So we're pretty busy guys. We've got day jobs, we write and draw the daily and Sunday strips, and between speaking and exhibiting at conferences we're sometimes away from home as much as three times a month. Oh, and we each have families.

On top of that we run the business. We publish books, sell t-shirts and other merchandise, sell sponsorships, and periodically engage in other special projects. We don't have to do all that - we could just make the strip - but we have this crazy dream that Unshelved could be the business that supports us and our families, and enables us to be full-time creators. So we stay busy. And, annoyingly, all this growing-the-business sometimes takes away from the strip itself, which should be our #1 focus.

So we decided to get some help. We're extremely excited to announce that we've hired Jim Demonakos as our Senior Business Strategist. In addition to taking many of the day-to-day operational duties off our laps, Jim will be in charge of growing the Unshelved business to the next level. We don't know exactly what that means - action figures? live stage show? celebrity cook books? - but we know Jim is the guy to do it. We met him at ALA in New Orleans last year when he was Public Relations and Marketing Coordinator for for Image Comics, one of our favorite comic and graphic novel publishers. He also runs Seattle's own Emerald City Comic Con (where we'll be exhibiting later this month, natch) and the Comic Stop chain of comic stores. He knows comics, he knows books, and I think he knows everyone. We like him, we like working with him, and we think you'll like him too.

None of this, however, should affect the comic strip you know and presumably love. If anything it should get better (and more timely!) as Jim comes up to speed and lets us concentrate on our writing and drawing, which is after all what we love best.

Meanwhile, if you want to sponsor the strip, have some business to discuss, or just want to say hi, you can reach him at jim@overduemedia.com.