Q: Hey, I keep hearing about webcomics making money?  Is that possible?  Congrats on reaching your goal in 2009 and I hope you reach it in 2010.  You have given me lots of laughs and lots of inspiration.

A: First of all I highly recommend listening to the Webcomics Weekly podcasts (the older ones are here), and even buying the book. They cover tons of topics for the industry. Now then…

Making money with a webcomic is possible, but it’s not going to fall into your lap. It is work – a job. It is a small business – a cottage industry. A livable wage is an achievable goal, but it does take time and a little business savvy helps too.

Advertising is a good place to start. I currently have three ad spots on KiDDandGEEZER, but I’m only making pennies right now. The more people that come to your website, then the more advertisers will pay you. A popular webcomic could make $20,000/yr or more just in advertising alone. You need lots of page views to reach that point and only the top webcomics are doing it.

Then comes the merchandise. This could be your original art, prints of your art, book collections, buttons, t-shirts, or anything else your fans are willing to buy and you’re willing to produce. You can sell online and ship it out; but you need a fan base for this to work. Random people who stumble upon your comic are not likely to purchase anything.

You can also sell stuff live at conventions, book signings, on consignment, or wherever else you can think of. If one of your fans see it, they might be more inclined to buy it in person instead of buying online. You also have the chance of gaining new readers who might not be familiar with your comic. Random people might buy something they are holding in their hands. They buy it and then start reading online.

That’s really all it boils down to. The more fans you have – the better your chances for income. The part that becomes critical though, isn’t always how big your fan base is – but rather what kind of fans you have.

You could have 1,000,000,000 people reading your comic everyday, but never spending any money on product. They will still help you earn income from the advertising though. You could instead have 10,000 fans that want to purchase everything you touch. These are the ones you want. Hardcore fans that will spend money on you, but will also promote your comic to their friends and family and therefore bring in even more readers. At the bottom of each comic and blog post I have a link that says ‘Share This’ which allows a fan to email, twitter, or submit it to their favorite social site (hint, hint).

We all know the 80/20 rule though. Where 80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients. In comics though that might be a 99/1 rule instead. That is why growing your audience is so important. How to do that is a whole ‘nother discussion…

Thanks to Bo Lumpkin for the question. If you have a question, then e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!