DSP-SPM80-PDF Jan. 2015 | Page 9

made! As far as marketing it, though, you have to maximize your efforts and presence on social media across the gamut of available platforms. Especially being a small press and/or independent company. Social media is FREE advertising and marketing and, if you are not taking advantage of it, you are sorely missing out on a special opportunity to connect with your audience! Now, as far as the differences, comic books are a static medium, while films are moving pictures. With comic books you have to be a bit more hands-on to try and get the word out there. You have to show teasers, multiple pages, and covers to create that illusion with your readers and draw them in. You need to capture their interest with the written word and hand-drawn pictures. With film, you can just post up a visual trailer or piece of the film and wait while they click on it and sit back and watch it. I guess that ultimately, what I am trying to say is film is not as labor-intensive as comic books when trying to get the word out about your projects. SP!: FOLLOWING UP ON YOUR WORK ON THE FILM, WHAT LESSONS HAVE YOU LEARNED ABOUT PROMOTION, MANAGING CREATIVE CONTENT, AND OBTAINING FINANCIAL BACKING? AZ: First and foremost, with both mediums, it comes down to money and securing financial backing. Currently, there are many options, such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Patreon, where you can go to try and secure funding from donors to finance your projects. This is definitely something that I feel more people need to try and take advantage of. You have nothing to lose. As I mentioned earlier in this interview, every success and every failure is a learning experience, and as long as you take something away from it, it is a positive. Now, as far as promotion, this is extremely important. You have to be your strongest supporter and promoter. You have to constantly have new content being posted up and always think four steps ahead. People get bored quite easily if they keep seeing the same thing and if you don’t have anything new to post, they will quickly lose interest. So, that is most i \ܝ[