Leah here. Last night, Lulu sponsored a local event. Scott McCloud's Making Comics 50 State Tour was coming through town and we made sure that he included Raleigh, North Carolina as one of his stops. The lecture was last night, and it was a great success. We had about 300 people show up as Scott took us on a magical journey in the past and future of comics (which included discussion of such subjects as print-on-demand, digital fulfillment, and creator-to-consumer markets - sound familiar?). The lecture was really well-done, and apparently Scott is constantly updating it with newer pieces, and different examples. The Q&A section was pretty active and many audience members stuck around to talk to Scott about his newest book (and get him to sign it).

Pictured: Scott McCloud lectures in Raleigh, NC
The official topic of the lecture was "A Collision of Visions: Comics for a New Century" and included references to a variety of sequential art sources, such as hieroglyphics, the local newspaper, ancient pillars, and webcomics.Anyway, I can't reveal too much about his lecture, as Scott avoids discussing it too much so the information is fresh when he visits your state (and he will be visiting your state, if he hasn't already. Check the Tour Dates for the 50 State Tour here).

Pictured: Winter McCloud boasts a variety of skills, one of them is contortion
Scott's not touring the country alone, he's brought the rest of the McCloud family with him - his awesome wife Ivy, and their two awesome daughters, Sky (13) and Winter (11). They have dedicated so much to this tour - they've sold their house in California, and once they finish their tour (in Hawaii, August 2007) they'll decide on which state they'd like to live in. For a sneak preview into this exciting style of life, you can check out the Making Comics Fifty State Tour Blog which contains detailed accounts from all members of the family of what it's like to live life on the road, pictures of all the great places they visit, and occasional discussions of Veronica Mars.

Pictured: Sky and Ivy McCloud at Scott's lecture
Together the McClouds are a tightly-knit precision presentation group - Ivy introduces Scott and polls the audience, Scott does his lecture, Sky does a quick presentation about the tour itself, and Winter helps with Q&A (though I hear she may be working on doing more behind-the-scenes videowork). Winter and Sky produce one of my favorite video-podcasts Winterviews. Sky writes the questions, and films while Winter interviews some of the more prominent creators in comics today. The girls produce the videos themselves on their laptops, and make them available to the world online.

Pictured: Scott McCloud, staying to sign copies of his book Making Comics after the lecture
We gave away promotional comics at the event, and I don't think I saw anyone without one in their hands. I had a ton of people talking to me before and after the show about Lulu, so it was a big hit for all of us. The McCloud family heads off to Georgia today, and I think NC is going to miss them (well, I am).

Posted on Wednesday 17 of January, 2007 [19:01:14 UTC]

Covert Operative Report from UberCon by Jared Axelrod
I am no stranger to conventions. I've attended more than I care to count. Heck, I wrote a play about conventions. I am asked to speak at them, usually podcasting—I'm the guy at the end of the table you keeps reminding folks that you don't need a mixing board to do a good podcast—and such was the case here at UberCon. I have, as the saying goes, been around the conventioning block.

So I think it is no small thing when I say that UberCon is unlike any convention I've been to before.

For starters, it's a gaming convention, in the purest sense of that term. People do not attend UberCon to see panels, to meet celebrities, look at and purchase original artwork or to involve themselves in workshops, like other conventions I've been to. No, folks come to UberCon to play games. Lots and lots of games. From the table top role-playing to complex miniature-based strategy to muti-player first-person shooters, all games were represented. There was even systems running Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution set up in the corner. The ballroom of the Secaucus, NJ La Quinta was literal hive of organized play.

Pictured: I, Uberconer. Check out my airwolf guest badge.
I myself got in a quality round of Scrabble with fellow guest JR Blackwell in between our own panel and hearing Mike Stackpole, the guest of honor, speak. JR and I got to spend quite a bit of time with Mr. Stackpole, speaking with him about podcasting, writing, and, naturally, salsa dancing. He taught JR and I a new move that I cannot wait to try out on the dancefloor. Such is the magic of UberCon: come for the games, stay for the dancing.


Pictured: On of the many tasteful Lulu displays I set up at Ubercon.
The Lulu promo comics I handed out were a huge hit, I must say. I placed stacks of them all over the con, and in minutes they were under the arms of almost every on there. Such was the only dark element of Ubercon: a complete lack of reading material. After all, you can't game all the time.


Covert Operative Report from UberCon by Jared Axelrod - member of 365 Tomorrows, author of Tales from the Uncanny Valley and keen podcaster of The Voice of Free Planet X among countless other projects.

Posted on Thursday 02 of November, 2006 [19:09:31 UTC]

Leah here - If you have been using Lulu for a couple of years, you already know that we take Halloween pretty seriously here. For the newcomers - this is your introduction to one of the more fun sides of Lulu. Each year we encourage our staff members to dress up in costumes, and this year we had tons of people getting into the spirit (har har). We have everything from doctors and Einstein, to cartoon characters and a pegasus.

Henry's biking costume is pretty much what he wears when he bikes to work, but you take what you can get sometimes. This year we are actually a big enough company that we have some different takes on the same costume: Brian and Kristy are a cowboy and cowgirl (respectively), Chris Anderson and Josiah are both early morning versions of themselves (robe, bedhead, pillows, etc.) and we have plenty of doctors on staff - Dr. Mo (very respectable), Dr. Amanda (blood-spattered), Doc Aquatic (Jason Adams, from John Hodgman's hobo list) and Dr. Girlfriend (that's me - she's a cartoon character from the popular Venture Bros. cartoon).

Pictured: Lulus in Costumes (click the photo for a larger version)
Don't worry, we're still here, working away. We just want to wish you all Happy Halloween!

Posted on Tuesday 31 of October, 2006 [19:14:53 UTC]

Leah here - Joe and I are back from our third year at the illustrious and fun Small Press Expo, in Maryland. Small Press Expo (or SPX) is a venue steeped in independent and self-publishing comic creators. We had a booth there where we managed to talk to hundreds of people about Lulu, and occasionally eat cookies. I got to high-five Colleen Venable (We Taste Like Presents and also Fluff in Brooklyn a photo-comic) and get a signed copy from Steve Ahlquist of his The Complete Annotated Oz Squad, Vol. 1 - I've always been a big fan of the Oz books and this graphic novel is a must-have.

There were other Lulus there, too. Eric Knisley (The Adventures of Furlington Macklethwaite) flew from the UK to share a table and play pranks on Paul Friedrich (Onion Head Monster). Fred Van Lente (Tranquility) was there promoting one of his other books, Action Philosophers. And we were lucky enough to be right beside Stephanie Freese, Matt Wood and Dave Milloway, creators of The Dada Detective.

Speaking of travelling, I met with Scott McCloud and his lovely and awesome family (Ivy, Sky and Winter) and discussed Lulu's capabilities, and other hip stuff. I'm organizing an upcoming lecture in January/February as part of Scott's Making Comic 50 States Tour, so I wanted to put a face to the email.

Pictured: A Tiny Picture of Joe In Our Booth
Joe and I met tons of cool new people (who may be putting books on Lulu, we hope!) - Kevin McShane who creates Toupydoops, Jim Kohl and Tommy Brennand of Happy Hour Comics were all very excited about the technology we offer self-publishers.


Besides high-fiving current Lulus and recruiting new ones, I'm always trying to connect reviewers of independent content with Lulu as a source for cool new books. We first tried our hand at this when Jason Adams contacted a great comic review podcast, Comicology. The result is Comicology's creator, Neil Gorman's recent review of Lulu and The Wippins Campaign by Kevin Cornell.

Pictured: Leah Pretending To Be Interviewed by the Guys at Comic Critique (because they forgot to take a picture during the actual interview)
Oh! I was waiting to post about this until the interview went up - but I just got email that the MP3 of my interview is available here. Joe and I both got interviewed by the guys at ComicCritique.com. They were very nice, I talked about how great Lulu is, and for once I don't completely sound like an idiot - so check it out!


Anyway, that's about it for the moment. I liked the new venue for SPX, and I hope that next year it's even bigger and better. Our next convention coming up is

Posted on Thursday 19 of October, 2006 [21:19:15 UTC]

Leah again - my six-hour shift at 24 Hour Comic Book Day just ended here at 5:00 a.m. More than half of our participants have finished their 24 pages and were heading home, the remaining three were diligently finishing up. They've been creating comic pages for 18 hours - facing the challenge of creating a 24 page comic in 24 hours. They only have about six more hours for the participants Chapel Hill Comics, North Carolina to finish their 24 pages. As for me, after this post I'm going to bed.

Some of the local papers were covering the event, so I figured I'd link to them:
The News & Observer
The Daily Tarheel (You have to check out the illustration of comic shop owner Andy Neal to believe it!)

Here's what some of the participants had to say:

"This was really cool and fun. I liked it a lot."
- Isaac Bryant, local student and cartoonist

"24 Hour Comic Book Day totally rocked. This was the first comic I ever wrote, and I wouldn't have done it without a group to participate in."

- Jessica, an art school teacher at Rocky Mount, North Carolina's Nash Central HS (she drove an hour and a half just to attend).

Pictured: Left to Right, Remy and Jessica start out their comics early on Saturday
The word from Annie and Carol is that the video of 24 Hour Comic Book Day will be up later this week on Lulu.tv. The books that the participants are creating right now will be published and up on the site later this week too (I'll be sure to re-post an overview later when I've had some sleep). As I said before, with this event we're combining super-fast comic creation with super-fast comic publishing.

Pictured: Ray Damron, age 8, stops by and contributes a single page comic
Even though this is just the third year for 24 Hour Comic Book Day, there's a lot of participation worldwide. Since artists can participate individually or in groups, it's hard to measure exactly how widespread it is. But with groups going on today in 90 locations, in 17 countries, I'd say that next year is going to be even more tremendous. If you don't get to participate this weekend, comic creators are still encouraged to get their creativity going by trying out this challenge anytime during the year. The results may surprise you.

Well, that's the end of my up-to-the-minute coverage of 24 Hour Comic Book Day. Joe is there now finishing out the final hours with the participants. I'll see you later this week!

Posted on Sunday 08 of October, 2006 [10:21:07 UTC]

Leah here. I've just gotten back from my first shift at 24 Hour Comic Book Day, going on here in North Carolina - we've got seven participants dedicated to the challenge. We're already five hours in, and it's going great. 24 Hour Comic Book Day is an international event (started in 2004) where comic artists create a 24 page comic in 24 hours (on their own, or in groups). Lulu is co-sponsoring a local gathering of artists in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with Chapel Hill Comics (which is where the event is happening).

The Comic Creators Get Started on Their 24 Hour - 24 Page Challenge

The comic artists at our location started their comics at 10:30 a.m. today (Saturday) and they're going to work on creating 24 pages before time's up at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow. This 24 page/24 hours challenge originated from Scott McCloud, one of the most inspiring gurus of comic creators. The artists that complete the challenge will receive some free copies of their comic through Lulu - combining super-fast comic creation with super-fast comic publishing.


Henry, 14, starts his third comic page

I'll be going back at midnight tonight to work the first of the overnight shifts (midnight to 5 a.m. for me, 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. for Joe). Charlotte's there now, and Annie clocks in for a late afternoon to early night shift. For now I'm going to take a nap, but I'm so excited about comics. This is a pretty inspiring event, just to see people get together spend a day just creating. I just hope we don't get sick of the smell of markers.


On a related note, we already have one 24 Hour Comic Book Day (or 24 HCBD) book on our site: Ryan Estrada's impressive Ped X-ing: A 168 Hour Comic. Ryan took the challenge to the limits by sequestering himself in with just some paper and markers to create this book, all pages created within the 168 hour span.


I'll update later, when I come back from my overnight shift. We're also filming at the event, so I'll be sure to link to the video at Lulu.tv when it goes up.

Posted on Saturday 07 of October, 2006 [19:57:40 UTC]

Leah here - Just a quick note for you Role Players out there - Lulu has a booth at GenCon Indianapolis this weekend - Booth #1242. It is staffed by the ever-awesome Nick Popio and Clinton Nixon. Be sure to go by and say hi!

Pictured: Chris Dzoba, Go-Karting genius
Sadly, Clinton and Nick were already in Indianapolis when we went to Frankie's yesterday (one of those places with Go-Karts, LaserTag and the like) for a company outing. This is what Henry had to say "Lulu is all about exceeding our goals, whether it's in our global expansion, new products, or royalties paid to authors, and when we exceed these milestones Gart provides us with some (short) time for celebration."


Pictured: LEFT - A Lulu Go-Kart Motorcade, RIGHT - Krisa & Wen-Wen - Interns Extraordinaire
Also, we've all enjoyed having our interns here with us this summer, several of whom are planning to keep working at Lulu. We had to prove to them that we know how to have fun (and slide around on the go-kart slick track) before some of them head back to college.

Afterwards, they went out to O'Charley's for some snacks and more fun. But don't worry Lulu creators - after all the fun, we're all back in the office today being diligent.


Oh hey, there's a few upcoming events that Lulu is going to be at, if you're in the area. Jason Adams will be attending Penny Arcade Expo (in Bellevue, WA) at the end of August, and Joe and I will be at Small Press Expo in October in Maryland. Of course, there's the local events, like SparkCon and Design Expo Raleigh. Lots coming up, so we hope to see you there!

Posted on Thursday 10 of August, 2006 [17:44:11 UTC]

Leah here. Annie and I have finally recovered from San Diego Comic-Con - the only convention I've ever been to that I would actually use the word ginormous to describe (and yes, I know, it's not even a word). Comic-Con was a lovely time for Annie and I. We saw tons of Lulu creators, caught a couple of cool panels, had a business lunch, snagged some freebies, and bought comics - and of course talked to everyone we saw about Lulu.

Pictured: Aang, Leah, June, and Kiki
Wednesday was preview night, and we went to check out the layout and put some Lulu Creators #6 and Lulu TV flyers out on the freebie table. We wandered around and figured out where all the cool Lulus were: Paul Friedrich and Eric Knisley, Blank Label Comics group, Steven Cloud, Maverix Studios, Billy Tucci, Donna Barr, and so many others. I even saw Candykillers for sale at the Doma booth (with their super-cool Astronaut Jesus toy).



Things that probably could only happen to be at Comic-Con:

• Annie got her picture with She-Ra, and I got my picture with Voltron (pictured above)
  
• We got free Avatar: The Last Airbender shirts at the Nicktoons panel (oh man, I absolutely love that show)
  
• There was a giant snake - walk in its open mouth, and you can see props from the upcoming Snakes on a Plane movie
  
• I got smelled by Pete Abrams of Sluggy Freelance (trust me, the story is really mundane, so I think I'll just leave it sounding weird)
  
• A goth cheerleader got her fishnets caught on my bag and we had to struggle to break free of each other (yeah, I have no idea what was going on)

I was on my way to Artist's Alley to talk to some artist friends, Andy Lee, Chris Moreno and Nigel Sade (you know, the pirate), when I noticed I was behind two guys - "Talk to us about Cyanide and Happiness" printed on their shirts. I assumed they were the creators of the same-named webcomic I regularly read (they were) and remembered that they've been selling tons of their Cyanide and Happiness book on our site. I stopped them, gave them some free Lulu stuff, probably high-fived them, and we went along our merry way.

Pictured: Blank Label Comics crew - (left to right) Kristofer Straub, Dave Kellett, David Willis, Paul
Taylor, Howard Tayler, Steve Troop (partially obscured, with Melonpool puppet), and Brad Guigar
The Blank Label Comics panel on Friday morning was totally Airwolf! They had an introduction with Dave Kellett's new puppets chatting with the BLC'ers themselves, plus hilarious jokes, good Q&A, Lulu-name-dropping (thanks Brad for that!) - pretty much everything you could want. Kristofer Straub and Dave Kellett did a great job co-moderating, and the BLC guys really know how to put on a panel. They really have a lot of fun together. I think the way they treat their webcomic collective as a business is smart and pretty innovative (only a few others built like it). One quote I remember from the panel "The people that I know creating syndicated comics are now starting to get day jobs. The people I know doing webcomics are all beginning to quit their day jobs." That information struck me as something to ponder. Though I forgot who said it (I think it might have been Brad Guigar), it's an interesting shift to think about. They were completely mobbed following the panel, and Paul Taylor sold out of his Wapsi Square book. Oh well, I know where to get it.


I'm thinking that next year we really should have a booth at Comic-Con - it's such a big convention, and there are so many Lulu supporters there now, it would almost be silly not to. We'll probably organize some times for Lulu creators like any of you guys that have books, to come and use our booth to showcase your work and your products. I'll have to check into how that's going to work, but if you're interested, please feel free to contact me at comics@lulu.com.

Man, just processing that much sensory overload took a few days of recovering once we got back to North Carolina, so that's why this blog post took so long (that and my car threw a rod on the highway - nothing says fun like a basketball-sized hole in your engine, am I right?). Anyways, I enjoyed seeing everyone, and I'm looking forward to my next convention, Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland, October 13th. The next convention for the comics and Role-playing-game group is GenCon Indianapolis. Nick Popio and Clinton Nixon will be attending GenCon, and they'll be in a big Lulu booth - if you're there be sure to stop by!

I guess that will be it for now. See you guys at the next convention!

Posted on Tuesday 01 of August, 2006 [15:42:22 UTC]

The Lulu Comic Subversives in the Lulu booth at HeroesCon

Even though we've been back for at least at week from HeroesCon in Charlotte, NC, the glow of fun hasn't faded. HeroesCon is a very indie friendly convention, and this year, with its growth, it really was the best one yet. I've been going to HeroesCon for a couple of years now (since 2003) and this year they did a great job of organizing the convention, the aisles, and getting some big names to pull in a varied audience.
from left to right: Joe Komenda, Annie Broadwater, Nick Popio, Leah Riley and Jason Adams


The cool stuff at the Lulu booth
The Lulu booth was pretty popular, due to two things - 1) we had so many cool comics, RPGs and novels on our table to show people and 2) We had a lot of free stuff. We were giving away Lulu Promotional Comic #5, Lulu stickers (there at the bottom of the picture) as well as finger puppets (because we love toys) and some Lulu buttons we had.

We even had creators like Van Plexico, author of Sentinels: When Strikes the Warlord (shown to the left) come up and request that we display his lulu book, which of course he had a copy with him, at our table. We happily obliged - we met so many Lulu creators there that it's hard to list how many we saw, but I'm going to try anyway!


Lulus we saw at HeroesCon:
Sandy of Wham! Comics
Jerem Morrow
of Oblivion's Repose

Jennie Breeden
of The Devil's Panties

Jared Axelrod (in Green Arrow costume)
of 365 tomorrows


Angi Shearstone's booth

Angi Shearstone
of Painted Comics



From left to right: Stephanie Freese, Matt Wood and Dave Milloway
of Likely Stories

and Paul Friedrich
of Onion Head Monster



Danielle Corsetto - Future Lulu? We have our fingers crossed!
There were tons of interested parties who are planning to put their latest work through Lulu - including the illustrious and awesome Danielle Corsetto of Girls with Slingshots. Her drawings were just excellent and I'm excited that she wants to use Lulu to make her book. I also talked to Dove McHargue and Julie Collins-Rousseau (Trailers) professors at SCADwho were both interested in what Lulu offers to professionals and students in the comic creators field.


Since there were so many of us there at HeroesCon, we might actually have more than one post about it. Overall, it was very successful, and I really look forward to attending next year. We hope to see you there.

Check out our special edition HeroesCon podcast, Lulu Radio #8, for interviews and soundbites from the convention floor!

Coming up next, we have Clinton talking about Origins. And next week (on the 18th) Annie and I head off to San Diego Comic Con to get over-whelmed, spend a lot of money, and of course, talk to tons of people about print-on-demand publishing.

Posted on Thursday 13 of July, 2006 [14:50:11 UTC]

Hi! Leah Riley here, interviewing our own Kristy Buchanan from Business Development here at Lulu. She'd recently told me about the upcoming Mom's Choice Awards (which Lulu is sponsoring, deadline Sept. 1) and since we want as many great authors to know about this as possible, I wanted to do some Q&A for the newsletter.

Q: What is the Mom's Choice Award?
A: The Mom's Choice Awards is an annual contest for works for children (www.momschoiceawards.com) that is now in its third year. The Just For Mom Foundation hosts several of the categories, and this year Lulu is hosting a couple. The winners in each of the many categories are awarded $500.

These categories are being 'hosted' by the Just for Mom Foundation. The Just For Mom Foundation categories require entry fees (for more information about entry fees, check here - Mom's Choice Awards Homepage)

• Illustrations
• Children’s Chapter Books
• Parenting Books
• Adult Books (fiction and non-fiction)
• Journals
• Children’s DVDs or Videos
• Specialty Cards
• Parenting or Children's Web Sites
• Educational Products
• Charitable or Philanthropic Books

There are two new categories this year that Lulu is 'hosting'. The Lulu hosted categories require no entry fee:

• Works for Young Readers
• Works by Young Authors

To enter these categories, you must publish your work on Lulu.com.

Q: How will Lulu be working with Just For Mom to run the Mom's Choice Awards?
A: It's simple, really - people publish their book on Lulu, tell us they want to enter the contest, and then Just For Mom manages the judging.

Q: What are some of the really cool aspects about the project?
A: The judges are really great this year! The executive producer of Reading Rainbow, Dr. Twila Liggett, will be one of the judges, as well as LeAnn Thieman, a 7-time author of Chicken Soup books.

Q: What are the submission guidelines for the Mom's Choice Award?
A: Anyone who publishes their work on Lulu is eligible to submit their book as long as it is by a young author or for young readers. Submissions will be accepted through September 1, 2006 (postmarked by this date). There is the Official Entry Form to fill out and mail in, and, if you're a talented young writer, a Parental Permission Form to accompany it.

For more information - Mom's Choice Award Homepage
Also, for Lulu authors interested in participating, Lulu's Mom's Choice page. Be sure to check out the free Media Kit download.

Good luck to all readers and young writers out there!

Posted on Thursday 15 of June, 2006 [18:27:49 UTC]