ZB ENTRY #04 Poetry In Motion

Thank you!

Special thanks go out to Travis Thornton for sending me this AWESOME! art, please keep em coming. I am so honored by all the love!

We are getting close soon I will begin to paint the pages, so stay tuned.

ZB ENTRY #03 Take Cover!

So I'm big on teasing, its fun! So this morning I sent some one of four cover designs to someone.

It was really neat because that person has been following me for a while now and it is only fair that this person get to see some behind the scenes activity. And I have a few surprises up my sleeve.

So for the rest of you, sorry but you get the image that you see here on this blog.

Tease, tease, tease... :)

ZB ENTRY #02 Re-write Complete!

So late last night I finished the second write up of Zombot. I was happy with the original one but felt that the story needed to be more than just a kids book, so I wrote a second story added more and imported a lot of the original.

I wanted to make sure that I had plenty or room to create the images that will accompany the story, I feel I got something really nice. So now I will work on the rough sketches for the pages and over all layout to see how it flows. I have an idea that will defy conventional formats but its totally ZOMBOT!

Love Is Eternal. ZB ENTRY#01 L.I.E.

Love is eternal or so they say, I say it is. For most it may not be the same, but I know one thing is for certain.

You can always come back here and check on the process of ZOMBOT© For at least that will remain the same!

I got the idea from an artist that I admire a lot, his name Gris Grimly. He began a Blog to capture the process of Frankenstein a graphic novel he is currently working on. And every once in a while he will post up an image and talk a little bit about the book, art, and his life.

So I am following in his foot steps for anyone interested in this. But I will post up an image from time to time show you how its going. So this will be the 1st official post, to prove that I am actually working on the book.

ZB ENTRY#01 L.I.E.

As of right now I have a rough draft of the story, its about 20 pages long. Along with some rough line art and color schemes. I showed some of this to fans at my last Binary 2.0 art show, and got a nice response. So I decided to go back and change the format of the pages, rewrite the book, and enhance the over all look of the book. To give fans something they can love! I'm always the perfectionist so I hope this new look will do the trick.

I also settled on using water color on water paper and Photoshop to give ZOMBOT© its unique look. I hope you all like it just as much as I do.

So after my Vudu Cinema 2010 event on Sept 18th. I hope to go back and start writing ZOMBOT© so that I can make the Megacon deadline.

AWESOME! Gift from Kristin Brandt

This was sent to me via Facebook. Photographer Kristin Brandt made a render and send it to me, so in her honor. I am posting it here on the Official ZOMBOT Blog!

How awesome is that! Check out here amazing photography.












Here is another one from Kristin. Again many thanks to her and others who are fans of the book!

ZOMBOT© To Make An Apperance at VUDU CINEMA?!

Here is something nice for the fans attending Sinister's VUDU CINEMA 2010 this Sept. 18th at Cricketers Arms.

Printing

Here is what I got to say about printing. Yes it is true that most publishing houses denied ZOMBOT©. And I am not at all surprised, it is a strange publication!! No one is willing to take a chance on this, but that should never stop you.

The common mistake is that people hold fast to their creations in the hopes that it will become the next Harry Potter, or Twilight. When in fact cases like that are rare, that is why they are so popular. For us little folk we need to create and release and see what sticks. Make mistakes, they are needed to advance. And don't measure success by the failures.

So the publishers said NO! in a polite way but it was still a no. What hopes do I have to make this dream a reality?! Where can I go, who do I get in front of?! Answer is simple. There are many publishers or private printers that will print small runs for a decent amount of money. So keep your eyes pealed.

When it comes to private printing there are 3 major companies and here they are.

1. Lulu
2. SFWA Science Fiction Writers of America
3. Winspan

Then there is a whole slue of tiny little companies that will print your works. There is way too much to say about these kind of companies both good and bad and I don't want to get into that now. I just want you to get an understanding as to how I can to find my printer.

Now I normally do not say who prints my work, be it art prints, color prints, etc. But for the sake of this blog I would like to mention my experience with printer. And how ZOMBOT© saw the light of day.

Since my work is technically and " Graphic Novel " geared to a young female audience then I started looking in another direction. I started to poke around in the world of self published or Indie comics. There are a great many small, mostly family owned printers that do an AMAZING job! And so I found a local printer that will print my work and all is great in the Universe!

Note: Most printers will offer a JPEG file proof. If you are ok with that then great. I however am not, I ALWAYS ask for a physical proof that I can inspect on my own. To guaranty that whatever I produce is to my level of satisfaction.

I wont lie proofs cost money, most of them range from $5 to $20 but trust me it is worth EVERY penny. Because I can rest assure that every copy I sell is to my liking! And so it will build confidence in the product you are trying to sell.

Great Lazaro, this is all good and dandy. Now will you give us the link to the printer so I can do the same?! I will but before I do, I want to stress that this company works for me and my publication. The same may or may not be the case for you, so please please please do not say " Hey Lazaro prints here and he made ZOMBOT© so lets print there! " What I do is the results of MY OWN ACTIONS, don't follow my lead on this and or other topics I cover. Make good choices and find what is right for you. I don't get any kick backs from this company and I don't want to promote something based on the fact that it was successful for me.

I get it all the time, Do you use Photoshop? What drawing pens do you use? Etc. etc.

So here is a start the printer I am using for ZOMBOT© is a company based out of Orlando Florida named Ka-Blam Just like any investment you want to put some money in and come back with some profit. Like a reward for all my hard work. So I chose Ka-Blam because it was affordable and because I get an ISBN number. Thus for making ZOMBOT© affordable to my
audience.

ISBN Number?! What is that!

ISBN numbers are a way to track your publications. Majir publishing houses apply for ISBN numbers so that they can sell your book, order prints, and track down other information.

What is a ISBN Number, you ask? It stands for International Standard Book Number the funky bar code image on the back cover of books. Here is more information on ISBN numbers. They can cover it better than I can.

Plus publishing through a major Publisher guaranties you the proper accolades of a "Classic" book etc. But for me it signifies the fact that people can track down my book when shopping in places like Amazon.

Copywrite?!

I know I know on the Official ZOMBOT© Facebook Page this "COPYWRITE" can be seen on all the images I have posted. One would say " Hey shouldn't that read Copyright? " Indeed it should, I did that as a joke to see who would get it. Sadly no one got it or no one wanted to mention it... But there is logic to all this. As I was looking at getting my wild idea published, I thought of copyright law, and how with a little research one can find what they need. It may seem at first that copyright is like dredging through a swamp, but with time you will understand that it is very straight forward.

I have learned that when you are writing a book, you don't have to apply for copyright because if and when a publishing house decided to make you a deal they will buy the right to copy or "Copyright". And by the way YOUR manuscript is YOUR copyright. And another thing I learned is that as an artist the minute you put pencil to paper that is your copyright! And so for me when I started sketching out Zombot© I gave myself the right to copy.

So with that being said I knew that if I posted this image on Facebook, I am already protected because I can prove that I created and own the artwork. And so I added the "ZOMBOT COPYWRITE 2010 LAZARO GOMEZ SIN ISTER" to see if anyone would catch it.

Now how does that apply to self publication?! Good question I have a copyright applied to the book because I am the full owner of the book, and that guaranties me the opportunity to go after people that may mis-represent my creation.

For example if a printer decided hey Mr. Gomez wanted 30 books and we gave him 30 books and we are good. Now the other 40 we printed, lets sell those because he forgot to... say it say it. COPYRIGHT!

Hope that helps cover copyright law in lay terms. Here is a link to more info on copyrights.

Welcome to the ZOMBOT© Blog

I wanted to start a blog about my journey in the Independent writing and publishing field. Hopefully the goal here is to help anyone else who is looking to create their own publications, and to provide some info for them which maybe you an inside to the way I handled my project.

I am NOT and I repeat not an expert on this matter nor do I claim to be, however I would like to mention that this info can be useful in many ways.

1. It can be a stepping stone to others as to the do's and don'ts of the biz, as I myself am doing the same.

2. It will serve as encouragement to others that may have an idea and not sure how to release it to the World.

For me this blog will serve as a way to capture the experience in its raw form. So I can reflect on the pros and cons. And to see how I can improve my skills as an artist and writer. So don't be shocked when you read some low moments in the journey. For I know that there will be!

So if your interested then sit back and watch the way Zombot© gets made and published.