Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery are the creators of Kill Shakespeare, a new comic book released by IDW Publishing.

1) Writing – even as a duo – is introspective work. Do you find it difficult to go from that directly into something where you’re so exposed, like self-promotion?
C: Not really. Maybe it’s because we don’t write physically together so we really aren’t in a “bubble.” You write, you send it to the other guy, and then you meet or have a call. And on those we’re always either defending our choices or brainstorming new ideas when we both know the original ones we wrote don’t work as well as they need to. So I don’t find that I get that introspective.

A: Conor and I are natural marketers and realize that the marketing of the creators is sometimes just as important as the actual product. In today’s media world it’s so crucial to build your personal brand. We probably spend just as much time strategizing and implementing marketing plans as doing the creative writing for the scripts.

2) How involved in the advertising and marketing of Kill Shakespeare is your publisher, IDW?
A: We’ve discovered that there isn’t a great deal of advertising done in the comic book industry. Most publishers focus on word-of-mouth. IDW has done some good work for us but Conor and I have taken it upon ourselves to do a lot of the promotion and outreach for our series.

C: Comics have small marketing budgets, so there’s only so much money that a publisher feels it can spend on promo. Usually you need to be a hit before you get much of a marketing push, which sometimes feels a bit perverse. But IDW has supported us as if we’re one of their licensed properties and have landed us exclusive coverage on some of the top comics websites, and have put us on con panels, so we’re definitely getting help.

3) I understand that you’ve hired two PR firms (MDG & Associates in Canada and Smith Publicity internationally). At what point did you decide to do that, and why?
A: I would argue that Public Relations is the most important part of any brand’s marketing plan. If implemented correctly, PR can be the most efficient (cost- and time-wise) method of getting your brand’s message into the minds of potential customers. We knew at the very beginning that it was crucial for the brand and met with a number of firms to make sure that we found the right fits.

C: We knew going in that comic companies don’t do a ton of marketing, so we built into our budget cash to have P.R. firms on board. It’s an easier decision to make when you think of our goal – we want to build the next Lord of the Rings, so for us, the comic is important from a creative angle, but not so much from the profit side of things. If we lose money on the comic but end up gaining a large fan-base, that’s a win for us.

4) How involved are the firms in how you self-promote?
C: They definitely provide us guidance and media training. Through my work at Business News Network I had some concept of the “on-air persona” but MDG and Dan Smith really brought that to a higher level. And while they don’t “stage manage” us, we’re very aware of the sort of message we want to get out there.

A: We work closely with the companies to develop the messages that we want to communicate. Both have been fantastic – we all exchange ideas on what we can and should do at every step. Conor and I are both outgoing individuals that are willing to talk to anyone – even strangers on the street – about our product.

5) You’ve both been involved in creative, production and management over a wide range of media. What kind of things specifically have you two worked on in the past?

A: My first real marketing campaign was for a feature film I produced in university (Wilfrid Laurier), for which I oversaw the entire campaign – from basic positioning to designing posters, t-shirts, a soundtrack, concerts, and which led to multiple sold-out events. The other major marketing experience I’ve encountered was working with music manager Chris Smith, who manages artists such as Nelly Furtado, Fefe Dobson and k-os. I was there when Chris oversaw the entire marketing of Nelly’s “Loose” album and I learned a great deal about positioning and branding while there.

C: Well, beyond pushing the various shows or film scripts that we’ve had in development or received funding for, a lot of what I learned about promo came from working as a Producer at Business News Network. Every five minutes you have this challenge to keep the viewer tuned in to the channel. With the exception of maybe CP24 or Newsnet, nobody else has that issue. So you always have to have a new tease for the host, a new “coming up” banner in the hopper that is informative, witty, intriguing… It’s quite a challenge to do it right, and when I watch the news, or other financial channels, it really annoys me when you get lazy throws that ask questions, or are boring. The live newsroom experience really demands a lot from you. And it also teaches you that you have to keep your promotional promises, as well as how to keep someone on the hook for a while.

6) How has marketing a comic book differed?
C: Well, one of the first challenges is that comics are a niche product. There are set places where comic fans gather. That’s great when you want to reach the converted. But for a comic like Kill Shakespeare, which we want to push past the tights-and-capes set (though we love that genre too), it’s tricky to know where to fish. Especially when you may have an audience that would be very interested by the story, but will check-out as soon as the word “comic” is mentioned because they have a pre-existing judgment of what that word means.

A: Marketing a comic book product has been great because it’s a relatively small industry and thus it’s quite easy for us to identify the “influencers” that we could initially target. We can then build upon that by growing our marketing into other segments, such as theatre groups, Shakespeare organizations, fans of literature, etc. It’s also a product that leads to a vocal readership that can also allow us to tune our product as it goes along.

7) How do you respond to the praise and criticism that comes from putting your work out there?
C: Read it all. Take it in. Be honest enough with yourself to know when the criticism is valid. And then I keep to this little maxim: “They ain’t right when they think you’re great, and they ain’t right when they tell you you’re a bum.”

A: This is what makes the comic industry such a great market for storytelling. It’s almost an interactive environment that allows us to tinker with our story and characters as we move forward. We especially know that by dealing with Shakespeare we will have some that will love us, while others will hate us. We’re just glad that they’re talking about us.

8) How important is your level of interaction with your fans in making Kill Shakespeare a success?
A: With the rise of social media, all brands need to become more interactive with their customers/fans. The industry is changing from that of a loudspeaker to a one-on-one conversation. And we’re happy to have this sort of interaction and allow us to build the brand and create great word-of-mouth discussion about Kill Shakespeare.

C: It’s critical. We want to build a true community like Star Wars has, or Harry Potter has. We LOVE this subject matter, so it’s great for us to get to chat with fans, to answer e-mails, to meet them at conventions or in stores. One day we’d love for the fans themselves to create and moderate the community. When that happens, you know your little baby is all grown up and that people actually care about what you’ve put out there.

9) I’ve noticed a recent trend of creating trailers for comic books – you guys have one, too. What do you think this adds to the process of building buzz around a new release?
A: This is a trend not only for comics but for all published books. With the rise of social media, it’s important to be able to target potential customers in as many media as possible. A good trailer can be put on YouTube and other sites and capture the proper mood and tone for any story. I also think that we have become a culture raised on movie trailers and commercials, so this allows comic book publishers/creators to create an ad that adheres to accepted formats.

C: A good trailer gives comics even more kinetic energy. A bad one looks like a crappy movie spot. So it’s a double-edged sword. I think they are neat tools, but ultimately not as useful as for a film, since a film is a wholly visual medium, and a comic is still more of a solitary literary experience.

10) What are some of the other unique ways you can get the word out there?
C: Well we have a few plans, but we can’t say too much yet. But journalists – watch out – some unsavoury Shakespearean types have been watching you…

A: [Muzzled.]

11) Seriously: how awesome is the con circuit?
C: Very awesome. A male Princess Leia in a bikini – ’nuff said.

A: From a marketing perspective, it’s great because you have whole convention centres of captive audiences. From a media creator’s perspective, it’s great because it allows you to get the pulse of where the pop culture industry is going. From a fan’s perspective, well, the costumes ARE pretty cool!