Spinning out of Vaneta’s piece over on the mothership, retailing mover and shaker Brian Hibbs expounds some more about digital comics:
Music, our primary source for “how will this impact us” analysis, is very different than reading. Music tends to be either something that is either a social function/lubricant or an activity that is done while doing something else (like, say, taking the bus, or studying or surfing the web). “Listening to music”, I believe, in most cases for most people, most of the time, is a relatively “passive” activity — most of the time you’re not putting 100% of your focus ON the music, if you understand what I mean? This is not the case for “reading” (be it comics or prose) — that’s an “active” activity all of the time, and can really only be done alone. It makes sense for you to be able to carry 10k songs in your pocket. It makes less sense to have 10k comic books there.
Much more in the link.
Related: Webcomics creators discuss how best to partner with direct market retailers.
