PLEASE STEAL THIS IDEA

An entrepreneur with a fecund mind gets too damn many good ideas. I really like the following scheme, but for reasons of time, energy and resources, I’m gonna pass on it. Wow, it would be so cool if someone stole it and executed the plan! I wrote the following piece convinced that I would execute the idea, here it is:

There comes a time in every entrepreneurs life where a new venture announces itself apropos of nothing at all—it’s just idea time. For me, it usually happens in the middle of a shower, somewhere between soaping my hair and basking in the wonder of my feet (how did these amazing things end up on the end of my legs anyway?).

Of late, a certain persistent new comer keeps knocking on the inside of my head: I’d like to begin publishing a monthly tabloid newspaper featuring first printings of new comics work.
Now, you may think that the reason I’m doing this is for the advancement of my own cartooning career, and you would be correct—in part. The real reason I am taking on such a monster project is to create an advertising vehicle for my screen printing business. Allow me to explain.
In less than a month, my pregnant wife, three year old son and I are moving from Oakland, CA., to Portland, Oregon. I will be in the process of transplanting my successful local t-shirt screen printing business to the new location. While I am going to retain a few key accounts form the old location, I will need to whip up some new clients up in Portland. Usually, I would do repeat postcard mailings to a select list to generate new clients. This time, my reasoning goes like this: I am budgeting for a mailing campaign anyway. Why stick to the usual pedestrian postcards? Why not create a piece with some content, some entertainment, SOME COOL COMICS, to stick my advertising message in?

Once I considered the idea, it really stood up and grew some hair. Of course, I will mail the piece to prospective clients, but I will also distribute it in comic shops, cafes, record stores etc. My hook to them will be, “I’ll give you a free ad in the first issue if I can leave a stack of these in your store”. From nowhere, I have conceived not only of an advertising medium for my business, but an advertising vehicle for my distribution points (aforementioned cafes, record stores, etc.) and more. Yup, my advertising medium will grow into an income producing project of it’s own accord!

Back to the content—it will also be a showcase for top and emerging comics talent. I’ll just have to stay disciplined about doing some cartooning for it myself!

OKAY!, STOP! Back to the present, where I’m not gonna do this idea because I’ve since gotten a couple dozen more ideas pestering me. I really would like someone to steal this idea, because the market for indie comics seems fucking stale as hell to me right now, and a monthly tabloid with comics would shake things up right quick. Remember, you gotta use original comics—no syndicated material; there are already tabloids doing that. If you are crazy enough to do this, email me at redlafler@yahoo.com