Aaron Johnson Interview

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In this episode of Jason Loves Life, I was lucky enough to get Aaron Johnson to come on and talk about his syndicated web comic and how he got his start making money from it.

Aaron Johnson

Aaron Johnson is the Creator of What the Duck (sometimes called W.T. Duck). What the Duck is a comic strip about a duck who is a photographer. It is currently syndicated around the world through Universal Press or at the website.

I met Aaron when he gave a talk at UW Parkside while I was studying animation several years ago. He has an amazing story of how he became a full time comic creator and we are very lucky to have him on the show.

Aaron is making money with his webcomic in a variety of ways through his site.

Revenue Streams for his Webcomic

Selling Merchandise
Published Books
Selling licensing rights for products
Ads
Syndication

“Create as many revenue streams as possible”

In this episode we talk about how Aaron accidentally came into becoming a comic creator, how he got the idea for his best selling merchandise from a fan, and the flexibility he has with producing his strip for the web.

In this episode we also learn about:

Interacting with readers.
How to start selling merchandise for free with 3^rd party businesses.
(Like Café Press)
His best selling merchandise
His production schedule
His writing processes

You can check out Aaron Johnson’s comic strip at www.whattheduck.net, visit his facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/whattheduck, see his tweets at https://twitter.com/wtdcomics, or watch his videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/wtdcomics.

Things Mentioned in this Episode

Whattheduck.net
Aaron Johnson’s Webcomic
Cafepress.com
A website where they will produce your products, provide a store front, and ship your merchandise. You design it and they do the rest.
Universal Press
A subsidiary of Andrews McMeel Universal, is the world’s largest independent press syndicate (description from Wikipedia).
Adobe Illustrator
Graphic Design Software