From the Desk of WWAC's New Publisher...

In December of 2022 WWAC’s beloved publisher, Wendy Browne, passed me the baton, and I became the fourth publisher at WWAC. This is a title previously held by founders Megan Purdy and Claire Napier before the amazing Wendy took it on in May of 2018. Many readers and contributors have only known WWAC as it was under Wendy, who was a steadying presence that enabled WWAC to grow and flourish. Under Wendy’s leadership, WWAC grew from being not just a new model of comics journalism in an industry dominated by white men, but the new standard. I’ve been at WWAC for over a decade and seen it grow from a humble volunteer blog to what it is today: the best comics journalism website in the industry for the past three years running.

That’s one heck of a legacy to take on, but WWAC has always been special to me. I wouldn’t be in the job and the life I have today if not for people I met on WWAC as a contributor. I started writing for WWAC over a decade ago, when WWAC was just a Google mailing list with contributors; a rag-tag group of bloggers late of Livejournal. As I wrote in the November 2022 newsletter, WWAC was created out of love–and out of spite: an outlet of our own. For me, WWAC isn’t just something special, it’s some place special. As WWAC’s new publisher, I am excited to finally share what I have been working on since January. My goal is to grow WWAC in a new direction. The site’s purpose has always been to uplift people of marginalized genders and provide not just a platform as a jumping-off point, but a space for a community.

Becoming a Non-Profit Organization

There are other organizational changes coming. WWAC is in the process of becoming a non-profit organization. As a non-profit organization, we will better be able to stay the largest independent comics journalism outlet in the industry. That’s our commitment to ourselves, and this community. It is also our hope that through this non-profit status we will be able to apply for grants and build partnerships with organizations that will help us accomplish our goal of establishing a pay-model for contributors and editors. WWAC has always wanted to be able to pay all contributors competitively with other freelance outlets, but I also want to do this the WWAC way, which means staying financially independent of corporate sponsorship. The main barrier to this is, and always has been, money. It costs money to become a non-profit organization, and additional money is needed for ongoing legal and accounting services. It is my hope for the WWAC Patreon to earn enough money to cover the initial and ongoing costs of this process, but we have not yet been able to earn or save enough money to do so. I am currently researching possibilities for how to accomplish this, such as fundraising, applying for start-up grants, or seeking sponsorship.

Establishing the Artist-in-Residence Microgrant

In addition to incredible writers and industry professionals, WWAC contributors are also creators; practitioners of the craft they critique. In another effort to expand the scope of what WWAC can do for our contributors, I want WWAC to also be able to support emerging comics creators. I am establishing an Artist-in-Residence microgrant, and I am pleased to announce that the first Artist-in-Residence will be WWAC’S own Masha Zhdanova. In addition to being the WWAC webcomics and manga editor, Masha is a recent graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design’s Atlanta campus, and winner of the 2022 Locher Award. The first Artist-in-Residence microgrant is $300, and as part of receiving the microgrant, Masha’s comics will be published on our Patreon from July-December 2023. You can read more about Masha’s art on her website.

Expanding the Editorial Board

In addition to losing Wendy Browne, moving pictures editor Gretchen Smail and editorial assistant Zainabb Hull also had to leave their roles here at WWAC. We wish them well on their journeys and know they will go on to do incredible things (and that Wendy will be relaxing poolside in well-earned retirement). All of this occurred in the latter half of 2022, and WWAC had been limping along with a diminished editorial staff. Thankfully, long-time WWAC contributor Louis Skye recently joined the editorial board to help manage the Previously series and will be taking on additional editorial responsibilities in the future. Louis joins the rest of the existing editorial team: editor-in-Chief Nola Pfau, reviews editors Kayleigh Hearn (big press), Kat Overland (small press and webcomics, features), and Masha Zhdanova (manga), and Pubwatch editor Cori McCreery. That still leaves us short a moving pictures editor, a comics academe editor, a bookmarked editor, and copyeditor(s). Stay tuned for more information about those (and other) editorial roles.

Partnering with Oregon State University for the first WWAC Editorial Internships

In February, I approached the Oregon State University English department with the idea of WWAC becoming an internship partner with them. OSU replied with an enthusiastic yes, and I am happy to introduce Quinn Chronister and Sabrina She for the Spring term. As editorial interns they will be helping with some of the day-to-day site management, but also providing dedicated support for our social media and site relaunch, and earning college credit while they do. Since the site’s inception, the focus of its mission has been on its writers, but we have also had contributors travel other career paths to working in the comics industry in creative, editorial, or staff roles. As an internship partner, our interns have an opportunity to gain experience in a variety of skills that could lead them to all sorts of career paths inside or outside of comics.

Rolling out a New Communications Strategy and Rebranding

Several years ago WWAC purchased a new domain name to migrate from womenwriteaboutcomics.com. Right now, if you visit wwacomics.com you will be redirected to womenwriteaboutcomics.com. In the past we have lacked the financial and organizational capacity to do a complete migration, but it is my hope to complete that move by the end of 2023. We also have plans to improve our communication with our readers through our newsletter and our social media presence. Last week, we held a Twitter poll asking for some input about what kinds of interactions you would like to see from us, and seeing more of our content in your email was something the majority of people expressed interest in. Over the next few months, you’ll see updates about these initiatives as they progress.