Comments on: “The Digital Market is Jumping and Rising and Growing Exponentially” http://blog.newsarama.com/2012/12/18/the-digital-market-is-jumping-and-rising-and-growing-exponentially/ The Blog@ Team and prominent comics personalities share what’s on their minds. Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:15:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 By: Michael Payton http://blog.newsarama.com/2012/12/18/the-digital-market-is-jumping-and-rising-and-growing-exponentially/comment-page-1/#comment-781016 Michael Payton Tue, 18 Dec 2012 20:49:59 +0000 http://blog.newsarama.com/?p=34685#comment-781016 The dinosaurs like Hibbs can't change their thinking so that their shops evolve the way record stores evolved to compete with mp3s. Paper is for collectors. Digital is for readers. Just like Vinyl is still around for diehard old school music collectors and the rest of us buy mp3s. The direct market is ONLY the diehard old school comic book collectors and has been almost from the start. True expansion of the comics market isn't in the dank little ghettos of comics shops where new customers are chased out by rude owners like Hibbs and their customers. True expansion of the comic book market is digital, a medium that people are already used to with music and books and now newspapers & magazines. I suspect that DC has a similar story with their digital market as Kirkman, but won't share if out of fear of being harangued by the likes of Hibbs and the dinosaur distribution network. The dinosaurs like Hibbs can’t change their thinking so that their shops evolve the way record stores evolved to compete with mp3s. Paper is for collectors. Digital is for readers. Just like Vinyl is still around for diehard old school music collectors and the rest of us buy mp3s.

The direct market is ONLY the diehard old school comic book collectors and has been almost from the start. True expansion of the comics market isn’t in the dank little ghettos of comics shops where new customers are chased out by rude owners like Hibbs and their customers. True expansion of the comic book market is digital, a medium that people are already used to with music and books and now newspapers & magazines.

I suspect that DC has a similar story with their digital market as Kirkman, but won’t share if out of fear of being harangued by the likes of Hibbs and the dinosaur distribution network.

]]> By: Matt Rower http://blog.newsarama.com/2012/12/18/the-digital-market-is-jumping-and-rising-and-growing-exponentially/comment-page-1/#comment-780980 Matt Rower Tue, 18 Dec 2012 20:24:58 +0000 http://blog.newsarama.com/?p=34685#comment-780980 @Barry I also wonder – since DC is apparently no longer exclusive to ComiXology – if the retailers' tune would change if DC would move to the Diamond storefront as well for digital. @Barry

I also wonder – since DC is apparently no longer exclusive to ComiXology – if the retailers’ tune would change if DC would move to the Diamond storefront as well for digital.

]]> By: MikeD http://blog.newsarama.com/2012/12/18/the-digital-market-is-jumping-and-rising-and-growing-exponentially/comment-page-1/#comment-780947 MikeD Tue, 18 Dec 2012 18:59:55 +0000 http://blog.newsarama.com/?p=34685#comment-780947 My personal experience: Switched to being a "Trade Waiter" 10 years ago and dropped all monthlies due to changes in storytelling style and preference of displaying TPBs and HCs on bookshelves vs. storing comics in longboxes. Last year I started selectively buying individual issues through comixology and have slowly increased my digital purchases, but have not decreased my print purchases of trades. My personal experience:

Switched to being a “Trade Waiter” 10 years ago and dropped all monthlies due to changes in storytelling style and preference of displaying TPBs and HCs on bookshelves vs. storing comics in longboxes.

Last year I started selectively buying individual issues through comixology and have slowly increased my digital purchases, but have not decreased my print purchases of trades.

]]> By: BoozerX http://blog.newsarama.com/2012/12/18/the-digital-market-is-jumping-and-rising-and-growing-exponentially/comment-page-1/#comment-780913 BoozerX Tue, 18 Dec 2012 17:54:48 +0000 http://blog.newsarama.com/?p=34685#comment-780913 Hibbs is a crybaby retailer, Hibbs is a crybaby retailer,

]]> By: Barry Convex http://blog.newsarama.com/2012/12/18/the-digital-market-is-jumping-and-rising-and-growing-exponentially/comment-page-1/#comment-780899 Barry Convex Tue, 18 Dec 2012 17:25:17 +0000 http://blog.newsarama.com/?p=34685#comment-780899 @Ziggy: It's funny how quickly said retailers will go from being contemptuously dismissive of digital (Hibbs published a blog post last year in which he unironically likened the iPad to a 3COM Audrey, and regularly comments on how no one is buying digital comics through his Diamond Digital storefront) to being completely terrified of it the instant it gets the slightest semblance of a competitive advantage over print (see: the recent Kindle/iBooks release timing controversy). @Ziggy: It’s funny how quickly said retailers will go from being contemptuously dismissive of digital (Hibbs published a blog post last year in which he unironically likened the iPad to a 3COM Audrey, and regularly comments on how no one is buying digital comics through his Diamond Digital storefront) to being completely terrified of it the instant it gets the slightest semblance of a competitive advantage over print (see: the recent Kindle/iBooks release timing controversy).

]]> By: Cornelius Stuyvesant http://blog.newsarama.com/2012/12/18/the-digital-market-is-jumping-and-rising-and-growing-exponentially/comment-page-1/#comment-780881 Cornelius Stuyvesant Tue, 18 Dec 2012 16:50:15 +0000 http://blog.newsarama.com/?p=34685#comment-780881 No. Reason: Fear. At the same time, I went 100% digital some time ago away from print. I still buy comics, but the question remains open as to if there was no digital if I would buy at all? Did digital keep me as a customer when I would have gone cold turkey? I don't know, but at the very least digital kept me buying far more then I would have otherwise. The comic retails need to find a way to make it so that they offer something you can't get via just digital. Price protections are not the answer for that. No.

Reason: Fear.

At the same time, I went 100% digital some time ago away from print. I still buy comics, but the question remains open as to if there was no digital if I would buy at all? Did digital keep me as a customer when I would have gone cold turkey? I don’t know, but at the very least digital kept me buying far more then I would have otherwise.

The comic retails need to find a way to make it so that they offer something you can’t get via just digital. Price protections are not the answer for that.

]]> By: Ziggy http://blog.newsarama.com/2012/12/18/the-digital-market-is-jumping-and-rising-and-growing-exponentially/comment-page-1/#comment-780853 Ziggy Tue, 18 Dec 2012 15:57:03 +0000 http://blog.newsarama.com/?p=34685#comment-780853 Unfortunately no, certain people *cough*cough*BrianHibbs*cough*cough*LarrysComics*cough* will NEVER agree with that and will always look at any attempt to expand the digital market completely independent of the print market as "an attack on the direct market". It's all doom, gloom, and conspiracy with some people. Unfortunately no, certain people *cough*cough*BrianHibbs*cough*cough*LarrysComics*cough* will NEVER agree with that and will always look at any attempt to expand the digital market completely independent of the print market as “an attack on the direct market”.

It’s all doom, gloom, and conspiracy with some people.

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