Sometimes the most frustrating circumstances can be borne out of something that is actually incredibly positive…
A few years ago here at Broken Frontier we published a piece titled ‘How *Do* I Get Coverage for My Self-Published Comic? Thoughts on How to Secure that All-Important First Review and Increasing Your Audience Afterwards…’. You can still read it here (though some of the links are now out-of-date). It proved to be the most-read BF article I have ever written and still does regular business to this day, as the ever expanding self-publishing scene continues its growth with little or no sign of contraction.
Since the site relaunched in 2013 BF has, of course, made a point of putting self-publishing and the output of micro and boutique-style publishers at the very forefront of our coverage. This has meant that review submissions (and other coverage requests for interviews, crowdfunding write-ups and features) have continued to rapidly increase at an exponential rate while our team of available staffers has remained relatively static. It’s indicative, perhaps, of the fact that while there have never been more opportunities for self-publishers to establish an audience for their work there’s also correspondingly never been more competition.
That’s a lengthy preamble to saying that, over the last few weeks, the publicity surrounding the site’s change in ownership has generated even more interest in Broken Frontier coverage from the small press and indie community. So I want to take a moment today to apologise to those who do contact us and do not necessarily receive a response. It must be incredibly frustrating when you’re working so hard to get your passion project seen to feel that you’re not making headway.
The bottom line is that we receive a frankly overwhelming number of requests and answering all of them would mean we would have no time for actually creating the content you all come here to see in the first place! Rest assured, though, that every request is read and considered.
How can you improve your chances of being featured at BF? Well all of those thoughts in that article linked to above still hold largely true. Also I would re-iterate that e-mailing us at the relevant addresses here rather than contacting us through Twitter or Facebook takes you directly to the heart of the “BF Bullpen” (I’ve wanted to say that for such a long time…) and ensures you don’t get lost in the ephemeral electronic ether.
In the meantime we have been investigating ways behind the scenes to facilitate far more creators being seen at Broken Frontier without it adding significantly to the team’s workloads, allowing a greater number of deserving small press projects to be brought to a wider audience. You’re already seeing the results of that on the site at the moment even if you’re not aware of it and there’s far, far more to come in the very near future.
Coming back to that opening line? Well it may not be much compensation when you’re struggling to get publicity but it still holds true. There has never been a healthier time in the history of comics for the self-publisher or micropublisher. The reality is that we’ll only ever be able to give spotlight time to a small percentage of the comics we’re offered. But rest assured that the small press world will always be front and centre of Broken Frontier’s comics coverage.
– Andy Oliver, Broken Frontier Editor-in-Chief, February 20, 2017
This week’s ‘Andy Oliver cartoon’ is by Andy Poyiadgi. Andy is the creator behind the British Comic Award-nominated and Broken Frontier Award-winning Lost Property published by Nobrow Press. He is also a familiar face on the UK small press scene with his most recent self-published comic Veripathy reviewed here at BF last year. For more on Andy Poyiadgi’s work check out his site here, follow him on Twitter here and visit his online store here
For regular updates on all things small press and Broken Frontier follow Andy Oliver on Twitter here.
