Q: I was really impressed with your book, and I also appreciated the reasons you gave as to why you decided to self-publish. I am wondering, though, how are you fulfilling your orders? Are you packaging them up yourself, or using some shipping service? What problems have you encountered in shipping your orders?

A: Actually that was one aspect of the self-publishing process I meant to mention but forgot to in that post you cited. It’s another example of how today’s technology enables a self-publisher to operate as efficiently and quickly as an established distributor.

PayPal has it’s faults, but the tools it brings to the seller are amazing, both in receiving payments and shipping. I already had a merchant account, and was able to quickly and easily create a “Buy Now” feature that included a drop-down menu for options, pre-determined shipping costs that dynamically changed with the buyer’s shipping address and a checkout feature. This allows anyone in any country to purchase the book in any currency with either a Paypal account or an accepted credit card. Once purchased, I get an instant email informing me of the order, which I have routed to a special folder in my inbox. When we do a fulfillment session, which is still once a day at this point, either The Lovely Anna (aka “Shipping and Handling”) or I print out these orders as receipts. Then we log in to PayPal.

Once in our PayPal account, each transaction is listed in chronological order and has a “Print Shipping Label” option listed. Clicking on this allows us to prepare and print out a shipping label as well as pay for postage. One label, with address filled in from the order form, included paid postage, that prints on my desktop printer. We got special self-adhesive labels that are the exact size for the PayPal postage shipping label, with a tear-off other half that contains the shipping receipt and tracking info. If it’s an international shipment, we have an extra customs form step, but it is equally quick and convenient.

Then I sign/draw in the books as directed, we place the receipt in the front of the book, put it in a poly sleeve (bought in bulk from a plastics company), stuff it in the envelope (also bought in bulk from a packaging company) with label affixed, seal the envelope and stack them into a box. The best part? NO WAITING AT THE POST OFFICE. I drop them off in the lobby and then head home. Shipping complete.

I would say this process would be impossible or at least ten times more difficult and time consuming without the automated PayPal selling/shipping tools. I’d had to have paid to get a shopping cart and credit card processing system set up online, had to probably hand address each envelope, or at best type each out in a label-maker program, then stood in line with a box full of books each day and painstakingly did each individually at the post office window. There were days at the beginning of shipping where we did 80-100 books a day catching up on pre-orders. That would have taken hours at the post office, and I would have been lynched by other customers in line behind me.

Yes, it does take time and effort to keep up with the process, but the alternative is to give a fulfillment company/distributor 35% or more of the cover price plus pay for storage. Eventually we may go that route, but for now it’s still kind of fun signing books and dropping them off at the post office, and getting emails from people who are happy with their purchase. I did recently sign with a distributor for libraries, though. Follett Library Resources Inc. and Book Wholesalers Inc. will be carrying my book distributing to K-12 libraries and public libraries respectively.

Thanks to Bill White for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!

Click for a closer look…

In the next few weeks I’ll be posting a few sneak peeks at some of the pages in my upcoming book The Mad Art of Caricature!, ordering of which will debut at Comic Con in less than two weeks! Here is the opening of chapter one. The chapter consists of 12 pages and contains over 25 illustrations.

Chapter one includes my definition of caricature, what I think a good caricature needs to accomplish to be successful, what makes a bad caricature and how to avoid it, and the process of developing your “eye” for caricature.

You can pre-order The Mad Art of Caricature! here. Shipping to commence immediately after printed books arrive in late September.

The book proceeds apace, but it’s slow going as I keep having to put it aside to work on jobs. In fact, plans to have the printed copies ready to go at the San Diego Comic Con are now nixed, which sucks. No helping it, though. It makes no sense for me to turn down paying jobs in order to finish it, because the book will get done eventually and I won’t sell any fewer copies if it ships in August rather than July. Bills continue to be due. My theme park crews are getting mad at me as they haven’t seen me in weeks. I’ve got a six-page MAD parody, character designs for the first episode of season 2 of MAD on the Cartoon Network, a job for SI Kids, a workplace poster and a bunch of art for Jeff Dunham on the board right now. Whew.

All that said, the book is very close to being done. 100% of the writing is done and copy edited. The entire book has been designed and laid out in Adobe InDesign. 50% of the illustrations are done and placed. Many of the remaining 50% of the illustrations are done and just need tweaking, production and placement. I was not planning on releasing the cover until after the book had gone to press, but as it’s now delayed past the planned Comic-Con debut, I thought I might as well show it on The MAD Blog. The cover, including the back, is done, proofed, and already at the printers.

So when will the book be out, and when will people be able to order it?

July 21st, one month from today.

It will be at the printer’s the second week of July, and actually printing during Comic-Con. I still plan Comic-Con as the debut of ordering the book, but I refuse to accept pre-orders until the book is done and at press. On July 21st, I will post a link to the ordering page here, where you can go to order the book using a credit card or PayPal. There will be a few different ordering options, which I will detail later, but the base price will be $24.95 USD plus a flat shipping cost for continental U.S. (I’ll figure out international shipping also). That same day I will be at Comic-Con in booth #4616 with at least one actual proof copy (I’m hoping for several proof copies) for people to look through and taking on-the-spot orders with the special Comic-Con deal of free domestic shipping when ordered there. Credit cards will be taken at Comic-Con.

As for book details, it is 184 pages, full color and includes several hundred illustrations. The information in my tutorials were used as only the base of some of the chapters, and they are greatly expanded upon with new illustrations plus the addition of much, much more information. I expand and add other theories on caricature as a whole, get more in-depth on drawing and caricaturing individual features, continue on to the rest of the face and head beyond the on-line tutorials here, discuss important considerations like the difference in caricaturing men vs. women and other topics, go into specifics on my live caricature techniques, have a chapter on applying caricature in illustration work, and a chapter on how caricatures apply to doing work for MAD, including a complete breakdown of a MAD job from blank layout through pencil rough, sketches, inks and color. The forward is by long-time MAD editor Nick Meglin, and the afterword by veteran MAD artist and current art director Sam Viviano.

In short, it’s worth $24.95.

So, there you have a book update. It’s actually going to happen. I promise. Now get back to work.

Shameless Huckstering Dept.

I sold out of the limited number of copies of “Bo Confidential” I had pretty quickly, with the last few going out just the other day. I didn’t think I’d order any more, but it turns out I am doing book signings in Sioux Falls, SD on October 3rd and in Sydney, Australia when I visit for the Australian Cartoonists Association’s Stanley Awards in November (more on that another day). Therefore I had to order a bunch of them anyway, so I have a few dozen extra again. These are available to order directly from me. Here are the details:

There are now FOUR different options:

• Signed copy of the book (either personalized to you or just signed, your choice)- $9.95 (cover price)
• Signed with a sketch of “Bo”- $19.95
• Signed with a sketch of Alfred E. Neuman- $19.95
• NEW- Signed with a CARICATURE sketch OF YOU- $29.95**

There is $5.00 shipping and handling for anyplace in the United States or Canada. International shipping is extra based on actual cost. If you are an international buyer please e-mail me with your shipping address and I will send you an invoice with the correct the postage amount.

Ordering a copy is easy. Just choose your option in the drop down box and click on the “Buy Now” button to go to the PayPal order page.

Choose your option!

Signed Only $9.95 Signed w/ Bo Sketch $19.95 Signed w/ Alfred Sketch $19.95 Signed w/ Caricature of YOU! $29.95

Personalized? Your Details:

Once there if you want the signature personalized include that info in the “Special Instructions” section. I will sign a copy and/or do the sketch for you and mail it out within 3-5 business days (except for the caricature of you option, please see below)! If you need international shipping e-mail me privately and we’ll figure out the cost.

**CARICATURE sketch of YOU option- If you choose this option I will draw a pencil caricature of you on the inside fly leaf page of the book, signed to you. After paying via PayPal you will need to e-mail me two good photos of you, showing your face clearly. Your caricature will be based on these pictures, and ONLY these pictures. Please don’t write me saying you want the hair changed, glasses removed, warts fixed or to take off 25 pounds. I draw ‘em as I see ‘em. Please allow up to two weeks for these to be delivered.

I’d like to take a second to shamelessly plug a new book that will be released to the wide, wide world in March but is currently available for pre-order at an internet near you!

Joe Bluhm is one of those artists that makes other artists jealous. His talent is prodigious, his enthusiasm for his art immense, and his dedication to it all inspirational. I kind of hate him… but not really. Actually he’s a good friend, and he’s got a new book coming out that is going to be a must have for the bookshelf.

The book is called “Sketch Infectus”, and it’s chock full of almost 400 of Joe’s fantastic sketches, doodles and studies. A real artistic master’s brilliance is not really apparent when looking at their finished work, which they have had a chance to coax, polish and cajole into an end result. The real talent shows in the sketches and studies drawn from life or out of the artist’s imagination. This book is full of them, as well as a number of quotes from various artists about the value of sketching and keeping a sketchbook. I am honored to say I am one of those quoted.

The artwork is incredible and inspirational. After looking at it you cannot resist grabbing a pencil and starting to sketch yourself.

Joe is also no dummy when it comes to marketing. He is currently offering to include an original sketch with any copy pre-ordered before February 5th. It might be one from the book, or another from some other sketchbook, but Joe will be sacrilegiously chopping up a few sketchbooks and giving away these sketchy gems with every copy… for a limited time!

So! Visit Joe’s Blog or the Sketch Infectus order page and pre-order a copy before Feb. 5th!

Not the sequel… the “Directors’ Cut“.

Back in 1998 MAD published MAD About the Movies, a collection of movie spoofs from over the years. It was in part to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Warner Bros. (WB owns DC Comics which in turn owns MAD) and all the movies in the book were Warner Bros. films.

10 years later MAD is coming out with a new version of the book featuring parodies of films from other studios as well as some from WB. MAD About the Movies: Director’s Cut weighs in at a whopping 400 pages and contains not only SIXTY movie parodies from films of the last 60 plus years, but other goodies as well. Here’s a short list of some of the included parodies:

• Gone with the Wind
• Bonnie and Clyde
• A Clockwork Orange
• Brokeback Mountain
• Spider-Man
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
• The Lord of the Rings (all three films!)

Obviously there are both black and white and color pages in the book. I was told I have several parodies in it myself, although I don’t have a full list. I’m pretty excited about being in the book, as it will be the first book I really have a presence in. My parody of “Traffic” was in MAD About the Oscars, but I believe that is my only contribution to a MAD book.

The book is part of an exclusive agreement with Barnes and Noble, so that is the only place you’ll be able to get a copy. It’s dirt cheap at only $9.98 for an online price.

I have not as yet seen a copy, so I have no idea what kind of stock it’s printed on. It’s listed as a “hrdcover” but at less than $10.00 I htink that might be a mistake. Still this would make a great stocking stuffer. It’s supposed to be released tomrrow, according to the Barnes and Noble website.

I have to admit when it comes to MAD I am not much of a knowledgeable historian. I know the basics, and have learned a lot from reading books like “The MAD World of William M. Gaines” by Frank Jacobs, “Good Days and MAD” by Dick DeBartolo and others, and I’ve learned a lot from some of the long time MAD editors and contributors with whom I have become friends. Still my lack of total MAD knowledge sometimes shows itself when least expected… like a month or so ago when fellow caricaturist Dave “Rock” Cowles sent me this caricature for my Me Gallery. When he asked me what I thought I confessed to having no idea where he got the theme. Turns out this is “Captain Klutz”, a Don Martin character that in my defense never appeared in the magazine but was a creation for the paperback books which I have never seen or read.

Recently I was once again surprised by discovering something about one of the major contributors of MAD that I did not know about… and no it’s not that John Caldwell draws only while wearing women’s underwear… everybody knows that. I knew that several MAD artists tried their hand at doing syndicated comic strips, including Mort Drucker‘s Benchley and Jack Davis‘ Beauregard. What I did not know was that the most successful of syndicated strips done by a MAD artist was called “Tall Tales” by Al Jaffee. Syndicated in over 100 newspapers, the strip ran for 7 years from 1958 to 1965.

Al Jaffee is not one to do anything according to formula or typical format. This long running “Fold In” feature for MAD is a perfect example of his thinking “outside the box”, creating an interactive feature brilliantly designed that involves the reader physically for the gag’s payoff… much to the detriment of the collectible condition of old MAD issues. His “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions” also broke the mold with multiple punchlines for a single cartoon as well as a reader participation feature. It then should come as no surprise that Al’s approach to his strip was unique and innovative.

“Tall Tales” was a vertical format, pantomime strip. This totally broke the mold of the comic strip format, all of which ran horizontal and almost all featured words. In fact, it may have broken it too much. Jaffee credited its middling success with a pantomime format that was easy to sell abroad, but his higher-ups were unsatisfied with the strip’s status: “The head of the syndicate, who was a certifiable idiot, said the reason it was not selling [better] is we gotta put words in it. So they made me put words in it. Immediately lost 28 foreign papers.” (via Wikipedia, from The Comics Journal #225, Fantagraphics Publications, July 2000, pg. 43)

This hardcover book is a 130 page collection of the best of Jaffee’s Tall Tale strips. It’s a great look into the early work of a true comic art genuis. You can buy it for $8.70 (CHEAP!) via Amazon. Highly recommended.