Nothing Is More Dangerous Than a Guru
by Joey Manley
One final bit of advice to webcartoonists, to close out this week: you should beware anybody who tries to build a career and a name brand for him/herself writing blog posts (or books, or whatever) giving you business advice. Including me! Professional self-help gurus are the worst, and webcomics is much better off without them. I like to think I’m not really that guy. I’m just a guy who has been around this particular set of blocks a few times, who occasionally comes up with some thoughts (I had a lot of thoughts this week, but I don’t always blog so much about business). When I have thoughts that might be worthwhile, I’ll share them. Nobody, but nobody, is required to agree with me!
Nothing could be more boring and dangerous than a guru. Don’t hand over the dreaming of your dreams or the planning of your plans to anybody. Test everything you read against your own instincts. And most of all: have fun!
October 16th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Unfortunately, human beings are hardwired to listen to perceived authority. Fame is a sort of authority. Even the Z grade fame that being a big-timey-webcomicker brings. Which makes it difficult to filter the self-serving bullshitters from the genuinely helpful.
Ah Bartleby! Ah humanity!
October 19th, 2009 at 6:20 am
[...] Manley closes out a week of webcomics advice by warning his readers against people who hand out webcomics [...]
October 20th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Joey, you’re right; there are lots of webcomic creators who only offer advice as a means of gaining traction in self-promotion, marketing and branding. And while a lot of us will agree that it’s neighborly to share what we know, we will probably also agree that advice is usually best served with a disclaimer that says “This is just what I know and I’m sharing it as FYI”
Encouraging blog readers to continue their research of topics and to weigh what they learn against their own circumstances really is the responsible way of helping them figure out what works best for them and their comics.
October 20th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Joey,
That was a great series of posts.
From the four years I’ve been dealing with you (WCN) and the five years that I’ve been reading about you, you’ve never come off as a guru. Just a guy who is endlessly testing what works.
There is definitely no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to promoting your webcomic as there is such a large variety of them out there that cater to so many different tastes. But a general marketing or business course (or book) for artists is probably a good idea for anyone who wants to create for a living. It won’t solve all of your problems but it could certainly help out a newbie who’s feeling lost or overwhelmed.
October 21st, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Great posts. This is the best site ever!
October 27th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Does this mean I have to turn in my Guru decoder ring???