Hey y’all, I mailed off my application to the Xeric Foundation self-publishing grant today.

Applying to the Xeric has been a goal of mine since I first read about it, so even if I don’t get the award, I’m glad I submitted to the final round. Good luck to everyone else who submitted – may the most deserving cartoonists win!

A drawing from Lars Martinson’s helpful posts about applying to the Xeric and self-publishing.

One resource that I came across while preparing my application was Lars Martinson’s ten-part post series “How I Self-Published a Graphic Novel” which details the steps he followed in publishing his book Tonoharu. Even though this is the last round of the Xeric there’s still plenty of useful advice about self-publishing in general in those posts. The two steps that I’m thinking the most about now are Part 4, where Martinson details saving up enough money to take a year off of his day job and give self-publishing a full-time try, and Part 10, where he thinks about what it’ll take for him to make self-publishing comics into a sustainable career. It’s an unfortunate fact that there isn’t much money in comics and I like how he deals with the reality of the situation without being hopeless.

In semi-related news, the Gold County Paper Mill will be tabling at STAPLE!, an Austin comics festival, this weekend.

STAPLE! is this Saturday from 11am to 6pm and Sunday from noon to 6pm. I’m going to have a more detailed post about what we’re bringing and what else you should check out on Friday.