An innovative alternative to 5G that would expand DC's digital readership

[manwhohaseverything]

It is a good model, but it's not sustainable unless there are tons of subscribers to make up the cost. I don't know actual statics of how shonen jump is selling, just know these manga pirated sites still get a lot of views...

As far i know, They do because translations are available quicker. That doesn't mean those same wouldn't subscribe to jump. Mangastream used to be pretty darn fast and it had better translation viz official translations many a times. Since it shut down people largely wait for the offical translation,Especially reviewers.

[Gotham citizen]

In my humble opinion it could work only if you could read everything without delay, because the Netflix subscribers can see everything without delay. Moreover make a comics it is more simply than a TV series, because you don't need actors or animators, costume makers, directors, directors of photography, musicians and so on, while a comic book need only of an editor, a writer, a penciller, an inker, a colorist and a letterer, so I think product a comics should cost less than product a TV series and consequentially alto the price of that subscription shouldn't be more expensive than a Netflix one.

[Gotham citizen]

I'm sorry for the double post, but the following video explains us an interesting aspect of the problem and suggests some solutions, so I think it can be interesting.

[iron chimp]

I doubt marvel or dc or anyone has any say what happens with day and date digital comics - Amazon has them all over a barrel.

[Ascended]

I'm sorry for the double post, but the following video explains us an interesting aspect of the problem and suggests some solutions, so I think it can be interesting.

Hey nice find.

It's a good video. Breaks down the history and situations in a way that is easy to follow and understand. I always struggle trying to explain economics (hell sometimes I struggle to understand economics! So weird!), so someone who can spit it all out in such a way is always cool to see.

I was getting coffee and only half listening at the end, but he mentioned the Wal-Mart books. Those are basically anthologies aren't they? Focused around a particular IP but still anthologies. Good idea....questionable execution. He's right that the location is an issue. I've seen the books in every Wal-Mart I've been in (which isn't a lot admittedly), but never in a place where they can be casually picked up by a curious customer. They're always buried in among trading cards or something, in some out of the way aisle no one ever goes to unless they're after some Magic the Gathering. That's a problem. Those things need to be next to the toys or electronics section, where someone grabbing the new Marvel movie on blu-ray or cartoon-based toy will see them. Not sure what the price point on those books are either, but they need to be cheap enough that a customer will consider grabbing it as a supplementary purchase.

The more I roll it around in my head, the more I think diversifying DC's product output is the way to go. I mean, outside of a few exceptions, who bothers with a single distribution venue anymore? Even the streaming services like Netflix also sell their stuff on blu-ray.

[titanfan]

Honestly, there are still people that choose to read shonen jump manga illegally when the subscription cost is literally like 1$ or 5$ these days. Some people just genuinely don't care to support the creators of these books and will choose to read them illegally. That's why finding the right buisness model is so tough.

People thought this about buying music online too. But that model showed most people want to be honest about it.

I think they are hesitant to do stuff like this because they don't want to kill comic book stores any more.

[kjn]

I was getting coffee and only half listening at the end, but he mentioned the Wal-Mart books. Those are basically anthologies aren't they? Focused around a particular IP but still anthologies. Good idea....questionable execution. He's right that the location is an issue. I've seen the books in every Wal-Mart I've been in (which isn't a lot admittedly), but never in a place where they can be casually picked up by a curious customer. They're always buried in among trading cards or something, in some out of the way aisle no one ever goes to unless they're after some Magic the Gathering. That's a problem. Those things need to be next to the toys or electronics section, where someone grabbing the new Marvel movie on blu-ray or cartoon-based toy will see them. Not sure what the price point on those books are either, but they need to be cheap enough that a customer will consider grabbing it as a supplementary purchase.

As I understood it (admittedly via second-hand), this is due to the distributor chosen. Like many large general stores, Walmart gets it goods both via their own distribution networks and via bespoke distributors (Diamond is one such example of a bespoke distributor). Some of these bespoke distributors are basically responsible for a specific area of the store: stock, do returns, help keep order, and so on.

So the Walmart books are distributed with a games distributor, not a toy distributor, or a newsprint distributor. That can also help explain why the distribution is spotty at times, and order might vary a lot between different stores: there are several actors involved, and one of them is (comparatively speaking) small.

[Gotham citizen]

[…]
I was getting coffee and only half listening at the end, but he mentioned the Wal-Mart books. Those are basically anthologies aren't they? Focused around a particular IP but still anthologies. Good idea....questionable execution.
[…]

Actually it seems to me he talked about something he doesn't know very well, so he didn't say various things. For example the Japanese comics anthologies are very cheap books sold in the newsstands and printed in black and white (so no color) on the same kind of paper used for the newspapers, because those books are usually thrown away after the reader read them. Then they have the tankobons which are monographic books, printed on a better quality paper and sold on the comic shop for the collectors. In this way they can have cheap books (with extremely high sales) for the occasional readers and better quality books (with very good sales) for the fans of a particular titles; the things in Italy are different, but the purpose is the same: reach as many occasional readers as possible.
I think that is what Comic Trope wanted say: let's start to print cheap anthological books which contains 4/5 titles (I think it would be better if they are of the same franchise) and sold them in the newsstands, in the drugstores or in other similar market, for the occasional readers, maybe it works and the number of the regular readers will increase!

[kjn]

People thought this about buying music online too. But that model showed most people want to be honest about it.

I think they are hesitant to do stuff like this because they don't want to kill comic book stores any more.

It helped a lot that iTunes made it easy and simple to get music in digital form, without any artificial restrictions (i.e. DRM). Basically, Apple and iTunes (and some book publishers, like Baen) made honesty easy and simple.

But music is in a different situation than comics (or books). With music, you need a second product (the CD player or LP player) to get the product (music) that you want out from the medium (CD or LP). The book (or comic) fuses the product and the medium together into one piece, while an e-book (or CB* file) requires a tablet or computer.

[Gotham citizen]

Deleted post.

[Ascended]

As I understood it (admittedly via second-hand), this is due to the distributor chosen. Like many large general stores, Walmart gets it goods both via their own distribution networks and via bespoke distributors (Diamond is one such example of a bespoke distributor). Some of these bespoke distributors are basically responsible for a specific area of the store: stock, do returns, help keep order, and so on.

So the Walmart books are distributed with a games distributor, not a toy distributor, or a newsprint distributor. That can also help explain why the distribution is spotty at times, and order might vary a lot between different stores: there are several actors involved, and one of them is (comparatively speaking) small.

D'oh! Of course. I didn't even think about that. Sometimes I swear the only thing from college that sticks are the jokes the professors occasionally make.

Still, the distributor is not a great excuse. Location matters. The guy who stocks the shelves in the abandoned, empty aisle the trading cards are in can walk over to the toy section or electronics and stock the anthologies there. It's not that much harder to track, I'm sure, and I doubt it'd hurt productivity much (though I've never worked in distribution like this, so maybe I'm wrong).

Sticking the books with the trading cards isn't exactly reaching that casual buyer, yknow? Put them next to the superhero movies, and they'll sell well as a supplementary item, but that mom who's buying her kid the newest Avengers film isn't gonna grab a Superman anthology when that book is on the other end of the store, buried next to the trading cards. The nearest Wal-Mart where I live at least keeps the cards sort of close to the registers, so it's kind of visible, but most of the stores I've seen have that section in an out of the way place.

[Ascended]

think that is what Comic Trope wanted say: let's start to print cheap anthological books which contains 4/5 titles (I think it would be better if they are of the same franchise) and sold them in the newsstands, in the drugstores or in other similar market, for the occasional readers, maybe it works and the number of the regular readers will increase!

Maybe he was just keeping to American production standards?

In any case, I agree that getting comics back out into the mom-n-pop's and grocery stores is viable. I don't think it's gonna create the sales it did decades ago, but every venue helps, especially when you can keep the production costs low.

I think digital and bookstore based OGN's are probably more likely to generate relevant revenue, but the grocery store spinner racks can create life-long fans too, and shouldn't be ignored as a possibility.

[9th.]

Given the price of the actual comics, it’d be a great deal.

It is when you put that way but I was thinking relative to other streaming services.

[The no face guy]

I'm sorry for the double post, but the following video explains us an interesting aspect of the problem and suggests some solutions, so I think it can be interesting.

Thanks for the link, I’ll be sure to give it a listen, cheers.

If DC can find the distribution channels to reach a wider audience, and produces content those people want to read, and markets it properly so people know to look, it won't matter if certain people want to share the pie or not. Their bitching and whining didn't stop Captain Marvel or Wonder Woman or Black Panther from being huge hits in cinema, and it wouldn't stop the comics from being successful either. But the trick is finding the right distribution, the right products, and the right marketing.

Regarding a subscription service....something along these lines could work. We don't really have much to base its success on outside of Marvel Unlimited and Comixology and some loose parallels with Netflix and other streaming services. I'd think a multi-tier approach; let people buy the individual issues they want for 99 cents with no subscription, and offer a couple subscription plans where you pay X amount and get Y books; more expensive plans offer more titles. For the higher tier subscription plans maybe add in a few benefits like discounts on trade pre-orders, early access, exclusive behind the scenes content, or something. And of course, subs would still be able to buy more comics for 99 cents too. Nickle and dime the customers to death, with enough value included that they thank you for it. And since digital resources are relatively cheap, it's not necessarily a bad business call, though this sort of thing is outside my experience.

But you'd have to structure the whole thing right. I don't know if you could take the comics as they are now, with their monthly release schedule, endless renumberings, limited target audience, and convoluted continuity, and get the subs you'd need. That would largely only pull in established floppy readers willing to make the switch to digital, and we've seen that they resist doing that. No, you'd need stuff that appeals to other audiences; kid focused stuff like Superman Smashes the Klan and more adult fare like Last God. In the same way that Netflix has shows for kids, for families, and for adults, this would need the same kind of thing, with each title labeled and cataloged properly so the right audiences can find it.

You'd have to change the release schedule (has to be weekly, in my mind), the numbering (a "seasons" structure, like tv shows, seems viable; Superman season 1, issues 1-26). You'd have to change the creative approach to fit the new factors.

The entire process would have to change. But I feel like it could work, if it were handled right. Basically Ink/Zoom, Black Label, those YA bookstore OGN's, and I suppose some main continuity type stuff all rolled into one digital subscription service.

I'd probably want the whole thing linked to the DCU app in some way; that way you've got more than just comics to offer, and the people who sub for the shows and cartoons will inevitably find themselves reading the comics between new episodes, and it's a small jump from there to buying.

Totally agree with you. It’s all about marketing and distribution, you have to get the product out their and make it accessible, as opposed to it primarily being confined to the DC website and dying comic book stores. Whatever works, whatever dynamic ideas get the industry flourishing and profitable is all that matters.

Honestly, there are still people that choose to read shonen jump manga illegally when the subscription cost is literally like 1$ or 5$ these days. Some people just genuinely don't care to support the creators of these books and will choose to read them illegally. That's why finding the right buisness model is so tough.

I hear what your saying, I’m no saint...I’ve streamed from the illegal sites from time to time, only because they make it so damn conveinant, or because I read so many comics I have to budget, but I try to support the industry as best I can. I think these sites are offshore accounts so not much can be done about them, that’s why I think it’s important to make comics come in a packaged deal, and as easily accessible to access through various popular streaming services.

I also think the print medium will survive in one form or another, especially if digital sales become predominant. The less print copies, the more likely they become rare collectibles.

[Lee Stone]

DC Universe does this pretty well, as they carry everything that’s on Comixology with the exception of stuff in the last 12 months and Black Label content.

DC Comics even provides DC Universe the new back issues as they get digitized for Comixology, arriving the Tuesday after they go to a Comixology.

But I see a problem on the horizon if things don’t change.
If the established heroes get shuffled off to Black Label to bring in 5G, then they will no longer be getting new stuff on DC Universe.
Unless DC Comics makes an exception for them.

And considering how the service kinda missed the mark by trying to be one thing it really couldn’t live up to be, it’s now found what it could excel at but it should have been comics from the start.
It brought in the wrong audience that they couldn’t satisfy due to pre-existing contracts.
And the comic stuff targets an audience that the service was never marketed to.

I really think they should consider relaunching DCUniverse or rebranding it to bring attention to it as a DC version of Marvel Unlimited.