Freebies and Promotion: A Few Thoughts

So our recent experiments with Amazon Kindle's free promo service has come to an end - wherein we offered most of our Kindle novels and comic books for free for a limited time to see what kind of effect it would have on sales.

Boy, were we overwhelmed! - shifting over 700 copies in only a few days, and also securing our first ever 'sales' in foreign territories. In fact, we reached out to all of the Amazon European sister sites: .de, .es, .it and even .fr all accounted for a significant number, though it's fair to say that they were mostly our comic books, rather than the prose works - graphic works will always cross cultural boundaries better than the purely written word, although quite what they may make of the peculiarly British humour of Arf and Mo is anyone's guess...

It's been an interesting time, in which we saw our books briefly chart very high on the Amazon Free Kindle lists, with our comic books both reaching the top spots in all their categories. Seeing our books at the No. 1 ranking was quite a buzz. And as a 'loss leader', our free offer for Maranatha has already sparked some interest in the pay-for prequel, Venus in Saturn. It's also made Chaz think about the idea of producing something to be offered permanently for free on the Kindle store - perhaps a collection of shorter works, or a novella of some sort (he does, after all, have a good many ideas of all sorts floating around the place).

In short, it's been a fascinating experiment, and opens up a very interesting future for FWB and its products. You may recall a post on this very blog not all that long ago where Chaz basically discounted the whole idea of the Kindle book reader as having any real impact on the publishing world any time soon - well, he's more than happy to revise that view now, seeing how times have well and truly changed!

No doubt we'll continue to pick up the long-term effects of this promotional period for some time to come. Interesting times, as they say.

More Summer Freebies!

As part of the current Fenriswulf Books 'summer of Freebies' (i.e, testing the waters with Amazon's new promotional services), we're giving away - for nothing - the first issue of Arf and Mo in Kindle format. The promo lasts throughout 8th July and ends on the 10th at midnight Pacific Standard Time.

US readers can grab their copy right here.

You can also pick up, for a limited time only (throughout the 8th and 9th July), The Black Flag graphic novel for exactly £0.00! Don't delay - snatch one up today!

Over the last week or so we've given away hundreds of copies of 'Maranatha' and Episode 1 of 'Sundancer's Regret' - even managing to shift our very first foreign copies on Amazon.de! - so it's been a rather interesting exercise in getting our material out there.

'Geekz' Hits its First Century

It's not often I feature a real person in this strip, but the 100th edition of my weekly geeky webcomic demanded something special.

I also decided to colour it myself, for the first time ever.

Arf and Mo Arrive on Amazon Kindle

Things have been quiet on the Fenriswulf publishing front lately but for all lovers of lowbrow, underground COMIX, Chaz 'n Frang's dubious animal duo, Arf 'N Mo, have now just made it across to the popular e-book platform.

Here's the link for UK readers:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Arf-and-Mo-ebook/dp/B007P7ZZRE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333029254&sr=8-1

and for our US-based cousins:

http://www.amazon.com/Arf-and-Mo-ebook/dp/B007P7ZZRE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1333029481&sr=1-1

"From the broken pen of Frang McHardy and the even more broken imagination of writer Chaz Wood, meet Arf and Mo, British underground comics' best-kept secret of the last ten years...

Follow the adventures of a bloated German Shepherd mutt and a psychotic white lab rat as they belch, break wind and bludgeon each other across an increasingly surreal landscape of early 21st Century British culture.

GASP! as anarchic Arf becomes a police dog, but ends up as Inspector Gadgie's lapdog!
SQUEAL!! as Mo explores the infinite wonders of sexual sado-masochistic vivisection!!
CHOKE!!! as our duo find work in a call centre...but will their peculiar brand of customer service satisfy their demanding manager???
PASS OUT!!!! as everyone else concerned drinks more beer than has ever been consumed in an Amazon Kindle funny-animal comic book before!!!!

All this and much, much more lies within this first sizzling satirical slice of sleazy surreal salami... "

This is Issue 1, a compilation of some of the best strips from over the past 10 years. Not all the best though, as there will be a second issue out sometime in the future...

'Lochglen' Issue 3 Nears Completion

Despite various obstacles and a couple of urgent personal commissions, Chaz has been racing through drawing and scripting pages for Issue 3 of the Scottish comedy/drama series, with only one page left to complete. That amounts to seven completed pages in four weeks - (but not achieved without a whole lot of corner-cutting, copy+paste, and digital trickery to produce the best-looking results in the quickest possible time). As there will be at the very least another one, if not two or even three issues to go yet, we've acknowledged that speed is of the essence to get a project like this finished and out there in a reasonable timeframe. The work has its fans and the next step will be to see how it shapes up on Kindle (although we reckon the lettering - in 6-point OneStrikeScript - will be a tad small for some devices). Chaz's complicated script is taking its own time to develop fully, but the effort's starting to pay off. At this rate, Issue 3 will be out in print and digital format in the next couple of weeks - well ahead of schedule (for once).

In any case, here's the sort-of probably almost-finished front cover artwork by Chaz and Frang for the forthcoming issue 3 featuring - Dr. Mackenzie, Mr MacFaddyen and the eponymous sword with all its jokey nudge-nudge-wink connotations.

News, updates an' a' that at the dedicated home page: http://swordoflochglen.blogspot.com

Highland Flings

Chaz has now updated the slightly neglected 'Sword of Lochglen' webpage. As work on issue 3 rolls on, there's a new Origins of... page describing the influences which helped to create the series; new sample pages from Issue 3 in the Sample Art section - and a finished full-colour rough of the proposed cover to Issue 3 in the Cover Art gallery.

Currently, February/March 2012 looks like the most likely time for the release of Issue 3, entitled 'Tyrants & Teuchters'. ('What's a 'Teuchter' when he's at home?' our non-Scots readers may cry. Here's an online definition.)


A romantic moment as illustrated by Frang for Issue 3.

The Wish & the Will: A New Angle

While Chaz continues to puzzle over the finer details of Episode 4 (which will most definitely not be entitled 'A New Hope'). here's a visual sample of the forthcoming episode, courtesy of Mr. Frang.

Chaz commissioned Frang this year to produce a few pieces of artwork for the series, focusing mainly on architecture and aircraft design. As various forms of flying machine are integral to the books, and Chaz was never much of an aeronautics engineer, he was curious to see what Mr. Frang would come up with - and this one-man, hand-held flying device really caught his imagination:



We think this one ought to be filed under 'steampunk', even while Chaz has since refused to use that term any longer in connection with WatW.

As always, the first 3 episodes are still available for download from the banner links upon this very web page.

Geekz Still Going Strong

It was back in 2009 that Chaz first had the whimsical idea of creating a web comic based around an email technical support helpdesk (and in no way inspired by his own day job on an email technical support helpdesk). Some time later down the line, Chaz stumbled across fellow web cartoonist Jeff Swenson (the mind behind the Freethunk Freethinkers website - sometimes controversial, often edgy but always worth checking out), and that old webcomic idea returned fully-formed.

And so it was that the strip "IT's All Geek to Me" was born (a convoluted pun if ever there was one - hence it now being universally known as 'Geekz'). Well over a year later, and the weekly strip (updated every Monday) shows no signs of running out of steam, such is the bonus of working in an environment which feeds inspiration and ideas into the work. It also helps to have a colleague who is just as adept at coming up with strange and bizarre ideas and gags as Chaz is, and who can probably be named as the Geekz No. 1 fan (Mr. Dave, that's you - take a bow.)

Wouldn't it be great if all writing could be so easily inspired...with enough material to keep us going well into the foreseeable future?

'Geekz' is hosted by the most excellent Mr. Ofer Israel over at his 'Humor Portal', which can be every bit as daring and edgy. There's also a compilation 'Geekz' book planned before the end of the year, which will collect together the first 70-odd strips as well as some new content. Some of the earlier, then-topical iPhone gags might look a bit dated now but a true geek would never criticize such a thing - that sense of the retro just adds to the whole geekishness of the thing (we're hoping...)

'Geekz' has its own Facebook page with regular strip updates and some behind-the-scenes content too. Pop along and give us the thumbs-up if you like!

The Wish and the Will Episode 2: Now Available

...and it's STILL only £0.99 as well!

In the world of Middengarth, where fairytales and folklore are history, and magic still lingers in the air, strange things are afoot...

Outlaws Jeth Sundancer, Renzo K. Castello and Claudia have been chased out of Middengarth City by the forces of law and order, and now struggle for survival in the harsh realm of the Outlands. Herein, they have to contend with a crusty riverboat captain and his rag-tag crew; a psychopathic First Mate on board a trading vessel and an incredibly ill-fitting corset, all on the road to the 'biggest bank job ever'. Things are further complicated when Renzo & Jeth's old friend, Smiffy Smurkin, takes an instant dislike to Claudia on account of the colour of her hair and threatens their entire operation. How can our hapless anti-heroes hope to throw a spanner in the clockwork wheels of the tyrannical Daemonlords against such continued opposition?

You can download the new episode right here.

The characters now also have their own Facebook page!

A Very Geeky Christmas...

Jeff Swenson, over at Freethunk, recently commissioned Chaz to produce a 2-part festive edition of his ongoing tech-support webcomic series, Geekz, which is usually published every Monday at 2Laugh.com.

There's an interesting interview there too detailing the origins of the strip, its characters, and development. Part 2 will be following soon.

Here's the link.


You can follow the Geekz series every week at: 2Laugh.com.

Of Swords, and Other Tools of Mayhem...

The second issue of 'The Sword of Lochglen' comic series is now just about to be released! The cover is a true collaboration between Chaz and Frang, with Frang pencilling the whole thing and doing much of the inking and colouring. As a result, 'Lochglen' now has its own dedicated webpage, located here. Currently we're only awaiting the arrival of the first set of proof issues from Lulu.com (which with the current weather could take us into 2011...though I seriously hope not!). Once the proofs have been approved, then the direct link to buy a download, or a print copy will become active on the Lochglen homepage.

Speaking of which, it appears that Lulu are current working on some new APIs to improve the digital commerce side of their services - out of all the new improvements, the addition of a 'shopping cart' for creators to place on their websites looks like the most useful so far.

In other news, Fenriswulf has now made it onto Facebook. The profile page is here, where we're looking forward to meeting lots of interesting people, and sharing opinions on comics, books and other things.

Dundee Comics Conference 2010...Been there, done it...wore the t-shirt!

A long day for Mssrs. Chaz and Frang began early on Sunday morning, and involved a frustrating argument with Dundee city's increasingly annoying system of 1-way traffic and strategically-placed roadworks, seemingly engineered to make their timely arrival at the opening of this event in the Dundee Literary Festival calendar as difficult as possible. There were times when reality felt as if it had been substituted for an interactive episode of TV's "Spaced", with comic geekiness and eternal obstacles intertwining to create a rather surreal journey to the Dundee University tower building.

Chaz left Frang in charge of setting up the stand after a brief and breathless Bisley-esque conversation before dashing off to move the car to a less illegal parking spot (which turned out to be 10 minutes' walk away...)

Following this inauspicious opening, Fenriswulf eventually staked out their merchandise stand at the far end of the main entry hall, sharing space with George Cordeiro's Black Hole comics store table, and a couple of other stalls selling relevant merchandise. The main point of the event for us had been more networking than profit, as well as meeting some very interesting people, and all of the above was happily accomplished. George sold a few of his self-penned "Far Out" comics titles (with art by Frang), and also agreed to promote Fenriswulf as much as he could - by taking on stock for his shop, as well as distributing business cards to customers throughout the day.



Chaz caught up with - surprise, surprise - Neil Cunie, onetime sales manager of Dundee's Borders store, who had been instrumental in getting Fenriswulf's first products out there to the public in the earliest days of the project. Frang attended a talk while Chaz chatted happily with the chap behind the "Fine & Dandy" DC Thomson licensed merchandise stall - and in the process learned much about the complex business of licensed products.

While the event wasn't as well-attended as maybe had been hoped, all those who were there seemed to enjoy themselves and all of the talks were educational, funny, and interesting. Alan Davis gave his personal angle on drawing comic art for the American market; a very animated Dez Skinn shared many amusing anecdotes related to the birth of his early editorial projects with IPC and UK Marvel in the 70s; and Pat Mills contributed some fascinating personal details of the differences between working in the Franco-Belgian, and the British, comics markets.



Friendly books signings concluded the day, which also included a genuinely-heartfelt tribute to the late local Beezer comic artist Bill Ritchie, and everyone adjourned to the DCA art bar for after-conference relaxation. Frang and Chaz spent the rest of the evening in discussion over the next phase of the Fenriswulf campaign for independent writing and comic art, with plenty of new material on the horizon. Products haven't been mega-selling yet but then nobody expected them to be - at this still very early stage in the game, brand recognition and networking are really the prime goals. Profit is mere vanity and was never even figured into the equation, though the day will come - not before too long, with any luck - when it does become a serious goal. Rome, after all, wasn't built in a day.

The Fenriswulf Corner

Only a few weeks now 'til the Dundee Comics conference. My man Frang has secured us a spot on a local comics dealer's stall...but some serendipity came my way today when I found this rather handy rotating display stand dumped literally outside my house.



Cleaned up and customised in a couple of hours, it was pressed into service and fits the full range of Fenriswulf products really well! Also hoping that my custom URL t-shirt should attract some interest on the day.

In other news, I've this week had to renew the domain name "fenriswulf-books.co.uk". Has it really been two years since I kicked off this very website on the back of a single tentative release, "Maranatha" ? So much seems to have happened since then. In the meantime, here's to another two years of creativity and independent publishing!

Arf & Mo...are Coming!

Now available: the first issue of Arf & Mo - anarchic animal antics featuring the titular duo of Chaz & Frang's warped creation: Arf, a bloated beer-swilling German Shepherd and Mo, his psychotic and twisted white lab rat buddy. Together, the pair have lurched through a series of bizarre, satirical and downright crazy lowbrow adventures over the last ten years, and this compilation brings together some of the best moments of their cartoon careers to date.



The original Arf & Mo was privately printed in 2001 and barely saw the light of day, but now they're back, in a big bumper collection that no fan of scabby, underground toilet humour should ever be without. At 40 pages, including a new foreword from creator Chaz detailing the misfit duo's origins, it's a must!

Beware Geeks Bearing Gifts...

...especially if it's any of this bunch of dysfunctional IT support clowns.

The idea of a webcomic based around an IT support desk came to me a couple of years ago but it was only last year in 2009 that I started to do something about it, and only now that I've found a (albeit temporary) place to display them publically.

As anybody who draws comics knows, it's really 80% writing and 20% artwork. Most of the real work is in thinking, writing, fine-tuning a few words for the best possible payoff. If the gag, the joke, the concept are great, it doesn't matter how lame the artwork is - two of the greatest cartoonists of the 20th Century, Schulz and Thurber, had minimal technical ability.

If the joke is a dud, or the writing lame, I don't think it matters how eye-catching the art is, the strip will fail. As such, in this series I'm seeking to focus my energy on honing something that is written as succintly and with as much character as I can pack into three frames. This means that the art is more minimal than I would normally prefer, but that is also a bonus - it means I'm not spending countless hours drawing the thing, and on a different level, the recycling of stock scenes and characters throughout helps to enforce the sense of repetition and familiarity of life day in, day out, in an office environment, a sense of tedium which perhaps only the off-the-wall personalities of the characters can penetrate.

As to why I decided to write about a bunch of geeks on a technical helpdesk, this was in no way related to my own personal experiences of working beside a bunch of geeks on a technical help desk. Reality could never translate into the world of Tomasz, Arnie, Mungo and company, which is more akin to a little-remembered 1990s TV comedy show I used to enjoy a lot, titled "Dweebs".

For sure, there are plenty of other IT-related strips out there. But this one has one difference: set on an email-based helpdesk, many of the gags are text-based rather than sight, or dialogue, based. This is where the writing comes in that I mentioned earlier, though I will be mixing it up with a variety of humour styles.

In any case, it's early days yet but enjoy these free samples, I hope. I may post more in future here if a more high-profile home can't be found in the short term...

Of Books, and More

Taking a break from commissions and artwork for a moment (okay, for a whole day...), Mr. Chaz decided to get back to basics and get some more Wolfish "product" out there. The old Cafepress.com shop has had a new batch of stock added, including greetings cards featuring lowbrow comic characters Arf and Mo in their first piece of merchandise their debut small-press comic of 2001 (at the Fenriswulf shop, here). This is but the beginning of what Chaz is intending to be Arf and Mo's renaissance year, with the duo's comic strips repackaged and rebound for a whole new audience (insofar as there was ever an old audience...). Art prints and other items featuring one-off characters and concepts are also up for sale there, and more will be added in months to come. The limitation of the free cafepress store is that we can only produce one design of any particular item. If sales allow, we will consider looking at a premium package but at the moment, overheads need to be kept to a minimum. I'm a bit bummed that cafepress don't have lower prices, but I'm still shopping around for the best long-term deals.

This month we notched up another couple of US sales of "Maranatha", not long before entering that same book in Amazon.com's Breakthrough Novel Award, a contest for unpublished and self-published works. It may not make the grade as all the supporting material for the entry was written and thrown together the night before the closing date, finding out about it only by chance while cleaning out my spam email folder. Still, never having previously considered entering any such competitions in the past, it gave me the idea of actively looking for more in future.

In other news, Mr. Frang, Fenriswulf artist and contributor to the "Surfeit of Mandrake" anthology, has joined Chaz on his commercial commision adventures due to the arrival of an unexpected, but rather welcome, deadline. So everyone has been busy with artwork of late, and the end of March may see a little relaxation and the commencement of some serious work on the Arf & Mo volume for production.