Business
Making money with webcomics. Seriously!
Scott McCloud & Micropayments: Reality At Last?
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on June 23, 2003 - 10:09
Scott McCloud wrote extensively about micropayments as an optimal solution for webcomics in Reinventing Comics and on his website. This week he announced that he has finally rolled out his first webcomic that will be offered for purchase through a micropayments system.
McCloud will be offering "The Right Number", a three part comic about "math, sex, obsession and phone numbers," through a brand new micropayment system. Each part will be priced at 25 cents.
Building a Bigger Audience for a Blog
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on June 19, 2003 - 10:02
This NY Times article (free registration required) on building a bigger audience for a blog reminded me of similar tactics to building a bigger audience for a webcomic. Webcomics leading the way for bloggers yet again?
The Tip Jar as Revenue Model: A Real-World Experiment
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on May 5, 2003 - 21:45
A story on Kuro5shin about an author who posted his novel online for free reading, downloading, etc. Shades of Cory Doctorow! The thread at K5 is particulary interesting as it follows the promotional efforts of the author and the support he was able to obtain through an online "tip jar," not an uncommon strategy amongst webtoonists.
Zombie Berke Breathed Making Money from Bloom County Online
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on May 2, 2003 - 12:17
Journalista! points us to a story on the growth in subscribership at U Click's My Comics service after the availability to subscribers of Bloom County repeats.
Komikwerks and ibooks, Inc. Announce Strategic Alliance
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on May 1, 2003 - 12:51
New York, NY/Boston, MA --- Komikwerks, LLC, owner of www.komikwerks.com, a leader in creator-owned online comics and webbased comics community-building, has entered into a partnership with ibooks, Inc, the first simultaneous publisher of books in printed form and on the Internet. ibooks printed titles are distributed by Simon and Schuster and ibooks ebooks titles are sold by a variety of partners, including Palm Digital Media.
Komikwerks' founders, Patrick Coyle and Shannon Denton, have executed an agreement with ibooks that gives ibooks an equity stake in Komikwerks, LLC and active involvement in its future development. ibooks president Byron Preiss, has been involved in the development of digital comics for many years, and established the first major website for comics online, virtualcomics.com in 1995.
I Got the Bandwidth Blues, Baby...
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on April 24, 2003 - 16:31
A first-hand account of an author with good intentions and an open-source marketing plan who almost busted his budget on bandwidth. Click here for the entire NY Times article. This is exactly the problem many popular webtoonists face.
Don't Quit Your Day Job, Bub...
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on April 24, 2003 - 10:53
A great thread over at Talkaboutcomics Dot Com about day jobs and the eternal quest to eventually quit said day job to focus solely on the art.
What do you do all day?
New Words Column from DC Simpson
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on April 22, 2003 - 16:42
DC Simpson (Ozy & Millie) writes about how he got to where he is today and offers a few words of wisdom to aspiring webtoonists.
Making Money from Webcomics: Is Self-Publishing Dead Tree Versions the Answer?
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on April 21, 2003 - 10:34
In an interesting thread on "can webcomics be profitable" over at Comicon, Freddy Wertham Jr writes:
I have a near-total ignorance of webcomics so forgive me if this question seems stupid but how many of you webcomic creators offer printed versions of your works via your websites and, if so, how successful/profitable are they?
The reason I am curious is that I do consultancy work for self-published book authors. The biggest problem my clients have once their work is complete, is distribution to the mass market. Like comics distributors, book distribution companies take 65% of the profits.
Still Ahead Of Their Time?
Submitted by kdreger on March 21, 2003 - 12:54
As per an interview @ Anime News Network, Comics One stopped using ebooks due to low sales. They felt they were ahead of their time... would things be different now? If not, when will ebooks be a viable form of distribution?
ANN: Comics One when it started, was only releasing manga titles over the web using software from Adobe. Can you tell us what led to your company originally doing this and then moving away from it?
Nicole: We originally felt ebooks were the next big thing. They had many benefits: portable, easy distribution, no warehousing issues, cheap sales, price, etc... Unfortunately, after a few months of low sales, we knew we were ahead of our time and we began publishing hardcopy books. We now only use ebooks for promotional purposes.
Read more at Comics One Profile
