Richard: How was Insomnia formed?

Crawford: Since as long as I can remember I’d always wanted to start-up and run my own business. When I was completing my degree at Dundee University, Alasdair Duncan approached me with a screen-play script. I had been reading a lot of independent comics such as 30 Days of Night from IDW, by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith, and noticed that there was an increase in Creator Owned work which was being aimed at mature readers with more novel-style themes and content, which was appealing to a wider audience. By the time I’d graduated, I suggested to Alasdair that we should adapt his script into a 6-issue mini-series and try something different with it, but first of all, we had to undertake a huge amount of research to ensure we were starting from the strongest possible position.

Richard: How did you become the Managing Director?

Crawford: I began my comics career by illustrating our first series, Daemon, which unfortunately, due to the demand on my time required to run the business, I had to stop. We wanted to emphasize that Insomnia was not just another indie “company” which would produce one product and then disappear like so many people trying to self-publish, I wanted the company to grow into a publishing house, and with the interest and success of our Layer Zero anthology series we had started this process. The decision to take on the role of “Managing Director” rather than “artist” was very difficult, but incidentally came at a crucial time and has since enabled us to get our products into the high street bookstore as well as online shops like Amazon and we are becoming more accepted by the general public rather than purely comic-book fans.

Richard: What do your duties entail at Insomnia?

Crawford: I could list everything but that’s going to take up a lot of time and space! Essentially, my role is to run the business, from leading the management team to editing and designing the books, networking with other businesses to pitching titles to customers.

The key to Insomnia as a company is to keep our creators happy – they’re the people who really make everything happen!

Richard: What are some of the titles coming out now from Insomnia?

Crawford: Cages, written by Xander Bennett, illustrated by Melanie Cook and featuring a cover by Jonathan Hickman, was released in January and is doing very well. We’ve had a lot of great feedback from the likes of Waterstones and we hope that this will continue. Ben Templesmith very kindly wrote a foreword for the book which was fantastic, as he was one of the artists who inspired me to go into the comic industry.

Cy Dethan’s first creator-owned title, Cancertown is released in May, with the official launch at the Bristol Comic Expo on the 9th May 2009. With art by newcomer Stephen Downey and Colours by Melanie Cook, and Letters by Insomnia’s very own Creative Director, Nic Wilkinson, we’ve got a very strong team on this one. So much so that Bryan Talbot very kindly took the time out of his busy schedule and wrote a foreword for the book. He said, “We’re seeing here the first outing of creators who will make their mark on the future comic industry.”

We’ve also got the next installment of the sell-out series, Layer Zero, released in May. The theme of this year’s anthology is Choices and we’ve got a fantastic range of new and experienced creators. Some of which have worked for: Marvel, DC, Caliber, Heavy Metal, Image and 2000AD.

Later this year we have a graphic historical novel, Burke and Hare, written by comics’ veteran, Martin Conaghan, illustrated by Will Pickering. This title will tie in with the 200th anniversary of the hangings of the two murderers. During the planning and writing process, the Surgeons' Hall Museum in Edinburgh was involved in the research and provided assistance to make sure the book is as accurate as possible.

Alan Grant commented on Strefs, MILK (former artist on DC Thomson & Co. Ltd.’s The Dandy), "Coming from a virtually unknown artist, MILK contains some of the most beautiful, expressive art that I've seen in a long time. It deserves to be a huge commercial success".

Incidentally chapter one of Cages and Cancertown are available free on MyEbook at the links below:
Cages - http://www.myebook.com/index.php?option=ebook&id=1312
Cancertown - http://www.myebook.com/index.php?option=ebook&id=1314

Further previews will be available on MyEbook and other titles due for release later this year and future titles can be found on our website: www.insomniapublications.com

Richard: What do you think is the best way for a comic company to grow?

Crawford: From our experience, I think the best way for a comic company to grow is to look at the business aspect of the company. So many indie comic companies out there either focus so much on how many books and licences they can sign up, or the company is made up purely of creators and they don’t understand how a business works. In either case, they forget about the cash-flow which is the necessary element to any business to survive and grow. There’s so much talent out there, not just creative talent, but management and you need a balance of the two.

Richard: Do you ever attend conventions and if so what do you think of them?

Crawford: Con’s are fantastic! They’re actually our main place for marketing; where we do the drive to create awareness and interest in our brand and product lines. They’re amazing for networking and great to visit to see what the competition is up to!

I recently attended the New York Comic Con in February. This was actually our first time in North America, and the response we received was incredible - there was so much interest and excitement about Insomnia, not just from consumers but from creators and other businesses.

Richard: What type of fan are the comics from Insomnia aimed at?

Crawford: Our books are aimed at teen/mature readers. With each of our products we look to publish something which is unusual, literate and thought provoking. Fans of the likes of From Hell, A History of Violence, Road to Perdition, Fell, Nightly News with undoubtedly like our titles.

Richard: Do you read all the comics put out by Insomnia?

Crawford: That’s the best part of the job! In fact I currently co-edit and design most of the titles so I get to read them several times.

Richard: What do you see in the coming future for Insomnia?

Crawford: Presently, we’re one of the top UK independent companies and with our large range of titles currently in production we’re looking into developing a US and Canadian operation so we can have a greater presence in North America, making it that little bit easier for us to distribute and market Insomnia titles to new and existing readers.

Richard: What type of movies do you enjoy?

Crawford: It depends on what mood I’m in really. If I’ve had a very busy day working 14 hours or so (which is most of the time!) then I’ll just crash out on the sofa with my girlfriend and watch an action movie. If I’ve had a more sedate day then I’ll watch an Anime, Asian, Korean or European film (with sub-titles of course, to get the true representation), some of the new comic book movies are picking up the feel of the characters, themes and stories very well, like The Dark Knight and Iron Man, but that’s technically classed as research! ;-)

Richard: What are your hobbies?

Crawford: If it’s nice weather I like to get out for a cycle on my mountain bike; if there’s snow I like to go Snow Boarding; indoor activities include video games, movies, TV series like Battlestar Galactica and GITS SAC, RPG’s and you can’t go wrong with a game of Chess.

Richard: How can someone contact you?

Crawford: Preferably by email – crawford@insomniapublications.com

Richard: Any final words of wisdom?

Crawford: One thing that really helps make this business venture possible is the internet. Without it we wouldn’t have the same contacts network, the ability to work with almost 100 freelancers across the globe, or the communication method that makes it all possible – email. If you forget Myspace and Facebook for a sec (although they’re great for promotion and marketing) and go back to basics, email and FTP in particular has changed the world for creative people, making everything much more accessible.