CONTRIBUTORS WANTED: BAM! Print-on-Demand Comics Anthology

DavidRecine · Post by **DavidRecine** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 1:23 pm

(Note: Our deadline of August 7 is the deadline for guaranteed consideration. We consider this deadline to be flexible on a discretionary basis. Contact us with an extension request if need be.)

You’re invited to participate in the biggest event this year in the small, small world of mini-comics!

BAM!: The Big-Ass Mini!

What is it?:

BAM! is going to be a giant anthology of mini-comics and other independent comics collected into a 300-500 page, professionally printed, on-demand trade paperback with black & white interior pages and a full color cover.
The idea is simple, all you have to do is donate anywhere from 1-50 pages of one of your mini-comics, or even create something new, and it will likely be included in BAM! Your compensation will be in the form of increased exposure, at-cost wholesale access to as many copies of BAM! as you please, and of course all the fun that comes with participation in a runaway train project like BAM!.

How are we going to pull this off?
BAM! will be printed on demand, which means no overhead, no mandatory investments, no money changing hands, basically no worries. On-demand printing can be very expensive due to set-up fees, but as the page count increases, the more cost effectivity comes into play. Basically, if you’re going to do it, do it big! That’s why all we need is tons and tons of great mini-comic content.

All rights will be retained by the original artists, so there are no worries about your creations being abused by greedy publishers. The editors of BAM! are putting this project together as a service to the self-publishing community. BAM!, the publication itself, will actually be owned by you, the contributors. All of the conditions will be spelled out in a “Terms of Agreement,” which every participant (including the editors) will adhere to.

Because we are eager to accomadate your concerns, we will be posting a rough draft of the “Terms of Agreement” for this project in hopes that you will help us mold it into an airtight agreement to protect everyone’s butts. The final draft, however, will be penned by our legal help (David Recine’s lawyer!)

As a contributor to BAM!, you will receive at-cost access to the book (projected between $10-$15), which you are free to sell, distribute, or just enjoy at your liberty. Our goal is to increase the exposure of our comics as much as possible to not only readers but particularly the press. At this point, the projected release date of BAM! is for Small Press Expo 2006 in October, so hold onto your hats!

Who’s idea was this?
The editors include Ian Harker, David Recine, Ray Frenden, and maybe even you! Your help is more than appreciated; this is going to be a team effort, so the more the merrier. If you are interested in participating on the editorial staff of BAM!, just ask.

OK, I’m in! Now what do I do?
Due to time constraints, we strongly encourage you to submit works that are already completed and have been published or that you plan to publish. However, there will be a separate process for those who wish to submit original, never-been-seen-before comics. The only content restrictions are no copyright infringement and no hardcore pornography. The book can be rated R or even NC-17, just not XXX. We also ask that you remove any advertisements from your comics (besides those that advertise your own publications) before submitting, otherwise we will remove them for you.
Before we get to the comics itself, we need a cover and a logo. So please feel free to post any full-color artwork you have laying around, or even cook up something new. The logo for BAM! will be designed separately, so post some logo ideas as well. When the time comes to select the cover art and logo, everybody will vote on which ones will be used in the final printed version of BAM!

For comics pages, what we need you to do at this point is post a page count or projected page count, the title (if possible), genre, and short description of your story, as well as a sample page of art. This will give everyone, including the editors, an idea of what to expect from BAM!

After that, you may submit your pages to David Recine at davidrecine(at)gmail(dot)com, in a ZIP folder if possible. If your e-mail has issues with the size of your attachment, you might want to use this site: http(colon)//www(dot)yousendit(dot)com/. (Sorry, these boards won't let me post actual URLs til my 15th post, I guess.) If you don't have scanner access or would prefer to have the editor take care of scanning, send a hard copy of your submission to: David Recine, 1440 Badger Ave. Eau Claire, WI 54701. Disks of your digital files may also be sent to that address. CDs ONLY. NO FLOPPYS, PLEASE!

Submissions can range from a fraction of a page to 50 pages. For layout purposes (and to increase one’s chances of inclusion), try to make submissions that are less than one page take up exactly half of a page.
If your submission has been printed elsewhere before, please make note of the time, date, and original venue it was published in, if possible.
Those who are contributing longer pieces are encouraged to include a cover page. Everyone is encouraged to provide some autobiographical information. If you give us the basics, we can write a short bio. If you want to write your own auto-bio blurb, that’s cool too.

For best results, greyscale digital submissions should be formatted as JPEGS, scanned between 200 DPI and 300 DPI. Black and white/bitmap submissions should be formatted as GIFS, scanned between 400 DPI and 600 DPI. If you can’t quite get the formatting right, the editors will work with the images. You will be notified of any reformatting. If the resolution or look of the image is changed, it will be run by you again for your approval.

We will begin to compile this material into a first draft that will be available for review by the contributors before the final printing. Although we will be handling your pages, we hold no right to do anything with them until the “Terms of Agreement” are signed by you prior to printing. Not everything submitted will be included in the final printed version of BAM! We are looking to be as fair and inclusive with the selection process as possible. The contributors themselves will be ultimately responsible for the final cut of BAM! and will be involved in the editorial process throughout the development.
The due date for previously published comics is August 7th. This will give you a couple of weeks to scan any stuff that you do not have readily available as digital files. For those who wish to submit original materials, we ask that you at least submit sample pages by the August 7th deadline in order for us to hold a spot in the final book. You will have until September 15th to submit the final pages for inclusion into the first draft of BAM! (All deadlines can, of course, be worked with; just contact an editor if you have any concerns.)

We will also be reviewing any editorial articles you may wish to submit to BAM! throughout the process. We view BAM! as both an introduction and a celebration of the tradition of mini-comics and self publishing. If you have anything that you would like to write about this world, feel free to send it along; we are looking for as much content as we can handle.
Any questions at all feel free to contact Ian Harker at givemefreedom2001(at)yahoo(dot)com or for any technical question contact David Recine at davidrecine(at)gmail(dot)com.

Ain’t nothin to it but to do it! We’re exited to have you aboard, remember the first deadline is August 7th! Time’s a-wastin! What are you still reading this for? Get crackin!

- Ian Harker, David Recine 7/22/06

MixedMyth · Post by **MixedMyth** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 1:39 pm

Alright...I'd like to submit something. I've been looking for a place to submit Cameo to for a while now! It's only seven pages, though I've been thinking of adding a title page. I might be able to put the title in the comic itself if that's too many pages.

However, you havn't mentioned anything about dimentions....would it work? Would I need to reframe it? The images are 6 x 8.

BKR · Post by **BKR** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 4:00 pm

I'm interested in this as well, but I don't know what size I should aim for. I have a bit of flexibility in making them, so panels and text can be put in or taken out to reformat the pages to the desired size. I know mini comics are somewhere around 6x8 (usually 4.25x5.5), but everything I do is digital, so a suggested width by height in pixels that roughly corresponds to a page with no image scaling when it goes to print would be of more help to me in my case, and maybe others.

I'm under the impression that you want the initial blurb to be posted in this thread, so here goes:

Projected page count: 11
Title: Story of the Dame
Genre: Fantasy/Medieval
Sample page: Here
Description: A story about two unsavory strangers who meet on not so friendly terms along a road, and later see each other again in the next town. The aggressor during the first meeting insists upon traveling together for mutual benefit, and even after being refused follows anyway. They travel partway to the next town, where the story comes to an abrupt end.

DavidRecine · Post by **DavidRecine** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 4:15 pm

Since we're working with mini comics guys and webcomics guys, there are no set dimensions. The book is probably going to be in standard comic book format (about 6 by 9 inches, like a Spidey newsstand comic, but thicker). As long as your work can fit legibly and comfortably within that page space , it's all good. No shame in drawing something meant to be viewed sideways either. Frank Cho prints Liberty Meadows that way, and he's pullin' in plenty of readers. Our printer will allow us to do full bleed as well.

Incidently, here's a link to the initial thread that kicked off this project; go there if you want to read more descriptions and view more sample pages.

http://www.tcj.com/messboard/ubb/Forum2 ... 05371.html

I reposted your sample and synopsis there, BKR.

MixedMyth · Post by **MixedMyth** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 4:23 pm

Oh...guess I ought to post some info, too. I'll email all this, too, since that seems to be preferred.

Projected Page count- 7, maybe 8 if there's a title page
Title: Cameo
Genre: Surreal Fantasy
Description: This little vignette tells the same story two in different ways. These two methods run side by side, occuring simultaniously as the story progresses. A young boy sees a different world, interpreting the world around him in fantastic terms. Everything he sees, feels, and touches has an entirely different meaning from the norm. It's a world of hightened color and bizarre creatures, all of which are reflections of the normal world. Yet it is the normal world that is obscure, simplistic. The boy meets a girl in his world, a girl who can see what he sees to a limited extent. Together, they break through the barrier between the two perceptions.

Stinkywigfiddle · Post by **Stinkywigfiddle** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 7:27 pm

I'll try this.

Page count: 4
Title: Aged
Genre: Humor
Previously published in Senses, in September 2005, by Savana College of Art and Design. And in Head Doctor Productions Collection One, published through Lulu.com.
Destcription: An old man suffering from failing senses, pain, and general old age. He passes from his old body and picks out a new one.

I will email it.

DavidRecine · Post by **DavidRecine** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 9:59 pm

Savannah! You know any of those FLUKE comics guys? Georgia has an excellent comics scene.

Stinkywigfiddle · Post by **Stinkywigfiddle** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 12:09 pm

One of the projects they like to do is to illustrate characters and props from the book Fluke. Other than that I'm not sure what you mean.

DavidRecine · Post by **DavidRecine** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 12:46 pm

I'm talking about the Fluke comic book convention in Athens, right near Savannah Georgia (if we're talkiing about the same SCAD): http://www.wideawakepress.com/flukeathens/index.html

Lotta good Southern artists associated with FLUKE.

Stinkywigfiddle · Post by **Stinkywigfiddle** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 1:01 pm

Oh, ok. I've never heard of that.

Taiwanimation · Post by **Taiwanimation** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 4:03 pm

What are the page dimensions? I work with screentones...

Page count: 10
Title: Information Age Love Story
Genre: Romance
Link to web-resolution version: http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~atwu/first ... foage.html

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 4:11 pm

No chance I'd get ot do anything in time.

DavidRecine · Post by **DavidRecine** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 8:28 pm

Taiwan--- Like the look and feel of your story (just starting to read it). No hard and fast rules about page dimensions. The final product will be standard newsstand comic size. Anything that can fit comofrtably within the rough dimensions of 6X9 inches is welcome. We can also do full bleed. And screen tones of course.

Taiwanimation · Post by **Taiwanimation** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 11:22 pm

that sounds good.

how about two page spreads?

DavidRecine · Post by **DavidRecine** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 8:20 am

Since the book is going to be squarebound and thick, two page spreads might look a little off. If you want to do some tow page spreads, submit them at your own risk, and we'll try to place them toward wither the front or back of the book, where a minimal amount of median artwork will get lost in the binding.