Flashback February: Paul Grist

1) How does it feel now that you’ve been publishing Kane for many years now?

PAUL GRIST: Fine thanks. Feels like I’m starting to get the hang of it.

2) Do you ever wish that you were published by a company, so that your days wouldn’t be so dominated with business matters? Or do you feel that the trade-off is worth it as long as you have your independence?

PG: I wouldn’t really say my days are dominated with business matters!  Self publishing is fairly straight forward.  They only problem I’ve had recently is sorting out a license deal for foreign publishing rights.  The great thing about independence is that I don’t have anyone making stupid decisions on my behalf.  I get to make all my stupid decisions myself!

3) Do you still feel that the British indy sector is big enough to give someone a regular income?

PG: It’s not really a British indy sector.  Thanks to the miracle of modern distribution that is Diamond Comics  my comics are as easily available to the comic reader as any one elses.  About 80% of my sales are to the American market.  The question should really be is the Independent market big enough to provide a regular income.  That depends upon how much you want to (or need to) make.  My income this past year has been supplemented by my foreign licensing and occasional writing jobs for Marvel and DC.

4) How confident do you feel that you can publish two regular titles (Kane, Jack Staff)?

PG: I’m working on it.  It takes just over five weeks to do an issue of Kane, and four weeks to do an issue of Jack Staff.  It doesn’t quite add up, but I’m getting there.  The regular monthly deadlines certainly help concentrate the mind!

5) What drew you to publish crime fiction in the first place?

PG: When I was younger, I wanted to either be a policeman or a cartoonist.  Doing a comic about the police seemed a good compromise.

6) Has the move from Yorkshire to the West Country made your life easier or harder? Has it changed the way that you work or has it had an influence on what you write and draw?

PG: The biggest change is that I now have a separate studio/storeroom.  One of the things nobody ever tells you about self publishing is just how much space it eats up! Other than that it’s just business as usual.

7) Have the trade paperbacks given you another avenue to pursue? Do they receive booktrade distribution?

PG: Trade paperbacks certainly help bring in new readers, it’s easier for a shop to keep a couple of copies of the books in stock than it is for them to keep all the single issues in stock!  Booktrade distribution is not something I work on. At the moment the main distribution is through Diamond to the direct sales market.

8) How far ahead do you plot Kane and Jack Staff?

PG: Not very!  Whilst I know the overall direction of the Kane storyline and I know the key storypoints I’m working towards, I tend to plot the issue whilst I’m working on it! I think it allows for a certain spontaneity and surprise, which certainly helps maintain my interest as the person who has to spend a month drawing the thing!

9) Do you think that American independent creators have an edge over British in terms of access to distribution, eg. Diamond US, and readership, eg San Diego Comic Con?

PG: Not really. We all get listed in the same catalogue. The biggest advantage is probably that the printing rates in the US/Canada are very cheap, though having said that, Gary Spencer Millidge and Eddie Campbell continue to successfully print their comics in completely different time zones to the ones that they work in!

10) What’s the most important piece of advice that you’d give to someone planning to self-publish?

PG: If you want to self publish then you have to take the long term view.  It’s not a get rich quick scheme.