We understand this past year has been tough, on some more than others. Let’s face it, the economy is poor and for many of us comics just hasn’t been yielding the return we all hoped for. Because of these factors, CAG is taking a bold new direction as we begin our 11th year.
Starting in January, we’ll be eliminating the annual dues. Instead, we’re becoming a donation-based organization. What does that mean? Simply put, anything you’d like to contribute we’ll happily take. Whether it’s $5 or $500, or even just contributing your time and talent to the group. This group was founded on a simple concept: several people with similar interests getting together and maybe making some magic happen. We want to return to that concept, and we want to keep (and maybe get back) those of you whose financial situation might have gotten in the way of you getting, and enjoying, everything this group is about.
As a result, this change will bring about a change to the publication structure. As CAG will no longer have money on hand with the elimination of the dues, this will not only be the first step to getting away from the publisher status the group was never meant to have, but also present a bit of a challenge in how we’ll be getting your work out there. The first step is that all future publications will be released initially online in a paid downloadable format on every available device we can get to. Will we see much of a profit from this? Who knows. But this gives us the perfect excuse to finally embrace the digital age of our profession, which we here truly believe will be both the future and salvation of the industry. Any money received from the downloads will go towards the physical publication a few months after that.
However, the download money will only get us so far. As such, we’ll be running the publications very similar to our convention structure (which will not be changing). Basically, we’ll be asking participants in the books to contribute an equal share towards the printing and releasing of the books. Why should you? Glad you asked. It’s simple mathematics: if you self-publish a book, you incur all of the cost and risk, sometimes with little to no return. Those of you who have self-published before know it’s not cheap, and not getting any cheaper. This new model embraces the cooperative CAG was envisioned as being. By being a small part of the whole, you’re actually putting less money out there which means a better chance of a return.
Additionally, having published work is still a plus when it comes to approaching editors as compared to just a portfolio. We’ll also be switching to a print on demand printer to allow everyone the ability to get as many books as they want themselves without relying on the middle man.
This is it in a nutshell, the new CAG. It’s been a great 10 years, and we’re hoping you’ll be with us for another 10 as we continue to take the group to new and exciting places. We also understand there might be some questions and concerns about all the mentioned changes, so feel free to ask us and we’ll try our best to answer them all to your satisfaction.
Sincerely,
CAG LEADERSHIP TEAM
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