September 6, 2009 Johanna PR: What Not to Do 4 comments

PR: What Not to Do: Reading Like a Time Capsule

I got an email about a new anthology of alternative comics from the UK. Reading through it, I started having flashbacks to last decade: Just a short email to let you know that Solipsistic Pop — an anthology that features the very best in alternative UK comics — has launched its website with a manifesto that states the intentions of a new wave of comic artists taking over the UK alternative scene. There was more about the anthology, due in […]

March 22, 2009 Johanna PR: What Not to Do 9 comments

PR: What Not to Do: Insulting Those You Want to Help You

Note to aspiring web writers: if you want me to mention your website, especially with a link, then don’t be an ass. I got a press release from someone who will go unnamed who thought the following approaches were the right way to go: 1. Making outrageous claims. We’re “one of the only, if not the only, dedicated graphic novel review websites.” 2. Asking you to take too much on faith. The reviewer is anonymous, although claiming to be a […]

August 12, 2008 Johanna PR: What Not to Do One comment

PR: What Not to Do: Excessive Pricing

Have you heard about the upcoming anthology volume Kramer’s Ergot 7 from Buenaventura Press? It’s a deluxe original hardcover — which has been done before, most often with reprint material — but due to publishing it at larger-than-newspaper page size, they’re pricing it at $125. For 96 pages. That’s quite a chunk of change to lay out for an experimental anthology. Maybe I’m the only one having trouble with that format lately, but I’ve pretty much quit reading multi-creator anthologies […]

May 24, 2007 Johanna PR: What Not to Do 3 comments

PR: What Not to Do: Marketing a Cancelled Title

NBM’s online publicist, David Seidman, sent out an email early this week promoting an online preview for “special friends” of the company to post. It was an excerpt from Angel Skin, a graphic novel by Christian Westerlund and Robert Nazeby Herzig. I was ready to put it up, only I noticed that the message didn’t include a release date. (I wanted to know whether to promote the book as something to preorder or something to look for shortly.) I checked […]

July 28, 2006 Johanna PR: What Not to Do One comment

PR: What Not to Do: Announcing Non-News

Many publishers have glommed onto the fact that if you send out enough press releases, some sites will run them, and you will get easy coverage. Unfortunately, the result is that some companies send out PR announcing complete non-news. For example: Masterpiece Comics places original series, Fireblast, with industry leader, Diamond Comics Distributors, Inc. Masterpiece Comics announced today that its full-color, ongoing series, Fireblast, will be carried and distributed in the English-language world market by Diamond Comics Distributors, Inc., the […]

March 13, 2006 Johanna PR: What Not to Do 5 comments

Open Book Vultures

Over the weekend, a company called Open Book Press (link no longer available) sent out a press release trying to capitalize on the misfortune of Speakeasy. Here are excerpts, complete with snarky commentary from yours truly. Open Book Press Offers a Ray of Hope to Speakeasy Creators Wow, how magnanimous of them. Sounds a bit like a charity service, like a suicide prevention hotline or something. North American book and graphic novel publisher, and soon to be comic publisher Open […]

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