This week I’m offering up a potpourri of topics, because I came across a number of items by other writers that I felt really deserved your attention.
Suppose you don't suck, though, and get picked? "The unfortunate truth of the matter," says Stephenson, "is some books never make very much at all. The market can be very fickle, and sometimes even great material goes unnoticed."
A:
I don’t know if that’s the only thing. I do think that every year consumers have more and more choices for entertainment. And illegal entertainment gets cheaper and cheaper every year on the bit torrent sites–you see what happens with movies, TV and music.Q: Price and volume are certainly part of what the market can absorb but it’s also content. Do you feel like the last year or two has been strong in terms of content?
A:
I don’t think we put out the best comics that we could have as an industry. I look at myself when I say that as well. Because everyone was releasing more and more comics, I think it’s hard to manage the content as strongly and keep it as focused as you’d like.I can honestly say, I think with everyone’s lines shrinking it will allow us to focus on content better. I think the content is getting better again.In all seriousness, you would be surprised how often the same message can be received in different ways depending on who’s doing the speaking. I know a lot of what Nick says about the current state of the industry is familiar territory to those who read this column, but coming from a seasoned executive at a top publisher carries more weight, oddly enough.
Do Yourself a Favor and Read More: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/03/15/digital-comics-shark-goldfish-dental-floss/#ixzz1ImExAvxE
Jason is a mutant with the ability to squeeze 36 hours into every 24-hour day, which is why he was able to convince his wife he had time to join the iFanboy team on top of running his business, raising his three sons, and most importantly, co-hosting the 11 O'Clock Comics podcast with his buddies Vince B, Chris Neseman and David Price. If you are one of the twelve people on Earth who want to read about comics, the stock market and football in rapid fire succession, you can follow him on Twitter.
great article once again. I think on the Cartoonists thing..its the arts in general. We live in an age where every dream is encouraged to be followed regardless of talent. Chasing the American Dream has spun a bit out of control.
I think we have too many comics out there. Having worked in publishing i understand the business side of creating stuff the market buys aka 10 Avengers/batman books but the industry won’t move forward if its pushing out lots of crap. Its too hard to find the good stuff, and as someone who cares about the environment, we’re printing lots of stuff that doesn’t deserve to be.
I’ll sound like a broken record but i firmly believe that the Direct Market system is slowly strangling comics dead. It might have a place for big 2 stuff, but for indie books…i just don’t understand how any fresh voice can be found through that swamp. If they had DM only back in the 60s none of us would have ever heard of Spiderman or the Xmen…would have been gone after 10 issues.
Indie books have a great opportunity to reach audiences with digital distribution that they are not taking advantage of right now. Its not the messiah, but i think the more choices a consumer has, the more ways to purchase something, the more successful that something will be. I really believe that.
Less comic shops doesn’t bother me…i actually prefer it. So many shops are poorly run, trim the fat and let the great shops remain.
sorry for writing a comment thesis…stop bringing up so many talking points. =)
I read that David Brothers articla and really loved what he had to say. It’s fascinating how nobody wants anything to change . . . ever. Everything was always better “then”. Or, “____ is the answer to all this, don’t you see?” Mr. Brothers article was a welcome piece of objective analysis. Thank you, Mr. Wood, for exploring data and reason. Always a treat.
I read through the article by David Brothers and I didn’t see anything here that seemed new to me.
I think we all have similar complaints about digital comics (day and date, price, permanent/transferable copy) and yes the publishers could easily fix them if they just wanted to enough. But how does that help the industry? I am already buying comics, getting me to buy them digitally doesn’t help anyone but me and Comixology (or Graphic.ly, etc).
The industry needs new readers, not the same readers but with fewer retailers. The first real year of digital comics has been a failure because the industry has done a shitty, lazy job marketing their product to new and casual readers.
You can read my own ramble on the subject here: http://tinyurl.com/3jtjgvd. Just in case you need one more rant in your day.
I love this. I really really love this. More articles like this.