Toon Books, the children’s book line created by Pulitzer Prize winning Art Spiegleman and Francois Mouly will release Little Mouse from Bone creator Jeff Smith.

TOON Books are the first high-quality comics designed for children ages four and up. Each book in the collection is just right for reading to the youngest child but perhaps more remarkable: this is the first collection ever designed to offer newly-emerging readers comics they can read themselves. Each TOON book has been vetted by educators to ensure that the language and the narratives will nurture young minds. Our books feature original stories and characters created by veteran children’s book authors, renowned cartoonists and new talents, all applying their extraordinary skills to fascinate young children with clearly told tales that will welcome them to the magic of reading.

From the press release at ICV2:

Little Mouse, which will street September 7th, tells the story of the title character’s simple pleasures in getting ready to go to the barn. He has to master all the intricacies of getting dressed, from snaps and buttons to Velcro and tail holes.

From the Press Release:

Due to an unprecedented number of unsolicited art and writing submissions, Marvel has altered its open submissions policy effective immediately. Marvel has remained the only major publisher to continue accepting open submissions, however that practice has been halted as we review our strategies for accepting future submissions.

Marvel has a proven track record of attracting new and emerging talent and does not plan on ending those efforts in any way.

“If you look at our track record over the last 18 months, I think you’ll find the names of more new writers and artists in Marvel books than ever before. Maybe more than at any other major comic book publisher, as a matter of fact,” says Marvel Talent Liaison C.B. Cebulski. “We pride ourselves on finding new voices and artistic styles to help us shape the Marvel Universe in original and exciting ways. And while the hunt for new artistic resources to help us ever expand the Marvel mythos will continue, we’ll just be going about it in different ways. We’ve examined all our past practices concerning talent recruitment and it quickly became clear that more ‘reactive’ methods such as open submissions were the least effective ways to open the Marvel door for up-and-comers. So instead we’ll be continuing with the more ‘proactive’ methods of artist and writer discovery that we’ve found so successful of late, including some soon-to-be-announced new outlets.”

While the open submissions policy has ceased, Marvel will continue its active recruitment of artists through its Talent Management department. Artists are also encouraged to bring portfolios for review to the major conventions at which Marvel will have a presence this year.

Talent Coordinator for Marvel, Chris Allo adds, “In regards to finding new artists, we in the Talent Management department will still continue to look at online websites such as Deviant Art, Comic Art Community, as well as comic art blogs, and other related sites. Online comics are rapidly becoming a source for scouting as well. And, of course, we will still go to the comic book stores on Wednesdays and see what new artists are out there working for other companies and on independent books.”

With the successful discovery and publishing of writers in the fields of comics as well as TV, film and literature, Marvel will continue to search out new voices in all published fields, as we have for the past number of years.

As new media and means of publishing comics on the web as well as small and independent press, we encourage all new creators to continue honing their craft by using all of the tools available during this time. Marvel will be announcing a new submissions policy in the near future.

Hodge, Crusader for Justice, has given me kind permission to post this very interesting list of tips for spotting the bad guys, the scammers, the big promise – little delivery types who waste your time and weasel your money.

It’s just plain good advice for anyone who doesn’t want to lose their shirt to a huckster…

Common Features of a Fraudster

* Dictator
* Promiser
* Bearer of gifts
* Charmer
* Entertainer
* Never there
* Excessively secretive
* Permanently short of money
* Living beyond their means
* High roller
* Bad business record
* Imply victim is stupid if asks explanation of anomalies in fraudster’s patter
* Manipulative
* Psychopath
* Believe themselves to be a victim of conspiracy

Key tips to managing a Fraud

* Manage problem
* be decisive
* Have an action plan
* What do you want to achieve?
* money?
* Identification of culprit(s)?
* Zero tolerance policy?
* Publicity?
* Principle?
* Call any advisors you have early
* Gather evidence
* bottom out problem / black hole
* Asset search
* Injunction
* Stamina
* Reality check on expectations
* The money is rarely found overnight
* Expect endless/pointless delays
* Often late instruction of lawyer / change of lawyer

DON’T

* Bury head in sand
* Sit on the problem
* think it will go away
* think it won’t get worse
* Be emotional

I’m looking at the first list, and hanging my head in shame. Yep. I have dealt with people who fit almost every single item on it. It’s like some kind of amazing light going off…entertainer, promiser, dictator, bearer of gifts, short of money, bad business record, living beyond means, high roller…etc.

Gasp! I could paint that portrait!

And I hang my head even deeper in shame because I am the person who sits on the problem, hopes it goes away, and hopes it won’t get worse.

(more…)

I like free online goodies as much as the next person (though pirated films, books and music make my hair go the wrong way.)

However, never one to flinch from looking a gift horse in the mouth, I can’t stand the text versions of many of the free online books. The formatting is unattractive, and the lousy legibility gives me a headache. My thrill at Project Gutenberg evaporated as I realized I could not manage to get through almost any of the online books there because of the formatting.

If you’re having the same problem, you might want to try E Book TakeAway.com instead.

Not only are there thousands of books by classic authors to have for your very own, but they are in attractive, easy-to-read PDF files.

I was delighted to find The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Nibelung by William Morris, but the Andrew Lang Fairy books are there, too. It took me ages to find hard copies of these and I have never managed to track down the complete Andrew Lang collection at a good price. It gives me a pang to have to read them without the glorious pictures (the files have no illustrations), but fairy tale enthusiasts will enjoy having hundreds of stories at their computer fingertips with these.

I’ve got a small library on my computer right now and have been enjoying Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth all week.

It’s lovely to be able to get these books, and know that I am not picking the pocket of some poor author to do so. I am not spending moolah on a dead author. I can reserve my cash for the living authors who need it, and now have a much bigger budget to spend on books I want to keep in good editions. No more annoying, cheap paperback classics! At $5 a whack, those things add up. I used to spend at least a couple hundred bucks a year on classic paperbacks, and now I don’t need to.

I’m sure the pockets of many publishers are groaning these days: no more easy money to be had cranking out classics year after year! I’m sure most people will just download their Plato. You can also find the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, and many other popular authors.

And unlike some of these other free ebook resources, you get them in a format you can actually see.

PS: I am having connectivity issues due to a winter storm which has decided to obliterate the gardens which have decided it is spring. So, if I can’t answer email in a timely fashion, it’s nothing personal. The storm is supposed to last a couple of days. My apologies.

There are some drawbacks to this internet thing…

c

August company. I am extremely flattered to be on the same cover with these people. But alas, this is the final issue of Write Now. A real shame, these were good magazines. Is there an online alternative in their future?

You can get it at the publisher’s website. You can also buy any back issue at great discounts, or go whole hog and get the lot for $67.50.

Here’s a podcast interview with editor Danny Fingeroth. Do check it out. Danny has lots of interesting things to say about the industry.

Not a stretch to suggest that many magazines of this sort will be going home to Jesus. It’s all online now. But how to finance the new model?

Online, there’s no big bucks needed for printing, and you reach tens of thousands of people easily. Every day is a convention. But you have to be pulling in thousands of hits every day to really make money on ads.

I am often asked how much traffic I get and if I make any money at this blog thing. It’s hard for the average reader to tell what we’re getting from looking at Alexa or Technorati (especially since the recent revamp and move destroyed our stat rankings.) Comments are no indication of traffic, either. This Neil Gaiman photo from last month got 5,000 hits in two days, and only eight comments. Neil’s Twitter link sent so many people here, we overloaded the very unhappy server.

(FYI: People tend to comment more when they argue, actually, so if I were to post something vile implying Neil Gaiman supports child molesters because he stands up for free speech issues, as opposed to my posting cute photos of Neil, we’d get a lot of comments. Mostly angry ones. And deservedly so…and, um, no, I don’t think Neil is enabling icky child molesters.)

BTW, pop this link and scroll down for a look at Neil’s very first published illustration: a parody of Watchmen called Watchdogs.

(more…)