Being a Convention Warrior with Jamestown Publishing founder James Haick

The Business of Art

James Haick is the publisher of Jamestown Publishing and creator of Solar Flare, a comic about a solar flare that destroys humanity’s way of life, that was successful on Kickstarter several times over the last few years.

I had James on the show because he’s starting a new company called Jamestown Publishing, which features an initial slate of four books including Walter Ostlie’s Shiver Bureau and Richard Rivera’s Stabbity Bunny, among others. His company is new, but his business sense and style are on point. I know Walter and Richard. Their work is synonymous with quality. In talking with James, it’s easy to see why they were convinced.

This dude in on POINT.

I always said the way to start a successful company that gets in with Diamond is to use Kickstarter as a proving ground, and James took it to another level. He layered convention success on top of Kickstarter to create a potent 1-2 punch. Since my two biggest revenue generators are Kickstarter and conventions, this sounds like a great way to build a foundationally successful company.

On top of that, Jamestown also will only publish books that have completed a full arc, or their entire run, whichever comes first. This is a caveat for publishing with Wannabe Press, so I’m all for this strategy. However, they are actually going into the direct market, which is something Wannabe Press has avoided like the plague.

This is one of my longest episodes ever at over 90 minutes long, but after talking with James for a while, it’s easy to be impressed with the future of his company. He seems to hit every note right when it comes to getting everything started on the right foot. There are no guarantees in this life, but I would say this is a high percentage risk.

This is a little bit of a weird episode because for most of it James was interviewing me and pelting me with questions. I don’t know he got the upper hand, but you should get a ton of value from what I deliver specifically about conventions. I hope I helped tweak James’s convention strategy to be more successful, and helped yours too.

I’m very candid in this interview b/c I kept thinking we would start the show and I would ask my intro question, but it never happened. This is like a 90 minute pre-interview which you get to listen in on. I know most of my episodes feel like a behind the scenes look at a creator’s brain, but I think this one even more so does that because I never thought we were recording.

If you like this episode, head on over to https://www.jamestownpublishing.com/ and let James know, or find him on twitter @jameshaick.

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I also have a completely free Kickstarter Toolkit I’ve put together to help you succeed in your own creative business. There’s no sign up required. Head on over to www.thebusinessofart.us/kickstartertoolkit to check that out today.