Original Thread: Submissions
Second Thread: Voting and Compilation
This thread: Printing and Distribution
What do I do?
- Download
The sampler is distributed in PDF format. It's 26 MB (thanks cortland!) so even if you have dialup you can probably download it in an hour or so. You can download the PDF from any of these mirrors:
http://www.cornstalker.com/cartoons/kee ... mple_2.pdf
http://stripedb.freeshell.org/keenspace_sample_2.pdf
The more mirrors we have, the better. If you're willing to lend us some of your bandwidth to host this file, please post a link in this thread and I'll add it to the list of mirrors. - Print:
The reason we're distributing the sampler by PDF is because none of us have the money for major printing and distribution. Moving bits across the Internet costs next to nothing but moving paper costs big money. Because so many of us participated it's easier to distribute the cost of printing by letting each distributor do the printing themselves.
An incomplete tutorial on getting a comic printed. You can skip down to the Printing section for an overview of what you can expect.
My hardware:
Brother HL-5140 laser printer (B&W)
Printable area: Top/Bottom = 0.17, Left/Right = 0.2
Swingline long reach stapler
Heavy Duty Rotary trimmer
I'm basically set to do most of the printing myself but I can't do the color covers.
When printing the PDF, be sure to "Shrink Oversize Pages." In Acrobat Reader 5, it's on the right side of the printer options window. This will give you a white border around the whole page that can be trimmed off. You can either have the printer do that or if you have a Kinkos close by you can use their table top trimmer.
The Brother is fast. I got these printed in roughly an hour of trial and error (300 prints). Once all the prints are made, arrange them face down from left to right:
The End of Things 1/The End of Things 2
The Adventures of Captain Keen 1/Coiling Spine 2
Michiko Monagatari 2/Thespiphobia 2
Zorro and Ester 2/Head Doctor Productions 2
Twin 2/Protect My Balls 2
Grim Tidings/Godlike 2
Cat Legend 1/If-Then-Else 2
Inside Front Cover/Inside Back Cover
Take one page from each stack starting from the left with the cover on the bottom.
Staple and fold. The long reach stapler is for getting the staple in the exact center of the fold. You CAN fold then staple from the side. When you fold a book, the inside pages stick out in a little triangle. You want to trim that off. That's what the heavy duty trimmer if for. - Distribute:
Get copies in the hands of as many people as you can. You ARE ALLOWED to charge money if you want or need to. In all honesty, though, it's a sampler. Nobody is going to want to pay for this but if you're nice they may help you recover some of your printing costs. (I got a dollar! YAY!)
Nobody expects you to print 10000 copies and distribute them on your local campus or in the mall or anything like that.
DO take a few copies with you if you go to a convention. You might be able to trade straight up for other people's comics. Just explain where you got it and what it's about.
DO talk to your local gaming or comic store. They might be willing to setup a little display for you and get the word out.
DO give it to friends, relatives and anyone else you know who likes webcomics.