Thursday, August 30, 2007  
Zeros 2 Heroes Responds

:: Posted by Bryan @ 8/30/2007 01:07:00 AM
Based on a few recent posts about the new zeros2heroes.com comics-related social network/idea farm, Sequential was contacted by Zeros 2 Heroes spokesperson Matthew Toner. Toner was kind enough to answer a few email questions about his site and its latest projects:

1. How many users does Zeros 2 Heroes have? How many participated in the Reboot promotion?


*** Last time I checked, we were just over 2500 members... hardly Facebook numbers. ;-)

But we did surpass our goal wrt the ReBoot promotion by a long margin - we measured this by more than just members. We looked at time on site, for example, and number of reviews. Online users submitted way more than 10,000 individual ratings, a few thousand comments, and several hundred blog posts. For a relatively small group in a relatively short time, this was a very decent showing. ***

2. Is there anywhere online where anyone interested could read an example of the "standard" contract you will be offering to the winners of the "Canada: Comic Creation Nation" contest?


*** Not yet. Much like some of our better-heeled competitors, we've found that getting legal work done at the end of August is a slow process. But we'll be posting some plain language deal points very soon. ***

3. Why should I care about Zeros 2 Heroes? What are the ways in which Zeros 2 Heroes differs from other social networking sites like comicspace? How does Zeros 2 Heroes differ from other webcomics publishers like clickwheel or wecomincs nation?


*** We think ComicSpace is great and have had many fruitful discussions with Josh (as well as some collaboration around the ReBoot campaign). I guess what sets Zeros 2 Heroes apart from other online comic communities is that we see ourselves as more of a movement - we want to work with or on behalf of these other sites that are on the outside of the mainstream industry. As you may have noticed, we're pretty good at the business/marketing side of the business - we want to use this expertise on behalf of independent, undiscovered or unnoticed creators. ***

4. How is Zeros 2 Heroes better than self-publishing or publishing through a traditional paper publisher?


*** I don't know if I would say "better", but I would say "different". Self-publishing results in product but no distribution or marketing... in the end, it can easily become a big money sink for the creators. Paper publishing is a great, time-tested model, but there are very real barriers to entry for new or untested talent. Most writers I know could paper their house with rejection letters.

Our model is digital and allows creators the ability to self-publish, distribute and promote their own works... and the only real judge of thei worth will be the online audience. The wrinkle we're adding with Comic Creation Nation is the ability to team up undiscovered writers with editors and professional artists to help bring that crucial first work to life. All of this is at no cost to them... and no cost to the audience either. ***

5. There have been other submission contests and collective pitch rating forums in the past, most of which have never resulted in successful properties or even great art. There are already tons of comics in the world (and let's face it, comics is not a mass medium like movies or tv). How will your company be able to market or develop these projects when there are so many competing webcomics and paper comics in the world? Is there any money in it when major comics publishers and even sites like youtube struggle to find ways to generate profit?


*** Well, now we're really talking about our company's "secret sauce". ;-)

I think the short answer is that we've assembled a really good team of entertainment industry professionals and new media specialists: this gives us a certain kind of clout. But more importantly, I think we're approaching the problems of the comic industry in a new way. Von Clauswitz always said to attack "the hinge of the door" and that's what I think online companies can do best. If we can displace industry intermediaries, we can tip the dynamic of the industry back towards consumer and creators of content. We often look to how MySpace has changed the music industry. ***

6. Do you have any funding from anything besides Telefilm? What or who are your backers and what kind of financing have they provided?


*** We do have some private financing in the company, but our investors would obviously prefer that we keep it "private." But I do feel free to say that we are not funded by any giant entertainment conglomerate and don't answer to any other corporate power. Unlike our bigger competitors, this allows us the freedom to do things that we feel are in the best interests of the creators, artists and fans that make up our community. We hope to keep it that way, even though sometimes I get an earful from our Chairman about leaving money on the table. ;-) ***

------

The Edmonton Journal has an article about Z2H today.

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