This may be a bit too meta to be of interest to most readers but I just read Tim Leong's post about how Diamond has rejected his planned paper version of Comic Foundry. Comic Foundry has existed as a blog for (I think) about a year and Leong seems to have been working on a print version for at least 6 months or so.
A couple things - one I've thought (and others have thought with me at points) about what form Comixpedia could take in actual print. I've never moved forward both b/c of not enough resources but also not sure about the right mix of content. So I'm interested in other new efforts to create comic publications. I really don't have an idea of what Comic Foundry would be like - it doesn't have a very distinct voice online from the many other web-based comic sites (like CBR, Newsarama, etc).
Two - it looks like Diamond rejected the magazine from its distribution system because of a subjective decision by an employee there. I don't think I realized how arbitrary Diamond can be. It does really highlight the hammerlock that Diamond has on the direct market system.
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I'm sorry, but whether or
We kind of agree on one point actually
I've been very clear that I think Diamond's monopoly (near-monopoly?) sucks. We're supposed to live in a free market country with competition - of course, it should be up to the public to decide if they want to buy Tim's mag (as for Comixpedia I have mused about print versions but never proposed to do anything - for a lot of the reasons in the post I made above).
As for whether everyone in comics secretly wants to be published in print? I dunno but secret wishes or not, it's a hell of a lot harder to do a content business in print these days. The ol' intertubes is changing content business models left and right - not just comics, let alone comics journalism. Without a really tight business plan or a trust fund you're just not going to last very long...
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Xaviar Xerexes
On second thought, let's not go to Comixpedia. It is a silly place.
Clarify a bit
I guess I should clarify this a bit. When I said:
That's my opinion on the state of the marketplace not an endorsement of Diamond's decision not to carry it.
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Xaviar Xerexes
On second thought, let's not go to Comixpedia. It is a silly place.
Guy at ComicBookCommentary
http://www.popcultureshock.com/index.php?p=41779
I don't know Tim Leong but..
So I saw Tim Leong's video post with him directly commenting on Diamond's rejection of his print magazine Comic Foundry (on the web for about a year or so). Don't bother watching it - it's a bit whiny and pleading..
But what was interesting about it is (1) Leong may not have a real business plan - just listening to some of his comments about how he views his potential magazine versus other items distributed by Diamond makes me question whether he's done any real research on this; and (2) does the world really need another magazine about superhero comic books? Leong says CF is new and fresh but those are pretty vapid buzzwords...
I feel bad that Diamond has such a monopoly on distribution to this market but I'm scratching my head at how this approach by CF even makes sense (keep in mind that CF's web presence by what data I could find is less well known then Comixpedia) given that CF is relatively completely unknown, trying to compete on paper against paper mags Wizard and TCJ as well as the countless comic news sites covering this stuff (especially Comicon, The Beat, Newsarama and CBR) and it doesn't appear that CF has any backing at all other then whatever cash and credit Leong has to his name.
I can only guess that Leong just really really wanted to be a "print journalist/publisher" - damn the consequences.
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Xaviar Xerexes
On second thought, let's not go to Comixpedia. It is a silly place.
I think you're right, Tim
The Beat on Comic Foundry
The Beat wrote about this too. Their comment that they had seen the mock up for the first issue of the print version of Comic Foundry is encouraging although it says nothing about what was actually covered.
Market research question - how much do direct market customers buy in terms of meta-comics - that is journalism on comics, books about comics - in other words anything comics related that isn't actually a comic itself? My sense of the direct market customers as being loyal to a genre (superheroes) and not comics itself suggests to me that I wouldn't want to read a comics magazine that catered to direct market customers...
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Xaviar Xerexes
On second thought, let's not go to Comixpedia. It is a silly place.
Letter to Diamond From Top Shelf
Brett Warnock of Top Shelf posted an "open letter" to Diamond at their site:
I scan the Comic Foundry site from time to time - it's still seems very firmly rooted in superhero comic books and so isn't what I would want in a print magazine but I admire folks for trying (and that's just me trying to learn from others what works and what doesn't - I have no shame in applying new tricks to the Comixpedia train).
I also can't help but check comparable traffic (alexa may be flawed but it's free...) and Comixpedia.com seems to do well compared to Comicfoundry.com (click for Alexa comparison) so maybe my vague visions of a print edition aren't impossible.
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Xaviar Xerexes
On second thought, let's not go to Comixpedia. It is a silly place.
Chuck Rozanski is pretty
Diamond is like Ma Bell.