Branding is a big part of webcomic business.
There was an article on Webcomic Planet (http://webcomicplanet.com/articles/branding-what-is-your-brand/)
The Fifth P of Marketing (http://realtimemarketer.com/the-5th-p-of-marketing/) also gives some food for thought.
Everything you post under your known name is linked to your 'brand'.
I've read some Twitter posts about how an aspiring artist should make their screen name their real name. Because it's all about branding and for an artist, their name is their brand. I would have to agree with one caveat: If you are an artist working on multiple projects, you should definitely be using your real name. If you are only working on one project, I would side with using the project's name. The reason being that the project may require more of the spotlight.
I've noticed this belonging to a few communities that blend online presence with professional interests, and I've often wondered what kind of confusion was waiting for someone who did all their networking/advertising/foruming under a name like LOLcat123 or SONICfan and yet never credits the comic to themselves. "MY GREAT COMIC by ladygagagirl" I think to myself "When they go to a con, what do they write on their name tag?"
I don't necessarily think that people should always use their real names as screen names, though it does make for less confusion, especially in a place like deviantArt. It's made a lot easier, too, when your professional name isn't your real name, which is something I encourage people to do. Gibson Twist isn't my real name, but all my work is done under it. It's probably good to have a screen name that's at least close to your professional name, like Ran or Rob, then it's a lateral move in thought for readers. I would say that if you're using a different name in networking than you want to be known by professionally, you should make damn sure your real name is on your work in big, bold letters.
I kind of go with Jessica "Senshuu" Cantlope, since I neither want to eschew my web name nor want to only be known by it. Luckily that's on all my websites, so it's hard for people to forget either of them.
I'm kind of in favor of people using their real names now, but there is one special case I learned of recently where a web name got somebody more work because it was memorable: Scrotumnose. On top of just being a killer artist, he said people remembered him because of his web name. It's the only one he uses, and it's even the web address of his new portfolio website. I LOVE that. XD (Of course his real name is also on his work. It's just so badass.)
I know a few artists like KirikoMoth register their name as a fictious name for their business due to not wanting to use their real name.
Quote from: raerae on February 27, 2010, 10:11:58 PM
I know a few artists like KirikoMoth register their name as a fictious name for their business due to not wanting to use their real name.
That's what I do. Makes it easier to cash cheques too.
Quote from: Senshuu on February 27, 2010, 09:34:56 PM
I kind of go with Jessica "Senshuu" Cantlope
That's a smart way to do it, and it harkens back to the old American Silver Age comics where everyone had nicknames. You've got a name that lends itself well to that sort of thing too. It would be less professional to be, say,
Jessica "w00tgoatse69" Cantlope.
I used to use Quikthnkr for everything. A lot of people on the internet knew that name but when I wanted to get serious I knew I was going to have to choose something closer to a "real" name. I think the only place where Quikthnkr is still used now is DeviantArt and that's only because I haven't figured out how to change it.
Any place where Rob or Rob_T is taken I'll use RemedialRob which is a comb of Remedial Comics and Rob.
I make sure everything I post links back to Harkovast.
I've even asked friends of mine to link to Harkovast from their forum posts!
Yeah, I've made a point of using my real name on everything ever since I sold at my first convention and had about fifty girls approach my booth over the weekend and proclaim loudly 'Oh my god, it's AUGEST from deviantart! Hey you guys, it's AUGEST! Hi AUGEST, can I you sketch me something? Can I take a picture with you?'
I wanted to crawl into a hole and die I was so weirded out. So yeah, using my real name makes everything better.
I've thought about brand-generating, off and on, ever since I read How to Make Webcomics. (http://www.pvponline.com/how-to-make-webcomics/) What kind of extra stuff have you tried to add to your site to give your readers an extra bang for their buck. I know that Ran has occasionally posted a video showing her work-in-progress. Any other cool ideas?
I've got a few side things going. One is notes from one of the characters on the various arcana she's visited. We also have wallpapers, of course. We're doing a serialized prose story telling an early adventure of one of the main characters as well.
My sites have, and always will have, tons of extra content. Now I just need to update the main content more...lol.
I love sites with lots of extra content though. Shows that the comic's more than just a comic, and that the creators have been extra-thoughtful. I totally dig through sites like that.
Some people already know this, but in the past I've offered "soundtracks" with Pictures of You. They're really just lists of songs people should listen to while they read individual books...you know, seeing that I can't afford to buy the rights to this stuff. Coming up soon, with Pandora, I'm going to be launching a Pictures of You radio station.
I've toyed with the idea of recording a demo to be released when the band in the comic does one, but only if the popularity of the site increases a lot. Otherwise, cost prohibitive.
Quote from: Gibson on March 21, 2010, 10:02:52 AM
I've toyed with the idea of recording a demo to be released when the band in the comic does one, but only if the popularity of the site increases a lot. Otherwise, cost prohibitive.
Possibly worth it if the song's any good though, especially if you can put together a good funny video for YouTube on a low budget.
My co-creator for Overlord of Ravenfell wants to render and animate 3-D versions of our characters and do short films with them, which I think would be rather awesome for extra content.
Granted, her college workload it way too much for such a project right now since she has 2 animation courses, but once classes end we'll be working on it.
Quote from: Gibson on March 21, 2010, 10:02:52 AM
I've toyed with the idea of recording a demo to be released when the band in the comic does one, but only if the popularity of the site increases a lot. Otherwise, cost prohibitive.
I've been tempted to do something similar regarding the punk band some of the characters in my comic are in, just as a downloadable extra on the website the same way that Out at Home did it here (http://www.out-at-home.com/archives/685).
We're setting up our box room as a budget home studio anyway, just as soon as we can get all the stuff stored there into the attic, so it seems an obviuos thing to do, providing I can find someone who would be willing to do vocals and could conceivably be described as sounding like "a ferret on helium".
That sort of stuff is easy if you have the right equipment and software Wendy. I suggest the voice acting alliance as a great place to find folks who do that sort of thing.
I've done a lot of voice acting and singing over the years and I've even been paid for some of it (and one of my shorts was nominated for an award which was cool). I almost alway work out of the VAA. It really is a great community site.
http://voiceactingalliance.com/board/
Ooh, cool.
I've added it to my bookmarks.
Quote from: Gibson on March 21, 2010, 10:02:52 AM
Some people already know this, but in the past I've offered "soundtracks" with Pictures of You. They're really just lists of songs people should listen to while they read individual books...you know, seeing that I can't afford to buy the rights to this stuff. Coming up soon, with Pandora, I'm going to be launching a Pictures of You radio station.
Oooh, I had Imeem playlists with my fake soundtracks for Lovefeast. I loved putting it together and also loved the idea of people actually listening to it, but then Myspace bought out Imeem so basically it doesn't exist anymore. >( There's nothing else quite like Imeem out there.
On names...I shifted over from pseudonyms about 4 years ago or so because honestly, even when you're a writer, a business owner, or whatever your name is your brand. If someone wants to get hold of my via email it's as simple as my name, and that certainly helps more often than you'd think. Plus I think people have more of a comfort zone knowing it's a real person, you know? I mean not that anyone is trying to hide but when they see the name out there they feel a bit better talking to you instead of seeing you posting as "cheeseismylife199" you know? And no that was never my net handle. :)
Brand wise I see so many people screw up branding it's not even funny. I guess the biggest mistake I see folks making is their logos. Having an unreadable logo is just death. You might not like it, you might think it looks like ass, but if you can read it, that's the most important first step! Next people changing things up or mixing their brands...it's just crazy. I like the concept behind War of Independents but I have to wonder at the brand mixture involved and what it's ultimately doing for any of them other than wasting their time. If my character is in there I want her logo, my studio logo, and our branding in the mix of things very visible and obvious. That's like putting a generic label on a can of Campbell's chunky soup! No one will want it if they don't know what's in the can.