Ryan is an artist, author and adventurer who travels the world making comics and getting into trouble. People know me for my comic Learn To Read Korean in 15 Minutes which went super viral and got shared hundreds of millions of times and his banned book club.
Tell us the story of HOW or WHY got famous.
The weird thing about my level of quasi-noteriety is that everyone who knows who I am knows me for something different.
Many people know me for my comic Learn To Read Korean in 15 Minutes which went super viral and got shared hundreds of millions of times.... without my name on it. It makes the front page of Reddit so much that people actively get upset. There's even a bootleg Learn To Read Korean in 15 Minutes-themed restaurant in China!
Lots of folks know me because I accidentally invented the word Normcore, which went on to be a finalist for Word Of The Year 2014. It ended up being a punchline in Parks and Rec, Brooklyn Nine Nine,
Others know me for my book Banned Book Club, which is one of only 4 comics so far this year to get 3 or more starred reviews, was a Junior Library Guild Selection, and industry insiders think is about to become a New York Times Bestseller. The only problem is... it hasn't been released yet! It's been stuck in China for months because of Coronavirus!
What happened when you got your first gig or customer? Did you do anything special to celebrate?
I started submitting comics to the local newspaper when I was six years old. They sent me a letter telling me they'd keep my work on file... just in case. They were just being polite but I was convinced that once Jim Davis died, I was IN. I kept bugging the same paper until they finally hired me at the age of 16. I got a weekly strip, 80 bucks a month, and I felt like a SUPERSTAR.
How much did it cost to get started (and what did you spend that money on)? What's your monthly or annual profit from your business?
That's the thing about comics... you just make 'em. When I was a kid I always invested too much in the fanciest papers and pens and a drafting table and all that nonsense. Now I just doodle on the back of kids' homework from my day job scan it and composite it into comics. As far as profit, that fluctuates wildly! Sometimes I work on a project for like 3 years before I see a dime! But then sometimes I make 10,000 dollars in a month! Sometimes I sell an ebook for a dollar. COmics is weird!
How do you find your customers? Please share the marketing techniques you've tried, if they cost you anything, and what's worked/not worked.
That has changed a lot. Years ago, I started a custom comics service and just made it as simple as possible to find, and designed it with this in mind: If my grandma wanted to order a custom comic, could she find, understand and use this site to order one? And man oh man it worked! I never advertised it, I just used SEO and at the beginning, I was charging like 15 bucks a page, and I had so many customers I kept raising the price to slow orders down but it didn't work.
What has been the best part of the experience thus far? Additionally, how has being famous benefited you?
The type of projects I get to work on now are just so joyously wonderful! With Banned Book Club, I got to make a whole graphic novel about how cool my wife is, and now people all over the world are falling in love with her too! With Student Ambassador, I got to finally bring to life a story I've been wanting to make for 20 years! I get to work with folks in Hollywood on top secret adaptations of my comics that may or may not ever actually come out but WHO CARES it's fun anyway! I got to make actual, legit comics for properties I love like Popeye, Star Trek and Garfield.
What struggles have you encountered, and how did you overcome them? Is there anything you'd go back and do differently?
I would have quit doing custom comics so much sooner. The problem with having your day job be in the same field as your passion is this: If you have a crappy day job, you can think "I can't wait to get home and draw comics" but if your crappy day job IS sitting at home drawing crappy comics, at the end of the day your creative energy is gone and you cannot just scoot the paper over and start drawing a better one.
What are the top two pieces of advice you'd give to others wanting to follow a similar path?
Make the art that ONLY YOU can make. Don't chase after what's popular. You'll be just chasing a tiny sliver of a big pie, and look like a copycat doing it. The more nervous you are about what you're making, the more you should realize you have to make it.
What’s next for you?
So far, in the next year, I have 7 books coming out.
Banned Book Club, Student Ambassador: The Missing Dragon, Occulted, T. rex and Other Mesozoic Monsters, Megalodon and Other Dino-Sharks, Mañana, and Cuentos.
Vernon's Take
