Print the floppies on newsprint and charge $1.99 for them

[numberthirty]

Alterna is doing it. It works. Nobody's pay is getting cut, and they're selling titles for as low as $1.

Name the creative teams.

If their names are not "Aaron"/"Ribbic", trying to make an "Apples" to "Apples" comparison falls apart almost right away.

[Carabas]

One thing that occurred to me that I don't believe has been mentioned...

The idea that you would gain a large number of readers who never read newsprint growing up? I think that assumption is a faulty one. Particularly so in a world where quite a few of those readers probably already read digital or trade wait.

The idea that lots of them will look at what is essentially buying an inferior product for only half off and say "Yep! Sign me up!" feels a bit optimistic.

Speaking of digital... That doesn't even use any paper at all, and still isn't $2-3 cheaper.

[numberthirty]

Speaking of digital... That doesn't even use any paper at all, and still isn't $2-3 cheaper.

Well, there is another hand there that you need to put money into(quite often).

[Bor]

The thing that baffles me most about this thread is that usually OP has a lot of ideas he thinks has to be done to raise sales which usually includes appealing to a new audience. What kind of young new reader would want to read on flimsy newspaper comics? When you take away the nostalgic factor how large of a reading group would actually be willing to pay 1,99 for such a downgrade? When you take away those unwilling to buy newspaper because of quality and those with an allergy of some sort, which there are actually more of each year because of added exposere to cemicals in everyday lifes, how would you ever find the ATLEAST 1/3 more of an audience for this?

[MajorHoy]

Alterna is doing it. It works. Nobody's pay is getting cut, and they're selling titles for as low as $1.

Wasn't Alterna supposedly selling newsprint paper comic books through Toys 'R Us? I wonder what happens now that Toys 'R Us is going out of business? (And I don't think I've seen any new copies at Barnes & Noble recently.)

[Trey Strain]

You can keep arguing about it of you want to, but the idea has been very popular in both the DC forum and the Marvel forum.

http://community.comicbookresources....s-on-newsprint

http://community.comicbookresources....s-on-newsprint

[MajorHoy]

You can keep arguing about it of you want to, but the idea has been very popular in both the DC forum and the Marvel forum.

Oh, I'm sure people want to have DC and Marvel charge less for their comic books.
However, much else about your polls hasn't been proven to be feasible yet.
And since you had suggested the Alterna model as a supposedly stellar example of how it could be done, I'm just wondering where Alterna will be selling their newsprint paper comic books now.

Does anybody know where print copies of Alterna comics are sold these days?

[numberthirty]

To get into a little bit of detail on the Toys R Us aspect of the bigger picture...

https://comicbastards.com/comics/alt...ooks-a-million

After introducing their product line to a test market of newsstands back in July, Alterna Comics has expanded distribution to include nearly half of all Barnes & Noble stores, all Books-A-Million stores, and they have secured a deal for their all ages (Adam Wreck, Amazing Age, Lilith Dark) titles to be distributed into the top 200 Toys"R"Us stores over the holiday season.

What that actually amounts to is...

- They aren't even selling in all Barnes & Noble stores.
- They were in a quarter of the Toys R Us stores that will all close just a little over a year from making that deal.

[Lee]

If only Alterna were selling their comics for $1 printed on tissue paper, then Toys R Us would still be in business.

[The Darknight Detective]

If only Alterna were selling their comics for $1 printed on tissue paper, then Toys R Us would still be in business.

LOL

Now that was funny.

[Trey Strain]

Most people think that comics are FAR too expensive. Furthermore, this is the only way to make a serious dent in their prices.

It makes complete sense, and I think they'll realize it.

Overcharging people for something appeals to a certain segment of the public. "Price it high and watch them buy. Price it low and watch them go." I get that. But funny books are the wrong thing to do it with. They aren't Lamborghinis.

[The Darknight Detective]

Most people think that comics are FAR too expensive. Furthermore, this is the only way to make a serious dent in their prices.

It makes complete sense, and I think they'll realize it.

Overcharging people for something appeals to a certain segment of the public. "Price it high and watch them buy. Price it low and watch them go." I get that. But funny books are the wrong thing to do it with. They aren't Lamborghinis.

Trey, please explain what you would do regarding creator costs (with the realization that what you might want would cost you many of them)? Without doing anything about that, your idea is not even worth discussing.

[deadboy80]

Hell yes. Would be down for this

[Mr.B]

Just crackdown on piracy. Like readonline and other sites.

But if you really want to lower prices, then you must fire many people and downsize the company. Less titles too.

Anyway good luck competing with videogames and many other entertainment options.

[The no face guy]

DC should go back to printing its floppies on newsprint, and should drop its price to $1.99

But it should continue to print its collections on high-grade paper and hold those prices steady.

This would give the company a huge competitive advantage over Marvel. Obviously it would sell many more floppies, but it would also sell more collections, because more people would read the collected stories in floppies in the first place.

Great idea! Anything to bring the cost down.