Small Press Day returns for 2021 on Saturday, August 14th. The Small Press Day team have elected to run this as an online event again this year but we have some fun events to take part on via Twitter to help push your comics on the day.
Firstly shops are invited to share their small press sections in videos and photos along with purchase links on online stores by using the hashtag #SPDShopLocal.
Secondly the comics community is encouraged to recommend small press titles that needs to be seen! Nominate comics with the hashtag #SPDRecommends.
And finally we have a return for the highly popular #SPDBFReview hashtag when Andy Oliver (me!) will be resuming his marathon session from last year giving one-tweet reviews of your comics on Twitter. Don’t forget that last year this is how we discovered 2021 Broken Frontier ‘Six to Watch‘ artist Mollie Ray whose graphic-novel-in-progress Giant was recently picked up by Faber & Faber.
Here’s a few FAQs on #SPDBFREVIEW answered ready for your participation on Small Press Day 2021. Read to the bottom for news of a bonus extra for six lucky participants!
How do I take part in #SPDBFREVIEW?
Choose four pages of your small press comic and tweet them out with a short description, a link to your online store and the hashtag #SPDBFREVIEW. Andy will then quote tweet in reply with a one-tweet review of your comic from the @brokenfrontier account.
Do the pages have to be sequential?
No. What we suggest is that you pick four pages from anywhere in the comic that show off your visual storytelling skills. That will be what Andy will be focusing on rather than narrative. Remember how much he likes talking about the language of comics and its unique storytelling properties? That should give you a clue as to what to choose.
What comics qualify?
Self-published work, ideally with a store link so we can send people your way for purchases. And work that has not been previously covered at BF only please.
How many comics can I submit?
In the interests of fairness we ask that this is restricted to one comic per artist or Twitter account. If we get a lot of requests we want to make sure to cover as many creators as possible.
I’m a small publisher can I take part?
Sorry but this is a day for self-publishers/small pressers. So if your books have distribution and ISBNs then our usual reviews request channels are still open for you. If you’re a micropublisher without distribution, selling through comics fairs and small press sections in comics shops, this is open to you. But best to let your creators submit directly themselves if possible.
Will you review everything?
Andy will be working through from 10am to 6pm so the earlier you submit the greater chance. He’ll aim to one-tweet review everything he can that comes in that timeframe but we reserve the right not to cover content that may be considered inappropriate or harmful to our community.
What’s that bonus for six lucky artists?
Andy will choose six comics from #SPDBFREVIEW to feature on Broken Frontier next week in a round-up article to get the message out about them to our wider Broken Frontier audience. So this could be your chance to get featured on the site listed last year as the most mentioned by UK comics practitioners to access news and support in the UK Comics Creator Survey 2020!
Any other questions feel free to ask us on Twitter. We’ll see you all on Saturday 14th for Small Press Day 2021! More details on the Small Press Day site here.
