READERSVOICE.COM: What are some of your plans for Tinto Press titles coming out?

TED INTORCIO: I don’t like to talk about upcoming projects, especially when they are not yet sent to the printers. So many things can go wrong. I just released two new books at the DINK show this past weekend. You Will Not Be Missed by Kevin Budnik, a collection of his four-panel comics (they read like funny haiku) and The Ultimate Laugh by Sara Lautman, a collection of short stories and visual essays. A denser follow-up to Lying & Cursing, which came out last year. Both are hilarious but also reflective and layered. Really proud of both! I should have them on the website in a week or two. (I’m in the process of a major website redesign).

RV: Are you still writing and drawing your own comics? How much drawing and writing do you do each day?

TI: YES. Not nearly enough. When I’m really jamming , I can get a couple pages done a week. But I usually flip-flop between the new Our Gang mini -biography and Head & Torso which I haven’t posted in a while. I seem to be caught up in a themed series of H&T strips. Right now I have a bunch of booze – related strips done. Now that DINK is done for the year, I’ll start posting more.

RV: What sort of skills do you need to run Tinto Press, apart from knowing good comics when you see them? Do you know book-keeping? What sort of comic-cons do you go to now and whom do you send press releases to? How do you handle distribution?

TI: Being a generalist is probably a good thing because there is so much to consider when publishing. I am not a good book keeper and need to make it as simple as possible in order to get anything else done. Quick Books is the bane of my existence but a necessary evil if you want to file your taxes correctly. I know a fair amount about print processes and I’m learning about marketing and distro all the time. I also have a marketing volunteer, Patty McCrystal and a proofreader Kayla Mauriello who are a huge help. I go to as many free events as possible and only a few that have a table fee. I’ve been to APE, SPX, SPACE, KC Wondercon [Kansas City], Cleveland Ghengis Con and all the events I can find in Colorado. And of course DINK Denver. I prefer cons that have a concentration on comics and not so much pop-culture. Distribution is handled a bit differently for each book I publish. If I can get multiple avenues for distro, that seems to work best. So Diamond, Tony Shenton, Amazon, directly selling to stores…. I try everything. I still need to look into Comixology. I’ve heard good things.

– See Tinto Press.com.
– copyright Simon Sandall.