We recently had the chance to connect with Max Hoven and have shared our conversation below.
Good morning Max, it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? What are you chasing, and what would happen if you stopped?
I ask myself this question almost every year. My guess is that every creative person who works hard to build a career in art and entertainment will eventually rethink their path and make changes to their goals. And all of us debate quitting the game, I’m sure.
In a specific sense, I’m chasing financial freedom. My end goal is to earn a living through passive income (such as royalties) so I can dedicate my time entirely to creative projects without the worry that I won’t be able to pay my bills if the projects fail to earn enough profit.
I’ve tried to quit multiple times, but the universe won’t let me. I’ll never stop. Every attempt to step out just turns into an extended vacation. The stories in my head don’t stop, and my audience ready for more. Eventually I cave and start building again.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Max Hoven and I founded Hoven Crow Entertainment, which is a production company that creates comic books, graphic novels and feature films. But in addition to producing fiction content, we also create non-fiction content (such as the Indie Comic Empire podcast on YouTube) dedicated to helping other creative professionals earn income with their art and writing.
Thus far, all the films we’ve produced have been foreign — filmed in India and made for the South Asian market. The cost to produce a professional-grade film in India is about 1/3 of what it would be in the west. A $100,000 USD American feature film can be produced in India for roughly $30,000-35,000 USD. However, the catch is that these films tend to earn only 1/3 the revenue as an English-speaking film targeting a North American audience. Or goal is find stories and scripts we can produce overseas but have a broad appeal to the world market.
We’re also consistently writing and/or editing comic books and graphic novels that we either find publishing partners for, or that we launch ourselves under our publishing imprint, Socko Press. Our first graphic novel, It Eats What Feeds It, was published in 2020 with Scout Comics and Entertainment. It was their #1 best-selling limited series of the year and a hit in the independent comic community. Our sci-fi comic series, Liquid Kill, had two volumes released by Whatnot/Massive Publishing from 2023 to early 2025. The series itself was another hit in the indie community, selling over 50,000 units in its first year of release. Most recently, we successfully crowdfunded our second gothic romance graphic novel, Our Love Unrest, and we plan on going to print this fall. Next year, we plan to publish a large anthology of “Issue 1” comics from rising creators from all over the world.
Okay, so here’s a deep one: What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
Honestly, the illusions I had as a child about the path to success in the entertainment industry remained until I was an adult. It wasn’t until I was in my late 20’s before I really discovered how the “business of art” actually functioned. I believed, like many others, that there was a “set path” and with both education and corporate climbing, we’d eventually “break in” to the industry. I believed that there was some sort of gatekeeper we needed to impress — either a publisher, an agent, a celebrity, producer or whoever. But that’s really not the case anymore, if it ever was. The internet and social media have made it possible for everyone to become their own studio and build their own entertainment empire.
There is no set path and what really matters isn’t the opinion of an editor or producer, but rather a product that resonates with an audience. We don’t need to impress investors with a script or mixtape. Instead, we just need a story or piece of art that hits a nerve; that makes people want to share it with others. And you can do that all on your own with a book, comic, webcomic, song or short film that you self-publish or self-distribute. The technical and educational bottlenecks are essentially non-existent for the majority of us. All we need to create is great art and the business takes care of itself.
What fear has held you back the most in your life?
This is probably obvious, but the fear of failure and humiliation have been my biggest hurdle. And the weird thing is, it never goes away. Every new milestone I cross simply morphs into a small step in a tall staircase and I continue to fear not making it up to the next level.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. Is the public version of you the real you?
I’m still trying to discover who the real me is on a spiritual level. But in a basic sense, the person people see and hear is who I really am. Although I keep most details about my family and friends hidden, my personal opinions are out there for the world to see and I live a fairly public life. I regularly have long conversations on YouTube with others in the industry and often give lectures at comic conventions and art fairs. I’m very open about my opinions on the entertainment industry and controversial figures in the indie comic community.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
Nothing. I’d keep doing what I’m doing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.hovencrow.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lordmaxhoven/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/max-hoven-405935b/
- Twitter: https://x.com/@lordmaxhoven
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/lordmaxhoven
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@indiecomicempire
