Stuffings!

So ever since I joined WirePop, I've been reading around on first-hand experiences from artists who are going to be published or have been published by TokyoPop, and I've been thinking lately that maybe having Directions of Destiny published isn't such a great idea? I mean, it would still be nice to be published, but perhaps not Directions of Destiny, or at least not anytime too soon.

For one thing, it seems that major publication companies usually like to publish smaller series from beginning artists--generally three volumes or so--but the way I have Directions of Destiny planned, it's going to go on for some 16 volumes, each around 200 pages or so (ha ha! I promise I'll finish it one day, with no more extraneous revisions!). With a project this large, I would imagine that publishers would tend to be more iffy about the continued success of all 16 volumes, because wouldn't it suck for them to publish a few volumes only to realize they're losing money by putting it out because for whatever reasons it's not popular?

And on the author's side as well: while most the experiences I've been reading haven't been too extreme, there have been frequent mentions about how there (may?) have been artists working with TokyoPop in the past who were dropped (or left?) because there was (or might have been?) too many fundamental changes requested by the editors. And obviously with smaller, tighter projects, if there WERE to be any major changes, it would not be so much of a hassle as major changes would be in larger, more open-ended projects. If getting Directions of Destiny published by TokyoPop one day would mean rehauling the comic (yet again!) based large-scale alternations that they want to be done, I...would rather not. But for all I know, I may be blacklisted by TokyoPop anyway due to my shameful performance two years back, so I doubt that's going to happen anyway :PP

The issue of sharing copyrights has also been mentioned, and reading about it has generally left me confused and irritated. Some people think it's all right, others are completely against it, and at the moment I don't really want to hire a lawyer to find out what the deal with that is! It seems like the consensus is that by signing a copyright sharing contract, you're giving away a handful of rights to your work that may help you or hurt you, depending on the specific individuals involved? And once again, it seems like with a large, on-going project, it would be easier to abuse...

So right now, in terms of getting published in the near future, I'm leaning towards doing something that's not so extravagant, rather than commit Directions of Destiny to a risky contract and possible extrenuous editorial processes.

BASICALLY, In Conclusion, My Point Is, I'm thinking about having a small press print out copies of the first chapter of Directions of Destiny to distribute at upcoming conventions, and possibly future volumes of the work to sell on the website, and would anybody be interested?