year, with one of us walking around talking to creators, and the other in the Lulu booth.



No, not that booth! A table! That booth is a phone booth we were walking past and... well. That's me on the left, getting a hug from Nick. The other folks in the booth are (l-r) Ryan, Mae, and Steve. Photo by Jared Axelrod, who is also the author of the excellent Lulu Book Tales From The Uncanny Valley.



For three days, we prowled the aisles of Artists Alley, and we were amazed at the number of people who not only knew about Lulu, but had Lulu books! I went to the Action Philosophers table first, mostly to geek out and squeal with girlish delight - imagine my surprise when Fred Van Lente points out his Lulu title, TRANQUILITY! After that, I felt unstoppable - I feared no creator! How many people did I talk to that day? I have no idea. Dozens. I was drained and exhausted at the end of the day, but it felt great.




I wandered a little farther on and ran across Blank Label comics' Brad Guigar. I met Brad at Philly last year and we chatted briefly about Lulu. We were both in the right place at the right time, because now nearly all of the Blank Label artists publish something with us! He was selling a wide array of books that he now publishes through Lulu, including the excellent Evil Inc, shown on the right.



Of course, there was a great deal of foot traffic by the table, and by the end of the first day Nick and I had given away more than half of our promotional comics! We seriously underestimated how eagerly people would be snapping the up, and by mid-Saturday we were out. We compensated for this by giving away more hats, shirts, and Lulu-branded mousepad/notepads.

Overall, a truly excellent convention! Will do again! AAA+++!!!

Posted on Thursday 22 of June, 2006 [14:50:20 UTC]

Over Memorial Day weekend, I had the pleasure to attend Balticon, a SF convention held annually in, by some cosmic coincidence, Baltimore, MD.

Neil Gaiman!

Even though Balticon is first and foremost a science fiction convention, there was a small contingent of webcomic creators present. The guest of honor this year was superstar of both SF and comics Neil Gaiman (who is also, of course, the creative consultant of multi-media graphic novel Fas Ferox).


I there not only to spread the good word of Lulu, but I was also a program participant on the podcasting track.
See...



That's me (Jason), second from the left, in the orange shirt.

These podcasting panels were the perfect venue to brag about Lulu Radio, which, if you didn't know, is the offical podcast for the Lulu creator community - hosted by yours truly. At the far right end of the table is Paul Fischer, host of the Balticon Podcast. He is currently helping Lulu author Ronnie Blackwell turn his book Serve It Cold into a podiobook (that's an audiobook released as a podcast - clever, no?). The woman on the far left, the one everyone is intently listening to, is Mur Lafferty, host of the podcasts Geek Fu Action Grip and I Should Be Writing, and author of |Lessons From a Geek Fu Master, seen here. (And here's a close up of me for good measure.)



Recording Lancelot Biggs: Spaceman - a podcast-radio drama

Here's the all podcaster production of Lancelot Biggs: Spaceman, by Nelson Bond and adapted by Mur as an audio drama. Standing next to me (stage right) , is yet another Lulu author, Jared Axelrod, author of Tales From the Uncanny Valley and the host of the podcast The Voice of Free Planet X.


Final verdict - Balticon 40 was totally Airwolf!

Posted on Tuesday 06 of June, 2006 [13:50:08 UTC]

This weekend I was lucky enough to attend Toronto Comicon, sponsored by Paradise Comics. With big name guests like Dave Sim, George Perez, and Jill Thompson, this is one of the biggest conventions in Canada. There was even an exclusive web interview with Stan Lee! (As a side note- OMG Gail Simon OMG! Will you sign my copy of Killer Princesses? Gah! I am such a fangirl.)


Pictured: panelist and amazing artist Raina Telgemeier of The Babysitters Club

Saturday, the con held a Women of Comics symposium with a series of panels and guests that discussed the ever changing and growing role of women in the industry.


Since this was the first time Lulu Comics has ventured into Canada, I was able to meet a whole bunch of new and wonderful creators. I’ve been reading Danielle Corsetto’s (pictured left) webcomic, Girls With Slingshots for ages, and it was wonderful to see her in person. And how could you not love Willow Dawson and her comic Violet Miranda? It’s about girl pirates!


Also, don’t forget that FREE COMIC BOOK DAY is coming up this Saturday, May 6th. If you know anyone that would like a free copy of our newest independent anthology Lulu Creators #5, just have them send an email to comics@lulu.com, with the subject "Free Comic Book Day!" and their address in the body. I promise that we won't use the addresses for anything but sending them a free comic.

That’s it for now, but be sure to keep your eyes open for Jason at Balticon on May 26h.

Posted on Wednesday 03 of May, 2006 [18:42:48 UTC]

We're combining our powers to create one mighty post about two conventions we've gone to in the last couple of weeks. First up Clinton went and checked out I-Con (which was 3/24)

I-Con Update:
Clinton recently spent the weekend at I-CON, a 6,000 person science fiction convention on beautiful Long Island, NY. Besides having a panel on electronic publishing there, he met with lots of authors and creators and talked with them about their projects, including Jared Sorensen, a soon to be Lulu author, and the creators of Dark Refuge. It was a fantastic time, and the organizers of I-CON did an excellent job.

Now onto the coverage of HellCar Con (which was 4/1)

HellCar Con Update:
Pictured: King's Barcade sign - this way to Hellcar!

Leah, Joe, Nick, Jason and Katie all went to HellCar Con, since it was so very close to here (in Raleigh, NC). I went early to King's Barcade (site of the summit) and set up a booth full of sample books and some random swag (free orange cups anyone?) and had my wish for coffee fulfilled. HellCar Con was interesting in that it was more of a conference of people in the region who are creatively inclined discussing different aspects of the local scene, how to innovate our work and businesses, and how we can work together.


Pictured: Leah setting up shop at HellCar

I met several people who were interested in Lulu and asked a variety of questions - one guy, Greg Carter, even gave me a print out of his book Amy's Blues that he's interested in printing via Lulu (and it looks totally awesome).


Pictured: Jason (left) and Joe man the booth at HellCar Con

The schedule for the convention was a little hectic, with overlapping talks and a variety of topics like . I shared a talking session with Tracy S of Bonded Llama Studios about self-promotion and self-publishing - which ended up being in the next door Poole's Diner while everyone ate. It went really well, and the food was great. Overall, I enjoyed the HellCar Con and advise everybody to get involved in local creative groups - it's a great way to get advise and encouragement when you're pursuing your interests (and make cool friends).


That's pretty much it for me for now. Next up is the new promotional comic and Annie's trip to the Great White North (i.e. Toronto ComicCon starting 4/28). Check you later space cowboys!

Posted on Thursday 13 of April, 2006 [21:09:15 UTC]

The winners of the 2006 Lulu Blooker Prize have been announced, and Zach Miller wins the comics category!



Totally Boned is the first collection of strips from Zach's webcomic Joe and Monkey, the ongoing adventures of two regular guys (well, to be precise, one regular guy and one regular monkey), and a kleptomaniacal robot.

Listen to my recent interview with Zach and find out why ducks are so dang scary!

Congratulations Zach!

Posted on Monday 03 of April, 2006 [20:40:16 UTC]

The finalists in the Lulu Blooker Prize, world's first literary prize for blooks (books based blogs, webcomics, or other websites), have been selected. The list was officially announced on March 8, and it has received quite a bit of attention, everywhere from blogs to traditional media. The announcement has been covered extensively by the BBC (What can we say? The British love Lulu), and state-side, by the US News and World Report.

The contest was open to blooks published anywhere, not just by Lulu. There were 89 total entries in three categories - fiction, non-fiction, and comics. There were a lot of excellent submissions, and our committee of independent judges really had their work cut out for them! (I'd also like to extend special thanks to Andrew Neal at Chapel Hill Comics for his part in selecting the comics short-list.) However, in the end, they managed to whittle the list down to 16 titles: 6 non-fiction, 5 fiction, and 5 comic. Though we promise we showed them no special consideration, several Lulus still made it into the short-list!

Non-Fiction
In the non-fiction category, Stone Cold Guilty - The People v. Scott Lee Peterson by Loretta Dillon shares the stage with books like Julia and Julia by Julie Powell, and Belle de Jour: The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl.

Fiction
Africa Fresh! New Voices from the First Continent is a finalist in the fiction category. This anthology of African writing was edited by Rod Amis, author of Katrina and the Lost City of New Orleans (which Leah did the awesome cover for). Fellow fiction short-lister Tom Evslin used Lulu to print galley editions of hackoff.com.

Comics
It's the comics category where Lulus really shine. In fact, the entire category is practically a sweep. These were all published with Lulu:

• Ambidextrous: Collection 1 by Kevin Cornell
• Totally Boned: A Joe and Monkey Collection by Zach Miller
• The Dada Alphabet by Stephanie Freese, David Milloway, and Matthew Wood

But that's not all! Jason Pultz is going to use Lulu to publish future editions of his book, Comic Strip Volume 1: Scarybear and Friends. Even though Ryan North didn't use Lulu when he self-published Dinosaur Comics: Huge Teeth, Beaks, Intelligence, and Ambition, he is one of the Ryans in The Ryans 2006 Calendar, so we'll claim him too!

All of the short-listed books are now in the hands of the finalist judges, Cory Doctorow of BoingBoing fame, Robin Miller of Slashdot fame, and Paul Jones of iBiblio fame. The winners will be announced on Monday, April 3, 2006. For more information please visit www.lulublookerprize.com.

So, if you have a webcomic that you've got printed into a book, keep your internet tuned to the Blooker Prize website and enter for the 2007 Blooker Prize contest, which starts soon.

Posted on Monday 27 of March, 2006 [18:48:05 UTC]