Book Release: In the Sounds and Seas

Posted on December 16, 2012 by Marnie Galloway

Monkey-Rope Press is thrilled to announce the release the first volume of Marnie Galloway’s 2012 Xeric Award-winning graphic novel, In the Sounds and Seas.

The morning of Friday, Dec 14 I drove to East Garfield Park in Chicago, IL to meet with the Nicest Pressmen in the City at Salsedo Press to pick up the final edition of 1,000 copies of my comic. It is always a pleasure to visit Salsedo, and Friday was no different: I learned that the master pressman just published a book of his own! If you are interested in reading a Spanish-language novel about the immigrant experience in Chicago, order El Sabor Del Desdén by Victor Cortes. As we loaded boxes of books into the car, we shared our experiences combating creative blocks, balancing creative projects with day jobs and family, and our mutual excitement over making something new in the world. I couldn't have asked for a more lovely experience.

These boxes of books represent months of work in addition to the months of hunched-over illustration, jumping between peaks of high-intensity labor and long, hand-wringing periods of waiting for responses. Getting quotes for printing and binding, applying to the Xeric Foundation for the grant, getting the ISBN number and bar code, designing the new version of the book (going through 40 or 50 drafts of a cover design before deciding on the finished one), researching and preparing a packet to Diamond for distribution, prepping and packaging the digital files, proofing pages before press and picking up the books on Friday translate into 11 months of work to keep this project rolling ahead.

1,000 books take up less space than you might think

So what is next for "In the Sounds and Seas?"

Date/location TBD, I am going to throw a book release party here in Chicago after the holiday & new year party-season has passed. Keep an eye out for an announcement in the next week!
In January 2013, "In the Sounds and Seas: Volume I" will be listed in the Diamond catalog. Orders should start arriving from comic book stores by the end of January or early February; after that, copies of the book will ship to stores across the country. I'll also call up friendly comic shops to let them know that the book is in the catalog, hoping to increase orders with cold-calling good cheer. (If you happen to frequent a favorite comic book shop, let the owner know you're interested in seeing "In the Sounds and Seas" in stock!)
I am excited to attend more comic conventions this year to share my books. I am confirmed at Chicago Zine Fest in March, the Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo in Columbus OH in April, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival in May, and a few more to which I have applied but have not yet heard.
In the mean time, you can also order the book on the Monkey-Rope Press etsy store!

2012 has been a fantastic year here at Monkey-Rope Press, and 2013 is shaping up to be even more exciting. After finishing up two travelogue comics for Saveur Magazine in early 2013, I look forward to diving head-first into illustrating the next chapter of "In the Sounds and Seas." Thanks so much to all of you for your continued support and enthusiasm!

* * * "In the Sounds and Seas: Volume I" was previously published in mini-comic form under the slightly-confusing similar titles "In the Sounds and Seas: Volume I" and "In the Sounds and Seas: Volume II." This new publication is the relaunch of the series; future issues of the story will be double-volumes as well, so instead of a story told in 6 mini-comics, it is now a story told in 3 finished books.

Miles to Go Before I Sleep: November 2012

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Marnie Galloway

Happy November! I can't believe that I didn't share anything here last month: it was a full-to-the-brim-with-work period, but mostly preparatory and planning kinds of tasks. Now that it's November, I get to do things out in the world again, such as:

NOVEMBER 12 - 19: I am going on COMICS ASSIGNMENT! Saveur Magazine, the foodie's friend & comrade to the common cartoonist, is sending me to Marrakech and Madrid for a week of classy hotels, fancy food and beautiful scenery. I did a recipe comic for them over the summer, and can't wait to do a big old travel-and-food adventure comic when I return. For a similar project, check out the really beautifully told travel comic about Lucy Knisley's trip to Tanzania. (And holy cow, if you're hungry check out these 9 completely different Thanksgiving menus + recipes!)

NOVEMBER 16: BRAIN FRAME 9! I am so totally thrilled about participating in this event. Yes, I will technically be in Africa the night of the performance, but with enough forethought and planning (and kind accommodation on the part of the Event Master), I've figured out a way to do both! You'll have to show up to the event to see what happens, but suffice it to say I've spent the last week sewing and hammering and painting and drawing in an apartment-consuming frenzy to bring something really huge to the stage. RSVP HERE, and BE THERE: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16TH, 9:00PM :: 1542 N MILWAUKEE, 2ND FLOOR :: $7

NOVEMBER TBA: IN THE SOUNDS AND SEAS VOL I goes to press! I got word in mid-October that Diamond Distribution is going to pick up Volume I of 'In the Sounds and Seas.' We are still working through the details, but HUZZAH! Once we iron out the nitty gritties, I'll make a more detailed post about the whole process of becoming a new small-press vendor to a big national distributor, and when (and where) you can expect to see the new book.

NOW: back to work!

Brain Frame 9

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Marnie Galloway

Big things are afoot, friends!

In spite of a bone-deep terror that I will fail and utterly humiliate myself in front of a room of people I admire, I'm doing a performative reading of "In the Sounds and Seas" at Brain Frame 9 on Friday, November 16 at 9pm. Mark your calendars!

I'll post teaser pictures as I work on building puppets & animations (and lots of other things I've never tried before) all through next month. Til then, wish me luck!

Diamond

Posted on August 11, 2012 by Marnie Galloway

The deed is finally done! My submission packet is out the door, which is thrilling and nerve-wracking and a huge relief. Though I can't share all the work I did for it here (proposed terms of sale and marketing strategies aren't terribly thrilling to read about), there is one part of the packet that led to a New Thing In the World. A part of the submission packet requirement was sending as close-to-finished a mock-up as I had available. After hemming and hawing over how best to do that, I ended up reformatting the files to be compatible with lulu.com's print-on-demand requirements and ordered a handful of books. They were delivered at the end of last week (just in the nick of time, I might add, even with expedited shipping), and it was thrilling to receive. Look! An honest-to-goodness book, with my new cover! And hey, a bar code and ISBN and everything!

It's been a strange process, revisiting and re-packaging this story that I have already celebrated being done in months past. Strange, but definitely good. Now I wait 3-4 weeks to hear if my packet has been accepted, at which point I go into high gear and tell Salsedo Press, my favorite offset shop, to start the presses. If not, I go back into high gear and tell Salsedo Press to start the presses for a slightly smaller number of orders. Either way sounds great to me, but I can't jump til I get that letter (or call? or email?) back.

Now that this is out of my hands, I can get back to making new things. I've got a big and exciting (if amorphous at this point) project coming up in mid-November, but while I mull over those details I am going to try to crank out a few small, not connected to Sounds and Seas comics, just for myself. Oh, and the next volume of Sounds and Seas, of course! Oh, and a few new prints in the works, for an exciting October print show!

Goodness. Back to work, I reckon.

New Cover Mock-Up

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Marnie Galloway

Happy 4th of July! I'm spending the balmy holiday going through draft after draft of re-design for the Sounds & Seas cover. The new run will not have hand-printed covers (workhorse though I consider myself, hand-printing +1,000 two-color two-sided covers on a proof press just isn't going to happen), so I get the genuinely fun task of reconceptualizing the jacket design. I started doing this partly because the Xeric folk needed a thumbnail of the cover for promotions, partly because it's fun, and partly because what I'd planned to do today--write and assemble the Diamond proposal--is a little overwhelming.

I went through other drafts with more nautical colors, but I so love the warm off-white paper that the body pages are printed on that I went with this warmer palette. For the final version I might do a new drawing for the cover so it's big enough to wrap-around (this illustration is pulled from Vol 1), and some things might shift as I think about the spine, but I think it's pretty ok otherwise.

Anyway: thoughts?

Chicago Alternative Comics Expo

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Marnie Galloway

I'm still reeling from the highs of the past two days: CAKE, the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo 2012, my last small press comic show of the season, is done. And what a way to end the season!

One thing that never fails to surprise me is how overwhelmingly friendly and open and generous everyone is at these shows. I met artists whose work I have admired for years, which is always a stomach-churning delight, but almost more exciting is seeing new work that makes me spark and light up while meeting the folks who put that in to the world. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if I could do a show like this every weekend, I would in a heart beat.

Also exciting: I almost sold out of In the Sounds and Seas: Volume I! I have only 2 copies left in the world. The Xeric grant will allow me to reprint Vol I & II in the next month or two, but it feels like a momentous occasion to have 173 copies of my first little book out in the world. Thank you to everyone who stopped by, to my talented neighbors at the show and to all the organizers. CAKE was huge.

See y'all again at SPX!