Yesterday's topic was heavy and talked about a lot of tough lessons we learned in 2019. Today we turn our focus towards 2020 and look at the ways we want to take everything that we have learned and put it into practice this year.
Here are our top 'Areas of Focus for 2020' as it pertains to INSYM:
* Get the HEIRS sequel story arc together
Ideas and concepts for the HEIRS OF ISILDUR sequel - THE PERILOUS PROSPECTS - have been being captured for years (literally), just awaiting assembly. We've always known how the cliffhangers will be resolved from THE CROSSROADS CONUNDRUM, and we ultimately know where we want the story arc to go. And oh yes - there is a lot of music that has been being cataloged for the next musical release.
With both the music and the story-arc, its about framing it to be the story WE want to tell go-forward, and in the format we want to tell it in. Single issues? Graphic novel? Something else? HEIRS is WIDE open in the options we have to bring further installments to light. Now we just need to pick a path and roll with it.
And by saying this it is not DE-Prioritizing our other works that are out there. Both TALES FROM NOCTURNIA and THE ACCURSED have paths already laid out for 2020. All we need to do there is just to follow them.
* Expand our IP universes:
Reaching out to expand our IPs (Intellectual properties) into different creative avenues is a large area of focus for us in 2020. Don't get us wrong - comics and graphic novels are great, and we obviously love creating them, but we have always been about expanding the borders of our offerings out past the confines of the printed page. We already have music videos, albums, trading cards, t-shirts, leather gauntlets, etc... and we want more.
We are always thinking bigger and more expansive. We've been brainstorming and researching potential areas of growth and haven't yet decided on our next foray into the unknown, but one thing is certain - our hope is that you all will see InSym in multiple different areas of content creation that we have never explored in 2020.
After all, we aren't named InSymmetry CREATIONS for nothin'.
* Be strategic in our personal appearances
In 2019, we made 35 personal/show appearances (individually or together). We were able to learn something from every single one of them, and for that we have zero regrets. Now if we were to embark on the SAME exact circuit of shows in 2020, THAT would be a regrettable experience.
Why would we say that? Because market factors, expenses, our own product line, releases, and personal availability will dictate what shows will be the best choices for the upcoming year. What worked in 2019 may not have the same impact in 2020. There are some shows we would do every opportunity we get. Sometimes, however, the most positive thing we learned from an appearance was simply that it would not be worth it for us to do it again under the same circumstances.
Even in saying that, we have adopted a "never say never" approach when it comes to the shows we choose to attend. There are events we swore we wouldn't do again that saw us back the next time out because a circumstance changed to make that appearance more palatable.
We want to expand WHERE we attend shows in 2020 and make sure that we have the proper product lines and releases to support such appearances. We also want to make sure that the shows we are at actually CARE that we are there. We don't want to simply be someone buried in an artist alley at a show that clearly only wants us there to fill space and pay the guarantee to their A-listers.
We will do more? Less? We aren't as concerned about the NUMBER as much as making sure they are the RIGHT ones based on all of the factors mentioned above.
* Improved communication and accessibility on the web
You would think in this day of social media, facebook, twitter, instagram, email lists, etc... that there is enough social connection out there. However, with the limitations that facebook now has for businesses, and the over-saturation in other areas, we need to 'get back to the basics' and update a couple of areas for us that have become outdated.
Webstore: Our webstore is still based on our offerings beings Heirs of Isildur primarily. While that is still the case, we need a store that will tie into INSYM better, and have more flexibility and searchability than our current one. We hope to resolve this at some point during the year. If any of you have positive experiences with your store and its not breaking your bank and you want to share your thoughts, please don't hesitate.
Blog: Steph started to run a blog from her personal website, but we let that go in an effort to drive everything towards INSYM. There is not a GOOD way to share commentaries and long articles on social media natively, so we will be bringing the blog concept BACK, just this time on the INSYM page.
*** This is one item we can already check off our list, as we created a blog on our website just yesterday (check it out here: www.tinyurl.com/insymBLOG). Our 5th and final article in this series will be the first that we don't share on social media in full. We will simply link to it on the blog page.
* Find out from our fans and supporters what YOU want to see from us in 2020
You've heard a lot from us over the last few days, now we want to hear from YOU! WE know what WE want to do, but listening to those who support us is key.
What do YOU want to see from us in 2020? WHERE do you want to see us? Are there specific products that you want us to create / carry? Do you have a question in general for us? Hit us up now and let us know your thoughts!
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We hope you all have enjoyed our look back on 2019, and we can't wait to see what in store for 2020. We will wrap up this series of posts with something fun, so join us tomorrow when the topic is "Our top 5 RANDOM thoughts that don't fit into any other lists!"
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