TRUST ME, IM LYING (PART 2)

A comics marketing guide by Travis Gibb

Last week’s post calling out scam marketers really struck a chord. I got a ton of feedback and questions, so I’m back with another round — this time shining a light on a few more scams, followed by 10 campaign tips I believe can make a real difference.

My goal has always been to educate and give creators the leg up I never had when I started in comics.

1) Disruption Scams

Everyone dreams of being in stores. They think if their books hit shelves, it’ll be the magic step to the next level — the overnight success story that turns them into The Walking Dead. Unfortunately, that’s rarely how it works.

With Diamond’s decline, we’ve seen a wave of “new models” for distribution popping up… but many of these are just old scams wearing new clothes. These have been around for years — at one point, someone actually convinced a bunch of creators that Spencer’s Gifts was going to carry their comics. It was wild.

Disruption scams specifically target the flow of indie comics from creation to reader. They don’t just steal money — they sabotage creators’ ability to get their work into the world. They often prey on creators who can’t access store shelves on their own, dangling the promise of “nationwide distribution” that never happens.

This one’s a little tricky, and before we get into bullet points, I want to break down how the process actually works — because I don’t think everyone fully understands it.

I’m going to use simple numbers here. In reality, the math is more complicated, but this will give you the general idea:

1. Let’s say you print a book for $2.00 that you plan to retail for $5.00.

2. You sell it to the distributor for $2.50 (50% off), making $1.00 profit per copy.

3. The distributor then sells it to stores for $3.00 (60% off), making $0.50 profit for themselves.

Now — this is not exactly how it works in practice. The chain is messier, discounts vary, and by the time all the fees and percentages shake out, creators are often making closer to 10–20 cents per issue.


NOW HERE IS THE RUB, and what you have to understand!! We have 3 distributors right now in the USA, and they all have a minimum order. So, these three is what a comic store wants to order from.

Diamond Comic Distributors – Once the near-monopoly for decades, still handles many small publishers, indie creators, and some mid-tier companies.

Lunar Distribution – Originally DC Comics’ main distributor after leaving Diamond in 2020; now also carries Image Comics and many indies.

Penguin Random House Publisher Services (PRHPS) – Marvel’s distributor since 2021; also distributes to the book trade and comic shops.

Any other new distributor has to have a reason to order and sadly, regardless of how much i would like this to change, INDIE COMICS dont sell great in comics stores, and the PRICE POINTS of Indie Comics tend to be higher than a normal comic.

So, here is why this is kind of a scam and how people use it to scam

• New Distribution - They claim to have a connection with stores but honestly they more then likely just have this list.
  
  https://www.comicstorelist.com/comic-store-states
  
  or
  
  The super not-so-secret Google doc (This list also has EMAILS, but i removed them for safety)
  

  

  
  
  

• NONE COMIC STORES - So, there is a small scam of this that sells to like weed shops and other non-comic stores. Again, this isnt a exact scam but you need to sell a bunch of books before they send you payment and that may never come. Some even have one time fees to join.

• Distributor Middleman Fraud – Someone poses as a rep from a distributor or major retailer, collects “listing fees,” but your book is never stocked.

• Fake Preorders – A group mass-orders your comic from a store, then all cancel the week of release, tanking your sales numbers and hurting retailer trust.

• Inventory Buy-Back Scam – Someone claims they’ll buy your unsold books in bulk for resale, takes the books, and never sends payment.
  
  
  I also did this substack about the subject
  
  

2) Printing & Fulfillment Grifts

Scammers know indie creators often work under tight budgets and short deadlines, so they prey on the urgency of printing and shipping before a convention or crowdfunding fulfillment date. You will get a lot of these if you break the 10k on KICKSTARTER lots of overseas printing offering all sorts of deals. You just need to be careful

• Bogus Print Brokers – Someone poses as a “middleman” who can get you better print prices overseas. They take your money, claim the books are “on the water,” but never deliver or dont tell you the customs charges.

• Overpriced Garbage Prints – You pay for high-quality offset printing, but receive flimsy digital copies or poorly trimmed books. Often, the scammer blames the printer or your files but wont reprint

• Inflated Shipping Fraud – A fulfillment partner quotes massive international postage costs (sometimes double the actual price or adds TARRIFS), pockets the difference, and sends your books using the cheapest method possible.

• Fake Fulfillment Centers – Scammers rent short-term warehouse space or use a PO box, collect your product to “ship for you,” and vanish with your inventory and funds. (This is rare but i have seen it)

• The Switcheroo – You approve beautiful proofs, but the final run is a lower-quality substitute. The scammer hopes you’ll still distribute because you “need” the books.

Other thing to note here thats not a SCAM but something to be aware of and thats MIXAM.

https://mixam.com/

Lots of people use this printing service but I want you to know that the quality of the results vary due to they use SEVERAL printers. So, its not a scam, but your re-order may be completly different even though you used the same printer.

3) Talent-for-Hire Nightmares

Indie creators often hire artists, letterers, or colorists from freelance marketplaces or social media, which is fertile ground for bad actors. I think most of the time they dont even mean to be BAD ACTORS. However, when you hire someone or you hire someone through a AGENT!! Bad things can happen

• Ghosting Creatives – The artist takes a deposit (often 50%) then disappears, deletes their profile, or blocks the client.

• Plagiarism & Art Theft – Some “artists” present stolen art from DeviantArt, ArtStation, or even published comics as their own, then either disappear or deliver traced work. I was once shown my own fucking art. IT WAS WILD.

• AI Art Without Disclosure – A scammer sells you what they claim is hand-drawn, but it’s AI-generated, which could cause legal or reputational problems later. I just had this talk with a creator last weekend who bought AI art on FIVERR for top dollar.

• Portfolio Catfishing – Someone pretends to be a famous or semi-known comic artist, using stolen photos and art to secure a job. This has been happening a bunch lately on KICKSTARTER. Here is an example of an email that the famous BONE CREATOR - JEFF SMITH never sent to try and scam people
  

  

  
  

• Payment Loop Scam – They request payment via a “friend/family” PayPal option so you can’t dispute the transaction. As a rule, i never pay friend/family if i dont know them.

• Double Selling Pages – An artist agrees to create exclusive art for your comic but resells the same piece to multiple “clients” with slight changes. This happens with generic covers a bunch

4) Community-Level Manipulation

These scams prey on trust rather than just money — the scammer integrates into indie comic spaces, then uses relationships to extract resources. These are mostly those MARKETING GURU’s that i spoke about before use these tactics but from time to time you get a bad creator.

• Fake Anthologies – A “publisher” announces a charity anthology, gathers unpaid submissions, but never prints the book or donates to the cause. Sometimes they use the stories later in paid projects without permission. Here is a example of the most famous that got SO BAD!! KICKSTARTER took it down.
  
  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thefrazerbrown/tales-from-the-quarantine
  

  

  
  

• Sockpuppet Networks – The scammer runs multiple fake accounts to hype their own work or discredit rivals. This creates fake “buzz” that looks real to outsiders. It’s been common in the COMICSGATE community, but from time to time you’ll see it pop up in Discord servers or Facebook groups as well.

• Clout Chasing with Lies – Claiming to collaborate with big-name creators to attract attention and preorders, when the “collaboration” doesn’t actually exist. I hear this all the time—once you sign on, the story changes. Suddenly the big names are “too busy” or “had to drop out,” and you’re stuck.

• Crisis Sympathy Grifts – Faking illness, eviction, or tragedy in creator communities to raise quick “help” money. Sadly, this happens far too often. It’s the #1 cause of Kickstarters failing and books never being delivered—creators claim an illness and then disappear, never sending anything to backers.

• Drama Farming – Stirring up social media fights to gain followers, distract from shady behavior, or weaken competitors. Some creators will deliberately start drama during a launch to pull in backers. You can spot the pattern—every time they go live, a “new” feud starts. I’ve been pulled into this before (I’m a fighter by nature), but eventually I realized—ohhh… this was just for clout. It’s basically: “I’ll hate that guy to fit in with other guys.” It’s boring, unproductive, and fake. If I have a problem with someone, I’d rather explain it clearly and show proof—but honestly… it’s usually better to just don’t.

  

  So, I’ve told you about the scams—and that’s important—but now let’s give some advice that can really help you. Watching out for scammers and frauds is solid advice, but what I think we really need is good, proactive guidance.

  The fact is, projects are funding a little lower these days, and sometimes not at all. The economy is tough, and some of the tactics that worked before just aren’t cutting it now. That means it’s a learning period—but one we can all grow from if we have the right mindset and plan.
  

  So, here are 10 tips to help you adapt, stay ahead, and thrive.
  I want you to have success.
  I want you to LEVEL UP.

  ---

  1 – $10 SHIPPING
  I know I bring this up a lot, but it still pisses me off—DON’T DO IT!
  You can justify it with “this” and “that,” but if you need $10 shipping, then adjust your pledge level a little instead. People won’t pay it, and it kills campaigns.
  

  2 – CONTINUING SERIES
  If you’re on issue #2 or #3, don’t just try to sell this issue—sell the series. Every issue is someone’s first. It’s better to sell to new readers because your old fans should already be there if you did your job right.
  

  3 – PRICING
  Charley Stickney made a great post about this recently, and I agree 100%. Too many creators are creeping prices up—20–24 page books are pushing $20. That’s a hard sell.
  My advice:

  • 20–28 pages: $12–$16

  • 30–48 pages: $18–$22
    

  4 – GROW YOUR BRAND
  You can only grow so much in your own pond. If you want more fans, you need to step outside your sandbox—or invite people into it who can bring new eyes. If you never collaborate, your reach will stay small.
  

  5 – STOP CRYING
  Crying over failed backers or begging last-minute for pledges isn’t a good look. People will only back out of pity for so long. You need a system so your community doesn’t have to “save” you every campaign.
  

  6 – CHANGE
  If you’re not changing something in your business each campaign, you won’t grow. The same-old will only get you so far. Create new plans, get people excited, and make them invested.
  

  7 – JOIN A COMMUNITY
  You’ll do better with a community that you can contribute to and grow with. Here’s mine, but any good community helps:
  Join the Orange Cone Discord
  

  8 – DO FREE STUFF
  Yeah, I know… “free stuff?” WTF? But trust me—there are anthologies, shows, updates, and drawing groups where giving a little now can pay off later.
  Example: I run INDIETOBER every year. Artists draw indie comic characters, and every single year, they land cover work because of it.

  

  CLICK BELOW TO JOIN
  
  https://www.facebook.com/groups/2392422037636151
  
  9 – THE RESELL
  The power of comics is in the resell. Too many creators rush to put out a trade and treat it like a quick cash grab instead of a long-term asset. Your trade should be evergreen—something you can sell for years, not just the month it launches. Celebrate it! Mark the occasion as the end of an era, the complete story arc, the “collector’s edition.” Build hype so the trade becomes part of your brand, not just leftover inventory. The more value you give it, the more it will sell—and the more it will grow your business.
  

  10 – ASK FOR THE SALE
  This might be the single best piece of advice anyone can give you: ASK for the sale. Don’t hint. Don’t dance around it. At a con table, in a pitch meeting, or even in a casual conversation—tell people what you want. The same goes for asking for help: don’t spend days buttering someone up—just clearly state what you need. People respect directness, and you’ll build stronger relationships and better opportunities when you communicate openly and confidently.
  
  
  SO THAT’S IT!! Let’s do some quick plugs here
  

  

  
  
  
  
  - CTHULHU INVADES FAIRY TALES 2 - ENDS IN 4 DAYS!! WE NEED BACKERS
  
  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/orangecone/cthulhu-invades-fairy-tales-grimm-tales
  
  

  

  
  
  
  - WE HAVE A NEW KICKSTARTER LAUNCHING!!! SIGN UP TO LEARN MORE
  
  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/orangecone/bubble-gum-razor-1-murder-podcast-suspense-slasher