Publishers Weekly Starred Review (Patreon)

Oh my god Oh my god Oh my god!


Oh Joy Sex Toy Volume 3 got a STARRED Publishers Weekly review! My heart is in my throat! Jesus.

Matt tried for YEARS to get our book distributed through traditional channels with absolutely no luck. Limerence Press (Oni Press’ adult imprint) agrees to distribute our books and WHAMMO fuckin’ starred review in Publishers Weekly. Jesus. What we're doing is legit now. We've cracked the institution-of-traditional-publishing barrier.

Diamond is effectively the only real  distribution system in comics and they  refused to distribute the OJST books because "People looking for this kind of content won't be in a comic shop.” Matt tried to get distribution through SO MANY other traditional distros (like, PROSE BOOK distributors, not just comics) and the BEST deal he found would grab us a profit of ¢.10 per copy. Now Diamond has gotta distribute our dirty little book anyway because they already have a relationship with Limerence & can't turn down individual titles >:)

It's such a weird, transitional time to be publishing books.

Traditional publishers can't pay livable advances for a creator's work, but they have industry connections to distribution, press, retailers, etc. People like me can earn a livable wage through crowdfunding from a dedicated audience, but breaking into traditional resources (distributors and stores, for example) to reach beyond our established audience are blocked.

But Limerence get it. They see how self and traditional publishers can work together for each others benefit.

They want to expand into the adult market. We want to reach people who have never heard of us and don't read webcomics. By distributing our pre-made books, Limerence can debut into that market with THREE solid, reputable volumes they didn't have to spend any money producing (aside from printing costs for their version of the cover, which you can see above!). And us? We can finally get into some motherfucking stores and hopefully into some brand new hands. I don't think either of us is looking at this as the ticket to mad money (At least, Matt and I certainly aren't), but hopefully it will eventually be a small addition that neither of us had before, once Limerence makes back the money they spent printing up their bookstore cover versions.

I haven't seen evidence of this yet, but I do worry our audience will think "Oh, you're getting PUBLISHED now! You don't need crowdfunding.” And it's like noooooooooo, sweetie, no. We *couldn't afford* to produce a book entirely through a traditional publisher. There is NO money in traditional publishing, not for small potatoes like Matt and me. Back in the day (or, at least, I imagine it was like this at some point?), a publisher would pay a creator an advance to live on  while they made the work. With rare exception, that model just doesn't exist any more. It certainly hasn't existed for my peers and me in the last decade. (And yes, there ARE some exceptions! But getting an advance you can live on is like winning the lottery.) And royalties? Hoo boy. I have a friend who had a NYT bestseller. They didn't get a royalty check till something like five years after the book had been published, I think? Unless you're one of the publishing-lottery-winners, you can't live on traditionally-published book money.  Kickstarter and Patreon and affiliate sales, THAT'S who pays my "advance" to make this stuff. The books that I'll be selling at conventions? Those are the copies Matt and I paid for through Kickstarter.

Repeating myself now, but... creators like me, we get ourselves paid directly through our audiences (for which every crowdfunded creator I know is ETERNALLY GRATEFUL FOR and does not take for granted. Not for a goddamn second.) and traditional publishers know they can't offer us any meaningful compensation. But they CAN offer us access to the institutions us small timers can't reach on our own. The smart publishers? They're looking towards the future, they're working with us small, indie, self-pubbers because they see we can each help the other.

It’s just… so fucking exciting to be part of the next evolution in book publishing.

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And by th’ by, if you haven't gotten a copy directly through us, you can now ask your local comic shop to order you a copy of all the Oh Joy books with these Diamond distribution  codes ;)

Volume 1: JUN161673
Volume 2: JUN161674
Volume 3: JUN161793