Tablets and Digital Comics

[David]

From The Globe and Mail:

Desperate to find a copy of issue No. 23 of The Walking Dead (yes, the series the AMC zombie epic is based on)? You can spare yourself hours of haunting eBay or comic-book shops and download the complete series for $2.99 or less an issue.

. . .

The comic-book industry has been pushing digital for a couple of years, but was held back by technology that was clunky for displaying art.

Enter the tablet – and a whole new readership is discovering the addictive quality of the art form.

“It wasn’t until the iPad or other tablets that we really had a device that could bring a true comic experience to the reader,” says Arune Singh, a director of communications at Marvel.

For the past 10 Wednesdays – the day new comics titles are released – the top-grossing iPad app has been for comic books, according to sales tracker AppData. The graphic-novel world’s version of iTunes is Comics, from developer comiXology, which even came pre-loaded on the Amazon Kindle Fire that debuted in the United States this month.

. . .

Many comics readers who have made the switch say ease-of-use was the main draw.

“A big reason I read comics digitally is the convenience of having them take up no space,” says Ryan Closs, a long-time fan who lives in Montreal.

Traditional stores tend to be niche, with a clubhouse feel for enthusiasts, like vinyl stores for music fans. Not to mention the fact that there are simply fewer comic shops around than during the industry’s early-1990s height.

“Digital puts a newsstand in every Starbucks,” says industry analyst Milton Griepp. While exact numbers are hard to come by, he says digital sales of comics more than doubled between summer 2011 and a year earlier.

. . .

While some publishers are looking at adding multimedia extras, such as video, into their digital comics, no major players have done so yet. But Marvel's Singh points out that their new Season One line was drawn with the screen in mind, with consistently sized panels and no big spreads that read poorly on an iPhone.

A digital leader among small publishers is Top Shelf, which releases everything from kids' comics to adult works such as Blankets and From Hell. Its strategy has been to use every channel available, according to Chris Ross, director of digital publishing – even offering some titles digitally first. They recently released Lost Dogs, from Essex County author Jeff Lemire, far before the print edition comes out in April.

Since a big share of the digital readers are new, many print retailers don’t seem worried yet that they’re going to lose sales.

Years of online piracy have already eroded sales, and the customers that still come in value the printed page, says George Zotti, co-owner of The Silver Snail in downtown Toronto.

“Comic-book crowd tends to be very tech-savvy,” Zotti says. “But they still have that old-school collector vibe.”

Source.

[melkoloran]

Being a computer guy, I like the idea of digital comics and I'm sure the price point will eventually work itself out. I just can't get behind the idea of renting comics instead of owning them.

[Bobgar Ornelas]

  "ryan closs"




 
         

[Ryan 'gobo' C.]

 

[InspectorSpacetime]

From The Globe and Mail:


Since a big share of the digital readers are new, many print retailers don’t seem worried yet that they’re going to lose sales.


Source.

that might be a uk centric thought. but as far as the us is concerned, any shop owner that thinks this is delusional.

[Ryan 'gobo' C.]

Part of what I said to the guy was that while I still get print comics I'm not going to be buying anymore after February, which seems to have not carried over to the article. I do think I'm an outlier at this point though.

[jdudley]

Marvel just released some huge comic runs today--entire Aaron Ghost Rider, for one.
The catalogue of marvel back-issues available digitally is getting to be very impressive.
For the second week in a row, I've almost decided to not bother going to my LCS cause most of my books are available from home (Daredevil #6 is bring me to my LCS all on it's own--but my example probably proves that day and date digital will end up hurting LCS big time--releasing digitally one or two weeks later would probably have been HUGE for the comic shops but it's already too late to go back.)

[frijolie]

At the detriment of my LCS, I, am experimenting with going down the digital road. I have recently purchased an Android tablet and would love not having to store "floppies" in long boxes going forward.

From my first trial run, it appears that they (comixology) have it pretty well figured out. It was easy to purchase, download, and read my first digital issue. It only took say 30 seconds to complete the entire process prior to reading the issue. The user interface was pretty intuitive, for those with any touch screen mobile device it should come natural. High resolution graphics, pinch to zoom panels, no double page spreads , and they even included the variant covers and letters pages

As far as I'm concerned it looks to be pretty promising. However, I still hesitate to go "all-in" due to the day-and-date pricing sticking around $2.99/issue. If they did $1.99 an issue then it would be a no brainer for me. Darn that DCBS for getting me accustomed to paying a fraction of retail on my funny books!

I understand the idea of $2.99 for digital day-and-date issues as to not take away from their loyal customers (the LCS), but that's also putting off the inevitable digital revolution (IMO). I guess I can wait a month or so for the price drop and get most of what I want for $1.99. I already have to wait two weeks to get my twice-a-month shipment.

The frustrating part is that there are so many avenues to purchase the issues (e.g. comixology, dc app, marvel app, graphic.ly, publisher website, etc). The fact that you are required to have different applications to view different publisher's comics (cough) Marvel (cough), this makes the experience a little more difficult. Because we are in the emerging market, it appears that you're forced to "pick your horse" in hopes of long-run solvency. Just hope I've chosen wisely.

I also have hopes that other publishers will take the Dark Horse approach and offer digital collections making it easier to get arcs, minis, and events all in one bundle and on the cheap.

[David]

I understand the idea of $2.99 for digital day-and-date issues as to not take away from their loyal customers (the LCS), but that's also putting off the inevitable digital revolution (IMO). I guess I can wait a month or so for the price drop and get most of what I want for $1.99. I already have to wait two weeks to get my twice-a-month shipment.

I don't see it as putting it off.

It's all about instant gratification.  Want it now?  Pay the premium.

[Steve Raker]

Without the cost of printing (including paper, ink power and shipping/gas costs) and distribution, I insist that the price of single issues be .99, whether there is a predictable wait period or not.

[Ryan 'gobo' C.]

Without the cost of printing (including paper, ink power and shipping/gas costs) and distribution, I insist that the price of single issues be .99, whether there is a predictable wait period or not.

You're going to be waiting forever unless the market size grows significantly.

[Steve Raker]

You're going to be waiting forever unless the market size grows significantly.

So be it, but they might not get one without the other, ala the music industry......and along the way I'll continue to support .99 'sales'.

[David]

Without the cost of printing (including paper, ink power and shipping/gas costs) and distribution, I insist that the price of single issues be .99, whether there is a predictable wait period or not.

But what about the work involved by the creative team?

I get that readers want it priced as low as possible, but my heart kinda isn't in the fight when I look at a Kindle book which is just text, yet can cost more than a comicbook.

"Well, I can read a comicbook in about five minutes and a novel can take me days."  Okay?  I guess?  I tend not to rush through my sequential art, so again, I see that as a personal preference.

I know the publishers have claimed resources like paper and paying the distributors and transportation all factored into it.  But the product still has to be made.  The only thing I see that's changed is how our fix is presented to us.

[frijolie]

I don't see it as putting it off.

It's all about instant gratification.  Want it now?  Pay the premium.

Agreed, for me, I don't see the instant gratification worth the premium at the moment (assuming in a month the price will drop $1)

But what about the work involved by the creative team?

I get that readers want it priced as low as possible, but my heart kinda isn't in the fight when I look at a Kindle book which is just text, yet can cost more than a comicbook.

"Well, I can read a comicbook in about five minutes and a novel can take me days."  Okay?  I guess?  I tend not to rush through my sequential art, so again, I see that as a personal preference.

I know the publishers have claimed resources like paper and paying the distributors and transportation all factored into it.  But the product still has to be made.  The only thing I see that's changed is how our fix is presented to us.

I can see this point as well. The creators need to feed their families, I get that. However, $3 for a comic that maybe takes me 5 minutes to read is a bit pricey. With this same logic, attending your average hour and a half film would cost us $54/ticket (90 min / 5 * $3 = $54). Where I'm from it costs me $7/ticket to see a blockbuster movie (not in 3D). Using that same math as above it costs me ~$0.38 every 5 minutes to enjoy a film. With this being said, I think that $3.00 for 5 minutes of enjoyment is a HUGE jump from $0.38 over the same interval of time! I never see any of the hollywood creators ahead of me in line at the soup kitchen

Personal preference it may be...are comics my wine taste with a just a beer budget?

I would argue that an OGN could (and does) command higher prices as it's an entire story, not just 22 pages of the novel.

[erikh42]

@frijolie Your logic doesn't quite work.  The amount of people that see a movie far exceeds the amount of people that read a comic book.  Comics are always going to be a premium entertainment item due to the limited audience.

Think about furniture.  Ikea can sell $ 100.00 bookshelves all day long because they have a massive factory that fabricates them on the cheap and they reach a tremendous amount of people.  Getting a carpenter into your home to build the custom shelves that serve essentially the same purpose can cost 10 times that amount.  At the end of the day the carpenter may not be doing that much better in margin than IKEA. 

Just because movies and comics are both 'entertainment' does not mean they can be measured on the same scale.

[frijolie]

@erikh42 my point is $3 for 5 minutes worth of "entertainment" is what's keeping the masses from reading comics (digital and print). Digital comic distribution can achieve economies of scale easier, I'd say, over print comics. Therefore they should be able to lower prices which, in turn, would bring more customers. With more customers entering the market the creators could finally purchase that Bentley they've been saving for and finally attain the prestigious status of the 1%

In the end, everyone will be

Just give me the $0.99 digital issue

[David]

my point is $3 for 5 minutes worth of "entertainment" is what's keeping the masses from reading comics (digital and print).

You think price is the reason why readership is so low?

I'm sure that's part of it, but not the main culprit.

[melkoloran]

You think price is the reason why readership is so low?

I'm sure that's part of it, but not the main culprit.

I'd say it's the largest barrier for new readers.

[David]

I'd say it's the largest barrier for new readers.

Considering what other people spend their disposable income on?

I don't know.  I think part of it is still that 'kiddie fare' stigma.  Or that some people think it's only capes and cowls.  And how many articles still give us BIF! POW! headlines?

It's great that we see BASED ON THE SERIES OF GRAPHIC NOVELS BY ROBERT KIRKMAN AND TONY MOORE AND CHARLIE ADLARD at the beginning of The Walking Dead, but do these viewers know that they can fire up the app on their smartphone or tablet and get the stories?  And not have to walk into a comic shop?  Not that I see the comicbook being advertised during the show or anything.

[Steve Raker]

But what about the work involved by the creative team?.....

......I know the publishers have claimed resources like paper and paying the distributors and transportation all factored into it.  But the product still has to be made.  The only thing I see that's changed is how our fix is presented to us.

I think it would be the same thing with music....lotsa people to pay with that .99, including covering the cost for the songs on albums that don't get downloaded as much (as would be with 3rd tier comics character's books).

Just how much of our $3 an issue is 'creative costs' versus printing/distribution costs?  We pretty much know that the $4 comic simply has an extra $1 thrown on 'because they can'. 

I would venture to guess that less than a 3rd of the cost of a $3 comic comes from creative costs versus printing, etc.......ink and paper and gas are expensive, man!