If DC reduced digital pricing

[BohemiaDrinker]

I always assumed cover price changed by location to get the most from what people in the area could afford. Is it just US price adjusted by currency rate?

As far as I understand, what you said is true to english-speaking countries. Regions that need translation are a completely different beast.

The only place I can tell how it actually works is Brazil, but here's how publication works around here:

We get the books on newstands about a year after release in the US (seems a lot, but it was way worse in the 80's, believe me). Neither DC nor Marvel have a direct distribution system here; instead, they both license the material to Panini, which does the translation, letering and repackaging; said repackaging meaning that we do not get individual series. Instead, all books are anthologies with 3 to 5 books - for instance, "Liga da Justiça #42", in January, had Justice League #40, Teen Titans annual #1 and Secret Origins #10. Not everything gets published. Also, I understand from some friends in Portugal that a good portion of the books they get there are actually books that weren't sold here, but that's from a while ago and I don't know how it is over there today.

Now, I don't know how things work in other countries; the Brazilian system was sort of inherited by Panini from the previous licensing publisher, Abril. But I do know Panini is responsible for most non-English countries in the publishing Marvel, DC, or both, so I guess it's not much different. I also know - for a fact, since I have some insight in the publishing market here - that a lot of stuff doesn't get published here or elsewhere because of some biases of the suits in Italy.

As for pricing, the Brazilian heads try to keep down as much as they can - the "Liga da Justiça" I mentioned above, by current exchange rates, would ammount to about US$ 1,50. But again, it's one year behind, the translation is not always great and it has 2 stories I don't wanna read.

Mostly because of translations and delays, I personally always preferred the original, American books, even it it was way more expensive. I'm aware that I am the exception, not the rule, though.

However, I believe that if DC were selling their books in digital, in Portuguese, day one, there would be a thirsty market for it (and all it would take would be a 3 Brazilian men team. Hell, I could translate and letter all DC books alone). However, they can't do that because it would undermine their deal with Panini. Multiply that for all the countries which have deals with Panini or other publishers for licensing, plus local laws regarding content and stuff like that, and you can see why it would be problematic to just translate stuff and make it available in Comixology.

(BTW, I pay the value in dollars in Comixology, and my credit card company makes the conversion before charging me).

[JasonTodd428]

Aren't you paying the full cover (adjusted for your currency) when you buy day-of, though?

I'm in the states so your question doesn't apply to me exactly but when I buy same day digital I'm only paying cover price and not all the additional taxes that my LCS has to charge on top of the cover price (city, local and state sales tax in case your interested). Now I have certain titles that I wait for a price drop on before I buy but even so same day digital for me is still a bit cheaper then buying a paper copy of the same title. As a result of that I've tried a lot more books that I wouldn't have even considered trying before and I have a very healthy digital pull list some of which isn't even listed in my sig. I can't say the same about my physical pull list, which I have been slowly dropping titles from in recent months. I expect I'll be dropping my physical pull altogether in the next few months as we get closer to Rebirth and going full digital except for trades of things I particularly enjoyed.

[Ascended]

Im in the States as well, and about a third of my pull is digital.

I dont really save a lot of money with digital, since my LCS gives me a nice discount and that offsets the extra money I spend in gas (45 minute trip), but I find I enjoy it more. My digital collection doesn't take up physical space, its pre-sorted and organized, and I can take it with me wherever I want. I dont need wi-fi to read my digital books, and concerns about losing my purchases if Comixology goes bankrupt dont mean much to me; over the years I've had to throw away tons of books that got ruined for one reason or another, lost in a fire, just plain lost, or my kids got their hands on them when I wasn't looking...so if a file gets corrupted its the same thing (except with Comixology I can download the book again for free).

Anyway, if digital prices dropped I imagine most people already in digital would read (and spend) more, and it'd likely pull in people who are on the fence about it. Economics 101 tells us that when prices drop, demand increases, but the question is; would demand increase enough to make it worthwhile? I'm of the mind that it would, especially if the industry put a little effort into marketing the thing via social media and WoM advertising. But Im an industry outsider so what do I know? Im sure if it was a profitable strategy they'd have done it by now, unless they're concerned about the blowback from retailers. Business entails a lot more than just the bottom line, after all, and you gotta keep your stakeholders happy.

[GlennSimpson]

I'm in the states so your question doesn't apply to me exactly but when I buy same day digital I'm only paying cover price and not all the additional taxes that my LCS has to charge on top of the cover price (city, local and state sales tax in case your interested). Now I have certain titles that I wait for a price drop on before I buy but even so same day digital for me is still a bit cheaper then buying a paper copy of the same title. As a result of that I've tried a lot more books that I wouldn't have even considered trying before and I have a very healthy digital pull list some of which isn't even listed in my sig. I can't say the same about my physical pull list, which I have been slowly dropping titles from in recent months. I expect I'll be dropping my physical pull altogether in the next few months as we get closer to Rebirth and going full digital except for trades of things I particularly enjoyed.

FWIW, I'm not paying sales tax either, due to the cross-state nature of the purchase over the internet on Discount Comic Book Service. Obviously that could also change at some point in the future if the government cracks down on inter-state commerce taxes. But then, that would probably affect digital purchases too.

[GlennSimpson]

I am, but I'm not paying shipping, which made the price go way up for me, specially if I was buying few comics. And it took about month - sometimes more, because you don't wanna know about customs here in Brazil - for the comics to reach my hands. So the general equation was:

Physical: cover price + shipping price + minimum one month wait.
Digital: cover price + no waiting.

That's why I think digital has a good potential as worldwide platform. But again, local laws, publishing deals and the language barrier are obstacles for it. (The language barrier is easy to surpass, the other ones, not so much).

I've got you. For someone at your location, the shipping is probably a bigger factor than here.

(This might be a good time to clarify - I am not saying that everybody should be doing what I'm doing, just clarifying why what I am doing is best for me.)

[JasonTodd428]

FWIW, I'm not paying sales tax either, due to the cross-state nature of the purchase over the internet on Discount Comic Book Service. Obviously that could also change at some point in the future if the government cracks down on inter-state commerce taxes. But then, that would probably affect digital purchases too.

Ah, I wasn't aware of that. Still digital is the best option for me as we have far to many sales taxes here. It's not a huge amount off on a single issue mind you but with the amount of books I get overall it does add up, which in turn means I feel like I can purchase books I might not have considered buying if I was still buying physical copies. That of course means that those companies are getting some more profit from me as a consumer.

[upgrayedd]

Digital is good for DC too, they can be vague on sales figures.

[BohemiaDrinker]

I've got you. For someone at your location, the shipping is probably a bigger factor than here.

Ironically, from 2011 to now much better shipping options have surfaced. But I'm still hooked on the "day one" angle.

[upgrayedd]

Ironically, from 2011 to now much better shipping options have surfaced. But I'm still hooked on the "day one" angle.

Since I buy a lot of books when they get reduced in price or collected in trade, I'm hooked on the "One Day" angle