Will new books be on sale next week?

[Devaishwarya]

...and we should all stop eating meat.

It's a lovely dream but...that's all it will ever be.

[yellow cyclone]

there's nothing wrong with floppy but it's so niche. people who buy physical will always buy physical, but holding back digital for the sake of such a small market is sooo short-sighted. if anything you're more likely to get physical/trade sales after exposure to digital, as opposed to physical buyers getting digital (unless a download code is included with a physical purchase, etc)

movie industry, digital streaming
tv industry, digital streaming
music industry, digital streaming
book industry, kindles/e-books

comic books, "what's a world wide web?"

[H-E-D]

Which like movie theaters isn't something they want to do. Comic shops would very much like to stay in business.

Comic shops would very much have to be a part of an UberEats-for-Comics. Just like restaurants are essential for UberEats, DoorDash, etc.

[Malachi]

...and we should all stop eating meat.

It's a lovely dream but...that's all it will ever be.

If this was movie you would be the person sitting in the corner going: you'll never make it. Realistic? Right or wrong? It doesn't matter. We only admit defeat and ensure losing by following that advice.


To continue on topic:

Before the pandemic my interest was quite high. Even though I'm a reader who follows characters and my characters wheren't in good places. As it is now I'm more 50/50. I could take a year off. Several years off perhaps. If Marvel had gone digital at the very least I wouldn't have been less interested. Probably more due to the isolated existence we live now. I'm guessing I'm not alone in how I feel. With an uncertain future where we might ery well experience new waves of covid-19. Opening and closings of countires, states and cities. It seems very risky to gamble on the availability of a network of physical stores.

In my country several larger companies are folding. Brands that people wheren't worried about. Companies that sold primarily from physical stores.

[Snoop Dogg]

...and we should all stop eating meat.

It's a lovely dream but...that's all it will ever be.

Well technically meat production is way more harmful than paper production and an artificial replacement for the former is on the horizon. Finna be lit but if we get the chance to enjoy it we'll likely be boomers smdh.

[Frobisher]

Well technically meat production is way more harmful than paper production and an artificial replacement for the former is on the horizon. Finna be lit but if we get the chance to enjoy it we'll likely be boomers smdh.

Does it make me a boomer that I didn’t understand any of that second sentence?

[Devaishwarya]

Well technically meat production is way more harmful than paper production and an artificial replacement for the former is on the horizon. Finna be lit but if we get the chance to enjoy it we'll likely be boomers smdh.

Which was my point, and which clearly, wasn't too easily construed. (I partially blame the education system).

I don't understand the argument, though. They are producing digital comics. Or was that "free digital comic of the book your are reading" just a sham?
The fact remains...a comic book, while sharing the same substrate, is quite different from a printed novel...and vastly different from movies, TV, and Music (and not only because of the consumer numbers they reach). The overall process from start to finish, is certainly much more involved and utilises a few more "wheels and cogs". Plus...It's clearly more lucrative to produce a paper product and charge an exorbitant price for it...so that the publishers and "superstar" artists and writers and editors could get their due fees...not to mention, the printers and all the various components entailed there-in, the distributors and all the various components entailed there-in.
And while the digital process could effectively cut out two-thirds of that system, it still has to be lucrative enough to support, keep afloat and profit the remaining one-third: the Publisher, Editors, Writers, Artists, Inkers, Letterers, Colourists, Office Administrative Staff, Janitorial Personnel, Security...I am sure I'm leaving out a few others...Accountants? Lawyers?

So let's be clear...if the industry were to go 100 percent digital...you would be paying much more than you actually pay now. More than you would actually want to pay. And there just aren't enough digital buyers to make it a 100% profitable venture...at least not now, but that could change, eventually.

[Digifiend]

Please explain the mathematics. Surely the removal of printing and distribution costs would make them cheaper?

[Devaishwarya]

It should. But it won't.
Because now: you have to sell much, much more of every product to attain the fiscal levels you were achieving with print...and as someone already pointed out, comics in any form is a niche product. And there are niches withing that niche.

Consider
Some read both DC and M. But, some read only M. Then, some only read X-Men; and of those some only read X-books starring Storm. We comic book readers are notoriously fickle.

The Digital Comics Industry just does not have a consistent, sustainable and growing number of readership to be financially profitable on the scale to which the Big Kahunas WB and D have become accustomed.

And if it's not hitting those profit margins, you may end up having to cut costs by downgrading (staff, talent, salaries, infrastructure) or increasing the cost of the product...or both.

It's all very basic as I've presented it...but it will be even more involved and detailed depending on the Companies. X+Y in this instance will not equal Z.

[H-E-D]

It seems very risky to gamble on the availability of a network of physical stores.

You're right; but the industry made this gamble years ago. Now they're just reaping what they've sown.

Please explain the mathematics. Surely the removal of printing and distribution costs would make them cheaper?

The costs of paying the creators – who, you could fairly argue aren't being reasonably compensated as is – remain. And those are the most significant up-front costs.

[Nasty_Boys]

Haven't seen an update in a while, is the plan to still have new books in 2 weeks?

[JB]

Haven't seen an update in a while, is the plan to still have new books in 2 weeks?

Seems like it! The 5 titles announced for May 27th are showing on their release calendar:
https://www.marvel.com/comics/calend...it=300&count=0

[Nasty_Boys]

Seems like it! The 5 titles announced for May 27th are showing on their release calendar:
https://www.marvel.com/comics/calend...it=300&count=0

Nice! I collect 3/5 of those titles.