Why bother? I have this Forum, where anyone who wants can ask me direct questions about just about anything under the Sun, and where I can spontaneously post my opinions whenever the mood strikes.

Well, you just gave Rich Johnston his next "headline" on his site.

And I do not blame you, JB.  Interviews tend to be "edited" in a heavy handed way.  At least this way you know what you say is exactly what you mean.

The "interview thing" is a personal decision, so I can only respect it and thank you for sharing your thoughts.

About the forum I've got to say that it's far beyond my imagination having the posibility of answering, talking amd respond with/to my favourite comic creator. And you make it possible, so thank you very much for that.

I'm very susprised of having never readed something like... "What John Byrne does in his web site and forum is a revolution in the contact and relationship with fans and readers in general. He is always accesible, friendly and helpful and as nice as honestity let anyone be, and that last thing is what makes the JB forum real and valuable"  

**one more time: sorry for my english.

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That would be a GOOD Byrne story, Sergio -- and where's the FUN in that?

John Byrne wrote: Why bother? I have this Forum, where anyone who wants can ask me direct questions about just about anything under the Sun, and where I can spontaneously post my opinions whenever the mood strikes.

To appeal to readers who might not be regulars at this forum.

A reader may be a regular reader of CBR and see an interview regarding Next Men or some other project that piques his interest and asks his retailer to order him a copy.

Had that interview not been on CBR, it's a reader you may not have reached. Or in other words, it's free advertising in avenues other than this forum.

That would be a GOOD Byrne story, Sergio -- and where's the FUN in that?

--

Oooh! ha, ha, ha. "Touché", but you've got already a lot of people "talking" about you, for having fun. Isn't it true? I was just demanding one article, one time...

Holy cow! you cannot deny me that... JUSTICE!

He, he, he, he

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To appeal to readers who might not be regulars at this forum. (snip) …it's free advertising in avenues other than this forum.

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Not to people who have to BUY the magazine.

Anybody who wants to can read this Forum free. They can sign up free. They can correspond with me here, free.

How is buying some fanzine that asks only the questions THAT interviewer wants to ask better?

I told him I'd just today collected Jurassic #2, NextMen #3, and the Namor TPB. Scads of Angel, Trek stuff last year.

I told him what a priceless resource JB is, and how amazing it is that I could ask a (hopefully) intelligent question and get an answer that might as well be from the guy across the room in a bullpen setting.

This 'site is the greatest thing on the web.

We should party.

Well, CBR is free, but it goes to magazines too.

The purpose of reaching out to readers of other sites and magazines is to find casual readers who might be interested in reading your book but aren't dedicated enough to follow you online as your most devoted fans.

For example, I like and enjoy Mike Allred's work, but wouldn't bother to follow him online -- the work is enough. While this forum is very popular, I imagine it still only represents a small percentage of the readers who have purchased your work in the past.

As a sizeable portion of comic stores are reluctant to order and promote independent books, it's up to creators to generate buzz and "word of mouth" among the existing readership if they want a book that doesn't feature a Marvel or DC property to do well.

A number of fans might be willing and interested in pursuing your work when they know about it, but if both their shops and the comic book news media doesn't report on it, they may be left unaware that a product they would be happy to purchase even exists.

I'm sure we've all experienced this in some way -- an actor we like is promoting an independent movie on the late night talk shows and we go see it because of that appearance making us aware. A new album just came out from a band that we like who only enjoys moderate popularity and we didn't even hear about it until we flipped through the newest issue of Rolling Stone.

Playing the promotion game tends to run this way -- it's why celebrities tend to do a number of talk shows when promoting a project. Each show they go on may only have a couple million viewers, but when you add up those viewers, they've reached 10 to 20 million people when all's said and done... something that they likely couldn't do if they only posted to their website about the new project.

In any case, just something to consider. I wish you luck in your endeavors.