Business
Making money with webcomics. Seriously!
MySpace for Fictional Characters?
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 15, 2005 - 16:26
This is probably old news to some,but I had missed that Danielle Corsetto had set up a MySpace page for her Girls With Slingshots characters, Hazel and Jamie.
It's not clear that everyone interacting with it knows that these are fictional characters... On the other hand it sounds like it's been a successful promotional gimmick. Corsetto wrote:
Hazel and Jamie's MySpace page has received massive attention! They had more "friends" in two days than I'd gotten in a few weeks! They already have their own personal "creepy stalker," they've been granted "friendship vibrators" (thank you, Sam!), and Jamie's been tickled pink over all the compliments she and her *ahem* melons have received.
Gutterfly Comix Announces It's Shutting Down
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 9, 2005 - 23:22
Gutterfly Comix announced it was shutting down as of November 26th. It's not clear from the brief announcement what will become of the URL after that point.
Manga To Newspapers?
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 9, 2005 - 12:00
Newsarama has a story on TokyoPop's partnership with Universal Press Syndicate to bring some manga-style comics to America's newspapers. This story is being framed by recent news about the continuing decline in newspaper subscribership (down 2.6% this year) as a means to reverse that trend.
It is an interesting development although even the comic book industy has already figured out that it needs to grapple with the appeal of manga so the newspaper syndicate are essentially the last major segment of American comic to figure this out. It'll be interesting to see how many newspapers pick up the manga offered through Universal Press.
Dumbrella Splits from Vault Distribution
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 7, 2005 - 20:00
I don't have the full story yet, but Dumbrella has set up it's own shop for t-shirts, leaving Neil G's Vault Distribution. (Neil G is the creator of Robot Stories and the founder of Dayfree Press.)
John Allison, creator of Scary Go Round wrote recently:
Following a precipitous deterioration of service from Vault Distribution, Scary Go Round's shirts are now shipping from the Dumbrella Distribution Depot in Massachusetts. Hopefully most problems have now been dealt with but if you ordered books or a shirt other than "Books Rule" before October 14th and haven't received it, please email me at john -at- scarygoround.com with "SGR ENQUIRY" in the subject line and we will get on it immediately.
PA Fight Cards Preview
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on November 4, 2005 - 02:01
The fighting card set for Penny Arcade won't be released until next year but there's a sneak peak on PA today.
(Note to John A: Fighting Fallon cards!)
DJ Coffman on Making Money With Your Webcomic
Submitted by Erik Melander on October 25, 2005 - 13:48
DJ Coffman, of Yirmumah! fame, has a new blog devoted to "...tips, techniques and random thoughts on making money with your webcomics...".
Todd Allen on Online Revenue Models, Niche Media and Webcomics
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on September 23, 2005 - 10:39
"Welcome to the 21st century. The rules of the media game are changing. Those who want to survive are changing with it," says technology consultant and author Todd Allen, who outlines the new rules of engagement in his book, Online Comics Vs. Printed Comics: A Study in E-Commerce and the Comparative Economies of Content.
In keeping with the advice in his book, the entire text of the book is available for free.
Paypal Introduces New Micropayment Pricing
Submitted by Erik Melander on September 3, 2005 - 15:24
Paypal has announced new pricing intended to increase the convenience of purchasing digital goods.
PayPal's new micropayments pricing is designed especially for payments less than $2. The new fees will enable merchants to process payments at a rate of 5 percent plus 5 cents per transaction.
Gamespot Interviews Penny Arcade Business Manager Robert Khoo
Submitted by Erik Melander on August 27, 2005 - 12:28
The interview covers both Khoo himself and the business that is Penny Arcade.
GS: And have they ever told you about their first impressions of you?
RK: I think they thought I was smart. But then again, that's not saying much, as these are the same guys that accidentally sold Penny Arcade as well as their print rights without actually knowing they did.
Guerrilla Marketing by Blank Label
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on August 18, 2005 - 10:51
Joey Manley noted that comicwindows.com, a url mentioned in the NYTIMEs article on webcomics, was in fact not taken (it is still unclear what site NY TIMES writer Sarah Boxer meant to include in her article) but of course, not for long.
comicwindows.com now forwards to Blank Label comics. That has to be the best $15 or so spent on a domain name since Onlinecomics.net picked up bigpanda.net when it went defunct (Big Panda was an early webcomics portal).
