IAN JAY

Epiphany is getting ever closer to its climactic conclusion, and it’s been getting more and more readers on the way. To accommodate this new influx of eyeballs on my page, I’m making two MONUMENTAL GALVANIZING DECISIONS:

1. ADVERTISING SPACE through Project Wonderful is now available on ianjay.net. If you have a webcomic or other creative project you think readers of Epiphany would enjoy, now is a chance to shout about it! Currently I have three “button” ads and one “skyscraper” ad available for as low as ZERO DOLLARS, so jump on them now before that ad space rockets up to exorbitantly Homestuck-esque prices, as it no doubt soon will. (Probably not, actually. But a guy can dream!)

2. WE’RE PUTTING OUT A BOOK. A real printed book! With pages! That you can read in the bathroom and everything! This isn’t really an ”announcement” so much as a confirmation of something i’ve been casually talking about planning for months, but we’re actually doing it, for realsies. The finished product will have the whole story from start to finish in ALL TWO COLORS, except for the colored pages which will naturally be FULL COLOR. Also included will be process sketches, ancillary artwork, and guest art (WHICH HEY, ART FRIENDS: I might be hitting you up soon about this). It MAY EVEN be in hardcover, though if that ends up costing too much for unit I might just stick to paperback. Either way, though, it will be as lushly designed as my self-publishing budget will allow.

I’m planning on releasing the book to the general public at Anthrocon in early July 2013, but I’m aiming to start up the Indiegogo campaign for the book sometime in late February, around the same time as I did the Ian Jay Super Comics v.1 campaign in 2012. The target goal will be higher this time, due to both the higher production cost of the book and the extra costs of shipping it, producing perk merch for it and shopping it around at conventions and to stores. REST ASSURED, I will be as transparent as possible about where the money is going; I’m not going to ask for like $20,000 extra because I want to buy a Jet-Ski or something. That would be completely crummy of me. Also, I don’t really like Jet-Skis, so there.

I don’t want to straight up confirm any perks for the campaign yet besides hard and digital copies of the book itself, but bonuses you MAY see appearing include new stickers and buttons, patches, REAL official Epiphany-design tote bags, art commissions, those votive candles I’ve been talking about since forever, and even original inked artwork from the book itself. Stay tuned, because if you think my last campaign was exciting and impressive, you haven’t seen anything yet.

AND HEY, IF YOU CAN’T WAIT UNTIL THEN TO THROW MONEY AT ME: I’m still trying to raise a couple bucks to help me get to Chicago for MFF next month, and I’m still currently taking badge commissions in order to do so. Hit me up at my commission e-mail address if you want to snag yourself one or two (or ten). Every little bit helps!

Anyways, that’s about it. Before I go, though, I wanted to share a cool piece of Oscar fan art done by SUPER FAN Indigo Violet:

And also here’s a video of the Digital Comics and Distribution panel I spoke on at CCAD MIX 2012. In it I mostly talk about starting your own small press deal up, printing a book, and crowdsourcing it. My piece starts at 56:30, but watch the whole thing if you have time! It’s good stuff.