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44-537: Laird founded the Foundation after considerable thought, as "an appropriate way to give back something extra to the comics world," by providing grants for self-publishers. Laird stated that the Xeric Foundation is "actually two foundations in one. One half of it is for charitable organizations, and the other half is for creators who want to self-publish their comics." The latter half is what the foundation

88-476: A vanity press , which was costly and acted as a barrier to publication. Now, ebooks can be published at virtually no cost and the market has been flooded with poorly produced books. One blogger estimated that as much as 70% of self-published books are so bad, they are unreadable. However, some self-published authors are now taking a professional approach, using services like critique groups, beta readers , professional editors and designers to polish their work to

132-704: A B.A. in Art History in 1989. Shortly after graduating from college, he spent over a year backpacking with his then-girlfriend (now his wife) through Southeast Asia and Central Europe, and living for a period in the Czech Republic. As a child, Neufeld's influences were Belgian cartoonist Hergé 's The Adventures of Tintin , Goscinny & Uderzo 's Asterix , and the Curt Swan - Murphy Anderson issues of Action Comics and Superman . Later in life, as he gravitated toward alternative comics, Neufeld

176-490: A digital library, an e-book and audiobook subscription service. Smashwords is a California-based company founded by Mark Coker which allows authors and independent publishers to upload their manuscripts electronically to the Smashwords service, which then converts them into multiple e-book formats which can be read on various devices. A major development in this century has been the growth of web fiction . A common type

220-414: A number of their plays into comic book form. He has also collaborated with writer Eileen Myles , and Neufeld's mother, artist Martha Rosler . A special issue (subtitled "Of Two Minds") of Neufeld's comics series The Vagabonds was dedicated to his many collaborations. Neufeld collaborated with journalist Brooke Gladstone on The Influencing Machine , published by W.W. Norton . Gladstone describes

264-415: A one-stop shop where an author can source a whole range of services required to self-publish a book (sometimes called "Assisted Self-publishing Providers" or "Self-publishing Service Providers"). Not to be confused with: It has been suggested that the best test for whether a company offers "Assisted Self-publishing Services" or "Hybrid/vanity publishing" is to apply a variant of "Yog's Law", which states

308-547: A professional standard equivalent to traditional publishing. Such authors are achieving success equivalent to traditionally published writers, lending respectability to self-publishing. Self-publishing is also common among editors of academic journals . The study showed that a quarter of them publish 10% of their own articles in the same journals they edit (which is problematic for ethical reasons). A huge impetus to self-publishing has been rapid advances in technology. Print-On-Demand (or POD) technology, which became available in

352-599: A self-published book, Katrina Came Calling (2006). Later, Neufeld was asked to write the introduction to a book called Signs of Life: Surviving Katrina , a collection of photos of the hand-made signs that appeared in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina. Profits from sales of the book went two organizations still working in the area: Common Ground Relief and Hands On Network . In 2007–2008, Neufeld wrote and drew A.D.: New Orleans After

396-507: A self-published mini-comic called Mortgage Your Soul ). Neufeld's collaborations with writers from outside the traditional comics world tend to be formalist and experimental in spirit. He has adapted a number of poet Nick Flynn 's pieces into comics, which have appeared in various literary journals and websites. Neufeld is an Associate Artist with the New York-based theatre collective The Civilians , and has adapted portions of

440-551: A tenth of the average price of a printed book. Shanda Literature Ltd. is an online publishing company that claims to publish 8,000 Chinese literary works daily. Joara is S. Korea's largest web novel platform with 1.1 million members, 140,000 writers, an average of 2,400 serials per day and 420,000 works. Joara's users have almost the same gender ratio, and both fantasy and romance genres are popular. While most self-published books do not make much money, there are self-published authors who have achieved success, particularly in

484-601: A three-week residency for mid-career cartoonists. Neufeld is also a comics educator. He is on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts , as well as the faculty of Michigan State University . He is the lead faculty mentor for the Comics & Graphic Narratives concentration at the Solstice Low-Residency MFA Program of Lasell University . He was a visiting professor at CUNY Queens College in

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528-425: Is best known for. The Xeric Foundation supported work of an alternative or non-"mainstream" nature, reasoning that if a comic had strong commercial appeal, it would be picked up by one of the major publishers. The Foundation was an extremely valuable supporter of "art for art's sake" comics, and helped launch the careers of a number of "literary" cartoonists. The Foundation assisted comic book creators with some of

572-468: Is not a new phenomenon, dating back to the 18th century, it has transformed during the internet age with new technologies and services providing increasing alternatives to traditional publishing, becoming a $ 1 billion market. However, with the increased ease of publishing and the range of services available, confusion has arisen as to what constitutes self-publishing. In 2022, the Society of Authors and

616-406: Is run by Ingram Content Group . Kindle Direct Publishing or KDP is Amazon's e-book publishing unit ( see main article ) Kobo is a Canadian company which sells e-books, audiobooks, e-readers and tablet computers which originated as a cloud e-reading service. Lulu is an online print-on-demand, self-publishing and distribution platform. Scribd is an open publishing platform which features

660-434: Is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher . The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using print on demand technology. It may also apply to albums, pamphlets, brochures, games, video content, artwork, and zines . Web fiction is also a major medium for self-publishing. Although self-publishing

704-636: Is the creator of the comic book series The Vagabonds (published by Alternative Comics ), and co-creator (with high school friend Dean Haspiel ) of Keyhole ( Millennium/Modern and Top Shelf Productions ) and (with R. Walker ) Titans of Finance: True Tales of Money and Business (Alternative Comics). In 2005, shortly after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast , Neufeld spent three weeks as an American Red Cross volunteer in Biloxi, Mississippi . The blog he kept about that experience turned into

748-647: Is the web serial . Unlike most modern novels, web fiction novels are frequently published in parts over time. Web fiction is especially popular in China, with revenues topping US$ 2.5 billion, as well as in South Korea . Online literature in China plays a much more important role than in the United States and the rest of the world. Most books are available online, where the most popular novels find millions of readers. They cost an average of 2 CNY, or roughly

792-784: Is the writer/artist of A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge , and the illustrator of The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media . Born in New York to parents Leonard Neufeld and artist Martha Rosler , Neufeld spent most of his youth in California (San Diego and San Francisco), and then moved back to New York City during his teenage years. He graduated from the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School in 1985 and Oberlin College with

836-633: The Wall Street Journal , Forbes , Nickelodeon Magazine , the Austin American-Statesman , the Washington City Paper , New York Press , and many other publications. Neufeld was one of the founding members of the online comics collective ACT-I-VATE . In 2014 he joined the comics collective Hang Dai Editions (of whose founding members was his long-time friend Dean Haspiel ). Neufeld co-wrote

880-488: The Toronto Star , and National Public Radio's "News & Notes". Through this work, and his later collaboration, The Influencing Machine , Neufeld leads an intense reflection about the way the media treats information. In May 2008, it was announced that a four-color hardcover edition of A.D. would be published by Pantheon Graphic Novels . The book included 25% more story and art, as well as extensive revisions to

924-680: The iPhone , the iPod Touch handheld computer, and the iPad . Apple pays authors 70 percent of its proceeds at its Apple iBookstore where it sells iBooks . Barnes & Noble pays 65 percent of the list price of e-books purchased through its online store called Pubit. Books on Demand  [ de ; fr ; fi ] GmbH BoD (2001; since 1997 as Libri GmbH), is the "original" in self-publishing. IngramSpark lets authors publish digital, hardback and paperback editions of their books. It distributes books to most online bookstores. Bricks-and-mortar stores can also order books from IngramSpark at wholesale prices for sale in their own venues. It

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968-557: The " motion comics " element of the ABC News documentary Earth 2100 , which premiered on ABC on June 2, 2009. Neufeld worked on the sections of the documentary dealing with the fictional character "Lucy," who witnesses the apocalyptic effects of climate change and societal upheaval during the course of the 21st century. His comics were introduced in France through Angoulême's International Comic Festival in 2012 and 2015. Neufeld

1012-627: The Deluge , an online graphic novel serialized on SMITH Magazine . A.D. tells the real stories of seven New Orleans residents and their experiences during and after Hurricane Katrina. A.D. received extensive press coverage, including in such venues as the Los Angeles Times , the New Orleans Times-Picayune , the Atlanta Journal-Constitution , Rolling Stone , Wired.com, BoingBoing ,

1056-553: The Kindle and its self-publishing platform, Kindle Direct Publishing or KDP, in 2007 has been described as a tipping point in self-publishing, which "opened the floodgates" for self-publishing authors. The Espresso Book Machine (a POD device) was first demonstrated at the New York Public Library in 2007. This machine prints, collates, covers, and binds a single book. It is in libraries and bookstores throughout

1100-594: The Writers Guild of Great Britain produced a free downloadable guide to the various distinct types of publishing currently available. In self publishing, authors publish their own book. It is possible for an author to single-handedly carry out the whole process. However increasingly, authors are recognizing that to compete effectively, they need to produce a high quality product, and they are engaging professionals for specific services as needed (such as editors or cover designers). A growing number of companies offer

1144-1303: The arts. Citing the changing nature of the comics industry, and specifically the ability of cartoonists to publish their work online, founder Laird announced the shift. One round of final grants was awarded in May 2012. Altogether, the Xeric Foundation has awarded in excess of $ 2,500,000 since its first grant cycle. Notable past winners of the Xeric Grant include Megan Kelso (1993), David Lasky (1993), Jason Lutes (1993), Adrian Tomine (1993), Tom Hart (1994), Jessica Abel (1995), Bebe Williams (1995), James Sturm (1996), Ellen Forney (1997), Jim Ottaviani (1997), Gene Yang (1997), Dawn Brown (1998), Jason Little (1998), David Choe (1999), Nick Bertozzi (1999), Jason Shiga (1999), Farel Dalrymple (2000), Anders Nilsen (2000), Leland Purvis (2000), Jordan Crane (2001), Brian Ralph (2001), Hans Rickheit (2001), Donna Barr (2002), Derek Kirk Kim (2002), Sonny Liew (2002), Lauren Weinstein (2002), Josh Neufeld (2004), Karl Stevens (2004), Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey (2004), David Heatley (2005), Jeff Lemire (2005), Jesse Moynihan (2006), and Blaise Larmee (2009). Self-publish Self-publishing

1188-471: The basic funding of the Xeric Foundation, then the amount of money that can be given out can really be raised significantly. He hoped that ultimately the figure can be raised from "thousands of dollars" to "hundreds of thousands of dollars," to support an increasing number of large and small projects. In July 2011, the Foundation announced it would no longer award publishing grants, but would focus on charitable work like fostering environmentalism, literacy, and

1232-458: The best ones are published nationwide; authors do not make money this way but it serves as a marketing tool. In order to be purchased by a customer, the completed book must be hosted on a publishing platform. Amazon's Kindle is the largest of these but there are others. Apple sells books via its App Store which is a digital distribution platform for its mobile apps on its iOS operating system. Apps can be downloaded to its devices such as

1276-483: The book as "a treatise on the relationship between us and the news media, ... a manifesto on the role of the press in American history as told through a cartoon version of [me] that would preside over each page." The Influencing Machine was released in hardcover in May 2011. A paperback edition with a new cover was released in May 2012. A tenth anniversary edition, with a new cover, interior revisions, new material, and

1320-514: The book has sold over 18 million copies. In 1941, writer Virginia Woolf chose to self-publish her final novel Between the Acts on her Hogarth Press , in effect starting her own press. Self-publication was also known in music: Joseph Haydn self-published his oratorio The Creation in 1800. Five years ago, self-publishing was a scar. Now it's a tattoo. Traditional book publishers are selective in what they publish, and they reject most of

1364-451: The costs in self-publishing their work; it was not the Foundation's intention to fully support an artist/writer through the entire process of self-publishing, but rather to encourage creators to experience the learning process involved in working towards such a goal. The creative side of the Foundation involved the usual application process, but in addition, the Foundation began with "an advisory committee made up of three ... people working in

Xeric Foundation - Misplaced Pages Continue

1408-456: The early years of online self-publishing. The number of authors who had sold more than one million e-books on Amazon from 2011 to 2016 was 40, according to one estimate. Josh Neufeld Josh Neufeld (born August 9, 1967) is an alternative cartoonist known for his comics journalism work on subjects like graphic medicine , equity, and technology; as well as his collaborations with writers like Harvey Pekar and Brooke Gladstone . He

1452-553: The first two volumes of Tristram Shandy . In 1908, Ezra Pound sold A Lume Spento for six pence each. Franklin Hiram King 's book Farmers of Forty Centuries was self-published in 1911, and was subsequently published commercially. In 1931, Irma S. Rombauer , the author of The Joy of Cooking paid a local printing company to print 3000 copies; the Bobbs-Merrill Company acquired the rights, and since then

1496-712: The following: Therefore if a company offers services to the author without claiming any rights, and allows the author to control the entire process, they are assisting the author to self-publish. Whereas if the company takes some rights, and/or takes control of artistic decisions, they are a hybrid publisher or a vanity publisher, depending on the degree of involvement. Historically, some authors have chosen to self-publish. Successful examples are John Locke , Jane Austen , Emily Dickinson , Nathaniel Hawthorne , Martin Luther , Marcel Proust , Derek Walcott , and Walt Whitman . In 1759, British satirist Laurence Sterne self-published

1540-462: The foundation." The Foundation's first grant cycle was in September 1992, with the first recipients being Robert Eaton , Michael Kasper , Jeff Nicholson , and Wayne Wise & Fred Wheaton . In 1993 Laird discussed the Foundation's projected lifespan: ... knock on wood , God willing, and the creek don't rise , if we go on for another couple of decades, and I'm able to put more money into

1584-473: The industry" whose input is sought on how best to proceed with each application. Submissions were evaluated prior to Laird's involvement, and then he made the ultimate decisions based on their recommendations. Laird founded the Xeric Foundation in 1992, the name "originat[ing] out of a Scrabble game with [Laird's] brother Don," " Xeric " simply being "a word [he] like[d]," literally meaning " dry and desertlike " but which "has absolutely no direct connection with

1628-415: The manuscripts submitted to them. After selection, they then assign an editor to polish the work even further, a proof-reader to check for errors, and a book designer to produce the cover . It can be challenging for a self-publishing author to produce a book to traditional professional standards. Before the advent of the internet and POD (Print on Demand) , most self-publishing authors had to resort to

1672-687: The material from the webcomic. Debuting on August 18, 2009, shortly before Hurricane Katrina's fourth anniversary, A.D. went on to become a New York Times bestseller. His comics have also been published in The Boston Globe , the Chicago Sun-Times , Columbia Journalism Review , World War 3 Illustrated , FSB , The Village Voice , The Chicago Reader , In These Times , and many other venues. Neufeld's illustrations have appeared in The New York Times ,

1716-499: The mid-1990s, makes it possible for a book to be printed after an order has been placed, so there are no costs for storing inventory. Further, the Internet provides access to global distribution channels via online retailers, so a self-published book can be instantly available to book buyers worldwide. Advances in e-book readers and tablet computers have improved readability, making ebooks more popular. Amazon's introduction of

1760-638: The program; in October he visited Egypt , Algeria , Bahrain , and Israel / Palestine as part of the same program. Neufeld was a 2012–2013 Knight-Wallace Fellow in journalism at the University of Michigan ; he was the first so-called " comics journalist " to be awarded a Knight-Wallace Fellowship. In October 2014, Neufeld was a Master Artist at the Atlantic Center for the Arts , where he led

1804-543: The spring of 2017, and returned in the same role in spring 2020. Neufeld currently resides with his wife, the writer Sari Wilson , and their daughter, in Brooklyn, New York . Neufeld was awarded a 2004 grant from the Xeric Foundation for his graphic novel, A Few Perfect Hours (and Other Stories From Southeast Asia & Central Europe ) , a collection of real-life stories about his travel experiences. He

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1848-544: The world, and it can make copies of out-of-print editions. Small bookstores sometimes use it to compete with large bookstore chains. It works by taking two pdf files, one for the text and one for the cover, and then prints an entire paperback book in a matter of minutes, which then drops down a chute. The Library Journal and Biblioboard worked together to create a self-publishing platform called Self-e in which authors submitted books online which were made available to readers. These books are reviewed by Library Journal , and

1892-634: Was a long-time artist for Pekar’s American Splendor , and has collaborated with many writers from outside the comics world, including poets, memoirists, and theatre groups. Other comics writers Neufeld has illustrated stories for include Pekar's wife Joyce Brabner (in American Splendor ), and Greenberger in Duplex Planet Illustrated (published by Fantagraphics ), R. Walker (in Titans of Finance ), and Peter Ross (in

1936-553: Was inspired by the writing and work of Scott McCloud , Chris Ware , and Dan Clowes ; and the real-life stories of Joe Sacco , Harvey Pekar , and David Greenberger . In 2010, Neufeld was invited to act as a representative of the United States Department of State 's Speaker and Specialist program , which sends Americans abroad as cultural "ambassadors." In March 2010, Neufeld spent two weeks in Burma as part of

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