BentoComics.com – A New Online-Publishing Model?

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Hi all, long time no update. I’ve finished the 2nd Odd Thomas book (due this Halloween), and have several projects in the works, but right now I’d like to show you all a website my friends and I have been working on for the past few years. Heck, from all the hype about ebooks and the iPad these past few months, I might even presume to call it a new business-model for book publishing.

The site is called Bento Comics, and there’s a write-up here on Robot6, with a encouraging comment by well-known superhero writer Kurt Busiek (wow). “Bento” is the Japanese word for a mix-and-match lunchbox, and that’s exactly what our site does. Read on.

 

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What is BentoComics.com?

BentoComics.com is a Print-On-Demand site. What “print-on-demand” means is that YOU, the buyer, gets to choose a book you want online, print one (or more) copies at a book printing company, then have the books mailed to you.

Instead of having to go to the bookstore to buy your books (or at online bookstores like Amazon.com), you can get both printing and mailing done online. So in summary:

 

  • Read comics on the site for free
  • Collect these comics into your own personalised book,
  • Print a single (or more) copy of your book, and have it
  • Delivered to your doorstep

 

BentoComics.com piggybacks off Lulu.com, a printing company that specialises in self-publishing. The technology to print a single book at a low cost already exists, and Lulu.com takes it up a notch by printing your one (or two or whatever) copies, and mailing it directly to you.

 

 

How much does it cost? Is it expensive?

It’s actually quite cheap. It’s approximately USD$13 for a 170-page book, personalised by you, plus an additional US$4 for shipping (USD$8 for international). Both Lulu and Bento Comics make a profit off this pricing model. Lulu accepts both Paypal and credit cards as payment.

Here’s a table of costs:

 

  • a 32 page book will cost $7.78
  • a 64 page book will cost $9.06
  • a 100 page book will cost $10.50
  • a 150 page book will cost $12.50
  • a 200 page book will cost $14.50
  • a 300 page book will cost $18.50
  • a 400 page book will cost $22.50
  • a 500 page book will cost $26.50
  • a 600 page book will cost $30.50
  • a 740 page book will cost $36.10

 

Once you register at BentoComics.com and Lulu.com, you can start compiling and ordering your books. Once you place an order, it’ll take 3-5 days to print, and then it’ll be delivered to you. I live in Sydney, Australia and it took 1 week for me to order and receive the book – not saying this short delivery time is guaranteed, but that’s my experience.

 

 

Are there e-books available?

Yes, I made e-books for all my stories. Right now I only have 1 story, called Ten Years Ago Today on BentoComics.com, but I have a total of 8 other stories chosen from queeniechan.com that I want to make available for print/download, and I’ll be putting up a story every weekend for the next 2 months. You can download the e-book for that here – it’s a link on the right-hand side of the page, where I say “e-book available in .epub”. Feedback welcome.

The e-book is DRM-free, and in ePub format, which means it’s readable on all PCs and e-readers EXCEPT the Kindle. I want to charge USD$0.99 for the e-book (like iTunes), but right now the system isn’t yet in place, so you can download it for free.

If you have only a PC or Mac, and no e-reader of any kind, you can still read e-books on your PC. Here’s 2 programs you can download: The Adobe Acrobat eReader, and the Barnes and Noble eReader. They’re both not that great at reading JPEG files, but they will do for the time being.

 

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Why Print-On-Demand books? Isn’t e-books the Way of the Future?

E-books will undoubtedly be huge, but to think that they’ll completely replace paper books is as wrong as the idea of the “paperless office” circa 1997. Books, as media, are different to music and movies.

The idea of a “book” has been around for as long as writing has, whether it’s papyrus scrolls, clay tablets or animal skins. Conversely, what we understand to be “music” and “movies” refer specifically to storage mediums – technological devices that can store and retrieve experiences for playback. This is a strictly 20th Century invention. Unlike books, music and movies have always been intangible experiences. So when people go on about the “feel” and “texture” of a book, and “curling up with a book in bed”, they’re talking about something REAL, and for some people, something irreplaceable.

But then Bento Comics isn’t about whether e-books or paper books are better.

It’s About Giving Readers a CHOICE

There’s no reason why e-books and paper books can’t co-exist together. I can think of many books on my bookshelf that I love, and can’t live without the paper version of (I’d like the e-book version too). Conversely, I can think of many books on the same shelf that I merely like, and given the choice would have just bought the cheaper e-book version. Certainly, whether I want an e-book version, or a paper book version of something (or both) – should be up to ME to decide?

So, what Bento Comics is about, is content as both service and product, as opposed to the old idea, of just content as product. Content refers to what the consumer is buying – a Beatles song, a crime thriller novel, a vampire movie. Pre-Internet, it was about packaging the content in a particular way (which the consumer DOESN’T get to choose), and then sending the 12-track CD, 700-page thriller with a red, black and blue cover, and a 2-DVD-pack-with-extras to the appropriate distribution channels. I see that as “content as product”.

Content as service, as you may imagine, is about not just about the delivery channel (I buy my books at Kinokuniya, sometimes Amazon.com), but about the FORM the product comes in. Maybe I’ll buy THIS book as a normal paper book, and buy this other book in e-book format. Maybe today I’ll buy a book online and get it mailed to me, while tomorrow I get some other book when I go by Kinokuniya. Providing the customer with all these formats and choices, is in itself, a SERVICE (At least that’s how I see it).

If you want to find out more, I suggest going to the About Page, or better yet, making an account at Bento Comics and testing the system out yourself. We’ve tested it and it works as it’s supposed to, and we’re all interested in feedback.

Boy’s Book of Positive Quototions

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Hi all! This book is available on the shelves now and on Amazon.com, and it’s a fantastic gift item for the upcoming Christmas season – the “Boy’s Book of Positive Quotations”, written by Steve Deger and illustrated by Yours Truly. As the title suggests, it’s a book of uplifting quotations, perfect for young boys (but just about anybody), with 33 short self-contained comics interspersed throughout.

 

It’s a 4″ x 6″ bound hardcover book and a super cute gift item, and available from typical bookstores and also Wal-mart. I worked on this from January till May this year, and now that it’s finally on the market with a trailer of awesomeness *points down* that I get to urge you all to get a copy of this book. It’s part of a best-selling inspirational book series, and the first one to have comic inserts – certainly this can only be a good thing for everyone. Watch the trailer down below for all the relevant info, and visit Jazma Online’s interview with Steve Deger and me.

 

 

Some random quotes from the book (and this is a thick book):

 

A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle
– Benjamin Franklin, Inventor, statesman and US founding father

 

Any life truly lived is a risky business, and if one puts up too many fences against the risks one ends by shutting out life itself
– Kenneth S. Davis, Historian

 

Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn’t mean he lacks vision
– Stevie Wonder, Award-winning blind singer and song-writer

 

Below are some bios of the people involved in making the video trailer. Considering how awesome the trailer is, by all means check out their websites and their other works! Oh, as for me, I’m finishing the last 1/3 of “Odd Is On Our Side”. Definitely better than the first book, it is!

 
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Steve Deger is a bestselling inspirational author. He is the co-creator of the Positive Quotation series, which has sold more than half a million copies and spent more than two years on the U.S. bestseller charts for reference, self-help, and young adult nonfiction. He is the book publisher at Fairview Press, whose authors have been featured on Oprah, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the Today show, and in hundreds of other media outlets. Steve lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Information on the Boy’s Book of Positive Quotations can be found at http://www.fairviewpress.org/
 
 
Lindsey Testolin is a New York filmmaker whose work has been screened or featured in venues such as the Sundance Film Festival, the Vienna Independent Short Films Festival, the Melbourne International Animation Festival and the New Zealand Film Festival. She won two Telly Awards for her direction of Dan Pink’s book trailer “The Adventures of Johnny Bunko”, which featured manga artwork by Rob Ten Pas, who won the Grand Prize Award in TokyoPop’s Rising Stars of Manga competition. Visit Lindsey’s website at http://www.lindseytestolin.com/ .

 
 

The Blind Shake is a punk/fuzz rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Brothers Jim and Mike Blaha—along with Dave Roper—started The Blind Shake and released their first recording in 2004. They have gone on to release two full length albums and a handful of 7″ records with Indie label Learning Curve Records. In 2009, they released a split album called “Cold Town/Soft Zodiac” with noise rock icon Michael Yonkers, whose 1968 album “Microminiature Love” was re-released in 2003 by Seattle’s legendary SubPop records . Visit their website at www.theblindshake.com or hear an archived public radio interview and studio session at: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/08/03/the_blind_shake/ .

The Sound of Scents: Forget-Me-Not

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Hi all, finally some time for the updates in my life!

Firstly, I’m halfway through the “In Odd We Trust” sequel, called “Odd Is On Our Side”. It’s still going to be out just before Halloween in 2010, so there’s little point in talking about it now, when it’s not even Halloween 2009. I’ve also finished a series of short one-shots (in May) for a book called “Boy’s Book of Positive Quotations”, which is exactly as it says – a book of positive quotations. It’s not yet out on the shelves as far as I know, but I’ll post something up when it is.

Yen Plus Anthology: What’s really post-worthy is that I have a 33-page short story called “Forget-Me-Not” coming up in the July edition of Yen Plus, the manga anthology from Yen Press. It’s a story set in Mythical Ancient China, and concerns the adventures of a “Scent Merchant”. To find out what that is, read the story! It should be out in stores this month.

Here are the first 2 pages of the story, and some concept art of the “Scent Merchant” himself.

 

Forget-Me-Not - Page 1
 

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Forget-Me-Not - Page 2
 

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Scent Merchant
 

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Scent Merchant - Full
 

This story was finished way back in January, with the creative process having started in September 2008. I guess most people might have guessed by now – this means that the Yen Plus anthology is accepting short story submissions, of about 30 pages in length, and has been planning to for some time. Buy the July issue to find out more!

 

Back After an Absence…

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Hi, everyone. Yes, I haven’t posted for a long time, mostly out of sheer laziness, but now I think it’s time I give a bit of update on what I’m doing. But mostly, it’s to announce that I’ll be making a presentation at a library this Wednesday, the 25th February. Below are the details:

 

  • Where: Coburg Library – Cnr of Victoria St & Louisa St, Coburg Melbourne.
  • When: Wednesday, 25th February, 7:00pm.
  • What: Me, talking about my work. Yah! So if you have questions for me, or is just interested in a manga talk, come along!

 

Other Work: I’m currently working on the sequel to “In Odd We Trust”. I’m doing the art on this 160-page book, and it’s a Halloween story planned for a 2010 release. One of the working titles for the book was originally “Odd and the Pumpkins of Doom”, which I adore, but we stuck with the more sobering “Odd Is On Our Side” instead. Dang.

I’m also working on a quotations book, which has a series of short manga inserts. It’s a “Boy’s Book of Positive Quotations” (interesting), and I guess you’ll hear more about it as work comes along.