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Stephen Churay
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 25 March 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 8369
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| Posted: 04 December 2014 at 5:24am | IP Logged | 1
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Darin, I wish you the best of luck. $5.99 for 64 pages is a pretty good
deal. Material wise that's three comics worth, for half the cost.
I wish I knew the name of the other company that's about to put out
there first books. There business model is interesting. Ad space paid
for the book and overhead so the book is free.
But, I'll be looking for both of you.
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James Woodcock
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 September 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 7625
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| Posted: 04 December 2014 at 7:26am | IP Logged | 2
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Find a way to grow the sales base. Sell comics in cinemas. Have comics come out regularly, on time. Have stories be penetrable to new readers. No story should last more than 4 months. Cut down on the boobs, blood and be-headings. Realise that to a kid, 4 months is a very long time. Six years is an eternity so don't make them wait that long for pay offs (that are then rubbish).
I think if people had the guts to do this it might just work.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132320
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| Posted: 04 December 2014 at 7:33am | IP Logged | 3
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Setting aside problems of cost, distribution, missed schedules, etc, the Number One thing that has served to slit the throat of comics is that they no longer offer something that cannot be found elsewhere.Remember, most people who read comics were not connoisseurs of art and story. They were just looking for a certain kind of bang for their buck, and when movies and even TV* can provide bigger and louder versions of those bangs, well......... _________ * "Free!"
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Greg Woronchak
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 04 September 2007
Location: Canada
Posts: 1631
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| Posted: 04 December 2014 at 8:25am | IP Logged | 4
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Interesting point. Maybe a nostalgia factor explains much of the dwindling readership who long for Wednesdays, hoping to find something similar to the buzz of days of yore.
When I introduced my girls to comic books, they thought they were cool, but they now gravitate more to the Scholastic 'graphic novel' format and concepts.
Again, accessible, complete stories with a reasonable 'bang for the buck'. Makes sense to me!
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Rick Whiting
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 22 April 2004
Posts: 2188
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| Posted: 04 December 2014 at 11:42am | IP Logged | 5
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while others laughed and whooped and said there was nothing to worry about, enjoy the wild ride!
____________________
Kind of like they are doing now whenever a comic book movie or TV series is a huge hit, or whenever the naive mainstream news media does a story about the latest stunt.
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Brian J Nelson
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 26 August 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 365
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| Posted: 04 December 2014 at 4:28pm | IP Logged | 6
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Well, they may also be doing it now because comic sales figures have significantly trended upward for over a decade by 149% ($350 million in 2003 to $870 million in 2013).
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Gilbert Roland
Byrne Robotics Member
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| Posted: 04 December 2014 at 5:01pm | IP Logged | 7
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Brian, is there a website that shows those sale figures?
Edited by Gilbert Roland on 04 December 2014 at 5:01pm
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Rick Whiting
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 22 April 2004
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| Posted: 04 December 2014 at 8:24pm | IP Logged | 8
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Well, they may also be doing it now because comic sales figures have significantly trended upward for over a decade by 149% ($350 million in 2003 to $870 million in 2013).
___________________________
But that rise in sales mostly due to short term sales gimmicks like variant covers and mainstream news media grabbing stories (like the death of major characters,a minority or female character taking up the role/mantle of a white straight male character,or a long time straight character being retconned into being gay,bi,or lesbian). These stunts are mainly aimed at speculators (most of whom are non comic book reading civilians) and not so much at attracting brand new readers. Also, the "rise in comic sales" are sales sold to comic shops, not to actual walk in store customers.
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Stephen Churay
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 25 March 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 8369
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| Posted: 04 December 2014 at 9:24pm | IP Logged | 9
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But that rise in sales mostly due to short term sales gimmicks like
variant covers and mainstream news media grabbing stories (like the
death of major characters,a minority or female character taking up the
role/mantle of a white straight male character,or a long time straight
character being retconned into being gay,bi,or lesbian). These stunts
are mainly aimed at speculators (most of whom are non comic book
reading civilians) and not so much at attracting brand new readers.
Also, the "rise in comic sales" are sales sold to comic shops, not to
actual walk in store customers.
=========
Don't forget the current prices of the books as well. You don't have to
sell as many copies of a book when the price is $4.99.
The current run of gimmicks, both physical and story are traditionally
short term. But, if the sheep continue to support this sales model
month after month, year after year, is it still short term?
The shops don't seem to mind either. In fact, they use the variants as
a way to recoup some of there lost earnings from books that don't sell
through. Ex. Let's say a shop orders ten copies of a book and with
that they get a free variant or a variant at there regular issue cost. The
shop sells four copies of the regular issue and is stuck with six copies
that will probably wind up in the 50 cent bin. It's a lot easier to absorb
that if that one variant sells for $25-$35. Now, that title has become
profitable for that month.
The question is, is this a sustainable sales model? Well, the trend has
been going on for a few years now with no let up in sight. Why stop
and create all age books to appeal to a broader potential audience
when everyone is ok with what there getting now.
The aggravating part is, they could be doing so much better but it
requires a little front end risk. Right now, there isn't really an 8-13
year old market to speak of. But, if they dropped the number of titles
to a level that the average buyer could buy the entire line every month
and make it all ages so you can build new readership. You could wind
up making as much or more money, with less publishing cost.
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Rick Whiting
Byrne Robotics Member
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Posts: 2188
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| Posted: 04 December 2014 at 9:33pm | IP Logged | 10
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The shops don't seem to mind either. In fact, they use the variants as
a way to recoup some of there lost earnings from books that don't sell
through. Ex. Let's say a shop orders ten copies of a book and with
that they get a free variant or a variant at there regular issue cost. The
shop sells four copies of the regular issue and is stuck with six copies
that will probably wind up in the 50 cent bin. It's a lot easier to absorb
that if that one variant sells for $25-$35. Now, that title has become
profitable for that month.
________________________________
Even that's not a sure thing, since not all shops are able to sell those variant covers at an inflated price. Then there are those shops who refuse to ripoff their customers by charging above cover price for those variants.
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Trevor Smith
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 September 2006
Location: Canada
Posts: 3521
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| Posted: 05 December 2014 at 1:53am | IP Logged | 11
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"Don't forget the current prices of the books as well. You
don't have to sell as many copies of a book when the price
is $4.99."
**
That was my immediate question - how much of that increase
in dollars is due to price increases? That dollar figure
does nothing to indicate how many readers are actually out
there.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132320
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| Posted: 05 December 2014 at 3:58am | IP Logged | 12
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Cover price hikes have rarely been about increasing the publisher's profit margin. Mostly, they are a fairly honest representation of what it costs to produce the comics. Several years ago someone did a cost/price comparison, and showed that the only time comics had gone up more than they needed was when they went from 12 to 15 cents!
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