“points for the clever title, utilizing the word yaoi”
*thumbs up*

One of the hardest things about writing menslove comics is promoting them. My two main avenues at sales are blogging, and conventions. I’m only doing cons that are in my home state this year – I can get away with this because I’ve only got one GN out right now—but I can’t do more than this because I’ve got two GN’s in production, a comic series now being drawn, and a ghost writing gig for television that’s eating my weekends—so any massive time away from home, is going to cost me, literally. So what can you do to promote your title to a niche audience? Conventions and the Nets, it’s as simple as that!

So why promote? Isn’t that what publishers are for?
Well, if you’re earning a royalty per book sold, you need to promote the book!

A reminder about being published: YOU HAVE TO FOOT THE BILL FOR COPIES TO REVIEWERS, FOR SIGNINGS, AND FOR PERSONAL SALES. Many people seem to think that once you’re published by a BIG company, you’ll have a limitless supply of your title in order to sell at cons, ebay, or from your web site. LOL! Unless your contract stipulates that you’re being paid in unlimited supply of contributor copies, you have to PAY for your own books, if YOU want to sell or promote them. What you get is, a healthy discount, depending on the publisher, but either way, you’re responsible for making sure you have GN’s to sell at signings, cons, and for reviewers you think will help your sales. Sub-Note about Reviews: Many online fandom reviewers want you to send them free books for review, you have to buy a copy and send it to them because many pubs aren’t going to foot the bill for this, they should, but often, they don’t—[personally, I say don’t do this at all unless you know how important the reviewer is to the fandom you’re writing in—I once sent two anthys I was in, to a ‘manga review site’, and one of the reviews consisted of just telling people what was in the book…no real review at all. I learned my lesson.]

You have four options open to you, as a writer of menslove or even mainstream ‘manga’: Bookstores, Comics Shops, Conventions, and the Interweb. Let’s look at which ones actually work for writers writing ‘gay theme graphic novels’. ^_^;

1. Bookstores = No.

Yes, GN’s are making a big scene into the bookstore market…but if you’re a yaoi writer, you better make damn sure your books are in stock at the store, before scheduling a signing. See, bookstores will agree to give you a table and set aside a few hours and promote your coming in their newsletter, but… you better have a stock of books to sign for those who show up. This has to come out of your pocket, because bookstores aren’t going to order a stock of ‘gay manga’ just for you, unless you’re someone who’s very famous and well known; that brings me to another deterrent about bookstores…if you write manga—and I mean actually ‘write’ the manga, don’t bother with bookstores and their manga fans. I’ve found out that ‘manga style graphic novels’, to most fans, is really all about the artist. 0_o. Unlike western comics, where most fans know the writers [and bitch about them on a regular basis, as if they’re personally acquainted!], with ‘manga’, the artist is Queen, even if they didn’t even write the damn series they’re drawing. Case in point…how many people still say ‘Death Note by Takeshi Obata’? No, that’s incorrect, it’s written by Tsugumi Ohba. Who? Exactly. Also, how many people still have to look up the name of the creator of Ai No Kusabi, so they can cut/paste her name into their write up or reviews? Bet some of you are wondering just who the hell wrote Ai No Kusabi, right now as you read this…I shouldn’t do this, it’s RiekoYoshihara. So bookstores, as far as manga style comics are concerned, are still all about the artists, or those artists who write and draw.

Also, if you’re thinking ‘Gay bookstore Duh!’ well, don’t. Sure menslove comics sell at these places, but seriously, unless you’re actually a gay/lesbian creator, scheduling a signing for your ‘male erotic manga for women’, at a gay bookstore is an exercise in futility. Gay bookstores are often more about ‘the community’, than the ‘fandom’. Sure, I have a tidy sum of male readers who like my work, yes they happen to be gay, but even though my books sell to gay male readers who happen to find them online, I’m not going to start going to ‘gay male social events’ and supporting ‘gay male causes’ simply because I write porn that features ‘gay male sex’. If you feel I must elaborate on this, then you deserve the ‘hag’ mark you’ve worked so hard for.

2. Comic Shops = Oh Hell No!

Well, if you’re a menslove creator, you might want to cross out a comic shops tour. Not going to use the special term that insults ‘the male fans who love comics enough to get angry when someone calls them that special insulting term’—but comic shops are their sandbox, so even if the owner of the shop is cool enough to set up a signing for you, let’s get real: you wont find many yaoi-fen tooling into the comic shop to find you. A majority of them don’t even buy their yaoi there, right? You’d have to do an intense amount of web promotion in order to let fen know where the shop is, and how to get there. I just don’t see a tour of comic shops as a viable means of promoting your menslove title.

3. Conventions = Good, but Pricey…

One thing about manga/anime conventions that I’ve learned is that small publishers will not foot the bill to get you there, unless they’re hosting some sort of panel or are sponsoring some form of event at the convention. Between airfare and hotel costs, it’s not financially viable for a small publisher to bring in notable creators, just to ‘work the booth.’ *Speaking of booths, I’m a bit of a snob in that, I do not ‘work the booth’ for any publisher. Seriously…I consider myself a bit above that sort of thing. I’m not saying those who do this are ghetto, if their job is too actually ‘work for a publisher’, then they’re doing their job, but my job is to work for my book, and so selling others’ books is just not going to happen unless I’m going to be paid for it—by the hour or by percentage.* I found out recently from a friend that even major pubs won’t foot the bill for creators, and small ones will, if they’re desperate to hold on to the creators. Either way, if you’re just their usual brand of talent, they tell you which con they’re going to be at, and suggest it’s in your best interest to be there.

The current BL pubs always hit the big cons [Yaoicon being the default con for Yaoi right now] and if you’re not in California or in a city hosting these bigs cons, this sucks and can be a massive expense. So you want to hit smaller cons, cons you know you can sell at—but your publisher won’t be attending with a supply of your title…One way to cut down the costs of any con you want to attend, sans publisher, is to be a guest.

Being a guest isn’t as easy as it used to be, about three-years ago; manga/anime conventions have come into their own, their numbers over the past three years have swelled and so con organizers now see that they’re in the sweet-seat. So you coming to them and saying, “Hey, I got three volumes out with Tokyo Pop, make me guest!” isn’t going to be fruitful unless you can bring T-Pop in as a sponsor. This cuts out most small niche pubs, unless they sponsor a fan event, and even then, you might still be expected to foot the bill for your own airfare, and sales table. Most of the high volume cons will send you an email back saying—“We have all the guests we need, kthanxbye”. Having your publisher there is a big help, but even then, you’d be there for your pub, and not really you. Think about it.

Now I can understand where the cons are coming from; a guest gets a free room, a free table to sell their goods, and often gets their travel expenses paid for…that’s pricey. Normally Voice Actors are the primary staple guests at US manga/anime conventions, because with VA’s come the notable anime properties, the companies that produce these properties, and so there’s perks for the con–like free DVD’s for screenings and showings, dealers will sign up in order to sell merchandise related to the property-etc. You need to offer something to the con that they can give back to their ticket buyers—more than just the opportunity to buy a signed copy of your book.

Your own Panel! Being a guest speaker gives you something the con can offer their guests. I write menslove, [AKA yaoi] I’ve been published by the only Global BL pubs in the US [more than once], a Japanese licensor dipping their toes in Global-Yaoi, and a gay ero-comics publisher. Also, I’ve produced over a dozen erotic doujinshi in the last five years, all of them successful in the fandoms they were written for. So I know about English-yaoi comics, from a writer’s perspective, and I know about self-publishing, from an ero-comic makers perspective. [Yes, self-publishing gay ero comics is an uphill battle and is not as easy as self-producing mainstream comics]. I can talk about both of these subjects, for about an hour or two, and thus give a convention some programming. These little panels can pay for my airfare, room, and sales table. From that point on, the only costs I bear are for inventory, and socializing.

Note about Panels: I don’t do “Yaoi 101” panels, nor do I do ‘How to Write Manga” panels. The latter is a personal process that’s different for every writer—I’m not an expert and never will be…what works for me, likely wont work for another writer; while the former just reeks, I’ve been talking Japanese Yaoi since ’98 when I joined what was then a very small fandom, yet now just mention of Yaoi from Japan stateside, makes me want to hurl. Want to learn about Japanese Yaoi, ask a Japanese mangaka. 0_0.

4. The Internet = Win! Yet Watch out for the Blog Monster.

My web site and my Amazon-Connect account have been very good to me…but the blog is my mothership.

There are pitfalls—for example, if you’re a creator—you can’t be a pundit. The current state of lunacy governing the manga blog community is enough to destroy any artists creative spirit; so whatever you do, never cross the line of having an opinion about the fandom your create for, or any fandom you care about—at least not in the blog you use to reach out to fans and sell books. Also, if you’re a menslove writer who journals for social interaction…then blogging’s not for you. The problem with domestic BL comics is that, most of the fans who read your blog are also creators, and so you’ll get little in the way of ‘interaction’ via comments. I get a shit ton of email though, from my web site, via non-creator fans and non-fans, but if you’re looking for some sort of community hub based around you and your work—forget it. That won’t happen until your work transcends print and acquires a legion of readers more ate up with your mythology, than your actual work.

Talking about your book on your blog is easy, talking about what you utilized to make your book is a bit more difficult; but fandom essays, how-to articles and such, can and do bring people to your blog, and so it’s a very sure fire way of promoting your title[s]. You don’t need a Liberal Arts Degree in Bullshit in order to just tell people how you do things; but it helps. (^_-) BUT REMEMBER: If you find that blogging kills your ability to create, stop blogging. When a blog becomes your primary creative outlet, it’s time to pull the plug.

My personal experience? I’m a creator, not an authority – so I had to lock up my observations on publishers, works in progress, and other less official things, into a personal diary, which only registered users can read. All things promotional, safely silly, mildly critical, fannish, and completely official, go to GGY Meta. It’s not easy to keep the personal stuff out of GGY; I’ve ensured good behavior by feeding my blog to my Amazon.com sales page – if it can be read there, it’s coherently pro enough to pass off to non-fans.

Thanks for reading.