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What is Socko Press? (“Socko” is slang for “extremely effective or impressive”)
A small-press independent (creator-owned) comic, manga, & graphic novel publisher. 

 

What niche?

Small (manga sized) books and creator-focused contracts. We’re focused on serving the creator rather than IP ownership. We act as a “first-step” publisher, dedicated to leveling up the career of each author/creator and establishing a core audience for their IP.

 

All physical units will be printed as English-language Japanese tankobon-sized
(5 x 7.5) black & white comics and graphic novels (aka manga). If a comic series or book is created in color, these will only be available as exclusive digital comics, including digital collectibles via Web3 with apps such as dReaderapp.
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Contracts/agreements will only be for one print run, rather than on a yearly basis, allowing creators to easily move onto a bigger publisher as their IP and careers begin to grow.

 

Any genre?

We accept and publish stories of all genres, but primarily target high concept stories with clear primary genres such as horror, sci-fi, fantasy, crime, action, adventure and thriller. Secondary genres can include romance, drama, western, slice-of-life, etc. so long as the core hook is “high concept" or “intense” in nature.

(see Submissions page for more details) 
 

Target Audience/Age Range?

Our books will primarily target YA and adult readers, although we expect teens to fit the mix as well. Following in the footsteps of traditional Japanese seinen manga, erotic material is accepted in addition to content with heavy gore/violence. However, we do not exclude submissions with wholesome content suitable for an adolescent or teenage reader.

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Quality?

Professional-grade art and writing only.  Customers are paying for premium quality storytelling, not for premium quality paper. New and rising creators are encouraged to submit, but the IP we’ll publish is professional grade.

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Length and Format?

For manga/graphic novels (5 x 7.5) we have 80-page minimum and 500 page maximum.
 

Singe issue stories (80 pages or less) will be released as small (5 x 7.5) comics. Color comics will only be available digitally.​

 

Any Language?

We’ll actively recruit authors/creators from all over the world (including Japan itself), and we’ll accept submissions from creators in any country. However, we’ll only publish in English (as of now).

 

Distribution?

We self-distribute primarily through our own webstore/website and Amazon. We'll pitch comic shops and book retailers we can deliver to directly, and offer wholesale discounts for orders of 10+ for shop we'll need to ship to. We’ll drive bulk orders directly to various comic shops and books stores throughout the Midwest, specifically in the St. Louis and Chicago metro areas.

 

We’ll do crowdfunding campaigns for select full graphic novels with the base goal of covering the printing & shipping costs for a print run of 200+ units.

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Once we gather a steady release of titles, we’ll apply for distribution with large-scale distributors such as Diamond Distributors and Simon & Schuster.

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We sell books at small-press, manga/anime, comic, and genre conventions throughout the year. 4-6 in the first year, 6-24 in the years to follow.