Coronavirus knocks out direct market - Diamond stops deliveries

[skyvolt2000]

This. I've bought comic books for going on five decades and I've tried digital and have not taken to it and will always prefer the so-called "floppies" (p.s. worst name for a comic book...ever.). This does not make me a speculator or a fly-by-night, fair weather fan. Broad generalizations aside, this is one of the better posts I've come across on this particular "hot button" issue.

I do floppies and trades. Because at times they are cheaper than digital. Hello discount bins.

I also give some of those books away at school.

Some I use for decorations in my office.

I could do digital but in some case I have done it-to help some indy creators like Ray Anthony Height.

I agree with Savior about DC, marvel & Image doing tpb. Why not do a $10 tpb with some months off.

Take a year of Batman and convert it to 2 $10-20 trades for the year. Dc would get $40 if they did 2 $20 (just $8 less using floppies ).

[mathew101281]

Comics from the big two have 4 serious problems that are hindering their success.

1. They are way overpriced for the amount of content in them.
2. They are way to difficult for new readers to get into.
3. They are hard to find. Unless you know where your local comic book shop is, the vast percentage of DC and Marvel’s catalogue is unavailable to you.
4. The lack of new fans is greatly hampering the creation of new characters. Old fans tend to cling to the characters they grew up with. It’s usually new fans that try new characters. But since American comics are an impenetrable mess, new fans find it really difficult to find any traction. Thus we have a trickle of new characters.

[Flash Gordon]

New younger readers don't exist in any appreciable numbers. It's not that young people aren't reading comics, they aren't reading period. People who do become readers do so later in life now and are more likely to read books, skipping comics altogether. This is why comics are hurting more so than book publishers.

That's not true at all.

There are a LOT of them.

[ohfellow]

I do floppies for current material, and sometimes trades for arcs of older material.

Most of the time I can't really appreciate comics on digital. Things are too big; or are too small. I can't take in the full tableaux of a splash page, and double-page splashes are out of the question. Or any page where any panel extends across to the right-side page. I have to zoom in and out to see things. Scrolling and zooming, it's just not pleasurable.

But sometimes it's also true that the PRINT version can present challenges. Lettering may be too small. A magnifying glass might not even help! Sean Murphy has some stuff in the current White Knight series that is significant to the story but for me only readable with a magnifying glass. Red on black dialog from the Batman who Laughs is also problematic in print. I assume the creators are working with large screens and not thinking about print size.

Aren't colorists converting to CMYK for print, rather than leaving their work in RGB which is for monitors? You can get colors onto a computer screen that don't reproduce well on paper. The coloring therefore is still intended for print. (It's going to look different, though, on different paper stock, and I don't know that any colorists changed when DC switched to the heavier matte paper stock a year or two ago. And then it will later be printed on glossy paper in trades, so there is no perfect solution.)

I thought a problem with the industry was aging readers. And I thought a problem that aging readers often have is worsening eyesight. Prestige Plus format is easy to read, though harder to hold and to store, so I don't know of any perfect solution.

[DragonPiece]

Comics from the big two have 4 serious problems that are hindering their success.

1. They are way overpriced for the amount of content in them.
2. They are way to difficult for new readers to get into.
3. They are hard to find. Unless you know where your local comic book shop is, the vast percentage of DC and Marvel’s catalogue is unavailable to you.
4. The lack of new fans is greatly hampering the creation of new characters. Old fans tend to cling to the characters they grew up with. It’s usually new fans that try new characters. But since American comics are an impenetrable mess, new fans find it really difficult to find any traction. Thus we have a trickle of new characters.

1. Is the price really a issue? Maybe for digital books, but comic shops have to make money to survive. If things go fully digital, I would expect some price cuts.

2. What would be your suggestion? I think Marvel has the best take, don't reboot but do friendly relaunches every 12 issues or so, because big numbered books are nerve wracking for new readers(at least it was in my case.)

3. If you go the all digital route, this shouldn't be a issue. There is only one main supplier for digital comics and that's Comixology.

4. I'd look to the succcess of new characters that managed to actually get popular reception, like jessica cruz and miles morales. The key is to do a big marketing push by including them in other mediums like animation and children books, make these new characters already feel like permenant additions to the universe.

[Digifiend]

Yeah, Jessica and Miles have both been in cartoons - as has another recent success, Kamala Khan.

[Lee Stone]

Then who is buying all those manga titles that are selling so well.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbr...perheroes/amp/

To add to this...
What's popular on Hoopla right now:

1. New Kid
2. Big Nate: Blow the Roof Off!
3. Sheets
4. Minecraft: Stories from the Overworld
5. Locke & Key Vol 1: Welcome To Lovecraft
6. Sonic the Hedgehog, Vol. 1: Fallout
7. Big Nate: Payback Time!
8. Immortal Hulk Vol. 3: Hulk in Hell
9. Big Nate: Hug It Out!
10. Minecraft Vol. 1

And, no, I didn't apply any filters.
Those are the top ten popular comics across all releases on Hoopla.

When the Black Panther film came out a bunch of BP trades were in the top five, also.

Note: Hoopla is a digital content service provided by most public libraries for free.
It carries books, audiobooks, movies, tv shows, and comics.
Depending on the location, monthly checkouts are limited to anywhere from 5 to 12 items a month.

I also found this really interesting article:
Forget Brooding Superheroes — the Big Money Is in Kids’ Comics

They mention something most of us have said over and over again:
“You have this industry, comics, that has spent the past few decades fighting so hard to say, ‘We’re not just for kids,’ and it overcorrected to the point where there really wasn’t anything for kids.”

[MRP]

I do read digital comics-I have Marvel Unlimited, DC Universe and access to Hoopla though my library. I have no issue for paying for access to a library of titles to read via a subscription service. However, I will not pay for digital copies of individual comics or trades. If I am buying something individually, I want a physical copy of it (and I do maintain a small pull list at my lcs for books or creators I want to support). I also do not buy individual digital copies of books, movies, or music though I still buy physical copies of such. I do however pay for access to libraries of these things digitally, just not individual copies, and I likely never will. If comics move to digital only, they will need to reconsider how they bring their product to market-formats, price, frequency, etc. Trying to take the direct market model and directly translating it to a digital marketplace won't work. It hasn't really worked thus far, and the sudden loss of physical print copies won't make it succeed as it doesn't address the obstacles to success that exist. If they are going to go all digital at any point, it will require a rethinking of the entire industry if it is to succeed, not just doing the same thing in a different place.


-M

[SixSpeedSamurai]

Picked up my last new floppies for the time being today

[DragonPiece]

So if publishers decide to do the digital first route, one thing they could do to ensure sales increase and people keep reading the comics is to slash the prices. 2.99$ books can be come 1.99$, 3.99$ books can become 2.99$ etc. This could only apply to books coming out starting next week and until diamond comes back. Then when diamond does come back, just raise the prices back to normal so people who only bought comics digitally because they had no choice feel encouraged to go back to their lcs.

[qwertyuiop1998]

Shouldn't be a huge problem since there are digital comics we can read imo. I do have some physical copies but I usually reading comic books on internet

[Frontier]

Comics from the big two have 4 serious problems that are hindering their success.

1. They are way overpriced for the amount of content in them.
2. They are way to difficult for new readers to get into.
3. They are hard to find. Unless you know where your local comic book shop is, the vast percentage of DC and Marvel’s catalogue is unavailable to you.
4. The lack of new fans is greatly hampering the creation of new characters. Old fans tend to cling to the characters they grew up with. It’s usually new fans that try new characters. But since American comics are an impenetrable mess, new fans find it really difficult to find any traction. Thus we have a trickle of new characters.

New fans can like old characters too...

[kingaliencracker]

So the digital format has been stagnant for 6 years, and you think people would either jump on it now, or if they don't they are just speculators? Digital is a completely different product and people who have avoided it, most of them 'fans and readers' have very valid reasons for that. If the publishers stopped printing periodicals they would not move the whole business to digital, there is no audience for it, otherwise digital would have already taken off, somebody would have been doing it by now.

And before someone goes on about Shonen Jump, they still print that, just because they don't print it in the US and instead provide an app they still make their money on people buying printed copies of manga in the book stores and turning these stories into anime. Marvel/DC do not use that model, and if they did then 'comics' would look a lot different than what they are now.

Yeah, I think people who make the statement "if they move all digital I'm out" are more speculators than fans. I stand by that because if you're a fan of the universe or characters, then I can't see how it matters how you read them.

And the reason why the industry hasn't gone fully digital is because no one is paying the same price for a digital copy that they can for a hard copy, and the current fan base is stuck in their ways, hence why people are making the statement that they would walk away completely if the industry went all digital.

[kingaliencracker]

What type of gatekeeping garbage hot take is that? There are lots of reasons that people would prefer physical copies over digital without being speculators. I'm one of them and I've never sold a comic for profit in the 20 years that I've been reading, despite having several books that I could have done that with. Can you really not comprehend why people wouldn't want to go digital other than speculation? Honestly?

Let me explain it to you. There's the issue of ownership. As far as I can tell, there is no digital comic service where you can actually download the book onto your hard drive. You're actually purchasing the privilege to read them on a service whether it's Amazon or Comixology. If for whatever reason they stop hosting them, you're out of luck. iTunes proved years ago why it's not a good idea to trust a company to host your purchases for you.

There's the issue of cost. Unless you get them on sale, you're paying the same amount for a digital comic as your are for a physical one. To me, when I buy a comic, I am paying for the content and the package itself. The digital comics are the same exact price, yet I'm missing the package. Going back to ownership, physical comics have resale value and I'm not talking about speculation. On more than one occasion, I have sold or traded comics to get other comics. Trading comics goes back to the origin of comics as kids would buy a stack and the drug store and their friends would buy another stack and they'd be able to trade them and read everything. You can't do that with digital. If there's a comic you no longer want, there's nothing you can do about it.

And finally, I have tried digital on many occasions. I just don't enjoy it. I don't like the guided reading feature as I like to see the whole page at once and I would have to buy a new device to get a screen where I'd be able to do that without shrinking the page. My computer works, but I'd have to awkwardly put it sideways to get what I want. And of course reading on screens isn't great. There are studies that show LCD screens do cause harm to the eyes and while many studies are still on going, I know that I personally get headaches if I stare at a screen for too long.

No offense friend, but I'm not talking about people who only have a PREFERENCE for physical copies. I get that. I'm talking about the people who have made the statement that if the industry goes all digital, that they would walk away completely. With those fans, I stand by what I said regarding them being more speculators than fans. Sorry if that ruffles some feathers but it's the truth.

[MRP]

Yeah, I think people who make the statement "if they move all digital I'm out" are more speculators than fans. I stand by that because if you're a fan of the universe or characters, then I can't see how it matters how you read them.

And the reason why the industry hasn't gone fully digital is because no one is paying the same price for a digital copy that they can for a hard copy, and the current fan base is stuck in their ways, hence why people are making the statement that they would walk away completely if the industry went all digital.

If it doesn't matter what format, then it also doesn't matter when you read it, on release or 6 months later, the story still the same, so why would I pay for individual issues when I can subscribe to DC Universe or Marvel Unlimited and read everything I want for much less money, I just have to wait a few months after release, and since I tend to trade wait anyways (except for the handful of titles I want to support-mostly creator-owned stuff), as I am a reader not a collector (or speculator), it makes absolutely zero sense for me as a consumer to buy individual digital issues at any price when I can get much more value for my dollar by subscribing to one of the digital subscription platforms.

And as I posted elsewhere here , in a digital only release has to bear a much larger burden of the creative production costs, so lowering the price on them might not feasible unless lowering prices is going to raise purchases exponentially as it has to recoup revenue loss from physical sales AND sales of ad space in print books (which advertiser will not pay for digital circulation). If you lower the price by half, you need to double what sales were for both digital and print as you have to make up for the revue lost-ad sales mostly covered printing costs, so your digital sales still have to cover all creator page rates, editorial salaries, production department-creating and formatting digital files for distribution, marketing, etc.

You are not going to achieve that by simply shifting all print to digital and slashing prices on digital product. There are a lot of production costs that sit behind the curtain and fans never see them and never account for them when they are giving business advice to publishers.

-M