History
2006
Crawford Coutts has always wanted to start-up and run his own business.
When he was completing his degree at Dundee University, he was approached by Alasdair Duncan with a screen-play script. Having been reading a lot of independent comics himself such as 30 Days of Night from IDW, by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith, Crawford had noticed that there was an increase in Creator Owned work which was being aimed at mature readers with more novel-style themes and content; appealing to a wider audience.
He suggested to Alasdair adapting his script into a 6-issue mini-series and trying something different with it, and with the comics industry - but first of all, they had to undertake a huge amount of research to ensure they were starting from the strongest possible position.
2007
Crawford was determined that Insomnia was not just another indie “company” which would produce one product and then disappear like so many people trying to self-publish. He wanted the company to grow into a publishing house.
This year saw the first volume of the Layer Zero anthology and with the interest and success of the book they had started this process.
Next came a hard decision – to fully take on the role of “Managing Director” rather than “artist” on Daemon. This was very difficult, and Crawford chose, in the end to work on cementing the business side of things first. However his choice came at a crucial time and has since enabled Insomnia to get products into the high street bookstores as well as online shops like Amazon and become more accepted by the general public rather than purely comic-book fans.
2008
With 2 years hard work behind them, a solid business plan and big vision, 2008 was the year things really started to happen.
Along with the now critically acclaimed anthology 2 original graphic novels were well underway, Cages and Cancertown.
Using this year to concentrate on shows and talent scout for both the creative and business sides of Insomnia there was a huge amount of activity at conventions and other events and online. By the end of the year a Creative Director had joined the core team, there were 15 graphic novels in production, and the next volume of Layer Zero was well underway, now attracting serious talent.
2009
This year is not yet finished and already Insomnia are going from Strength to strength with:
25 books in production with over 120 outstandingly talented creators from all around the world
Pre-order sales of a level where we had to both extend the print run of Cancertown by 50% and immediately go to second printing with Layer Zero:Choices, even before it’s official launch date to fulfil the orders,
The launch of the history focussed Vigil imprint,
The first book of the new Focal Point line in development,
A recently expanded management team of 6 highly skilled people, including a new US Business Development Manager, an Art Director, and an Editor for the Vigil imprint
Have been selected for the Scottish Enterprise Growth Pipeline
Working closely with education and library services
Receiving interest and support from individuals and institutions that are beyond our wildest dreams
Take a look at our ebook previews
