Keenspot

by **Jamie** on Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:22 am

EDIT 10-16-04 Thanks to reader donations, subscribers to Sebo's Kitty Klub and my family, I have no plans to end COTC any time soon. However, I still haven't met the 200 SKK subscribers I was after. It would be nice to get them, so take a look if you haven't!
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It is with a heavy heart that I announce that COTC will end this Christmas. The Dracula story line will NOT be concluded. There will NOT be a COTC graphic novel either. The situation is this. The place where I work, and have been working for nearly 20 years, can no longer afford to pay me. I work at a Photography studio and current technology has made the professional photographer all but obsolete. I don

by **TCampbell** on Fri Sep 10, 2004 11:07 am

What really saddens me is that I somehow missed that the "Sebastian" strip even existed, till now. I'd been reading COTC regularly, but my eyes had always traveled directly to the strip. I wonder how many others have read it like that?

You now have 17 subscribers, Jamie. Hope it's the beginning of a flood. In my opinion, this artwork is too good to be allowed to leave the Internet, but the readers will have to decide that with their actions.

by **HiFranc** on Fri Sep 10, 2004 2:26 pm

If you need to stop drawing the comic to find a job I will consider the comic suspended rather then ended.

I hope things work out for you.

by **Tangent** on Fri Sep 10, 2004 8:03 pm

If worse came to absolute worse, Jamie, you could also update weekly. Even though the story would take a lot longer to get to the ending of the Dracula storyline... at least you wouldn't be ending it entirely. Or even update once every other week. Any little bit is better than nothing.

Some web-cartoonists who update weekly also have a donation bar and for every $100 that is donated, they draw a bonus strip. That could also be a possibility.

Now I have to get a job so I can afford to subscribe to the Sebo comic. ^.^

Robert A. Howard

Klyfix''s Journal Thingy · by **Klyfix** on Fri Sep 10, 2004 10:08 pm

HiFranc wrote:If you need to stop drawing the comic to find a job I will consider the comic suspended rather then ended.

I hope things work out for you.

Yes, I don't think anybody would hold it against you if you put the strip on
possibly permanent hiatus while looking for work. Obviously getting a living
trumps anything else, but it is possible that a new job might allow for other
pursuits. I know first hand that this isn't necessarily the best of times for
job hunting, so dropping the strip for that is quite understandable.

by **crimso** on Sat Sep 11, 2004 3:45 am

I can't do much, but you've just got another yearly subscription for Sebo's.

by **Phalanx** on Sun Sep 12, 2004 12:01 am

*is speechless with horror*

Oh man, Jamie. I wish I knew what to say.

I really hope you can get your life back on track soon.

by **Jamie** on Sun Sep 12, 2004 4:10 pm

crimso wrote:I can't do much, but you've just got another yearly subscription for Sebo's.

That helps a great deal.

Thank you.

Jamie

by **Nanuk of the Frigid North** on Sun Sep 12, 2004 7:46 pm

I am sorry to hear that Clan of the Cats may be ending. I would like to express my thanks to you for all of your hard work that you have put into this strip thruoghout the years. I hope that things work out for you in the end. Hopefully the word willl get out and enough people will donate to support the site. I will personally sign up for Sebo as well in order to do my part to keep this strip going.

by **Jamie** on Sun Sep 12, 2004 8:02 pm

Thank you, Nanuk. Thank you very much.

Jamie

by **BlessedKen** on Mon Sep 13, 2004 12:09 am

Since starting work over in Iraq, I have not had a chance to follow CotC as closly as I had in the past years. When I discovered you might be forced to cancel it, I had to help. I hope my subscription and my extra donation helps keep the wolves at bay.

by **Nyerguds** on Mon Sep 13, 2004 12:41 pm

aw man... first Elf Life, now CotC...

I'd subscribe, if I wasn't a poor student without any source of income.

by **Valentine** on Tue Sep 14, 2004 4:10 am

I'm on vacation for 3 weeks and everythign burns down?
I'm awfully sorry to hear all that, Jamie and I'll try to get some money but I'm myself pretty broke.
I'll try to spread the word, your work (and Chelsea) really deserve more than this...

'Tine

by **Greg** on Wed Sep 15, 2004 5:00 am

crimso wrote:I can't do much, but you've just got another yearly subscription for Sebo's.

And another yearly from me.

One request I do have, Jamie. According to the Paypal screen, the yearly subscription is a recurring charge.

Are you able to send out reminders a week or two before the renewal date - my "internet" credit card always has a zero balance and zero credit - I only put money into the account just before I need to pay for something (just in case anyone finds out the CC number).

Thanks, and I hope the job market picks up for you soon. Any of us will happily give you a reference, either personally or for your artistic ability.

Rgds,
Greg

Skane's Lonely LiveJournal · by **Skane** on Wed Sep 15, 2004 10:59 pm

We're at 15% now for the donations.

If we maintain this rate, we can achieve success by November. Spread the word!

by **Tim Tylor** on Thu Sep 16, 2004 9:23 am

The number of subscribers is coming up too. Still a long way to go, but this has been a good week going by the homepage figures.

by **macclint** on Sun Sep 19, 2004 8:51 am

I'm less worried about COTC than I am you Jamie. You've been working at the same thing for 20 years, is there anything you can do to salvage the photography career, or will you have to look into retraining? (there may be federal aid for that...) Stock Photography? Bar Mitvahs? Working for a newspaper?

My friend Pat had done a newsletter for a union local for years at $2500 a pop back in the 80's and 90's but eventually desktop publishing allowed the client to do it themselves. She eventually had to go back to school.

I would hate to see COTC vanish all together. If worse comes to worse, maybe you can just do it once a week a la ZebraGirl. Joe seems to do just fine 1 day a week in B/w. I'm thinking of switching Wandering Ones to this sort of format in late 2005.

Let's face it. Webcomics are not a very viable revenue stream, so they should at least not cause hardship. 1 day a week is at least in the realm of enjoyable hobby to keep one sane.

Good luck!

by **Tangent** on Sun Sep 19, 2004 9:06 am

I've been contemplating this as well. Of course, if Jamie went to a b&w format for the time being, then it wouldn't take as long to do the comic. Latest that I've heard is that it actually takes two days per strip with the full-page CotC color. I'm not sure how much of that is pencilling, inking, or lettering the comic, however.

As an aside, there is one other thing Jamie could look into. His artistry is pretty good... Jamie, have you considered doing freelance work for one of the larger "mainstream" comic book companies? From what I understand, working for Dark Horse isn't tantamont to selling your soul

and Colleen Doran seems to do fairly well working for DC and Marvel (and Image of course).

Also, if you try to put out the first part of the Dracula storyline (the Dracula Wars) through Image or Dark Horse, and it's accepted, that would bring in some revenue as well.

And I have a friend who was going to e-mail me with some other types of work Jamie could do. I have to remind her though, she's been busy with college. *chuckle*

Naturally I'm wishing Jamie all the best luck.

But I'm stubborn and don't like losing the things I enjoy most in life... and CotC is one of them.

Toodles!

Robert A. Howard, now 1.3 chapters away from the epilogue in the novelization of The Trip (first draft, but hey, the second shouldn't take that long...)

by **LadyKitsu** on Mon Sep 27, 2004 6:07 am

I couldn't stand by either to watch this vanish...even though I too am out of a job, I sucked some money outta savings to help Jamie

You've been one of the only 3 things I've ever donated to Jamie...and that's because you well deserve it! If they would let me give plasma, I would donate the $20 I'd get from that to ya <laughs>

Things always change...hopefully they will change for the better (I say that for you personally...and not just because I like the rich CotC world you created). I hope things get better

Laura

by **Spaceman42** on Mon Sep 27, 2004 10:31 am

Well, there's always artwork requests for auction...

by **Jamie** on Mon Sep 27, 2004 12:20 pm

LadyKitsu wrote:I couldn't stand by either to watch this vanish...even though I too am out of a job, I sucked some money outta savings to help Jamie
Laura

Laura, thank you. I am grateful to you for doing that anf I appreciate it very much. Still, I feel kind of bad since you're out of work too. It's people like you that make me want to fordge ahead no matter what. Thank you.

Spaceman42 wrote:Well, there's always artwork requests for auction...

I'm looking into that.

Thanks,

Jamie

by **LadyKitsu** on Sat Oct 02, 2004 7:06 am

Jamie wrote:Laura, thank you. I am grateful to you for doing that anf I appreciate it very much. Still, I feel kind of bad since you're out of work too. It's people like you that make me want to fordge ahead no matter what. Thank you.

Bah...I'm doin Okay ATM...I had a stash saved up for lean times so don't you worry about me

I just wanted to lot you know that you are certianly worth it. You and your artwork touch thousands upon thousands each week so you've done what some of us only dream about doing <smiles>

Laura

"sometimes you never know how loved you are until something bad happens" - Jody Young (4/15/76 - 6/7/04)

by **Nightlight** on Sun Oct 03, 2004 2:16 pm

Out of curiousity, it looks like with all the donations and SKK subscriptions, you have enough money now. Is the thing that says how many subscriptions you need/how much money from donations you need how much is left or how much in general?

(And I will probably be subscribing for SKK after Halloween. But I'm saving up money until then.)

by **Tangent** on Sun Oct 03, 2004 4:08 pm

Jamie needs a minimum of 200 subscribers to the SKK in order to be able to continue the comic. In addition, the more subscribers he gets, the fewer donations he'll need - but his total donations seems to be under $1,000 currently.

Reinder suggested on the CRFH forums that the best way to get more people to join the SKK is to get them to read CotC and then let them know that it's in danger of cancellation unless enough people join the SKK or donate. His suggestion has much merit. Now I just have to figure out how to get word out to the people of Southern New Hampshire University without driving them off instead.

Rob, currently in Net Exile

by **Jamie** on Sun Oct 03, 2004 4:12 pm

Nightlight wrote:Out of curiousity, it looks like with all the donations and SKK subscriptions, you have enough money now. Is the thing that says how many subscriptions you need/how much money from donations you need how much is left or how much in general?

(And I will probably be subscribing for SKK after Halloween. But I'm saving up money until then.)

Yeah, I have enough to go on for a while, but I'll keep everything as is until I reach 200 subscriptions. After I meet the 200 goal, I'll be rounding everything off. Getting 200 subs won't equal to $7000.00, but it will come close enough.

And thanks for wanting to subscribe. I'll keep it all up after I meet the goal, but it won't be as "in your face" as it is now.

Thanks,

Jamie

Keenspot

Clan of the Cats NOT Ending

Clan of the Cats NOT Ending

Suspension?

Re: Suspension?

Hope this helps, and thank you

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