Heidi McDonald interviewed me for the Comics Beat’s 2014 Year End Survey, and I said a few things about diversity. The money quotes:

What was the biggest story in comics in 2014? Diversity. After the success of MS. MARVEL, there’s no going back. We’re going to continue seeing more and more diversity of casts and genres and art styles in mainstream and independent comics, and that’s a fantastic thing that’s healthy for the entire industry in every way.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2015? Diversity. Not just among casts, genre, and art style, but among actual creators. I think there was a time not too long ago when I was the only person of color writing for the big two. That’s going to change. And we’re going to see more and more women writing and drawing, and comics will continue to tap into new audiences as a result, which will be better for the entire industry.

Mark my words, etc. etc.

Read the whole thing here.

Happy New Year! And what better time to buy more comics or comics-related things? A few sweet deals I’ve noticed:

The amazing folks at ComicBookFonts.com have launched what they say is their FINAL New Year’s Font Sale! ComicBookFonts.com sells dozens of the greatest fonts for making comics out there — and for 15 years, they’ve sold them at radically reduced prices during New Year’s. This is your last big shot at getting huge discounts on amazing fonts. If you make comics, get on this.

JHU Comic Books in New York City is running a big in-store sale of 20 to 40 percent off everything. The more you buy, the bigger the percentage of your discount. I’ve been a customer of and done signings with JHU for years — they’re good folks, and the sale looks great. Check ’em out!

And then, yes, my very own Greg Pak Shop is having a 15 percent off sale in honor of 2015! All of the signed comics, hardcovers, and trade paperbacks are 15 percent off — just include the discount code “2015” on checkout! Check it!

By Greg Pak

UPDATE: Since midnight, a single post from Atrios has generated 24 times more click-throughs than the post I paid Facebook to promote. Lesson: Actual humans are much more powerful than Facebook.

I tried a grand experiment today by paying to promote a post on my Facebook page for the Greg Pak Shop New Year’s Sale. (15 percent off anything through Jan. 2 when you use the promotion code “2015” at checkout! Check it out!)

The result? As I noted on Twitter, after a few hours, the promoted Facebook post had 99 organic views and 2385 paid views. Sounds pretty good, right?

Alas, all those Facebook views only generated 10 referrals.

Meanwhile, I’d gotten 88 referrals from posting on Twitter about the sale.

I thought maybe my Facebook post was flawed, that somehow I hadn’t crafted it well enough to generate attention and interest. But literally no one who chimed into the conversation on Twitter reported having a positive Facebook ad experience. Here’s a sampling of the responses I got:

@gregpak I tried promoting through paid posts, it said I got a lot of views, but very few page likes, and fewer sales of my comic. #sadface

— Guardians (@Guardians_Comic) December 31, 2014

@gregpak Facebook is completely useless unless you have a long-term strategy. Publications needs it. Small biz, not. — Glenn Fleishman (@GlennF) December 31, 2014

@gregpak I’ve found Facebook marketing to be nearly useless. — Chris of ComicBookDB (@comicbookdb) December 31, 2014

@gregpak Tried it once and it was pointless. I’ve NEVER heard anything positive about FB ads from people trying them. Waste of money, really

— Graham Johnson (@jyrenb) December 31, 2014

@jyrenb @gregpak I tried an ad it for a week. I got about 100 new likes but no more revenue.

— Felicia (@mzflea) December 31, 2014

Here’s my theory for why Facebook ads seem to be so useless:

Facebook curates people’s feeds so a person who’s “liked” my Facebook page won’t necessarily see many of the posts I make. When I pay to promote a post, that person may end up seeing it. But since that person hasn’t seen my other posts, she doesn’t have much experience hearing my online voice and doesn’t necessarily feel connected or involved in what I have to say. So it’s easier for her to tune out the paid post. In short, the Facebook experience reduces social interaction, which of course is the lifeblood of a social network.

In contrast, people who follow me on Twitter see every post I make. For better or for worse, they get to know my voice over time. So when I post something very promotional, it’s within a context of other (hopefully) entertaining or otherwise interesting posts. It doesn’t feel like just another ad.

In short, I’m done with paying for Facebook ads. I’ll focus more on venues where my posts go directly to the folks who have followed me because they’re interested in what I do.

Added bonus: here’s a video the great Jim Zub sent me about the pitfalls of paying for Facebook “likes.”