What would you suggest be done to bring in new readers?

[LordMikel]

I would love to see a tiered service for Marvel Unlimited. Like basic for the older comics like now. And an option for a price with like 2 new titles of their choice, another price for like 4 or 5 new titles etc.. for a subscription with new comics like a couple weeks after they are released or something. That would be great for people who cant get to comic shops. Or who want to try a new title out and dont want to spend 5 bucks to see if they like it.

One thing I would like to see is a way to buy comics digitally and have them saved to you computer. Like every site I have seen you can but them online but you can only read them on that site or with the internet. That bugs the Hell out of me. I think there would be more online sales if people got to own the book they buy and not rent it.

The fear there is, if on your computer, you could simply upload them somewhere and allow everyone to read them for free.

Granted, they could put in code within the files, so that if you do upload them, they could be traced back to you. But that seems like a terrible and expensive thing to do.

[babyblob]

The fear there is, if on your computer, you could simply upload them somewhere and allow everyone to read them for free.

Granted, they could put in code within the files, so that if you do upload them, they could be traced back to you. But that seems like a terrible and expensive thing to do.

Whats to stop you from sharing a floppy with people for free? I mean hell there are already a ton of free comic site download places out there already. I dont buy online because I hate the idea of spending money on a bunch of comics that i dont own. If I was going to rent I would go to the library and not spend money on them.

[Marvel Forever]

I think younger readers are more likely to be attracted to digital comics and not paper ones. Hence, perhaps start advertising on some favorite websites of younger folks for some free digital comics. Maybe some will get hooked and them might be willing to buy digital ones, at a reasonable price.

[Vanguard]

I think younger readers are more likely to be attracted to digital comics and not paper ones. Hence, perhaps start advertising on some favorite websites of younger folks for some free digital comics. Maybe some will get hooked and them might be willing to buy digital ones, at a reasonable price.

Maybe they should make digital ones a little more expensive. And the physical copies cheaper. But yes, advertise on those tiktok, youtube, social app for younger kids sites.

[skyvolt2000]

My city has multiple book stores and no Disney Store, but it does not have to be one or the other. If they got comics back out there, the book stores should definitely be part of the plan.

Yeah I just wouldn't limit it to them.

I would include them and maybe do what Image did with Motor Crush. While comic book stores got the most common cover for that first trade. Barnes & Nobles got an exclusive cover.

Ms Marvel and Moon Girl (now) have a library version that has what would normally be 1-2 trades.

IDW has those hardcover single issue Stark Trek books. Why a library would pay for those-I don't know why. Especially when you have the trades there.

[phantom1592]

Yeah I just wouldn't limit it to them.

Yeah, frankly they shouldn't limit it, period.

When i was in high school, Comics were at the party stores, the book stores, the grocery stores, the pharmacy... even the Hospital gift shop. Pretty much everywhere that a magazine was sold, comics were right there too. I don't think any one extra avenue is the answer. They need to flood the world again where it's everywhere you look.

[Tendrin]

Shounen Jump has an active circulation of 1.6 million a week. Maybe they're on to something.

[Jabare]

first go digital

then change to a free model or a subscription model for everything

monetize the platform through advertisement or selling user data.

Potentially offer up some interactive options like avatar customizaitons people can pay for or allowing them to chat with the creatives like Twitch viewers etc. Think of other ways to monetize it. There's a reason webtoons are doing so well, it's because they have the most appealing model. Especially to individuals 25 or younger.

Like cable tv comcis aren't going to die tommorrow or in the next few years, but its an archaic model. You can adapt now or face a slow death over the next 25+ years

[Jabare]

Shounen Jump has an active circulation of 1.6 million a week. Maybe they're on to something.

you can read the lastest 3 issues for every series free online. And if you want access to the entire library you just have to subscribe. It's a great model.

Webtoons also has a good model. All the comics are free, but 3 to 7 of the newest issues per series are stuck behind paywalls. You can either wait or week or pay for the comics now. Granted the caliber of the writters and the artists is all over the place, but so far their model has been highly succesful

[9th.]

A Netflix service for comic books (with multiple companies) and aggressive marketing on social media.

Outside of that cheaper books (2.99 and under), big name writers and artist on lesser known titles, less focus on events and tie ins and more focus on OGN's. Also make physical copies more available (grocery stores and gas stations etc.)

[skyvolt2000]

A Netflix service for comic books (with multiple companies) and aggressive marketing on social media.

Outside of that cheaper books (2.99 and under), big name writers and artist on lesser known titles, less focus on events and tie ins and more focus on OGN's. Also make physical copies more available (grocery stores and gas stations etc.)

I think someone is trying to do that.

Scout Comics was trying this earlier this year.

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/scou...lay-comicspro/

In order to stand out in a crowd sometimes you have to do things a bit… different. Scout Comics is doing just that with the vending machine display pilot program. We announced this program this past weekend at ComicsPRO in Portland. The Scout Comics team and I have came up with a very innovative display that looks very similar to a vending machine.

I know MACY'S had a version of this with Apple products. You could buy Apple stuff through a vending machine.

[Gaastra]

Yeah they are trying comic book vending machines out but it's older comics and at odd places like hockey rings.

Japan has manga vending machines at airports and train stations and some have FREE manga reading areas as well!

America needs to try out graphic novel and manga vending machines. Then put them at places like food stores, bus stops and other places.

[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]

Manga machine in japan.
[IMG][/IMG]

Maybe start giving "real" (by real I don't mean one specifically written for some promotion) issue away in things like cereal boxes or happy meals.

Dell comics did that with disney, tom and jerry and bugs bunny and treated them like they were the same as the main comics with the same team making them!

So yes kids got new carl barks uncle scrooge comics in a box of cereal or at a store! These stories were later reprinted in the main series as they were just as good!

[Gaastra]

Another video.

[Raye]

As I said in the other thread, the main factors for getting kids to read the books, in addition to content, are accessibility, cost, and competing entertainment. They are not easy fixes.

Accessibility:
- We need Comixology to be advertised and made easier to use, maybe allow the use of Amazon gift cards so that kids (or anyone else) without a credit card can use it. You can get an Amazon gift card at any grocery store, so that would help a lot. You can use pre-paid/refillable cards with it (this is what I do, I use KOHO in Canada, I'm sure there are similar ones in other countries) but a lot of kids will not be able to, the one i use required copies of bills and stuff to sign up, which kids won't have. so gift cards for Comixology or Amazon would help there. But then you have the problem of kids having access to inappropriate content. I don't think the solution there is to get rid of that content, and that is much bigger than just the big two, or even American comics as a whole, a lot of that is from Japan and stuff, so, like i said, not an easy fix, because an age check is not easy if the kid is accessing things themselves with a pre-paid card/gift certificate. But you could set up a curated kids mode that blocks inappropriate content, but that only works if the parent is the one adding money to the spendable amount.

- A lot of people will say putting the books in Walmart etc. and i mean yeah that would be nice but Marvel and DC have been trying to do this and it hasn't been met with much success. It's one of those easier said than done things. It would be nice, since comic shops are few and far between these days, but i don't see this realistically happening

- For kids, a market Marvel and DC have already had some success with is Scholastic book fairs. But it this is probably going to work a lot better for trades than single issues, and we will not see this reflected in the sales charts. But yeah, keep doing deals with Scholastic, for sure. It's just that we have to keep in mind that we will see zero evidence of this working, really, because those figures simply are not released because they are not handled through Diamond or DC's new distributors.

- Conway made the suggestion that monthly subscriptions could be handled via Amazon, I think this is a good idea. Amazon already does scheduled deliveries, you'd think it would not be too hard to use that system to handle monthly periodicals.

- I think a monthly anthology of kid targeted books could be something to try. Gather all their books aimed at that audience together in one issue, for a cheaper price than buying each of the books individually. This becomes unfeasible if you have more than 5 or so books though.

Cost:
- simply slashing the prices is not feasible, they cost that much for a reason, printing the books and then shipping them all over the place is EXPENSIVE, they can't cut the costs in print any more without losing money, unless readers are prepared to give up colour in the books and go for black and white, like they do in Japan. But they CAN cut the cost of digital. Digital lacks the printing and distribution costs that keep the print comics so expensive, but so far, every time a publisher has tried to reduce the cost of digital books, the brick and mortar retailers have thrown temper tantrums and made various threats until the publishers back down. I think that, if the goal is to expand the readership and not just milk as much money out of the existing readers as they can, they need to tell the retailers to shut up, and reduce the cost of digital to remove the printing and distribution costs, this will make it more tempting for new people to try it out.

- this is related to accessibility as well - Kids tend to read more trades/OGNs than older readers. If i were in the publisher's position, I'd roll with this and push the trades and release OGNs aimed at that audience, and again at a cheaper price than the individual issues. This is already being done, But I'd maybe look into finding ways to reduce the price a little more so they are more in line with some other books, and provide more value, but I am not sure if this is possible with printing costs. And to their credit, the publishers are doing this. They actually already have have lines of YA novels and (out of continuity, but that's fine, kids don't care about the continuity) OGNs, but I think these could maybe be expanded.

Interest - the fact of the matter is that kids these days have the internet, TV, games, etc. all competing for their attention, and a lot of them provide much more entertainment value for the dollar. They get the same characters from the movies for a fraction of the cost overall. Sure, a game these days can cost up to 70 dollars, but you will be potentially playing it for a hundred hours or more. I've been playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Borderlands 3 recently, and according to Steam I have around 300 hours in each. Granted, some of that is that BL3's launcher kinda gets stuck running in the background after you quit, but still. Over 500 hours in Civilization 6. They cost a lot, but I got a lot of entertainment from them. (especially since i got them all on sale ) The internet/Youtube/twitter/reddit etc. is (from a kids perspective anyway, since their parents are paying for it for the household) free, streaming services are relatively cheap compared to comics, (and again, from a kids perspective pretty much free, their parents pay for it for the household) there's just a LOT. So comics have a real challenge here, tied to the cost problem. If they can reduce the costs, and advertise and promote them in places kids can see (the Fortnite deal is definitely a good move in that direction) then they will likely hook at least a few new readers. But as we have seen for years now with the movies, It's very doubtful anything they do will result in a flood of new readers. I think we have to accept that comics are just niche now. That doesn't mean they are dead or going away any time soon, but they will almost certainly never reach the distribution levels of years gone by.

The fear there is, if on your computer, you could simply upload them somewhere and allow everyone to read them for free.

Granted, they could put in code within the files, so that if you do upload them, they could be traced back to you. But that seems like a terrible and expensive thing to do.

This already happens within hours of release, making them available on the computer won't change anything there, so there is no additional harm for Comixolofy/Amazon to release them on a PC based app at this point.

[skyvolt2000]

- A lot of people will say putting the books in Walmart etc. and i mean yeah that would be nice but Marvel and DC have been trying to do this and it hasn't been met with much success. It's one of those easier said than done things. It would be nice, since comic shops are few and far between these days, but i don't see this realistically happening

The issue is comic store owner buying up the books to sell marked up on Ebay is one.

Next is where do you put the books. Like I said with the American Allengience books-they were put with magazines and kids books. Guess what they sold.

The few times I have seen DC or Marvel is at the crap you see on tv like Flex All isle by check out and RARE time I actually saw the comic pack in it's box at the check out.