Comic Book Promotional Ad: Brutal, Bloody, Vicious Vampires

FAQ: How I Self-Published: The Bare Basics

My Process: Self-Publishing Tips

PHASE 1: PRODUCTION

Start writing. (See my "Writing Methods" article for writing tips which apply to novels and comic books.)

Edit and proof your work.

Find or hire someone to proof for you. (If you are doing a comic book, you will need to research, interview, and find the right artist(s) ).

Copyright your document. You can add "Copyright (your name, year)" to your document.

Log on to copyright.gov to register your work.

See what do-it yourself templates online print-on-demand publishers offer. This will depend on the size of your book.

Turn your work into PDF format, if this is the format that online print-on-demand publishers require.

Book Design Cover: Some print-on-demand publishing services can design a cover for you for a fee, or some may have free templates, or you can design it yourself, or hire someone.

PHASE 2: PUBLICATION

Choose an online print-on-demand publishing service such as createspace.com that can format, publish, and print your work for you.

Establish an estore through online print-on-demand or build a web site, and you can use paypal to accept credit card payments. 

PHASE 3: PUBLICITY AND MARKETING

Learn to describe your book clearly in one sentence.  People often only have seconds to listen to and absorb your pitch.

Learn to write in one paragraph or less your book’s synopsis. You can find samples of these online on bookseller sites.

Learn to write short, one-sentence promotional “blurbs” and slogans about your work. I use gossip newspapers and newspaper headlines that are catchy. “In this book, you won’t believe what this Vampire does!” Find catchy lines that inspire curiosity. When you talk to someone about something exciting, you always start off with “You won’t believe what happened!” These blurbs are the same way. They cause people to react with “What? Tell me more!”

Find "buzzwords" and "keywords" that describe your work. Mine are "BadAss Vampires" or "Unusual Vampires" What would get people curious or excited about your work? For instance, I tell people I am bringing back brutal, vicious Vampires, therefore appealing to those who like their vampires, well, scary and gory. Who is your target audience? Mine tends to be not only horror fans, but of course anyone who likes comic books and Vampires (but a certain type of vampire, of course.) Know what makes your different from other writers. What is your message?

To market and promote your work, utilize social networking sites. Build a web site. Schedule a time each day to post and promote your work. What do you want people to know about it? Be sure to include links and images. Create blogs with info about your work, background info on your stories and characters, images etc.

Utilize video ads. Even simple text, images, and music in a 15-20 second video about your books will do. You don't have to do a big budget production to promote your work through a video. There are simple video software and video programs you can utilize.

Learn to design your own ads, or hire someone to do it for you. Create ads with your blurb, book image, and URL of where to purchase, to the point and enough to catch someone’s eye.  Convey enough information in a few seconds when people glance at it. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but have the book cover, your name, book genre, and URL of where to purchase. Imagine someone looking at the ad and saying “Hey, there’s a new gory Vampire book out by this author (name), here’s the web site. Let’s check it out.”

When you design your promotional text, do this test. Have a stack of “junk mail” or ads. Go through them fast. If something catches your eye, and you stop to look at the headline, ask why. Is the text large? Was the headline catchy that it made you stop and look twice? 

Learn to write your own press releases. Samples can be found online. A press release announces the who, what, when, where, and why of a product. It can be about you  becoming a newly published local author for local publications, or a newly published horror author for horror sites, etc. Write a few different press releases depending on the media you are planning to submit to. Also include a link to your web site or social networking site.

Research blogs online where you can send the info to (for instance, if you have a horror novel, find horror blogs to submit to). Most blogs welcome news submissions, but always ask first before sending anything and follow their submission guidelines. Remember to thank them when they do publish you.

If you have the funds, invest in membership in a press release distribution site. 

There are also many genre-specific conventions that you can purchase a booth/table in (if you do have the funds) to promote your book. Check out their submission guidelines. It’s a good place to test market your book and meet fans. Find out if there are also group booth sharing for authors.

MOTIVATIONAL TIPS

Don’t try to please everyone or let anyone tell you how to write or what to write about. People will have different opinions and suggestions and criticisms and you can’t accommodate them all. Write for yourself first. Then have a professional proof and edit for grammar, flow etc.

Stop worrying that what you are writing about is not good enough. You do not need anyone to validate your writing. People will like what they like, and if they don’t, then that’s not your audience. If you constantly worry about what people will think, you will never accomplish anything.

Don’t worry about rejection from the “big publishers” or that you have to give in to demands to rewrite everything in order to be published by someone else. You can publish the work yourself, the way you want it. So what if it's not the biggest best seller. The point is, you published SOMETHING. 

I’ve heard many writers complain that they can’t get noticed. You may be more likely to be picked up by a publisher if you establish a track record that you produced something, even if it’s self-published.  Publishers are a business, and they want to see a RESULT and a product. Even though you can say you are working on something, waiting to hopefully hear back from a publisher, or planning to write your novel someday, you are more likely to be taken seriously if you have produced something tangible. It’s like walking up to an investor and saying “Can you invest in me?” They will ask why, and if you just say “I have this cool idea”, you will likely be turned down because they don’t see a product or its potential. You’re asking a publisher, and the public, to “invest” in  your work, but if you don’t have anything to show other than ideas or talks of plans to get published, you may not get the attention you want.

If you keep thinking that you are a horrible writer and comparing yourself to others, then you are eventually going to believe that’s what you are. It’s up to you to motivate yourself and think positive about your work. 

If no one will do it for you or no one else can make your publishing dream come true, (and not everyone will) then you have to learn to do it yourself.

Remember that a lot of writers end up never accomplishing anything because the work and the process is "too hard and time-consuming", “a lot of work", and they always ask "why can't someone else just do it for me", and they give up too soon without even finishing what they started. Self-publishing takes discipline and motivation, resourcefulness, and research. If you choose this route, you are the one who needs to make self-publishing happen, along with finding the right services and , when necessary, hiring the right people to help you produce your work. It all begins with you. 

Remember that Self-Publishing is a business, and you have to treat it like one. Learn to mix business sense and discipline with your creative side.

Please read my writing and self-publishing disclaimer here

Some Merch and Comic Book Samples

Autograph Request April 25, 2013

I usually get autograph requests via email or Facebook, so a handwritten request  in the mail was quite a surprise and a nice thing to receive! Thank you!

Vampire Guardian Angels Heads to Kindle

Thank you to Michael DeFellipo and to Horror Society for the post! 

Your support is always appreciated! 

 Read more of Vampire Guardian Angels Heads to Kindle at Horror Society!

Vampire Guardian Angels: Dominion, Comic Book Issue 3: Full Story

Lia Scott Price's

Vampire Guardian Angels™ 

Dominion, Comic Book Issue 3
Price/Setter/Hammontree

Copyright Lia Scott Price

About The Comic Book Series:

Lia Scott Price’s Vampire Guardian Angels is a creator-owned comic book series written and created by Horror Author Lia Scott Price. In the series, Guardian Angels from Heaven have become Vampires who kill people who pray for help to them, and both humans and “good” angels have to work to stop them.

What are Vampire Guardian Angels?

When you pray to guardian angels, do you know what they are? What if they were a vicious new breed and hybrid of serial killer, angel and vampire who target those who pray for help to them? Because they are tired of protecting us and want to put us out of our misery, by eating, and enslaving us. Don’t pray to them.

The Story: 

Back in the 14th Century there were originally four Guardian Angels who were bitten by Earth Vampires, the predecessors to Gabriel. Unable to get back to Heaven, they roamed the Earth until the Church sheltered them, secretly hiding their existence through vague references of blood drinking in the Bible. Fearing them and thinking they were gods, the Church called these Vampires "Angels". One, Gregory, (who would be Janosʼs father), fled to Transylvania and was sheltered by the Vampire Countess Elizabeth Bathory. The remaining three Angels were hidden by the Church in Italy. They were used by the Inquisition, who fed “sinners” to them. However, the Vampire Guardian Angels, Zeke, Anthony, and Jude, grew tired of their captivity, and escaped, with weapons. 

Meanwhile, centuries later, in the present day in Los Angeles CA, an author, Ms. Price, dreams the three Vampire Guardian Angels try to kidnap her in a Church. It is revealed that she has actually done research focusing on the existence of Vampire Guardian Angels in the Bible, and is convinced that because of her dream, they are real. 

The Vampire Guardian Angels, who are looking for the author who they consider their “creator”, kill their first victim in the city. The murder is investigated by Detective Costa, who finds black feathers at the murder scene. 

The Vampire Guardian Angels target patients in hospitals, feeding off of them, and they are gaining followers consisting of Earth Vampires. The Earth Vampires accept the Vampire Guardian Angels as their new leaders as long as they are fed humans and taken care of. 

The author visits Detective Costa and tries to convince him that her dream has come true, and that the killings are caused by Vampire Guardian Angels. Meanwhile, the three Angels target their female victims, feeling entitled to doing so because they were denied what they consider pleasures of the flesh, before killing and feeding on their victims. 

Detective Costa gets an emergency call, and Ms. Price insists on going with him. As they get to where the latest victim is being attacked, Ms. Price gets kidnapped by Zeke. However, just as the Angels try to kill Detective Costa, the Guardian Angel Cameron appears and saves him. The three Angels take the author and disappear. 

Cameron turns out to have become a Vampire and tells Costa who the three Vampire Guardian Angels are and what they want with Ms. Price. Cameron tells Costa that the Angels were sent to open a portal to let the Vampire Guardian Angels in from Heaven so they can take over Earth, and that the author will be an “offering”. Cameron fights the three Angels as Costa frees Ms. Price, who tells him about what the Vampire Guardian Angels consider a “prophecy”, that they will be led by a new leader, Janos, who will bring all the Vampire Guardian Angels from Heaven to enslave humans, and that the portal is the only way in. Cameron reveals to Costa that Vampire Guardian Angels can only be killed by a Guardian Angel who was evil but who turned back to good.  Together, they manage to kill Zeke, Anthony, and Jude. The three angels burn and become balls of light, just like Gabriel did, but Cameron stops their ascent back to Heaven by throwing himself into the dying portal, blocking the portal as it implodes and preventing their resurrection in Heaven. Cameron disappears, presumably killed by the dying portal.

See the story in Comic Book Format!

Vampire Guardian Angels: Revenant, Comic Book Issue 2: Full Story

Lia Scott Price's

Vampire Guardian Angels™ 

Revenant, Comic Book Issue 2
Price/Setter/Hammontree

Copyright Lia Scott Price

About The Comic Book Series:

Lia Scott Price’s Vampire Guardian Angels is a creator-owned comic book series written and created by Horror Author Lia Scott Price. In the series, Guardian Angels from Heaven have become Vampires who kill people who pray for help to them, and both humans and “good” angels have to work to stop them.

What are Vampire Guardian Angels?

When you pray to guardian angels, do you know what they are? What if they were a vicious new breed and hybrid of serial killer, angel and vampire who target those who pray for help to them? Because they are tired of protecting us and want to put us out of our misery, by eating, and enslaving us. Don’t pray to them.

The Story: 

On Earth, back in the 15th Century, a Guardian angel, Gregory, sees a vision of the future of Heaven in a dream. Gabriel, now a Vampire in Heaven is biting all the other angels in a bloody, vicious rampage, turning them into Vampire Guardian Angels™. 

Gabriel kills Angels who refuse to become Vampires. It turns out that Gregory, already a Vampire but who is stuck on Earth, has been trying to find a way back to Heaven to turn all the angels into Vampires, but his dreams of Heaven many centuries into the future reveal that Gabriel will be the one to do it. Gregory is one of the first Guardian Angels to rebel, and like Gabriel, is sick of answering human prayers. He has produced a son, Janos, with the Vampire Countess Elizabeth Bathory, but the child is stillborn. Gregory tells the distraught Countess that the dead child will reincarnate and become leader of the Vampire Guardian Angels. 

Many centuries into the future, a grown-up Janos, now a college student in Brooklyn, New York, finds himself constantly drawn to Churches where he hears multiple voices asking for help, praying to their Guardian Angel, even though none of these peopleʼs lips are moving and no one is talking to him, but he sees them covered in blood. He also sees Angel statues coming to life. He is getting increasingly distraught that he is hearing and seeing things, and tends to stay out all night, which leads to friction between Janos and his girlfriend, Leah, who lives with him. 

Meanwhile, a confused and worried Leah is stalked by Gregory, who, being immortal,  has followed the progress of his son well into the present day.  Janos dreams about Gregory attacking Leah, and, disturbed by the dream, his visions, and the voices, seeks help from the campus psychiatrist, Dr. Harold Lieberman, who only prescribes medication for him. Janos, angry that the psychiatrist cannot help him, storms out. 

Janos does not realize that he is really a Vampire Guardian Angel who goes into a trance when he hears prayers of despair. He tracks the voices and feeds off women on campus who pray to their Guardian Angel. This was the reason he stayed out all night, but he does not remember anything the next morning. The bodies are examined by Detectives Graham and Murdock, who find that the victims have been seduced, tied up, and then drained of blood. 

Gregory finally decides it is time to reveal himself to Janos at the Church and tell him who he is and about his destiny. Gregory tries to convince Janos of who he is and what he was meant to do, that Janos is a Vampire Guardian Angel and the chosen leader because of his royal heritage from the Countess, and that is why he hears prayers, because he is a Guardian Angel as well.  Janos does not believe him and simply continues to believe that he is going crazy, until he goes home and bites Leah.. 

Leah throws Janos out, and as Janos finds refuge on campus, he hears a conversation between “Earth Vampires” disguised as students who talk about him and the plans of Vampire Guardian Angels to take over Earth and humans. As Janos, hiding on campus, tries to figure out what is real and what isnʼt, Gregory, disappointed in Janos, decides on “plan B” and decides to create another heir, another leader to take Janosʼs place. He kidnaps Leah and claims her as his own, impregnating her. 

Janos eventually seems to accept who he is and his fate and goes on a killing spree, feeding off his victims, whose bodies the detectives find in the basement of Janosʼs apartment. Janos has also killed the psychiatrist, Dr. Lieberman, and because he was a patient as well, the detectives identify Janos as the killer. Janos awakens at the Brooklyn bridge, realizing he has wings and can fly. However, Janos decides he will not do what Gregory wants and refuses to honor his destiny as leader of the Vampire Guardian Angels  as his father Gregory wanted.  Gregory finds Janos on the bridge and tells him he no longer needs him and will get rid of him. But Janos is saved by the detectives, who shoot Gregory. Gregory falls off the bridge and disappears. 

Hours later, it is revealed that Janos is actually confined in a mental hospital, and that he is suffering from delusions that he is a Vampire, and that a “Vampire Guardian Angel” was after him. Janos is visited by Leah, and it is further revealed that the recent events were nightmares dreamt by Leah. Leah begs an apparently still-alive Dr. Lieberman to help Janos get better. Distraught, Leah returns home to the apartment, where Gregory, very much alive, surprises and kidnaps her.

See the story in Comic Book Format!