Month: May 2012

INNER HIVE UPDATE

Ruben Bolling

 

Greetings, Team Dancing Bug!

 

I'm closing out the first month of the INNER HIVE, and I wanted to take the opportunity to thank everybody who's joined.  Every single time I've been alerted to a new subscriber, I've read the new member's name and felt a wave of gratitude.  Each was like a warm hug across the internet (my favorite kind — I'm not much of a hugger).  I'm truly touched that Tom the Dancing Bug means so much to you that you wanted to participate in this way.

 

So, how did it go?  Really, really well.  The number of subscribers exceeded my expectations, and the INNER HIVE is now my largest single source of revenue.  Wow.

 

I also think it's terrific that other cartoonists have seen me make this model succeed and are looking at it as a way to ehance the viability of their own comic strips.  My friend Tom Tomorrow has already used the INNER HIVE model to launch a subscription service, and I know others are looking into it as well.

 

I'm especially glad that INNER HIVE subscribers seem genuinely and enthusiastically happy with their membership.

 

In fact, the INNER HIVE has gone so well, I'm looking into ways of building on it.  Yes, it's become the strip's largest single revenue source, but syndicated comic strips have always relied on hundreds or thousands of clients for sustainability.  So while it was intended to, and has, become only a great supplementary way to keep the comic strip viable, its success has been inspiring enough to make me wonder if it could be developed into a primary source of financial support.

 

I've been kicking around some ideas on how to accomplish this, but it occurred to me that the best ideas may come from you, my esteemed readers and friends:  the HIVE MIND, so to speak.

 

SO, in the INNER HIVE's spirit of cooperation and participation,

 

IF you have any ideas, suggestions, or offers, on how to:

 

Make the INNER HIVE better;

Get the word out to more people about the INNER HIVE;

Increase the revenue from the INNER HIVE; or

Leverage off the INNER HIVE model in any way,

 

please let me know at tomdbug [at] gmail [dot] com, or on twitter or facebook.  Just spitballing here: there are so many considerations, who knows what I can or can't try. 

 

Again, I THANK YOU for your participation, engagement and enthusiasm!  Tom the Dancing Bug is the better for it, and will never be the same!

 

Yours,

Ruben Bolling

THE INNER HIVE

 

 

 

JOIN THE INNER HIVE

Ruben Bolling

TO JOIN TOM THE DANCING BUG'S INNER HIVE, CLICK HERE.

 

LUCKY DUCKY ADweb

 

WHAT IS THE INNER HIVE?

 

THE ORIGINAL ANNOUNCEMENT, FROM MAY 2:

 

Fellow Brains In Beakers:

 

Today, I’m starting a new phase in my little weekly comic strip, Tom the Dancing Bug.  It’s an experiment that I hope will both make the strip more sustainable, and make the relationship between myself and my readers more direct.

 

Tom the Dancing Bug was originally conceived as a newspaper comic strip, and you may have heard about the financial problems newspapers have had over the past few years.  Those problems have had a devastating impact on the financial viability of the strip.  With my great partner, the Universal Uclick Syndicate, it still has print clients, for which I’m very grateful, and I'm so proud to work with web clients like Boing Boing and Daily Kos, which have become absolutely vital, mostly because of the huge exposure they afford.

 

The comic strip is more well-read and well-known than ever, but it makes far less money than it used to.  This seems to me an anomaly — as the comic is enjoyed (hopefully) by more people, it should generate more, not less, revenue.

 

This anomaly is one of the defining features of the digital world, and it’s up to me to figure out how to make it work. That led me to this idea:

 

I’m selling subscriptions to the appropriately cheesily-named INNER HIVE.  It’s not a charitable support-me program, because I don’t think that will work by itself in this context.  I wanted to make it a real transaction where the buyer gets something of real, greater value than the money spent.  Plus I didn’t want to get involved in the logistical nightmare of distributing tote bags.

 

What I offer to members of the INNER HIVE is special access to Tom the Dancing Bug:  a private email of the weekly comic, a day (or more) before it appears anywhere publicly, plus some contests / giveaways, as well as occasionally some other content, such as sketches and unused drafts of comics.

 

(For example, this week’s comic was written in a totally different way until at the last moment I came upon the premise that I ended up using — I might have included that first draft in the INNER HIVE emailing of the comic.)

 

The cost will be $9.99 per six months.  For less than the cost of a movie, members will be getting early and extra “content” (as the kids say), and the satisfaction that they’re contributing to the existence of Tom the Dancing Bug.

 

Is it worth it?  I don’t know.  I hope so.  I guess it is, if you enjoy and are interested in Tom the Dancing Bug and its viability.  And I’m about to find out how many people really do and are.

 

This should have no impact on my current print and web clients.  Even if this program is wildly successful (doubtful), and even if members of the INNER HIVE never again look at the comic in its print and web venues (also doubtful), the numbers involved will be orders of magnitude lower than could have a meaningful effect on the strip’s readership and traffic for these clients.

 

This is merely a supplementary way to make the strip more viable while maintaining its current distribution system.

 

The comic will be sent out early and without digital restrictions to INNER HIVE members, so I’m relying on subscribers to honor the spirit of this project, and not re-distribute the content.  If you think friends would like this, please encourage them to join!  Also, for the logistics of membership maintenance, I’m using a company called Mail Chimp and, through them, Amazon Payments, so subscribers will be making that corporate leap of faith with me.

 

Okay.  Thank you, and God-Man bless America.

 

-Ruben Bolling

 

For information on signing up, please click HERE

 

TESTIMONIALS FROM A FEW SATISFIED INNER HIVE MEMBERS:

 

"I used to spend 20 dollars a year on TOM THE DANCING BUG collections… Happy to support him and pass the word." -Neil Gaiman

 

"My only argument with Ruben B. here is his apologetic tone for asking you to pay money for early access to his very good comics —- that is to say, something that YOU LIKE AND WANT.  DO NOT APOLOGIZE, RUBEN." -John Hodgman

 

"I signed up the second I read about it. It's a lot of fun. I enjoy hearing Ruben tell the story behind each of his comics. Good luck, Ruben!" -Mark Frauenfelder

 

"$9.99 every six months to support one of my all-time favorite comics. Boom, done." -John Gruber

 

 

"Ruben Bolling is a comic genius, a clever artist, a true gentleman, a pseudonym, and and important ally in the struggle against deep dish pizza. I am happy to pledge to him my sacred honor and twenty bucks a year."  -Peter Sagal, host, NPR'S "Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me." 

 

THIS WEEK’S COMIC

Ruben Bolling

A note about this week's comic.

 

Many people have said that whatever bullying MItt Romney did as a teenager is irrelevant to his qualifications for president.  And to some degree, I agree.  One misdeed committed as a child can't define what kind of person and leader someone is at 65.  But I think there are two very important points that run counter to that.

 

First, Romney's reaction to the revelation does have bearing on his current character.  He claims he doesn't remember the incident, and that's either a lie or it displays a callousness that goes beyond ordinary teen bullying.  On the other end of the specturm, let's say he was the one who brought up the story, say, in an autobiography, and said how ashamed he was of it, and how it taught him something.  I think many people currently concerned about the incident would instead see it as a positive, humanizing story.

 

But second, and the reason I did this comic on the topic: it fits so perfectly into an existing narrative of who Mitt Romney is.  Like it or not, these campaigns are not job applications; they're theater.  The country is telling a story about what it is, where it's going, and who these two people are who are vying to lead it.  Can anyone really believe that Barack Obama wasn't elected because of the compelling narrative of his life and what it would mean for that man to be President at this time?

 

One storyline that has clearly emerged on Mitt Romney is that he is a man who grew up privileged and entitled, who succeeded based on those advantages, and who is clueless about what it means to be a disadvantaged outsider in this country.  There are countless examples of things he's said and done on the campaign trail, and in his life, that have been seized upon to support that narrative.  This bullying story fits this narrative, not only because he commited a cruel act against someone he perceived as a misfit, but because he probably did so, as the governor's son, without the slightest concern that he would pay any price for it.

 

This narrative, along with the opposing narrative — a man from an accomplished family who went on to succeed in business, displaying competence and strength — are how this campaign and election are going to play out over the next few months.  And these opposing narratives have a direct relationship with central policy debate of the election.  Is the Republican plan to cut taxes on the rich and reduce services to the poor and middle class a competent, properly tough path that will help the entire nation, or is it another case of the advantaged imposing its will on the disadvantaged in the false name of a boot-strap based meritocracy that is either a fantasy or a cruel lie of the privileged?

 

So, do I think the bullying episode of 50 years ago disqualifies Mitt Romney to be president?  Of couse not, but it's a fascinating and relevant aspect of the next few months' national struggle to define who we are and where we're going.

 

Plus it gave me the chance to draw in the style of the great Dennis the Menace comic books.

 

L'IL MITT, IN "THE BARBER OF BLOOMFIELD HILLS"

 

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Click here to read on Boing Boing.

Click here to read on GoComics.

Click here to read on Daily Kos. (COMING)

 

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A Useless Lecture Series

Ruben Bolling

On June 5, I'll be doing a presentation at the monthly NYC comedy show Adult Education, pontificating on the theme of "cliches" and trying hard to find a point to the extremely pointless feature, Super-Fun-Pak Comix.

 

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Other performers are Timothy Burke, Annia Ciezadlo, Ken Wheaton and host Charles Star.

 

My pledge to you:  If you attend, YOU WILL HAVE SUPER FUN.

 

So:  Information is here.

 

June 5, 7pm

Adult Education

at the Bookstore Cafe

126 Crosby St., NYC

It don't cost nothing

 

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