We’re still going to put off releasing in the summer due to the artist having computer issues, but either way, Games With Me is on track– releasing April 1, and I can still breath a sigh of relief.

In other news– I got my first batch of returns from my distributor, since allowing returns in the last quarter of 2011.  It consisted of only two book.  Wow.  I expected it to be so much worse.

-Tina

This weekend has been very eventful, so many entries…which is unusual for me, on this blog.

After discussions with the Italian publisher, I’ve been asked to alter the release date for the combined volumes of Roulette on the KINDLE, so that they can release the first Volume of the print edition, in Europe first.  Since they plan to take Roulette to the  Angoulême International Comics Festival as part of their new Italian-bara style line, next year, and they wish to release one Volume at a time, they’ve asked me to hold up on releasing Roulette in its entirety.

My books are now sold on Amazon.it, Amazon.fr, and Amazon.de, for foreign KINDLE’s,  in their original English language.  If I were to release Roulette in English to all of these, it would be competing with each print edition the publishers paid us to produce, and would reveal the ending of the book, before Teke Eket had a chance to release Volume 2.

I’ve decided to honor their request, and alter the release of Roulette, until after Angoulême, in 2013.  I’m so sorry to all who’ve been waiting for this series to release since discovering it in Dramaqueen’s RUSH – and putting up with the delays and issues we’ve had over the years since the series began in 2007.   Many false starts and lots of false hope–but the series is finally on track financially, and is being completed for a publisher that can actually produce it.

I wont interfere with that, even if it means I have to wait another year for it to see print.

Thanks,

Tina Anderson.

Thank you for your understanding, and we hope to see our readers at San Japan in August.

I’ll be writing an ‘epilogue’ of sorts, a little small one-shot that will give Volume 2 the page count it needs to release with the Final Chapter of Roulette.  Lots of shockers in that Chapter, I think readers will find it’s been worth the wait.

The Italian publisher plans to take Roulette to Angouleme this year, so Volume 1 will be released before that.

If I order limited copies of Loud Snow, and take a convention stock of Games with Me and Roulette,  as well we Only Words– total potential sales look great, even with an overhead budget that focuses heavily on postcard-handouts for digital editions awareness.  We would take a loss by going,(this is determined by total overhead–purchasing stock to sell, purchasing sales placement on floor, hotel & travel) but only a $55 loss, which as a sales and promotional outing, is really not that bad.

The only thing that would keep me from attending would be if Roulette doesn’t release on time, and Games with Me V2 fails as a digital release, or I can’t score an art-alley table.  0_0

]]> http://gynoinc.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/convention-plans/feed/ 4 gynocrat http://gynoinc.wordpress.com/2011/12/26/my-thoughts-on-sopa/ http://gynoinc.wordpress.com/2011/12/26/my-thoughts-on-sopa/#comments Mon, 26 Dec 2011 15:16:40 +0000 gynocrat http://gynoinc.wordpress.com/?p=368 ]]> If you don’t know what the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is, go here for biased, yet clear definition.

As many of you know, I’m a bit torn on this version of the legislation.  I’d love to end the issue of piracy, as I’ve seen my sales directly affected by readers uploading my books online and offering them up as ‘free to read.’  To me, this is true piracy.  Yet according to SOPA, in it’s current form, if a fan decides to make fan art of characters I’ve created for a publisher (I designate a publisher because Gynocrat Ink would never go after any one engaging in fan-work), then they risk censure, fines, and more.

I started out in publishing by creating my own fan books, all of which are now out of print, but under SOPA, I’d be risking jail time and fines–not just me, but my printer, my artist-partner, and the conventions at which I sold my books, anyone associated with my PIRACY of the those original works.  That’s right, I admit that under SOPA,  what I did is piracy– I created those books, ran a short print run, and sold them only to fans on eBay, and at conventions.  I NEVER interfered with Darkhorse’s ability to sell Gungrave or Trigun–just like I never interfered with VIZ’s ability to sell Kenshin, or Inuyasha.  Part of what makes this medium an exciting one, is the creativity of the fans, and creative fans run the risk of offending the bulk of parody works fandom, by creating a derivative that may be considered offensive.  That’s not piracy.

The genre of BL is driven by artistic fans that are oft considered rabid fever-dreamers weaned on main-stream manga, where they create their own subtextual possibilities–if you want to be technical, the official Japanese genre of BL was cultivated around the popular fanworks of a handful of “discovered” doujinshika. The business of BL in Japan has its origins exclusively in publishers seeing the enormous popularity of sexual or romance driven homoerotic fan comics.  In Japan, it’s big business–in America, you run the risk of being scolded by the licensor of the work you’re parodying.  Scolding and disapproval from American pubs, is a far cry from fines and jail-time and the jacking of your domain name.

Right now, SOPA is being presented as a tech-war between media and media-servers, and on the surface, it looks like it will effect only those sites that stream unlicensed manga, but if you read the details–it get a bit…complicated. SOPA, in its current form, may seem wonderful to American License-holders of Anime and Manga works, but remember–this kind of bill always lead to a slippery slope.

Gynocrat Ink exists to produce only my own work, which has been illustrated by various talented artists.  Some of these titles are self-published by choice, while others were self-published due to issues with publishers that were originally meant to produce them.  Either way, Gynocrat Ink and its imprints ‘Circle-G’ and ‘EM Novels’, has always specialized in the ‘the works of Tina Anderson.’

2011 was a weird year for Gynocrat Ink.

I expected a hard year, with no sales due to a lack of new releases, and little fanfare because I no longer actively engaged fandom online.  Outside publishing, I acquired a job in banking and it’s taken much of my free time and rewarded me with some positive financial and personal growth.  I didn’t attend any conventions, write any new scripts, and did not resurrect my fandom blog Guns, Guys, and Yaoi—much to the chagrin of my blogger friends that were pushing me in that direction.  Yet despite no new releases and little to no exposure, Gynocrat Ink actually ran in the black, for the first time since eliminating my debt as a ‘business,’ last year.   While the profit margin was nothing compared to a traditional small-publisher, it was enough to give me hope that all the work I did (and yes, writing is WORK!), and all the criticism and drama I endured, was not for nothing.  Thanks to digital sales of existing titles on Amazon.com, and that organizations subsequent reach into foreign markets, sales were consistent and royalties continued to accrue.

I list Amazon as my most successful distributor, because be it print or digital, they’ve consistently remained a strong and user-friendly, sales outlet.  They’re generous with my take, easy to fulfill, sales info is never late or missing, and payment is always on time.  Also on my list of good partnerships turned out to be LSI.  Loud Snow was produced with them last year and it came out great, and they took over my fulfillment duties with Amazon and BN with no hiccups, saving me the cost of shipping to these sales outlets myself.  I was able to enroll in Ingram, and sold to smaller bookstores—and while this didn’t bring me as much of a percentage as I liked, I appreciated the accuracy of their sales reporting and the willingness to distribute to smaller vendors.  Even the price change on Loud Snow went through without issue, and actually led to an increase in sales.

On my list of troublesome partnerships, Barnes and Noble still ranks high.  My patience with them is waning; despite their move to e-invoicing for print editions, they’re still forcing a paper-trail bill-to and invoice via snail mail.  There’s still no dedicated support to smaller pubs for digital works and product page set up—they raid the Bowker database for title information that’s often outdated, then list this misinformation as on sale and take pre-orders.  This has led to constant issues with readers emailing me and I’ve nothing to tell them other than ‘BN.com’ is wrong, when you see it in the store or on Amazon, then it’s available.  There’s still no easy way to track print sales and correct any pricing and product page data in real-time.  Just when I thought it couldn’t get any more cumbersome, PubIt, their distro transitional program for digital releases to the Nook, is always inconsistent with sales data; and the Nook itself is hindered by slow load times on graphic novels, even those with tailored file sizes made smaller for it.  I want Nook to succeed, but I want Barnes and Noble to please stop their resistance to making things easier for independent creators. Files sizes that work on KINDLE, SONY Reader, and iPad, should also work on Nook.   I made the decision to relinquish digital rights of the Nook on two works of fiction, and gave them to Amazon in order to allow Prime members to benefit from free reads on the KINDLE.  Barnes and Noble needs to get it together, or I’ll be moving all my titles from the Nook—the sales and lack of indie publisher-friendly service behind the scenes, is helping me make my decision.

As for Apple and eManga, sales were low due to my unwillingness to promote these titles.  When other digital outlets are giving me 70% of my sales, and Apple and eManga are not—they’ve made the decision for me, to prioritize where I want reviewers to send readers.  It’s nothing personal, it’s just business—and I still plan to distribute a digital edition of Volume 2 of Games With Me through eManga, but it will be the last graphic novel release I’ll submit to them.

Speaking of ‘last titles’, I announced that 2012 is my last year in GloBL, and for writing BL comics.  I’m proud of the work I’ve done (some more than others) and intend to go out with a BANG, literally.  The 80’s crime drama Roulette will be my last print and digital release in the genre, and I’m very excited because this title had a hard time getting completed—getting out there, and just being on its own as published.  It’s releasing in Spring/Summer in the US, to allow the Italian publisher the opportunity to publish in Italy.  Other release news for Gynocrat Ink is the print omnibus of Games With Me.  It’s been one of my best reviewed titles to date, and its being re-toned, and redesigned, for its print edition, and will release by Valentine’s Day!

It’s been a great run in comics, and I’ll always appreciate the people I’ve met, and the fans that’ve supported Gynocrat Ink.  2012 will be a great year for Gynocrat Ink—two final graphic novels releasing to close out Circle-G, and the future is bright for EM-Novels, if I ever get off my butt and finish my manuscripts.

Thanks,

Have a Happy New Year
Tina Anderson (Kolesnik)

Also available free to Amazon-Prime members is Boy 90, a mature speculative short by author Tina Kolesnik.

Read them today!

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and everyone’s favorite prostitot:

If you wish to purchase new from Dramaqueen, please visit their DQ Shop.

Roulette, our series that ran in this anthology, will release in English, summer 2012.

Thanks to every who supported us by purchasing from us -

Tina Anderson & Laura Carboni.