I’m ridiculously anxious, waiting for Hereville to come out! It’s like buying a lottery ticket — but then having to wait eleven months to find out if it wins or loses! (Or I guess it’s like that. I’ve never actually bought a lottery ticket.)
Sometimes the odds against Hereville seem immense. The marketplace is so huge, consumers are strapped for money, and Hereville is such a weird book. It’s an action-adventure comic with very little actual violence in it; it’s a mass-market book with a oddball, artsy palette; probably a third of the book is about Mirka arguing with her relatives; the art makes everyone look like muppets; and, of course, it’s about an 11 year old Orthodox Jewish girl.
On the plus side, I’ve been extremely flattered — I’d even say, taken aback — by the positive response I’ve had to Hereville. The first time I took Hereville to a con, I had two publishers tell me they’d be interested, which was an enormous boost to my self-confidence. Actually getting an amazing agent (hi, Judy!) and a book deal is a literal dream come true. Everyone seems to like the artwork, despite what seems to me to be my glaring lack of drawing skill. And most importantly — amazingly — is how many readers have stuck with Hereville, despite the too many years it’s taken for anything to get done.
Of course, unlike a lottery ticket, I’m guaranteed to win. Even if Hereville sells badly, I’m still amazed it’s coming out at all, and proud of the work that Jake (the colorist) and I have done. And even if my audience remains small, it’s such a great audience!
If you create a book, and it flops… well, then, you still have the book!
I’m also committed to creating the second Hereville book, no matter what happens with book one. (Happily, I’ve made major creative progress on writing the second book this week, completing the first draft of the story. And getting the story written is the hardest part for me. Well, that and laying it out. Oh, and drawing it.).
But let’s face it: It will all be easier if the first Hereville book does well commercially. It’s easier getting paid than not getting paid, after all. The book is scheduled to hit shelves November 1st, and by January or February we’ll know how it did in the market. Until then, I guess I’ll just keep working on book 2… and chewing my fingernails.
I sympathize, though my experience was with a small, poetry-publishing press. (I won’t even talk about the experience I had with the guy who published my translations. Suffice it to say, it was not good and I am not doing business with him anymore.) It took nearly two years from the time The Silence of Men was accepted by the press that published it for me to actually be holding the book in my hand. Last I checked there were only a hundred or so copies left–out of a print run of, I think, 1,000–which for poetry is very good sales. I am hoping that, if the run sells out, the publisher will print a second run, but given the economy one never knows. In any event, good luck! I hope the book is as big a success as it can possibly be.
I personally cannot WAIT for this book! I loved what I read online. :D
I am visualizing astonishing success for the book, followed by plaintive emails from me asking for money.
But what about self-reliance?
I am self-reliant. I’ve developed these begging skills to a fine art, and I never ask anyone to beg on my behalf.
You sell yourself very, very short here. I’ve watched your drawing evolve over the last, what? 17 years or so and I’ve been impressed. Although the basics of your style remain the same, the improvements in technique and results have been incredible.
Story-telling has always been a skill at which you excel and it’s great to get to see you do something this long.