Hi there, everyone. Matt here.
As we readjust our lives and how we do things in the wake of this brave, new world we're living in, we felt like it was a good time to make some much-needed changes that we've been talking about for a while, but haven't put into place until now. Rather than a typical press release or official statement, we'll break it down into sections in traditional Comic Book Yeti fashion.
WHAT ARE THE CHANGES?
CBY will now primarily review only full volumes, first issues to arcs/volumes, and one-shots. For example, if the first trade collected issues #1-5, we would cover issues #1, #6, and Vol. 1, 2, etc. of that series.
Why? In an effort to give more creators a chance and encourage contributors to branch out and discover new comics, we felt that this might help move things in the right direction. Personally, I feel a strong need to cover every issue, especially with regard to series from creators and publishers I admire, so I'm hoping this might dull my own guilt and anxiety over not covering EVERYTHING. But, perhaps more importantly, ComicBookYeti.com was built to be an approachable resource for the casual comics fan. This audience is much more likely to be interested in complete volumes or wondering if each arc is worth their time and money. This decision takes us back to our roots in a way that shouldn't rock the boat too much.
Exceptions: We know every issue has diminishing returns and needs as much attention as they can get to help keep the series selling. Depending on the availability of our contributors, we will likely return to our SAFE WORD: INSIDE THE VAULT wrap-up of ongoing Vault Comics issues, and we may also start collections of micro-reviews of mid-arc issues. We'll still be open to publishing press releases for any issues if we're sent the release and have the time to do so, and I'll personally be retweeting noteworthy crowdfunding campaigns. We will also continue writing bundled reviews, so if we receive issues #1-2 of an upcoming series, our review will cover both issues.
More ways to submit your comic. If you missed the announcement earlier this year, we now have a robust submissions process that helps our contributors tremendously, giving them the information they need to do your comic justice. Creators can still email us at TheComicsYeti@gmail.com or shoot us a DM on Twitter with a link to their Dropbox, Google Drive or other hosting platform where their comic lives.
Why? Our review format is different from anyone else's, because we like to help people learn about comics and their creators. However, hunting information down can add hours to each review. This allows us to cover more, more accurately.
Exceptions: If we have a good rapport already, or your submitting multiple files with the same information, don't feel like you need to go through the whole process multiple times. If we've published a review on you or other members of the creative team already, we may already have a lot of the information we need.
New zero-tolerance policy. While this has already been in place somewhat unofficially, and I recently mentioned it on Twitter, no one is entitled to a review or our time and harassers or bad actors of any kind will have their comics deleted from our "To Be Reviewed" queue. Members of known hate groups fall into this category and will be immediately blocked. This information will be shared with our contributors and affiliates.
Why? For many reasons, several of which I stated in the aforementioned tweet. But we all work hard to cover the comics we're sent, on top of our jobs, our families, our lives and being in a pandemic. We aren't being paid for this. Plus, our unique format means each review can take hours of our time. We've had a few people send angry tweets or emails our way, trying to bully us into reviewing their comics. We would prefer to spotlight the people who make the industry a more positive and welcoming place. And we reserve the right to warn friends, contributors or fellow critics of any bad behavior we experience.
Exceptions: After my Twitter thread, I got a few nervous messages from creators. Let me just say, there's a BIG difference between checking in to make sure your comic didn't get lost in the shuffle and aggressively demanding to know why we haven't reviewed your comic by now. If we've met in person, or been on a Zoom call, or you've just DM'd to reach out and check up on me/us during this COVID crisis, I promise, you're fine. You're not the problem. Checking in does help us move things along faster, and it helps catch comics that fell through the cracks. It's the "I sent you my comic last week, still no review. What gives??" messages that we're talking about here.
Well, that's about it, friends. We're still not fully back to our previous strength – the pandemic has made it difficult for all of us to find the time to get writing done, but we will keep posting when we can, so long as you keep reading.
Thanks, as always, to all of you. I appreciate each and every one of you for your support, and I look forward to reading and reviewing many more comics very soon.