I've been resisting this thread ( although enjoying reading it a lot..) but no longer. have to put in my 2 cents.
A suggestion to Chris and crew:
Working in committee can be a bitch. I know, I'm mired knee deep in committee work 24/7 at post secondary institution no less. And while, yes, committee work can make decisions more difficult there are things that can be done to speed things up.
I think perhaps you folks are still viewing keenspot as too personal. It still comes down in the end if you 'like' the comic or not. Which excludes a lot of potentially good titles from your line up ( good titles = Ad revenue right?). Remember, YOU are not the audience nessisarily of a given comic. If you don't personally like it, it doesn't nessisarily matter. IF you are in this as a business, it is important to realize when personal taste is really become much to much of a hinderance. In order to prevent opinion ( ie: so and so hates the comic ) from to heavily influencing the decision process, you people should establish and agree on hard, factual criteria for the keenspotting process.
Example of spotting criteria might be:
The comic must be rated between G and MA. Keenspot will not be accepting any comics over NC-17.
The comic must NOT contain copyrighted material.
The comic must NOT contain material/characters/names that could be offensive to advertisers.
The comic must have a minimum of 200,000 page views a month.
The comic must have an average of unique visits totalling more than 2000 a day.
The comic must demonstrate that they are updating at least once a week for a minimum of X months.
The comic must have a minimum archive of X number of comics.
The comic artists must be willing ( and able ) to sign whatever contract keenspot requires as an exclusive publisher.
The comic must demonstrate that it will be profitable to keenspace in terms of views vs ad impressions. ( you could get this from your own stats. )
Keenspot must be have a slot avaliable for a new title in the genre of the comic being considered.
these are just examples. But you can see my point. IF a comic is meeting ALL these criteria, which is VERY easy to check, its hard to argue as to WHY they should NOT be spotted. And in my opinion, " because I don't like it personally" doesn't factor into a business world. The ability to eliminate subjectiveness in a committee enviroment is very helpful.
I realize you aren't the problem Chris nessisarily, but I'm suggesting this as a means to help move the spotting process into something that does not rely on opinion entirely and that can be more easily and regularly managed. You should also establish a quarterly review schedule and number of slots that 'Spot makes avaliable per quarter. If you only spot one comic per say.. quarter or year or whatever, but you are dedicated to filling that spot, it makes it much more compeditivefor interested artists and gives some hope to the aspiring creators. They KNOW when to expect promotions, they know what they need to do to get them, and you guys all are clear on what is expected of a keenspot comic. Also if you DO reject an application, it gives a very strong, completely factual and clear reason for a rejection.
Example situation based on above criteria:
(I'm going to pick on Ghastly here for a minute, just for sake of argument, and its pretty well known all the controversy and yada. No offence in advance Ghastly, its just.. you make such a good example.)
Okay, lets say Ghastly's comic has applied or is being considered for promotion. Based on the above criteria set forth by keenspot to determine if a comic is eligible for 'spot, his comic does not satisfy at least two conditions. His comic is NC-17 and it displays material offensive to advertisers. Thus his comic, as popular as it might be, does not fit your profile of a keenspot comic. It is automatically eliminated.
You don't waste time on voting and stuff, because it is eliminated on publishing criteria right from the get go. Nice and efficient. You could even have someone else doing all the figures for you before your voting meeting. Saves both you and Ghastly time. He can look immediately for a new venue and you can move on to more of the type of comics you want to recruit before they get picked up elsewhere.
One of the number one reasons why people leave a job or change jobs is that they have no chance for advancement. This is currently where things sit. As a publisher you have to jump on talent. Regardless of if you actually personally LIKE the work or not, you can appreciate a good product based in its performance and earning potential. If its a 'hot' product, it doesn't matter if you use it, it only matters that you are the only one selling it. If you are unsure of a comics performance potential perhaps you should offer them a one year contract or six month contract to 'trial' them with an option to renew if they perform well. Then if they don't, both parties can walk away with no hard feelings.
I think you guys are at a point where you really have to establish clear, non-subjective policies regarding what kind of things ever have a chance to either apply or be 'invited' ( and which is it anyway? ) to keenspot. It seems on outset that Keenspot is still very cliqueish with a lack of organization and professionalism as a publisher. Its still a bunch of people, running a server, hosting and promoting the comics they like or that belong to friends. There is little organization, no strong policy, no strong direction, and way too much focus on " do I like it personally?" than " Is this what the audience wants and will pay for?"
Regardless if this is true, this is an image you folks will have to work to change as a part of your marketing strategy.
I would also suggest that you add a 5th person to your vote. Perhaps as a blind vote that is not used unless there is a tie. Perhaps Kisai or Kelly would be good choices being that they are a rep from the keenspace side of things.
I have no idea if any of this was helpful.. but at least I said my bit.
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