Is digital distribution of comics going to get its breakthrough this year? Marvel confirming digital distribution and Top Cow's first Bambiesque steps on the digital ice, as well as whatever it is that DC has planned has been making headlines so far.
The people at SLG Publishing, who publish Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and Lenore among others, have taken a more hands on approach and opened their own online store. About 40 issues are available so far. The price varies a bit, but starts at 69 cents, and the issues are available as both cbz or pdf-files. The Forbidden Planet blog makes an attempt at crunching the numbers involved:
If you go to the digital distribution model using a price point of 99cents (not that I think people will actually pay this) then at 11,500 downloads there would already be a profit generated. Maybe as low as 7,000 downloads would pay the cost of producing material you can then feed into the book channels as collectionsJennifer de Guzman, SLG editor in chief, responds that it's not all profit though. Credit card companies takes a hefty cut of a 69 cent transaction and labour and bandwidth cuts into the profit as well. She ends her post with:
I just wanted to note digital comics is not exactly a pie-in-the-sky enterprise. [...]We are approaching it cautiously as we, like the rest of the industry, move away from pamphlets and toward graphic novels. For us digital comics are not yet a way to support the cost of printing a graphic novel, or even close to a profitable venture at present. However, as we add to Eyemelt.com's catalogue, we hope that the sales will increase as well.
Newsarama interviews what must be said to be the people who potentially stand to lose the most if digital distribution takes off, the retailers who don't seem that worried.
"I think digital comics are inevitable, but I don't think, at this stage, they should be feared by the quality direct market retailer, because the disadvantages of the experience, portability, and presentation don't prove much of a 'threat' to the physically printed object," Hibbs said. "'Cause, you see, right now this very second, you can get this week's comics, for 100 percent free, from the net, yet comic sales are on their sixth straight year of rise."
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Comments
Also Don't Forget Clickwheel is Doing this with PDFs via iTunes!
Shameless Plug- nootch.
Tim Demeter
does a buch of neato stuff.
GraphicSmash
Clickwheel
Reckless Life
It Should be Interesting...
We've seen a few attempts by the larger publishers to put material online, and they haven't exactly been gems -remember the god-awful set-up that Rush comic a while back had? I can't help but think that if they do this, then they'll forget the little things like infinite canvas, and the online content will be scaled down to the point that it's difficult to read.
The freebie comics on Image's site use a solid system, and I'd like to see that used as sort of a standard. But if they're not considering putting comics online as a major priority, I can't help but think they'll screw it up - big-time.
Don't hesitate to procrastinate.
I agree
I agree. Past attemps by the larger publishers have always been very difficult to read online - probably because the want everyone to go out an actually buy the comic after seeing the - tiny-way-too-scaled-down-in-a-difficult-and frustrating-interface - preview pages online.
I would be very surprised if we didn't see more of the same this time.
www.grumps.ca - what do you mean you haven't read it?
www.captainexcelsior.com - I know you've read this. Who hasn't?
www.grumps.ca - what do you mean you haven't read it?
www.captainexcelsior.com - I know you've read this. Who hasn't?<
The CBR/CBZ format is the
I'll have more to say on this subject Monday.
Joey
www.webcomicsnation.com
Sure, we've figured out the right way to do it...
But Jonesy hit the nail on the head - it will suck in a way that teases people to actually buy the print books. It's going to be a while before they figure out what we already know. As much hate as there is for Platinum out there, at least when they put stuff up on Drunkduck, it worked. It was scaled properly and readable, at least. I think Top Cow put some books on Drunkduck, too. I might be wrong. I've seen some print material on Comicspace in the galleries now, too, and the sizing is pretty good.
As for an official money-making venture - don't expect quality.
Don't hesitate to procrastinate.
Bold faced pandering
Hey Dee!
I'm afraid I disagree with you on this one.
Reaching out to webcomics fans seems like a very, very smart move to me. Webcomics has created a lot of comics fans out of "regular civilians" over the past ten years. There are a lot of comics being published by these companies -- especially DC/Vertigo, DC/Minx, Oni, Image, Slave Labor, etc. -- that could be very appealing to a lot of longform webcomics fans.
Given the right comics, targeted correctly for the online audience, a digital comics "wing" of the mainstream print companies could do very, very, very well.
I don't think that will happen, though, because I don't think they'll pick the right comics, and I don't think they'll target correctly.
But I kind of hope I'm wrong, honestly. More money in the digital side of the comics industry means more attention and respect for the digital side of the comics industry.
What's most likely to happen, though, is that they flood the market, CrossGen-style, with comics that nobody who habitually reads webcomics will care about -- then they will fail, and rather than taking the time to figure out exactly why they failed, they will simply dust their hands off and declare that digital comics are a useless waste of time, further marginalizing our side of the industry in the eyes of the mainstream industry and the press, too.
And giving us all another 5-10 years before the next boom -- plenty of time to continue growing our brands and raising our profiles.
So -- we will win either way. Should be fun to watch, though.
The glass is half full. Half full of AWESOME.
I like this "we win no matter how you slice it" conclusion!
Tim Demeter
does a buch of neato stuff.
GraphicSmash
Clickwheel
Reckless Life
I'm a cynical optimist!
But you gotta remember, Joey...
Most webcomic readers are already print comics fans. Look at the forums and you'll usually find a number of print comic discussions. It's not like we need reaching out to; most of us are already familiar with the print stuff. We came to webcomics because it's free and easier to get a wide variety of work. It's not like everyone who reads webcomics quit reading print stuff, either. It's kinda like preaching to the choir, and if the print guys don't offer a good online system, it'll just turn webcomics readers off.
But you're right on one thing - at the end of the day, the digital realm will still belong to the webcomics folks.
Don't hesitate to procrastinate.
Most webcomic readers are
Besides, I didn't say most webcomics fans don't read print comics (I do happen to believe that -- Penny Arcade's numbers alone probably dwarf the total readership of "mainstream" US comics -- and have said it elsewhere, but I didn't say it there!) All I said was that webcomics has created a lot of comics fans out of people who didn't read comics before. I am almost completely certain that that is true -- even if what you're saying is also true. "A lot of" doesn't mean "most." And "a lot of" new customers is still a tempting target for any publisher of any kind. I don't have enough data to know what "most" webcomics fans are like. I do have plenty of data on "a lot of" them, though.
Another benefit to DC and Marvel not touched upon yet: if they are going to continue publishing in periodical formats, they need a better way of reaching people who don't live near a good comic book store -- this applies double, or triple, for other publishers who arose out of the comic book shop market, like Slave Labor, Oni, Image, etc. Basically, the smaller the publisher, the bigger and better the comic book shop has to be, in order to carry those books -- most towns of less than 200,000 people don't have a great comic book store (though some do). And most people in the US still live in towns of less than 200,000 people. In fact, most people in the US probably live in a town without a comic book store at all. Digital distribution could fill that role, providing the convenience of a great comic book store in every location reachable by the web, immediately.
Joey
www.webcomicsnation.com
Venn Diagram-Fu!
[quote=Sean C]Most webcomic readers are already print comics fans. [/quote]
I don't have data but my sense of it has been quite different. Two separate circles with little overlap at first (4-5 years ago) and an increasingly big webcomics circle starting to overlap the comic book circle more and more. The result of that is lots more comic book readers reading webcomics but still might mean lots of webcomic readers who don't read comic books.
And that leaves out the manga and newspaper comic strip circles...
____
Xaviar Xerexes
On second thought, let's not go to Comixpedia. It is a silly place.
What you forget Joey is that
Dee: Okay, on this we're
Okay, on this we're less far apart than I think you think. What you said above -- that's kind of what I meant by "they probably won't target the material correctly, and they'll probably fail."
Spider-Man online is a lot less interesting to me (and, I'd argue, to most webcomic readers) than, say, Fables online.
Which, I know, isn't quite what you were saying. But there's some overlap there.
The best thing about this kind of debate is that neither one of us will "win" it with words. It's the kind of thing that will either happen, or not, and will either be a good thing, or not! We'll all get to see!
Joey
www.webcomicsnation.com
Yes, yes, yes, Dee. You've
Yes, yes, yes, Dee. You've summed it up perfectly.
I agree 100%.
www.grumps.ca - what do you mean you haven't read it?
www.captainexcelsior.com - I know you've read this. Who hasn't?
www.grumps.ca - what do you mean you haven't read it?
www.captainexcelsior.com - I know you've read this. Who hasn't?<
It would be VERY easy...
I'll use myself as an
I'll use myself as an example, forgetting for the moment that I'm also a webcartoonist. Pretend for a moment that I don't do anything in comics except read them. I'm 36. I stopped collecting the current super hero comics about 15 years ago, because it's too much of a hassle and too expensive. I still like comics but I'm not in a regular, 'every Wednesday at my local comic shop' kind of comics reader.
But you know, if Marvel and DC started selling digital versions of all their titles for under a buck, I think I would seriously start reading them again. I wonder what kind of demographic I represent? And I wonder if there is a huge demographic out there, 30 to 40-somethings that used to collect comics but gave it up years ago. Those people are still around, with more money, spending it on other stuff. Most of them are online, all the time.
Scott Reed
www.websbestcomics.com
I think there's something to that
I'm even less of a current comic book reader - b/c I don't read them in the monthly format at all (except for indies I might pick up at a con). I don't go to comic book stores... but I might be tempted to read them online.
Think of it this way - Marvel and DC like many film studios - are sitting on a huge archive of stories. There whole business model is repurposing those characters in new stories (and licensing of course). Why not pursue a DVD like strategy of re-releasing all of that older content in a new format? Comic book's DVD (well, really it's iTunes) is webcomics.
And if you're going to do that then you have to price it and provide it in a format that makes it something people would actually buy. That might not be something Marvel and DC can get over. How much is access to the archives (say pre-2000 to make it easy) worth? Not sure really - I think they'd be in a similar spot to the Keenspots/Modern Tales, etc of the world in trying to figure out which business model to pursue (free, sub, etc) but if they awoke to the fact that that library of content is worth something they'd start trying to get a new revenue source out of it online. Right now it seems to me that they get very little out of it...
____
Xaviar Xerexes
On second thought, let's not go to Comixpedia. It is a silly place.
Gentlemen, you misunderstand
My Opinion and No One Else's
I could see where offering print comics online could eventually lead to original content from the big guns, provided the initial phase of distribution was done correctly. Marvel throwing out “Marvel Adventures” and yet another version of “Classics Illustrated” as sacrificial lambs to the digital world doesn’t scream out confidence. It sounds safe, and why not? Print comics are doing very well these days and there’s no need for risk. Yes, digital distribution could be a way to get back some old readers, provided Marvel, (or whoever), doesn’t charge $4.00 a download, but I don’t think they will gain many new readers. Anyway, to get back to my point, if digital distribution became highly successful, that could inspire the Big Guns to produce original content for the web. (Mind you, I define Marvel original content as yet another Spider-man title, only online). This will be the make or break point. Being the animal that Marvel is crossovers with this new digital comic and print comics would be inevitable. Then, of course, there will be the TPB. The faithful will buy comics in whatever format and the paper loyalists will bitch until the TPB comes out. Score another point for print comics either way. But is that such a bad thing? This highly hypothetical move on Marvel’s part may be purely for their print kingdom, but they are at least moving toward digital and that in itself says something. As Dee pointed out, it’s the same old thing, only in our back yard, but it’s in our back yard. Truly these first baby steps the Big Guys are taking into the digital world are not because of webcomics. Hardly. There may be a handful on their radar today, but in another ten years, who knows?
Clan of the Cats
Well. As we (webcomickers)
In an industry that has
In an industry that has major story arcs stringing through 1400 different titles and killing off major characters all in the name of the all mighty dollar, I can certainly see that some day there will be web only content designed to drive readers back to the comic shop. No, it’s not going to help webcomics one bit. Still I think it’s a big deal for the comic book industry because they are dealing with something they don’t really want to deal with, even if it is just digital distribution. Besides, if Comics don’t come to the internet, how are we going to get really cool versions of this?
;)
Seriously, I get what you are saying, and I agree with most of it. I don't believe Marvel, etc will make any webcomics any time soon, but I do believe they or someone will eventually create some form of online content to reinforce sales of their print books. That is, IF digital distribution really takes off. Whether it will be a success or not is an entirely different question.
Clan of the Cats
What surpises me about the
As I said, Still I think
As I said, Still I think it’s a big deal for the comic book industry because they are dealing with something they don’t really want to deal with, even if it is just digital distribution.
Translation: They're going to fight this until the very day they start making gobs of money from it.
If digital distribution becomes a success they will act as if they have reinvented the wheel, when in reality it was the culture that forced their hand. A culture they resisted. I personally find that interesting and I'm curious as to what role Big Comics will play in internet culture.
As for all this, I'll simply say that I agree with a lot of what you are saying, but as to the rest, I respectfully agree to disagree. Goodnight.
Clan of the Cats
You don't have to explain
In the case of Marvel, the
I'm not jumping up and down with excitement. I just think it's a good idea -- for them. The benefits to webcomics are tangential, but real, and mostly have to do with getting the business press, and maybe investors, to pay more attention to what we're doing. But that's solely from the point of view of a person who owns a web services business related to webcomics (and maybe more than webcomics, shortly). From the point of view of a creator of webcomics -- yeah, I can see how this isn't big news. Unless your goal in life is to do work-for-hire at a pagerate for Marvel or DC. Which does seem like a step backward for those cartoonists who are already doing extremely well online, and also seems like a less exciting goal for the rest of us to dream of reaching.
So, yeah. For the record: I don't think that the entry of print publishers onto the digital scene will bring in a significant number of "new readers" to webcomics -- as somebody noted above, we're already absorbing readers of print comics pretty well. The movement of readers, if readers move at all, will come from webcomics, and go in the other direction. But there will still be plenty of readers left, too. We've got enough readers to go around!
Joey
www.webcomicsnation.com
We're in webcomic primordial ooze
But one thing will remain
But one thing will remain the same: there will still be Indy vs. Mainstream comics. Right now, that's what webcomics means for me - indy created, indy distributed. Big money will get in on it, eventually, but it will never break the independent spirit. It's the difference between an artist changing their style to suit a house style that sells and an artist finding their own unique voice.
God, I love indy comics; God I love webcomics.
OK, so here I am with the tangents...
Steve "Fabricari" Harrison