Goals for the year 2017 vs 2018

Last year I did a blog post that compared my goals for 2017 to what I actually achieved. It’s a good way to kick off the year and get back into the groove of writing these business behind the scenes. So to start with let’s look at where the money came from in 2017 compared to 2018.

Here’s 2017 graph telling me where the money is coming from.

And here’s 2018.

Conventions

Conventions are still a big part of my income. Like I said last year, they wear me out a lot because of travel.  I went into 2018 with the goal to make the same amount at cons total but have it be a smaller piece of the pie. Sales at cons are up and the pie piece is a little smaller but not as small as I’d like. So at least for the foreseeable future I’m still gonna be going to a lot of conventions. My plan for 2019 right now is to set my own hours. Part of why cons take so much out of me is the hours keep getting longer and longer. Having to be on from 10-8 is rough. Then add being at the table early for set up before the show opens means I’m working usually 11 hours straight at conventions. From now on, the show starts at noon for me. I can be better rested, well fed, and can maybe go running before the show.

Freelance/publisher payments

So this category is basically covering all the money I got from publishers/companies this year. It includes some freelance editing I did for Iron Circus Comics, my advance for Jose Pimenta and I’s Know Not What We May Be, my advance for The Stone King, a work for hire writing gig, and some odds and ends. I predicted this piece would be bigger in 2018 and I was right. I want to keep growing this section. I’m doing more editing for Iron Circus Comics already. That combined with royalties from Iron Circus reprinting Cautionary Fables and Fairy Tales means it will at least have somethings coming it. I got a few pitches out the door too. So fingers crossed that this will keep getting bigger.

Ad Money/Comixology

I have the least control of either of these categories. Both are down in 2018. I think ComiXology is down because I didn’t put any new self-published stuff up there this year. All my self published stuff got delayed. So I’m only just now adding new titles to my comixology store. Hopefully, my comixology sales will go up now that The Stone King is out.

Ads on the other hand are still heading downward. I’m at this point just hoping my Drip picks up so I can ditch ads all at once.

Patreon/Drip/My Store

My new store seems to be working well. Even though site sales are a small piece of the pie, they did go up a significant amount. This is especially good because, well, I forgot to update it for roughly a year. This year I’m gonna try to keep it up to date and hope that lets it continue to grow.

As for Patreon/Drip. That went down. A lot of the things I tried to get newer patreons didn’t really work. Switching to Drip gave me an end of the year boost. But that founding period was a one time boost. I can’t do it again in 2019. I’m trying to think of new ideas to get people over there. The big one is I’m considering making my newest comic be Drip exclusive. But right now it would be hard to navigate a comic on Drip or Patreon.