Good news! The “Pugs” book is going on sale Wednesday night in the Sheldon Store. Hooray!
As a cartoonist, there’s nothing that’s more stress-inducing, but ultimately more satisfying, than going through the process of creating a new book. It’s so permanent. So concrete. And it takes so many months of work before you can hold the final product in your hands.
And because my perfectionist streak kicks in on these, I always want the final books to exceed expectations in terms of materials and look and feel. I want people to get their book and go “Snap-a-doo… this IS nice! Dave wasn’t lyin’.”
Thankfully, I’ve been very proud of how the Sheldon books have turned out thus far — and “Pugs” is no exception. I couldn’t be happier with how it came out.
There’s a financial aspect to it, too, that I don’t talk about much: When you pick up a book, it lets us keep up the free RSS feed, the free strip deliveries by e-mail, and the free website. It’s a unique kind of artistic exchange: Give away as much as you can for free, and see if a tiny percentage of readers will find enough joy in it that they’ll buy a book. It’s certainly not the business model that Wal*Mart uses…but as an artist, I find it very satisfying. Give your art away for free, and see what happens.
But back to the book itself: This is the first “theme” book, collecting all the pug-related strips that Sheldon has ever produced. Frankly, it’s a pretty perfect book if you’re a dog-lover, or love a dog-lover, or love to love your unlovable dog-lover. It features an expanded version of the “Little Lost Pug” storyline, with some added tidbits not seen online. And because all the strips in the book are larger and clearer than what you read online, you’ll see fun little details you may have missed the first time around.
So head on over to the store and get yours while the gettin’s good! And thanks!