Before I begin, I must apologize to each and everyone of you who read this blog regularly. I’ve made it a point to update on Wednesdays and I did not yesterday as I should have. As I said before, I went to Austin, the capital of Texas, to scout it out as a business location. Unfortunately, my return flight from Austin, Texas was late and by the time I returned home, I was too tired to put up a blog post on the fair city and how it might be a good place to make and sell my small press comics.
Statue of Stevie Ray Vaughan
As I said before, Austin, Texas is known as the Live Music Capitol of the World. I can personally attest to this as literally everywhere, I saw musicians performing. The photo you see here is one of a statue of the late Stevie Ray Vaughan. The live music is a boon to those wanting a place with an active entertainment scene. Concerts are held in bars, clubs, restaurants, and even grocery stores and the airport! This may also be a boon to me. While my focus is creating small press comics, I’m interested in doing album covers as well. The number of musicians and record labels in Austin could allow for that.
My contact here was a local comics shop called the Dragon’s Lair. It was here that I learned more about the comics scene in Austin, Texas as well as small press comics. There’s plenty of “biodiversity” too in terms of conventions. The city itself hosts many comics conventions as well as anime, science fiction, fantasy, etc. And that’s not counting the events held in cities accessible by train and bus such as Round Rock, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and so on. Unfortunately, it seems I won’t be able to get the Dragon’s Lair to carry my comics in their shop. As my work is done via print-on-demand, the store has a policy against carrying print-on-demand material. However, this is offset by the fact that there are other stores in the area and there are plenty of conventions.
No. 1 Dinner from Guero's Taco Bar
Austin, Texas also looks like a great place to live. It’s much cheaper than New York City plus it has so much great food. Like any big city, it has many different selections. But being Texas, the city specializes in barbecue and Mexican food. That photo is of a delicious dish from a local restaurant called Guero’s Taco Bar.
The state of Texas is business friendly too. There’s no personal income tax and Texas has consistently ranked as being one of the most business friendly states in the country.
It’s good. In fact, it’s too good. I have a big dilemma here – I can’t decide where to set up shop, in New Hampshire or Texas. But that will be a decision I have to think over and consider very well.
