The State of the Crow
I’ve been thinking a lot about this next year, and all things Steam Crow. (And by extension, Monster Commute.)
A lot of things that I’ve been wanting to do have slipped aside (vinyl toys, weekly videos, etc.) partially due to the natural busy nature of the con season and the fact that we have to rely on partners to get a lot of stuff done.
I wish that we could get more done, but I have to confess that we’re working at pretty close to capacity these days.
We’ve had a great year, and I’m really encouraged about the future of our little studio. The support that folks have given us is humbling, and it’s pretty funny to consider that maybe 7 years ago, it never occurred to me that this was even possible. (I set my mind on this course about 6 years ago now.)
We still have a very long way to go.
Most folks, even comic folks, don’t know about Steam Crow or Monster Commute.
“I’ve never heard of you,” says the person with the puzzled expression. (Acting like they’ve seen everything in the universe, but perhaps just not our little corner of the convention hall.)
“What is THIS?”:<– I need to better answer this question through our design.
I need to continue putting more energy into Monster Commute to make it great, and grow our readership little by little.
We need to entice more folks who do support us, to maybe consider buying from us online, and not just at comic-cons. (Online exclusives?)
We need to continue to diversify our income through our offerings. (Products, advertising, sponsorships, Steam Stock, art shows, etc.
I want to really develop our Street Team (The Steam Crow Army), so those of you who want to help us get the word out, can efficiently do so.
- – -
What do you think? What do you think we should be doing to take our studio further? What could we do better?
- Daniel
Related posts:
I can admit that until PHXCC, I hadn’t heard of Monster Commute. But that was quickly remedied and now I’m working on getting my friends hooked.
Online exclusives would be good, start small and see how it does.
Street Team sounds like an awesome plan! Keep us up to date on how you want to handle that; I know I’m all for it
Always glad to hear when a specific con, works.
The Stream Team will have it’s own dedicated site. Basically, you do stuff to help promote Steam Crow (out of the goodness of your heart) and earn points towards some Steam Crow gear.
I’ve been searching for software that would help keep this from being a full-time job to manage.
Oh yeah, welcome aboard!
you know, i don’t even remember how i discovered you. i do remember it taking a bit for me to get hooked on this comic because the style is so different. it is completely unlike anything else out there. of course, now i’m completely hooked and can really appreciate your style.
i don’t have any ideas for you though. sorry.
Thanks for the feedback, Susan!
I’m actually very encouraged by your comments. I know Monster Commute a little bit of an oddity, but that’s a good thing.
I’ve never been very “normal” about anything I do. Average is my enemy.
Thanks for sticking with us.
Just keep doing what you’re doing. I like that your “offerings” change. I’m not buying yet another book, I’m sometimes buying a button, or an iron imp. Yeah, the limited edition stuff kicks ass, in my opinion. I realize it’s hard to make money on something you only made twelve of. But I think it adds something special to the rest of my order.
I have considered making EVERYTHING limited to some degree. (And in reality, it mostly is.)
All of the Johnny Cupcakes t-shirts are limited edition, though that edition is never actually stated.
I wonder if limiting or announcing retirement of certain products (on a regular basis) would be a good thing?
“On Tuesday, we’re retiring X print. Get it now, or never.”
I will tell you what I think is brilliant about what you do and I think something most other people marketing their brand don’t think of: Steam Crow has a wide variety of products.
If you need peeps to help you promote, let me know how I can help…
If you have postcard flyers, etc, that you would like for me to drop off at various gaming cons, let me know… The gaming con season appears to be starting now and it would be good for you to have a bit of a presence (even if Steam Crow isn’t attending) or recognition in anticipation of the Monster Commute RPG.
Well, a wide variety of products takes time to develop. Many folks haven’t been working at it that long.
Ideas of how to help? You’ve seen this, right?
Yeah, I’ve got some flyers and cards. I can bring them to the Army tonight, if you’re coming.
I’ll try to make it tonight but I have to work late tonight so I might arrive around end time… We shall see!
Make a t-shirt with a slice of bacon doing science with a cat and a dragon drinking coffee. With three wolves in the background.
If you don’t, I will.
I never heard of you until i found out you were coming to last years spokane comicon, and I was instantly hooked. The last two years yours is the first booth the wife and I look for. I’ll admit that i’ve only bought stuff form you at comicon but there are plans to buy things off the website as soon as funds are available. I think online exclusives and a street team would be great ideas. keep up the good work man
Great feedback, Jorell.
It’s nice to hear that conventions are turning out to be a good way of discovering Steam Crow.
And yeah, it’s not all ABOUT getting you guys to buy-buy-buy… but it is nice to gently nudge to let you know that buying online is good too. (Far less costs for us then traveling across the country, buying expensive tables at cons, etc.)
Thanks J!
I’ve enjoyed reading people stories of how they discovered you guys. Here is mine. I found out about you because of Tiny Army. In fact, it was an interesting chain of events that brought me to meet you. The chain is long so here is a paraphrased graph.
Met Dave Beaty at AIPX where he gave a talk and became a friend of the Bushi Tales crew. Dave spoke highly of getting a portfolio review from Steve Rude so I went to FCBD to see Steve and met Neil. I’m pretty sure I found out about Tiny Army from him. That was either the 2nd or 3rd Meeting.
Had any one of those links hot been there, I probably wouldn’t have met you until much later if at all. I always enjoy thinking about how we are all connected and the circumstances that can bring people together.
If you ever need me for a specific Street Team quest, go ahead and let me know!
That story is good to hear. (And yeah, I’ve enjoyed all of the others too) Makes it feel more like a community when we’re all talking so.
I guess that just meeting you made TINY ARMY worth founding. Sweet!
Hmmm. I think I found MonCom through the link on Clockworks.
Not very exciting, compared to these other stories of discovery.
Yeah, but at least you’re here! YAY!
You should make Steam Crow the Movie
Have you seen the Goon teaser trailer? I’d want it to be like that or a stop motion thing. Or puppets… yes!
(Puppets would be the nearest thing that I could pull off with -0 budget.)
Cool, I thought at first of it being a animation like the old cartoons.
Steam Crow is obviously more than the comic, but I am here for the comic and sometimes the blog posts and not much more.
I do tell others about the comic. When I tell them about it I say that it is a little uneven in certain ways but is nonetheless good. What is uneven about it? Reading through the archive, from my point of view it seems the writing gets better over time; and I’m happy to see the trend towards telling longer stories, though artists such as Jonathan Rosenberg have found this sometimes to be a disadvantage (he quit writing Goats because the long storyline was scaring away readers). Anyway what I’m trying to say is I feel like your idea of the setting has changed over time so that the early strips may technically match up, but there is still a feeling of discontinuity. And I don’t feel like I really know who Kip is; though I like the character as he is now, his introduction came out of nowhere, and I think he still has secrets.
So that’s basically it, I think the characters and setting have changed somewhat as your idea of them developed, and there is something undefineable but unusual about your overall storytelling method, and I typically just sum all that up by saying the comic is a little strange. Of course the whole attitude of your world falls under “strange” as well, but that’s conscious, interesting oddity.
OK, I’m embarrassed to be criticizing your excellent comic, I’ll stop now.
One reason that I’m doing Monster Commute 5 days a week, is to become a better writer. I too felt like the first strips were wildly uneven (they were written in the car while I carpooled with my wife), and I was really learning about how to write a comic. I still am.
The setting, story, characters and approach have all evolved over time. That’s a good thing, and I’m glad that you noticed.
People have called my work “strange” since I was 10; that’s just how it comes out.
Kip just ate a shoe.
Thanks for commenting, Dranorter!
- Daniel