Kory Merritt’s The Lost Side of Suburbia has moved been promoted from Comics Sherpa to GoComics last week after a little more than a year on Comics Sherpa. Kory, who was the 2007 John Locher Award winner and a finalist in the Comic Strip Superstar Contest, say he wanted to try something new, so he created this strip in the style of a children’s book.
Lost Side of Suburbia moves from Sherpa to GoComics
12 thoughts on “Lost Side of Suburbia moves from Sherpa to GoComics”
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Congrats Kory!
I, myself, am seriously thinking about adding my strip onto Sherpa. Sounds like a great investment for me.
I’d love to hear of other’s experiences, good and bad!
Again congrats!!!!!
David: Since you asked for opinions on Comics Sherpa, I?ll weigh in…
I think it’s well worth investing the $60 for a six-month membership. I had a comic strip on Sherpa from 2006-2007 and it was a good experience. The four main reasons I liked it are:
1. It?s a good way to get new readers and/or increase the readership you already have
2. I got valuable feedback and constructive criticism from readers and fellow cartoonists
3. I met a bunch of cartoonists who I would not have met otherwise. Many of them are friends I still regularly keep in touch with. (Although I was on Sherpa before Facebook became hugely popular. Still, it?s a good additional networking avenue.)
4. Extra incentive to stick to a regular schedule
I?m not implying Comics Sherpa is perfect. The functionality of the site isn?t the best. But the bottom line is it *does* deliver new readers. At least it did for me. You get out of Comics Sherpa what you put into it.
Try out a six-month membership. For the price of 3 large pizzas, it?s worth a shot.
Can’t you get those same benefits buying your own URL and working for yourself?
Yes, you can. Although once you have your new website up, you still have to get people to visit it. Of course, you can drive traffic to your site by promoting it on Facebook, Twitter etc. ? and like I said, I was on Sherpa before those sites were huge. The plus about Sherpa is that everybody on that site is already a comics fan. There is a good audience there.
Comics Sherpa isn?t for everyone. I joined because, at the time, my goal was to be syndicated and thought Sherpa would be a good path to achieving that goal. (Turns out that Universal didn?t agree that a comic strip about a dim-witted talking pine tree would sweep the nation.)
Also, Sherpa was a quick way for me to get my strip online. I didn?t want to take the time (okay, I didn?t have the skills) to develop my own website.
For me, Sherpa was a positive experience and I recommend trying it. That?s all I?m saying.
Congratulations to Kory that is great news!
Also, Thanks Scott, for sharing you Comics Sherpa experience. I?ve been considering joining for over a year and have been looking for some posts about people?s overall experience with the site.
Just curious, do you know just how much your readership or traffic was increased by the Sherpa exposure?
?Just curious, do you know just how much your readership or traffic was increased by the Sherpa exposure??
Xris: I didn?t have a website when I first started posting on Sherpa, so I had zero readers. Well, my wife and a few friends read it, but that?s it.
I did get feedback (through emails) almost immediately, one or two a day, which was helpful. So I knew people were reading it. After a few months, they put a stats feature which let you see how many page views your strip had each day. I remember I was pretty happy with the stats but I honestly can?t remember what they were. It?s been four years – my memory is hazy.
Thanks Alan!
The link to the new updates is http://www.gocomics.com/lostsideofsuburbia
And I’ll say I’ve had a very positive Sherpa experience. My account was free, but since then I’ve also opened a separate account for student comics (4-6 grade, “Sunny Side of Keuka”).
We’ve talked about Sherpa several times on Tall Tale Radio, and over at Comics Coast to Coast. Quite honestly, there wouldn’t BE these two podcasts without Sherpa. For me, it boiled down to a couple of things, probably echoing Scott’s comments. (I believe I first met Scott via Sherpa, so there’s that, too!)
1. It’s a lot simpler than starting your own site. If you’re not necessarily a web person, as I was not, it was just a great service. You uploaded your comic, and they kept an archive for you, and gave you a place to showcase your work. I guess if you’re a super web-savvy person, you’d probably want to customize your own site and do it all yourself, but if that’s a pain to you, Sherpa’s a great way to go.
2. It was a great bootcamp. I tried to keep up the 5 days a week schedule and without having to worry about all the other bells and whistles, it felt like just doing the work and sending it to the syndicate.
3. The other cartoonists. I met a bunch of great cartoonists there, and as Scott pointed out, before Facebook and Twitter, it was a fabulous place to meet like-minded weirdos.
Bottom line, if you’re not a web person, or don’t want to deal with that stuff as you get your feet under you, I’d recommend it.
I like a lot of the stuff on Sherpa. If it’s a place readers visit, and you want your stuff to be read by as many people as possible, 60 bucks isn’t bad to spend on an attempt at exposure.
Scott, I really liked Tree!
Thanks Scott!!!
In the year that I have been on Facebook, my strip has gathered a following of right at 2,000. I had 2,137 at one point and then I had an unexpected dip in February even though my insights show only 12 drops. Odd…..
I would love to see what may happen with my following with my strip being on Sherpa. I guess I will just have to give it a try.
Also, you are being robbed. 3 large pizzas here are about 40 bucks. Are you tipping around 20 bucks? If so, let me know and I’ll deliver your pizzas.
Hello,
Do you have the ability to promote merchandise on Sherpa or do you need a separate site for that?
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