Making Your Comic Dollar Do the Most "Good"
Whenever you see Marvel or DC cancel (or threaten to cancel) a lower-selling title, there is always a big outcry.
And I am not saying that is a BAD thing.
That's cool.
And a lot of times, there is a call for people to purchase more of these titles, lest they be cancelled.
And I am not saying that is BAD, either.
It's fine.
However, the odds are, those 400-800 extra copies of whatever borderline book probably will NOT make a difference in Marvel and DC's overall decision to cancel the book.
If a book for DC is selling 6,000 copies, raising it to 7,000 is not going to make it worthwhile for DC to keep publishing it.
Likewise, if a book is selling 19,000 copies, making it 20,000 is not going to make it worthwhile for Marvel to keep publishing it.
On the OTHER hand, if an independent comic book's orders suddenly went up by 400-800 copies a month, the impact would be very significant, I believe (someone who knows more about independent publishing than I could tell me if this is accurate).
So if you are really concerned about keeping good comics around that are not selling a ton, then the most effective use of your dollar and your "buy more copies" campaigns is probably using that money and energy on independent books.
And I am not saying that is a BAD thing.
That's cool.
And a lot of times, there is a call for people to purchase more of these titles, lest they be cancelled.
And I am not saying that is BAD, either.
It's fine.
However, the odds are, those 400-800 extra copies of whatever borderline book probably will NOT make a difference in Marvel and DC's overall decision to cancel the book.
If a book for DC is selling 6,000 copies, raising it to 7,000 is not going to make it worthwhile for DC to keep publishing it.
Likewise, if a book is selling 19,000 copies, making it 20,000 is not going to make it worthwhile for Marvel to keep publishing it.
On the OTHER hand, if an independent comic book's orders suddenly went up by 400-800 copies a month, the impact would be very significant, I believe (someone who knows more about independent publishing than I could tell me if this is accurate).
So if you are really concerned about keeping good comics around that are not selling a ton, then the most effective use of your dollar and your "buy more copies" campaigns is probably using that money and energy on independent books.
posted by Brian Cronin at 4/12/2005 02:48:00 PM
2 Comments:
But independent comics suck, Cronin.
Duh.
Seriously, I don't know how I feel about any of these drives--really, if everyone buys extra copies from the shelves, it just means that the retailer has a better sell-through. A short term fix doesn't equate to healthier sales in the long run.
But, yes, buy indie, buy heavy, buy often. :)
True. A serious campaign to get the numbers up on the book has to be targeted at pre-orders, not in-store buys. And to avoid drop-off, they also have to encourage people to "subscribe" for at least three issues. That can be hard for a lot of people to swallow.
Of course, all that's dependent on the way the system works now. And the more I learn about it, the more convinced I am that it can't sustain itself in such a manner indefinitely. I think there's a pretty big change coming in the means of distribution, and that everyone, mainstream and independent, will have to adjust to fit that.
But, then again, I get that "something's gotta change" vibe from everything these days. Interesting times, these...
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