[State of the Comic] 2013 in Review
It's a fresh new year and a keen time to reflect on how things are doing on the nemu*nemu front!
Year in Review
The Plan
Year in Review
All in all, looking back on 2013, things weren't too bad!
While things seemed to spiral downwards and out-of-control in 2012 (re-read my 2013 State of the Comic post for a refresher), 2013 turned out to be pretty stable year. Since I opted to drop a number of out-of-state events and halt production on any new merchandise, my overall expenses have dropped significantly.
On the other hand, merchandise sales have dropped as well. My overall gross income is about half of what we made last year, mostly in part to the successful Kickstarter for our 6th book. (Honestly, $11,000 from Kickstarter is quite tough to match!)
Since sales of our current inventory have been slow, I've been hesitant to craft new goods, despite the numerous inquiries at our in-person events -- particularly for books and t-shirts... So I'm sorry for a relatively lackluster lineup for our holiday season! I'm really thankful for all the original art and commission sales that helped to fill things out at the end of 2013.
The bright side of things:
2013 also provided me with a few nice opportunities that helped to boost the visibility of my work and some of which helped supplement my income:
- Library and conference talks here in Hawaii
- Contract work (a la Namco High, and more)
- Guest comics (GWS, Abominable CC, Book of Biff~)
- Joined Hiveworks Affiliate Network
And most importantly, the growth of donations/membership and your participation in clicking my Amazon banners before shopping this holiday season.
Let's take a look at a chart to compare just where the income came from in 2012 and 2013:
Blue: Income (All combined sales)
Yellow: Service (Talks, contract work)
Green: Ad/Affiliates (Amazon, Adsense, etc)
Red: Kickstarter (2012 ONLY), Donations/Membership (2013)
Note: The income between the 2 years is not equal. In fact, my gross income was roughly half of what was earned in 2012. This only shows where the bulk of my income came from in the 2 years shown. This also does not include any expenses.
While it looks like sales may have been OK, the true question is:
"Was the comic profitable?"
Based on donations/membership and affiliate sales (click any of the amazon links before shopping!) of 2013, I make roughly $16.50 per comic strip/update. Which is amazing, but considering each update takes 4-6 hours to draw and color, I'm working way below minimum wage here.
To keep the comic from becoming the "busy work" of my work day, i'm making it my job to make this comic more sustainable.
The Plan
The major goal of 2014 is to make the comic itself profitable by two major components:
- Growth of Audience
- Reader Support
This isn't strictly limited to the opening of your wallets to meet my goals -- it is far more important for me to get new folks interested in what I do, and I can't do that by myself.
I'll work harder to create new and interesting content (even some non-nemu*nemu), but it's my hope that you will help me share my work within your social circles. I'm hoping that if you like my comic, your friends might too! Help me disspell the idea that nemu*nemu is "just for kids."
For example! Scott and I currently have a new shirt design up on TeeSpring that we've been sitting on for -ages-. For the younger/non-rock crowd, it's a riff on AC/DC's iconic Back in Black album cover.
Like so:
We're hoping we can get 100 preorders so these shirts can get professionally screen-printed and at a lower cost to everyone, by the end of January.
Interested? Check out the pre-order page at TeeSpring! They won't get printed without your help, so please share the campaign with folks who you think might like one! :D
♥ I digress~ ♥
Second, We fixed up the membership/donation page!
I wanted to credit the 46 members/donors from 2013 who helped to keep the comic going during our roughest moments. I can't thank you guys enough!
I will have monthly goals that we can strive to hit together. This includes income from subscriptions, donations, art commission requests, any ad or affiliate sales made via our Amazon links, and all digital downloads from our shop.
Since I will be resetting the counter every month to track and meet a goal, I've added new subscription tiers for those who may want to contribute a little more.
I'll be continuing with my monthly wallpapers for members, like this one:
Or simply donate what you feel this wallpaper set is worth if you're commitment-shy!
If we can meet these marks, I can devote more time to making more comics, merchandise, and even get that 7th nemu*nemu book printed!
Third, I'll be hosting a survey soon to get a better feel for who you (my readers!) are. I value your input and appreciate all your comments and suggestions! So stay tuned!
In short, nemu*nemu is more or less just me -- Audra Furuichi. What makes nemu*nemu thrive is YOU, the reader.
I'm pretty confident we can make a dent in things together in 2014 and grow this thing into something even more wonderful. So here's my battle plan for us all!
1) Share my content that you ♥!
2) Use my Amazon links before shopping!
3) Become a member or donate!
Oh!
And before you go (and since you've made it this far), have a freebie desktop wallpaper to celebrate 2014!
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