White Rose

I’m back! Took a week and UNplugged from anything online to recover from the Small Press Idol madness. But back now and ready to go. The final tally is in on the contest – official results below…

IDOL ROUND 4 RESULTS from Ian Shires
And the Retailer order has landed. To be honest, it’s been at my PO box since Friday and I was just able to get up there and get it yesterday. So it’s a 155 copy order for White Rose – and it counts because the order was placed on the 31st online as a mail in. This places them in Second place…and with enough AVG that even if ALL of the Underground mail-ins come in, they will not be able to beat that. THUSLY: The Final Standings can now be made official! Faction wins the title, $700 cash bonus, and a 4 issue commitment. Let’s hear it for Faction folks!
1.) Copies: 99 – [Mail: 6] DLs: 37 Bulk: 430 [8] People: 87 AVG: 163.25 – Faction
2.) Copies: 209 – [Mail:16] DLs: 32 Bulk: 263 [7] People: 85 AVG: 147.25 – White Rose
3.) Copies: 283 – [Mail:39] DLs: 9 Bulk: 28 [2] People: 186 AVG: 126.50 – The Underground
4.) Copies: 56 – [Mail: 3] DLs: 13 Bulk: 138 [1] People: 43 AVG: 62.50 – Varsity Squad

White Rose and Underground put up a heck of a fight, and the process taught us lots of new things as the new options in ordering and how we calculated the winner were put to the test. Varsity Squad comes in a respectable 4th, and we will follow up on all the runners up, who knows, there may be a place in SPA Comics for them yet. Michael Niziolek has already joined staff to Run Self Publisher! Magazine – watch for our first new issue any minute! We’ll be bringing the new Idol website up soon, and getting all the Idol information everyone wants presented in a really great new way. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is where we’re at today.

As the last grains of my sanity slowly drip away like the sand from an hourglass, I have time to pause and reflect on this crazy ride that has been Small press Idol 2009, and I’m reminded of the even longer ride that caused me to impulsively sign up for Idol back in March…

When I was about 5 or 6. I started making my own comics on loose-leaf paper and stapled them together to show to my friends.

Later when I was about 19, and a lot more serious, but not much more organized, I tossed all my artwork into a portfolio and took the train from Boston to New York for $19 (yeah it was that long ago). My plan was to walk into the offices of Marvel Comics unannounced and amaze them with my brilliance but it didn’t quite work out that way.

I got as far as a very nice receptionist who took my art and promised that Jim Shooter would look at it, and to come back at the end of the day. The concept of ‘submission guidelines’ was not something that had ever entered my brain at that point, but when I went back at the end of the day, that’s what I got a copy of, along with a very nice “try again after you’ve looked those over”.

I was actually kind of crushed by the whole experience. Not their fault at all, but more a result of my overinflated expectations at the tender age of nineteen. Back in those days of 1983 there was no easy-to-find support system for young comics artists or the massive sharing of knowledge that we have now. So I ended up drifting away from comics and art altogether and putting aside my thoughts of going to art school for many years.

It wasn’t until I got into animation in the 90′s that the creative spark was reawakened in me. I ended up going back to school and studying both digital and traditional animation for a couple of years. I got good feedback and critiques from both instructors and fellow students, and a more mature and temperate confidence began to grow in me. While working on animation storyboards for school projects, I found myself suddenly back working in a very similar visual language to my first love: comics. A few years and an economic-downturn-job-loss later, it was a very short hop to deciding to ‘go for it’ with my original childhood dream.

And that more or less brings us to today. With less than seven hours to go, I am strangely calm because I know that no matter how Idol turns out, I’ve finally jumped off of it, and that was the moment I touched down.

Thanks for your support,
George Burnett

SMALL PRESS IDOL 2009 ENDS at Midnight EST Tonight! (8/31)
We’re within shouting distance of first place! Order a copy below (either version helps me):

PRINT copy:
http://www.dimestoredistro.com/index.php/spa-comics/small-press-idol/2009/white-rose-0/p_2272.html
PDF copy:
http://www.dimestoredistro.com/index.php/spa-comics/small-press-idol/2009/white-rose-0/p_2273.html

and here’s the NOT-YET-FINAL standings…

**** Deadline Day REPORT **** from Ian Shires

Well, it was a hugely active weekend, and projects are solidly into record territory, blowing away all expectations of sales this year, and we still haven’t seen the full brunt of Retailer orders and Haven’s results.

Clearly, Idol has gone crazy in the best way possible for all the creators.

Not even going to bother analyzing these numbers, the race is obviously not over, and a lot of people are out in force to get entertained.

1.) Copies: 256 (+65) – [Mail:13] DLs: 7 (+1) Bulk: 5 [1] ( NC) People: 162 (+51) AVG: 107.5 – The Underground
2.) Copies: 167 (+12) – [Mail:17] DLs: 28 (+1) Bulk: 90 [4] (+45) People: 77 ( +8) AVG: 90.50 – White Rose
3.) Copies: 93 ( +5) – [Mail: 6] DLs: 33 (+6) Bulk: 130 [6] (+60) People: 79 (+10) AVG: 83.75 – Faction
4.) Copies: 51 ( +6) – [Mail: 3] DLs: 12 (+2) Bulk: 135 [1] ( NC) People: 38 ( +6) AVG: 59.00 – Varsity Squad
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*gasp* Aaarrggh! Now it’s a four-way race to the finish! White Rose is in trouble and needs your help!

Pay special attention to the AVG score in the numbers below – cause that’s the only one that matters in the end…

Order White Rose Today to help our score! EVERY copy counts! We need YOU to win Small Press Idol!
Get it Here: http://www.dimestoredistro.com/index.php?searchStr=white%20rose&_a=viewCat&Submit=Gol

Thanks!
George Burnett

*** IDOL 8/28 REPORT *** from Ian Shires

The numbers have gotten VERY interesting…on a few levels. The patterns of voting, and effects of those votes on the average system we put in place this year, is telling me more about each project than ever before. So that’s a good thing. For me, and for the contest, cause, the race is TIGHT, and that keeps people talking about it…and all of the projects are the winners then.

So! No actual place changes, but, hello Varsity Squad…proof positive that one bulk order can be a game changer. And we know we have multiple bulk orders to come, as the deadline races towards us.

But then of course, it raises the specter of that one order that can change the game, is that fair? And doesn’t that invite “buying” the contest? It’s something we’ll have to give further thought and development to for next year…as the retailers do seem to have all the power here. Exciting stuff though.

here’s today’s numbers!!! I’ll likely try to do one over the weekend, then Monday…we start the mail-in/retailer order watch for a few days…and should be able to announce a winner by next Friday….

1.) Copies: 171 (+20) – [Mail:13] DLs: 6 (NC) Bulk: 5 [1] ( NC) People: 93 (+13)
AVG: 68.75 – The Underground
2.) Copies: 137 (+11) – [Mail:15] DLs: 20 (+4) Bulk: 45 [4] ( NC) People: 58 ( +5)
AVG: 65.00 – White Rose
3.) Copies: 84 (+11) – [Mail: 5] DLs: 24 (+4) Bulk: 70 [4] ( NC) People: 62 ( +7)
AVG: 60.00 – Faction
4.) Copies: 33 ( +1) – [Mail: 3] DLs: 9 (NC) Bulk: 135 [1] (+135) People: 28 ( +1)
AVG: 51.25 – Varsity Squad

With only 6 days left, the competition is really heating up!

If you’d like to learn more about my entry in the contest, check out the preview of the cover and pages 5,6, & 7 in the menu on the left, and feel free to look thru the archives for other tidbits.

Also notice the big “Buy White Rose #0 Today!” button on the left when you are ready to order:)

Ordering , by the way takes place on the contest-host’s site: http://www.dimestoredistro.com

There are 2 versions to buy – a $2.00 PDF version and a printed version that will ship in September – it costs $3.50 plus shipping.

Here’s the current news from the contest’s host…

*** IDOL REPORT 8/26 *** by Ian Shires

Wow, that’s all I can say. It was a wild day in the round…and White Rose bounced back from getting knocked to third place, to reclaim first on the strength of many fans getting more than one copy each. Faction ALMOST trumped it with another solid retailer order – which, in the process, knocked The Underground, back to third…despite their own solid sales of multiple copies to a few individuals.

This is something we knew would be something to seriously watch, counting total copies instead of individuals…and the added mess of downloads and retailers is keeping everyone on their toes…but the real result seems to be, so far, the top 3 projects are all going to have a solid payday in September, as more copies of their #0′s go out to more people than ever before…and that’s the real goal of the contest: Career launching, so the battle is great fun to watch, and I think it’s really going to come down to the retailer orders that roll in at the last call.

I feel bad for Varsity Squad, which – despite doing better than the lowest R4 project last year, isn’t showing the interest and fight of the other projects. They only have a few days left to really turn on their A game and show the world they are an Idol project. We’ll see what happens!

1.) Copies: 124 (+45) – [Mail:14] DLs: 16 (+2) Bulk: 45 [4] ( NC) People: 51 (+10) AVG: 59.00 – White Rose
2.) Copies: 72 ( +1) – [Mail: 5] DLs: 20 (NC) Bulk: 70 [4] (+30) People: 55 ( +2) AVG: 54.25 – Faction
3.) Copies: 129 (+12) – [Mail: 9] DLs: 5 (NC) Bulk: 5 [1] ( NC) People: 69 ( +4) AVG: 52.00 – The Underground
4.) Copies: 30 ( NC) – [Mail: 3] DLs: 9 (NC) Bulk: 0 [0] ( NC) People: 26 ( NC) AVG: 16.25 – Varsity Squad
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