Excerpt from my recent interview with AIT-Planetlar publisher and Black Diamond author Larry Young:
So, how does Larry Young The Publisher get along with Larry Young The Writer? How do the two jobs inform and complement each other?
The publisher and writer sides of my job are pretty well-integrated. I understand that once the comic is completed that only a third of the job is over, and that I have to market and promote the work. It’s an interesting dichotomy, because since comics is a commercial art, as writer I’m 50% concerned about the Art, and as a publisher, I’m 50% concerned about the Commerce. So it’s easy to stay focussed.
Sometimes I have a little friction with some creators who don’t understand that, as a creator myself, I understand exactly where they’re coming from, but as a businessman I have to make sure that 50% Commerce is taken care of, too. But no one knows what it’s like to be the bad man; to be the sad man, behind blue eyes, right? I mean, I’m just happy that I have the opportunity to have these discussions with talented folks and put awesome comics out into the world.
I do have to admit that having Mimi as publisher, too, is wildly beneficial for Larry-the-Writer. I’m just like all the other talent, too, in that I want my stuff marketed and promoted just as hard as everyone else’s, and that if the company gets me a dollar, I’m pissed I didn’t get a dollar-ten, and not grateful that it wasn’t seventy cents. But with a gentle prod from Mimi, Larry-the-Publisher reminds the talent what we went through and the context of the deals, and then Larry-the-Writer nods happily and folds his profits back into the Last of the Independents slipcover or paying for the third Demo printing or something.
I guess I wouldn’t be a publisher if one of the Big Four had twigged to Astronauts in Trouble back in ‘98 when comics were dying, but it was a great time to start something up. Expectations were so low that just putting five issues of a monthly out on time was perceived by retailers as some sort of magical miracle, and we got a pretty high profile pretty quickly. So it’s a nice mix. When I want to exercise my PR skills, I do that, and when it’s time to do some creative, I do that, too. Slow and steady wins the race.
