After much secrecy and sneaking around, I’m excited today to announce Wishtales Publishing Studio! What is Wishtales you ask? This pretty well sums it up:
Once upon a time, the path for an aspiring artist/creator was clear: Get an agent. Get a publisher. Get that comic of yours syndicated. Go for the Big Time.
We are all awakening to a publishing reality that looks very different. That path may be changing. It may have completely gone away.
Agents are swamped with wannabes. Big publishers are too large and too conservative to take chances on anything. And syndicates make an increasingly small living by keeping the newspaper comics section exactly as it is today. Basically, the publishing structure exists to say “NO”.” NO” to new ideas. “NO” to new creatives. “NO” to anything that looks like a chance, anything that hasn’t been tried before, anything that isn’t a sequel or a sequel to a sequel to a spinoff.
In short, we didn’t want to start a publishing company; They made us do it. We’re putting our money where out mouths are. If no one wanted to take a chance on us, OK. We’ll do it. If no one wanted to let us choose non-standard formats for our books, OK. We’ll do it. We’re taking a chance on us, and if it works out, who knows? Maybe one day we’ll take a chance on you. Somebody has to do it.
- Tom Dell’Aringa and Steve Ogden
Yes, this is a joint venture between me and my good buddy Tom Dell’Aringa. We’re tired of trying to play corporate games and trying to fit into a mold that is constricting and limiting. We’re going to forge our own path. The first step along that path is Tom’s Marooned book, Out of Orbit, which will be a Wishtales imprint. We’re just getting started, but there’s some interested posts over there already. We’re looking forward to publishing a Moon Town book as well, and we’ve got lots more ideas cooking in the pot. So head over to Wishtales and take a look, and let us know what you think!
