We're now in launch week.  Needless to say, this is a terrifying exciting time.  But hey, we're consumate professionals, so we'll take it in stride, bravely moving along with a dance and a song.

So, anyway.  Tweaking.  Now you come to the final moments of your battle with the website, getting it ready for the challenges ahead.  This is the part where it gets interesting: the decision on where you're going to put your work.  We'll go over that all now.

Comic Sites

For starters, let me say there is nothing wrong with putting your stuff on a comic site.  For those who are not technically adept with creating your own site, that's why these companies exist.  Some are subsidiaries of publishers, some are one step short of the guy running a server in his basement; regardless, they're there for a reason.  Also, they can be a good launching pad to eventually head to your own site; comics such as Modest Medusa and Checkerboard Nightmare started on comic sites before moving on.  

Granted, there are advantages and disadvantages to picking the one you wish to go with.  For example, The Duck (formerly Drunk Duck) is a subsidiary of e-book publisher Wowio, so a lateral move to e- and print publishing becomes easier.  Comic Genesis, the "junior" comic division of publisher Keenspot, and once a comic is "promoted" to Keenspot, a lot more notice occurs.  Wirepop specializes in OEL manga/Amerimanga and, since it's a subscription service, gives you a part of the proceeds.  Despite the odd name, Smack Jeeves has a thriving community of artists as well as the chance to go to complete hosting services.  Comic Fury is completely free.  And these are only the ones I know about; there are countless other services, some general, some specializing in anything from superheroes to adult/mature works.  You have to weigh the bad and the good and make that choice.

Collective Publishing

Collective publishing is a lot like comic sites, with the exception that it's on a smaller scale, and there are certain requirements that you need to meet in order to be accepted; usually that requirement is that you have to be invited to participate.  Collectives usually run with one person owning a studio and sharing the headaches and the wealth with a bunch of partners; or the whole collective may be jointly owned, each person having a complete stake in both the pleasure and pain.  Some collectives are generally minded, like Halfpixel and Black Ink, while others are definitely more allied along their type of comics, such as Collective of Heroes or G-Pen, G-Spot.  Still others are gender defined, like Quad-crossed Pencils, or sexuality, such as Filthy Figments.  Even more others are more of a rough coalition of artists rather than a true union of creators.  Regardless of where you fall on the spectrum, being a part of a coalition has its advantages and disadvantages.  The disadvantages, of course, is the pain, the arguements, the prioritizing.  The benefits, of course, are immeasurable.  Not sure what I mean by that?  Just ask the folks at the most famous of fan-gone-pro comic collectives, CLAMP (despite being known mostly for their joint works, all four current members have published independently, while the seven members who have gone solo have substantial careers of their own.)  

Solo Publishing

This is it: going onto the high wire without a net.  This is arguably one of the most potentially rewarding, but also potentially demanding methods.  There is no one to inhibit you from what you want to do (for example, Comic Genesis frowns on sprite comics and Lacebook does not accept works with straight relationships), but there is no one pushing you forward, either.  Everything you do, from the site design to the advertising hunting to getting the word out, is entirely up to you.  Your site can run on stuff as simple as basic HTML or simple blogging software; to the advanced WordPress variations, such as Webcomic or the gold standard, Comicpress; to content management systems such as Drupal or Ruby on Rails; to webcomics dedicated CMSes such as ComicCMS or Walrus.  In our case, we're doing a standard Webcomic on WP build with a secret test site built on ComicCMS; in the future we're working with a friend of ours to get a proprietary webcomic system for Joomla.  And that's not all.  Others build their sites out of Flash, Silverlight or RAVE.  One guy I know has his site running on Coldfusion.  The possibilities are endless.

Once you've chosen your platform, then there's the final step: doublechecking your work.  And trust me, after all this, doublechecking you must.

TOMORROW: Day 1 - AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!!: Last-Minute Corrections