Color me fascinated by the news that SLG has made the jump to offering all of its single issues through digital only, especially given publisher Dan Vado’s reasons why (In the announcement, he’s quoted as saying “The market has been pushing us away from serialized comics and more towards books and graphic novels for some time… However it is difficult to publish a 200 page graphic novel from an unknown artist without having some sort of lower-cost entry point like a comic book series to help build an audience, so going digital first seems like a good way to introduce readers to new creators and build an audience which we can build on for potential book releases”). This feels oddly important, both in terms of an indicator of where the direct market is at these days, but also as a test of the strength of the digital market: Will there be enough of an audience there to subsidize – and advertise – the eventual print editions, or is this more of a “Whatever we can make from digital is a bonus” scenario?
It’ll be interesting to see if other publishers follow suit, and if so, which ones – For all of the news of DC and Marvel both claiming various digital victories in the last few weeks, I can’t help but feel that the real strides in digital are being made by indies (SLG, Archie and IDW in particular). If we see companies like Boom!, Dynamite or even Dark Horse pushing a similar strategy – pushing some titles as digital-only until the collection, say – I wonder how long it’ll take before the Big Two follow… and what that will do to the direct market.
September 19th, 2011 at 4:32 pm
I think he’s on to something. When I started seeing the power of digital–with Zuda–I knew there was a better way of “breaking in” via web comics and consistent production of quality content. Places like Top Shelf 2.0 are a great way to get recognized by mid-to-larger sized Indie publishers. I’m hoping to put up more comics there to build a smaller body of work as I work on my creator-owned properties and small anthology invites. Digital is the cheapest, easiest way for up-and-coming talent to be seen. Period.
September 19th, 2011 at 7:51 pm
Diamond also places high quota limits for independent publishers which in turn makes it difficult for them to expose their comics to a new audience. Diamond Distributors are a big reason as to why the indies are making strides in the digital realm. Digital is one of the few options left to the indies in order for them to survive because Diamond sure isn’t going to help.
http://comics.ign.com/articles/119/1195215p1.html
Diamond is ruining the independent publishers.
September 20th, 2011 at 8:19 am
@Darth “Diamond is ruining the independent publishers.”
I’d add that Diamond and the average Comic Book Shop have ruined independent publishers.
Comic Shops have had nearly 30 years to actively grow their customer base. They had the opportunity to reach out not only to the mainstream (Marvel & DC) reader but to those who enjoyed a more diverse choice in reading material.
From what I can see, strictly from the sidelines, the bulk of Comic Shops that flourished in the late 80′s & early 90′s never bothered to grow their audience of consumers and instead grabbed the quick buck on over-hyped supposed “hot collectibles” available during that time, losing forever, a generation of diverse customers.
So yes, Diamond as the great big evil monopoly, have forced independents to seek other avenues. But they could only do so if not for the Comic Shop owners who had no foresight to realize that they were cutting their own throat.
September 20th, 2011 at 9:14 am
I had in no way intended for this to turn into a “Diamond is evil” discussion. Truth be told nothing could be further from the truth. Diamond is only a business that runs itself like a business should, with it’s own self-interest and prosperity in mind. Diamond is not the problem in the direct market, it is nearly just a symptom of a bigger problem stemming from the fact that the market was born out of a collectibles business and not from one where people read and enjoy the comics they read.
Yes, the direct market has failed to move much beyond its niche of being a collectible market, but that is scarcely Diamonds fault. Our move to digital has as much to do with the fact that we cannot compete with publishers on the direct market playing field. SLG has always published people who are new to the medium and the support for new creators and properties has never been lower in the 25 years I have been publishing. Going digital first allows us to expose a larger number of people to new things at a lower cost for the consumer and build a base of support for these things much like how selling books to Hot Topic and places like that used to put our books in front of a different audience and made those things successful.
Just because someone looks out for themselves does not make them evil, at least not in and of itself. Diamond is not evil because the direct market does not support our comics, from their book distribution side Diamond has helped us find markets and places like libraries where we can actually thrive. I have said this before and will say it again, there just may not be a financial basis for the direct market to survive beyond Marvel, DC and the companies who are heavily invested in licenses.
Dan Vado
September 20th, 2011 at 11:31 am
I totally agree with Dan–the onus of failure cannot be leveled on Diamond for doing it’s job of distributing comics.
I’ve spent 90% of my life in comic book shops all over the U.S. (and a couple in a few foreign countries) as a fan/consumer/collector and it’s always the same story: The Local Shop Owner coasts on sales to the built in niche market of fan-collectors. Hell, most of the owners I’ve ever known never ADVERTISE or PROMOTE their stores locally. They rely on line-of-sight…and I’d say half of them don’t even rely on that if they’re in a small enough area where they are the only game in town which is highly probable these days.
September 20th, 2011 at 3:34 pm
Perhaps I was too quick to lay all blame on Diamond but their monopoly on distribution doesn’t help the industry, at all. The comic shops, who, by catering primarily to collectors should also be taken into account, as well as the speculators who don’t even read comics and see them only as an investment.
I don’t have a problem with digital distribution if it means that new concepts are made available to readers. That’s always a good thing.
I will say this though, that I will miss the days of walking into my LCS, and perusing the stands to find a fresh idea that gets me excited enough to recall why I started reading comics to begin with.
September 20th, 2011 at 4:28 pm
Blame can be tossed around to just about everyone, but in the end, solutions are the important thing. Regardless of HOW we got to this point, we need to figure out ways of getting out of the current situation. I thing Dan Vado is taking a bold move shifting to digital only serialized comics and possible subsequent printed collections.
Personally, I don’t like using any digital services like Comixology that keep the issues on their server and don’t let you “own” what you buy. I DO like the fact that SLG haas several options including cbz formatted issues. That way you actually have what you buy. I’m still on the “I won’t buy digital comics” side of the fence, but that may change as technology and offered services change.