So this image is a tiny bit of a cheat, as it’s more of a shot from the end of the last chapter rather than a shot of what’s to come in this one. I realized that for this entire volume, half of the cover images have not featured any of the main cast, so I wanted to at least get Sky into the scene here. So it’s kind of a shot from last issue, before she took off.
In general, I’m on the fence about continuing to do these chapter covers. They’re basically a holdover from when I was doing RUNNERS as single-issue floppy comics for Volume 1. Volume 2 was going to be released the same way but with a publisher, so I did covers there as well. That publisher plan didn’t pan out but I just decided to keep doing the covers as chapter dividers for the collected graphic novel.
For volume 3, my original idea was to still work towards the printed graphic novel but also release single issues through comiXology as digital comics only. I thought that would be a great way to keep RUNNERS visible with regular chapter releases as they finished. But that was all before Amazon absorbed comiXology into its terrible system through which I now have zero presence on the platform. It really was a nice additional venue in the old days where I would get some new views and a little income each month, while also picking up new readers during their small press sales. Now it’s pretty much a barren wasteland for me under Amazon. Yay.
Anyway, since I don’t really have a venue for single issue releases and it’s all just a collected graphic novel at the end of the day, I’m not sure what the payoff is for doing these chapter covers. I DO still really like them as just dividers within the collected book. And I enjoy doing them. But I’m not sure they’re worth the time and effort given that they don’t really do anything at this point as far as covers go. We’ll see what I decide with Volume 4. But if you have an opinion, chime in!
Just as a heads-up, I am again a little behind the ball (but not a huge amount!), so there will be a short pause while I get the next batch of pages ready to post. I have a chunk of pages close to ready now. But it gets a little iffier after that bunch. So I think I’d rather have a short pause here, between chapters, rather than needing to do one in the middle of a chapter. I think Chapter 7 should be ready to go the first of October. See you then!
I kind of like the chapter break covers, but I’m in favor of the single-issues, when done right. On the other hand it will be extra work, but if you’re breaking them into chapters in the archives, it’s a good way to know for sure which chapter you’re starting on and when it starts.
If I may suggest, there is a way to publish on Amazon without spending a dime. I did it with a comic of mine.
Go to Lulu.com, create your own project, choose the final quality, paper, size etc.. then publish your book project on their shops. Their distribution policy involves Amazon, Barnes & Nobles and other markets. You decide the price you want, they add their % and sell them for you, digital and paper format.
Get a look.
I like the comic covers as chapter dividers, a nice nod to how Runners started out.
I think if volume 4 has chapters you need to do chapter dividers. If volume 4 will be without chapters, there will be no need for dividers.
Whatever style you want to do for the dividers is up to you.
I wouldn’t mind minimum chapter info: volume number and title, chapter number, chapter title (optional), but there definitely should be some relevant art on there. Whatever represents the focus of the chapter.