RUNNERS Vol 3 script done!!
Happy day! The first pass of the script for Vol 3 is in the can! I still need to do a minor refinement pass, but all the scenes, dialogue, and action are done!! And as I predicted, it will indeed be an extra long story. My formatted script for Vol 2 came out to 45 pages total. This one is 81! Instead of 5 issues (chapters), it will be 7, with issue 1 probably still being close to double-sized.
On that topic, does anyone know of any graphic novel series that vary in length significantly from volume to volume? I know most graphic novels are pretty standard and have similar page counts, as they mostly collect 6 single issues at a time. But going forward, I would rather tell the story I need to tell and let the page count fall where it may. I guess I’d like to follow more of a Harry Potter route, where some books may be longer than others. Not sure if this is necessarily a good idea, since different page counts might result in different prices for the books, as opposed to each book having the same price, which is easier for buyers to digest. If anyone has any thoughts, I’d love to hear them. And if they know of other series that do this (that I can research), that would be great.
Space Adventure Cobra Outlaw Star both come to mind it would super crazy cool to see space wizards in your universe maybe even having one on the team or are they a crew
No plans for Space Wizards, but I will have more characters like Bocce and Sky, who have the equivalent of “powers” based on tech or natural alien biology. Many of them will be showing up in Vol 3 this year!
cool any other big plans like short stories set in this universe staring other characters maybe like the equivalent of a private eye
hey if bandits are called marauders, bounty hunters are rogues and Smugglers are Runners what would a Private Detective be called in this an eye spy a peeker a shadow?
I would like to do some short stories and already have one plotted for the origin of Cember’s “candy bandit” nickname. I’m currently thinking of doing them (in the US) as Free Comic Book Day freebies. But I’d also make them available digitally. And if I have enough, I’d collect them into graphic novel form. But I need to see if those extra projects would fit into my production schedule. So much to do!
The flipped translations of Oh My Goddess were grouped by storyline. After volume 20 they switched to unflipped and kept to a more consistent size, and went back and republished the first 20 volumes the same way. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Oh_My_Goddess!_chapters for more details and ISBNs.
Cool. Thanks for the examples! Will check these out.
ooh and maybe have a robot join the crew but not one with Pinocchio
syndrome unless done well
oh Gintama is an imaginative universe where Aliens took over meiji era japan
That’s probably one of the things that WON’T happen in RUNNERS. I decided fairly early on to avoid the whole robot/android thing in order to set my universe apart from Star Wars (droids) and Star Trek (Data). I know robots are a big part of sci-fi and make sense for a futuristic world, but I thought it would be more interesting to just focus on the alien races and the conflict between them.
Basically, if I included robots, they’d probably fall into one of two categories: tool or helper-like servants or emerging lifeforms demanding a place in society, both of which have been done a lot before. So I wasn’t sure I would be able to bring a new angle to them. It felt like their inclusion would be more of a complication than anything else, since I would feel compelled to work them into the big storyline in some way if I introduced them at all. But never say never! If some day, a lightning bolt of an idea hits me and there’s still time, they could find their way in. But for now, I don’t see a place for them in my universe. Hmm, that sounded kinda racist. Rest assured I am NOT a robo-ist!
Ha ha! No worries on the robot with Pinocchio syndrome! Related to that, one thing I don’t ever care to do is show a lifeform learning what it’s like to be human. It can certainly be done well and has been, but personally I can think of few things less interesting than watching characters explain to other characters things that every reader/viewer already fully understands. “This is a sandwich. You eat it!” “When people like something, they smile!” “This is a dog. It’s not a small, hairy person. It’s a pet!” It happens all the time with aliens, time travelers, mermaids (Splash!), etc, and while it’s good fodder for comedy or commenting on the human condition, to me, the actual explaining of mundane tasks is kind of a chore to watch.
okay but what are your thoughts on Spaces wizards in your Runners Universe or Space Dragons no rules in a space opera against either of them
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX2U1UQ0ke8
Can’t wait! Good luck Sean!
Thanks!! I can’t wait either! I had forgotten just how much time goes into promo, outreach, planning, and all the other NON-production aspects of self-publishing. I’m trying to take some time and not rush it to try to launch the new series with as much forethought and planning as possible to maximize readership. Definitely a lot to mull over.
So excited! This is great news! 2018 is shaping up to be a fantastic year!
I know the last volume in the BONE series was significantly larger
than the previous ones.
reMIND only had two volumes in the series, but they were different sizes.
I think what people care more about in a series is the pricing. As long as the price isn’t way more than the previous titles, I don’t think anyone will mind.
Good to hear. That’s how I feel as well: if a book is significantly longer, I’m fine paying a bit more (reasonable amount!) for it. I do think it makes conventions a little messier when things are different prices, as opposed to having every book on your table be the same price. But I’ll figure that out!
Cross that hurdle when you get there! Really excited that Runners is in the works again!
I have a lot of manga series that have fair discrepancies in page counts, but it does seem to be an economy of scale issue. The big tomes are offset by the costs of the skinny ones as the publisher figures that in and that they have a “hooked” audience to hopefully rely on in terms of risk analysis.
However, because you release your books through your own means rather than a huge publishing house — and considering your book-buying swath of your fanbase — I don’t think the variations in book price is going to put many of us off short of it being like $150 more than the last ones each…
Then some of us might cuss you out as we open our wallets. 😀
Ha ha! $150 more it is! No, I definitely don’t want to gouge readers. Ultimately, it will come down to what the book costs me to print. If it’s close enough to the earlier volumes and I can still make a reasonable profit when going through Diamond, I’ll try to price it the same. But I’m guessing the much longer page count will necessitate at least some increase in price.