The Mushy Middle
Hello and welcome to Pesto Comics.
My name’s Adriano -- I’m the writer, publisher, producer, and the guy who pulls these teams together to make sure you get awesome comics on your shelves and in your mailbox as frequently as I can possibly make happen.
We’re just about to launch our latest campaign with Naked Kaiju Woman #3, which will be our 13th Kickstarter campaign.
Beginner vs. Intermediate: The Path Gets Murky
I’m not quite a beginner, but I certainly don’t feel anything like an expert.
I feel like I have so much to learn -- not just with crowdfunding and creating comics and writing and working with artists, production designers, letterers, and colorists from all over the world, but also managing all of that, the business financials, all the different plates I have to keep spinning.
The more I learn about how a business works, how a comics business in particular works, and the differences between the direct market and crowdfunding -- you can imagine how all of this starts to get a little overwhelming and a little confusing.
So I find myself pining for the days when I was a beginner -- just a little bit.
The path was a lot easier to find. “How do I start? How do I get into this?” That seems to be the question most people have.
I didn’t make it out to the East Coast this year, which I’m hoping to do next year. But since I was stuck here in Toronto, it turned out to be a little fortunate -- I was able to do the show at Gotham Central.
I had a lot of fun there, and one of the questions I got more than a couple of times was, “How do I get started?”
And I feel like that’s the easiest question of all to answer, and the answer is: go do it. Go try.
There are so many tutorials, so many books, so much information for someone at the beginner level who has no idea where to start. It’s not as daunting as it may seem.
Now with everyone having a course, everyone having something to share, and everyone building that “I made it one step up, so let me tell you how” content -- there’s more than enough beginner-level material out there.
If you’re struggling to start, you should not have a problem doing so.
The challenge comes when you’re an intermediate, because now the path isn’t so clear.
When you’re a beginner, broad concepts are very useful -- just having an idea of “I did A, then B, then C, then D.” But once you’re at that intermediate level, things get a little more murky.
Now you have to start looking at branches. Just like all the different plates I’m spinning -- at the intermediate level, you have to start focusing on each individual plate and how that all works.
And the thing with that is -- there’s not that same glut of material out there. There’s not so much you can learn just by taking a course, picking up a book, or watching a tutorial.
You have to figure it out a lot of times in trial by fire. You figure it out through experience.
And the one quote I love about experience -- because I’ve found it to be very true -- is that experience is the most expensive education.
You have to go out, try, learn, fail, and then try again. It’s the most expensive way of doing it.
Learning from Mistakes
I have an unfortunate example of that.
As I’ve gone to print-on-demand for the prose books I’ve been putting together -- including Big Smoke Pulp -- one of the things I found at the reprint of Volume One is that some of the formatting just didn’t go exactly right.
Now I have a bunch of copies that are burnt and have to be resent to backers.
It’s an expensive lesson, and something I’m happy to make sure doesn’t happen again. The books look great otherwise, but those copies are absolutely unreadable -- so now there are dozens of books that have to be reprinted, resent, and repaid for.
That’s something a tutorial wouldn’t have shown me -- that yes, three out of four books are formatted perfectly, but this fourth one just decided it didn’t want to line up right.
Even though the digital proofs looked good, I didn’t get a physical proof. That’s my mistake.
I should have left more lead time to make sure I had the physical book in hand before it went out to folks.
I didn’t want to delay fulfillment any longer, so I sent it out -- and now I have a bunch of disappointed backers.
Fortunately, the main book ended up fine, so the majority of backers didn’t have this problem. But there’s a handful who received the paperback version of Big Smoke Pulp Volume One who are very upset with me.
We’re going to fix that. We’re going to get the proper books out to all those people.
I just wanted to share this because it’s something you wouldn’t have learned at a beginner level. You may have learned formatting basics -- but those little things are things you just don’t learn until you’re in it.
Navigating the Intermediate Level
So how can you get through this without having to make every mistake yourself and pay the full cost?
The best way to navigate this mushy middle -- this intermediate section where you have to learn each spoke and each branch on its own -- is to make friends.
Talk to as many people as you can who are at your level. Make friends with your peers, people doing the same thing, and figure out what works for them and what doesn’t.
I’m always sharing as much as I can with anyone who’s willing to listen, because I don’t want people to make the mistakes I’ve made. And I’ve had a lot of good friends in the industry who have done the same for me.
There’s actually something we’re trying to set up here in the Toronto area -- outside of the convention circuit -- where a bunch of us creators can just get together, swap stories, and share tips and tricks we’ve learned along the way.
That way we can avoid these knowledge gaps and learn from each other without relying on tutorials, or the expensive experience of making a mistake and having to correct it.
If I can learn from someone else’s mistakes and someone else can learn from mine, maybe we’re all bearing that cost a lot better than I have been lately.
One thing I’m trying to replicate with this podcast -- or newsletter, or however you’re consuming this right now -- is to share my experience.
Maybe we can’t get in a room together. Maybe you’re not from Toronto.
But I’m always sharing what I’m learning, what I’m doing, the mistakes I’m making, and the things that have gone well -- as much of the truth behind all of this as I can.
Because maybe you’re in a similar position.
Maybe you’ve launched a couple of campaigns. Maybe you have books in the direct market. Maybe you’re trying to figure out Kickstarter fulfillment, or how to navigate having both prose and comics out there.
Your experience is surely going to be different than mine -- I don’t recommend following the exact same playbook. I’m having a hard time with some things and an easier time with others, but you’re going to find your own path.
And I’m just one person.
So if you can find others like me -- by listening to the podcast, watching YouTube, reading newsletters and websites -- there’s some great stuff out there.
And even if other creators aren’t as open as I try to be, you can certainly look at their work and use it as a case study.
Learning from Peers and Case Studies
You can look at what works and what doesn’t, and try to apply it to your own life.
One thing I find more than anything is that first level of advice is the easiest to come by. I actually like to refresh myself on beginner-level content regularly -- because sometimes there are things you just haven’t heard or discovered that you can apply to your intermediate-level projects right now.
There’s always something to learn.
Even if you’ve heard 95% of it before, maybe there’s that 5% that’s new -- or that 5% that just didn’t apply at the time but does now.
I do recommend always refreshing and always trying to learn what you can.
The truth of it is, learning comes a lot harder the more you figure out. You’re going to hear a lot of the same things. You’re going to experience a lot of stuff that people will tell you as though it’s brand new, because it is brand new to them -- even if it isn’t to you.
So there’s a lot more work just to figure things out.
Having other people to bounce the experience off of -- whether in person, online, or just looking at their work and applying it to yourself -- is a great way to get through this intermediate sludge.
The Expert Level: Specialization
As I mentioned, I’m very far from the expert level.
But I know that when you do get there, that’s when you pick a section, pick a topic, and really hone in on it.
If there’s even one thing I’m close to seeing the horizon of at the expert level, I would say it’s the writing aspect of things.
And I say this with the biggest grain of salt -- I am not an expert writer. I just mean this is something I’ve been studying for decades. Even the intermediate content is starting to get repetitive to me, so now it’s a matter of picking something specific and trying to improve just one very specific thing.
As an example -- I go to the gym regularly, lifting weights. Compound movements are king: squats, deadlifts, exercises that hit as many muscles as possible.
But once you’ve done that, it’s time to isolate.
Time to focus on your biceps, triceps, shoulders, delts -- picking individual muscles to put the force and tension against.
It’s the same with any creative endeavor. You do the broad work, you work on everything at once.
Even at the intermediate level, you continue doing that -- but maybe you start specializing a little bit.
And that’s the difference between an intermediate and an expert: you stop seeing the same benefits when you work on everything at once, and now you have to start picking individual branches to hyper-focus on. Hopefully that brings everything else up with it.
I’m so far from the expert level -- but I’m learning and trying to figure it all out.
I really hope this is something that helps you through that journey. Whether you’re a beginner, an intermediate, or even an expert -- I hope you’re getting something out of all of this.
I’m always happy to chat about it. So if you have anything you want to share or want to know about, let me know in the comments, however you’re watching, listening, or reading this.
I’d love to bounce some ideas off of each other and see what we can learn together.
Announcements & Outro
Naked Kaiju Woman is coming very soon.
If you haven’t followed the pre-launch, please do -- we’re going to have some early bird rewards like we did with SNIP.
And then of course we have From Parts Unknown #3 hitting store shelves on July 8th. The FOC for From Parts Unknown #4 is on July 3rd -- so if you haven’t told your retailer that you want a copy, please do so.
The series is nearing its end, and things get a lot more exciting with these later issues. We did the setup; now it’s time for the vampiric wrestling chaos.
I really hope you enjoy the book.
SNIP will be in the direct market in October. We have more campaigns and more books that we’re putting together.
I can’t wait to share all of it with you -- and to share everything that I learn as we do all of it.
Thank you for being here. Have a wonderful week. We’ll talk next time.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit pestocomics.substack.com [https://pestocomics.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]
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