i know the boreders book store on the big island is sinking because people are not buying books. howzit going where you live?
aloha.
le0
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leo
www.aydellon.com
http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/2010/2010-01.html
Only two titles sold over 100,000 titles, and that's it. That's terrible! DC used to cancel any comic in the early '70s that sold under 200,000 copies. I understand that it was a different price point and different economic situation, but in the end, numbers are numbers. Superman used to sell a million copies per month in the late '60s. Mad magazine used to sell 2.5 million copies per issue in 1973 (and has just gone quarterly; I predict it will be altogether cancelled in a year or two). Millions of North Americans used to read comics. Today's core audience in the U.S. is about 250,000, if not less. Don't be fooled by the attendance numbers of the San Diego Con and the like; the hype/draw isn't comics per se. Shonen Jump used to be the top selling manga mag five years ago, selling 300,000 copies per issue; it sold only 3,014 copies in January, 2010.
Mainstream secular comics, as a friend in the industry recently said to me, are strictly "research and development" for the comic book-related movies. Their function has changed. And for the most part they haven't really been kid-friendly for decades, anyway.
Buzz, I'm familiar with the late E. C. publisher Bill Gaines' "hot dog economics," but it's still hilarious, because there's a(n onion) ring of truth in it.
Print media isn't gone just yet---I intend to publish at least two more 'hardcopy books' within the next twelve months---but the writing's on the wall. Remember, fellow Christians, we're just strangers and pilgrims here. What we have in Christ is eternal and not fading away (like the world around us).
There are several ways to make web comics profitable: you can sell ad space, put a PayPal donation feature on your website, go the affiliate marketing route and (when your web comic generates enough interest) sell merchandise associated with your comic logo and characters.The Economics of Web Comics, 2nd Edition by Todd W Allen goes in much more detail.
I know it's hard to stand out at first, but with quality comic art & writing, and some marketing savvy, a web comic could be lucrative: many people search the Web constantly in hopes of being first to discover the next cool thing, then wear its merchandise to show off their hipster "non-mainstream" status, which generates more interest on your web comic, etc. One that note, having fan pages for your web comic on Facebook and other social networking sites wouldn't hurt either.
It also really helps to have an interesting website like this one: http://www.goldenboxmovie.com/
The website is for a film not a web comic, but the effort put into its web design is insane.
Sure, one can always blame the economy for these things - but if the product is crap no one would buy it anyway. But there is a caveat: Sometimes a well made product still isn't enough. There are many books I've seen historically that are a) Well made, b) Well drawn, and c) well written - and I couldn't have been bothered to buy -even though it was quality all around. Why? Because it was a retread of something already done. (Either that, or I found the content objectionable. Anyone else notice comics are butt ugly lately? Well done, but ugly.)
Oddly enough, there is a fine balance. Sometimes, just sometimes a sub-par product captures the imagination and takes off. The only reason though was: it was compelling. So make something either of High Quality - or make it super compelling. If you can do both - then you hit the ball out of the park.
this was also one of the hang ups for tokyo pop, who has significantly cut dow their output in years past. few of their properties have anime, and those without did not have great sales. while many VIZ titles don't have anime, many series of anime have mangas which are published by viz.
borders appear to be doing well, but i've noticed they've purposely rearranged their model in the past year- they cut back significantly on dvds and cd (probly since those can be purchased at best buy and wal mart for much cheaper prices). also, if you're in their rewards program- they have coupons for 30-50 percent out just about every week- so my assumption is that is to bring in mroe sales- and hey, it works for me as a consumer! i haven't charted their coupons, but they have significanly more coupons out now than they did 18 months ago.
the other hang up is walden books- the mall chain store or "mini borders" Did you know they are closing about 2/3rds of ther stores currently? you can google for numbers, but they're leaving about 130 open and closing 200! the one nearest me closed today- along with 2 others in town, while they closed another one about 2 years ago. so in san antonio- a relatively large city, we have like 2 borders (there might be a 3rd one) but lost 4 smaller stores, placed throughout the city- in walking distance for kids who can't go accross town to a borders. sorry inner city kids! no books for you! (that's how i feel for the kids in my area, who specifically went to walden books for grahic novels- there is no way, they can get to the nice parts of town to borders! and lots of them dont' even have the internet at home, let alone, comics are probably mostly blocked on school computers and the libraries are overcrowded.)
will people spend 3-10 bucks for a graphic novel? tons do every day! will they spend 3-10 for a stapled comic- i think less and less are. the question is how we can get our books to the people who will pay the money for them, and then convince them to buy it instead of their hotdogs... and don't forget, i'd guess for every book that is sold at borders- you have probably at least 3 that aren't or are read without being purchased. its not a library folks. also- borders has been returning books to publishers- so books you sold last year, you are now buying back. it's a bad deal over all.
web comics are great fun, but i still find lots of people don't read them. they have a big stigma for being low quality and then many non-comics fans aren't going to check it out, tho they would if you hand them some stapled paper. i think its a good place to start and theoretically they can be very profitable, but for many they are not. it takes a lot to stand out. you save tons on intially getting material out- and won't loose on non-seling print fees. but a web comic is only as good as the amount of people you get to go to your site...
thanks for starting the discussions!
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