How The Kindle And iTouch Can Save The Comic Book Industry
It’s well documented that I’m not just a marketing geek, but a comic book geek as well. So I get excited on occasions when those two loves cross paths.
(And I know I’m not the only marketing dude with ink-smudged fingers…I’m looking at you, Brogan and Naslund.)
That’s why I got nervous when I saw this recent AdAge video featuring John Cunningham, VP of Advertising for DC Comics. The video (which is only 3 minutes long, so go watch it) frames the Kindle as some sort of potential comic book killer. Here’s an example straight from the video:
“This is a business that is very low margin and very low print-run. So, if 10% of the readers migrate to an e-device, that is going to throw off the economics for 60% of the books that are published in this country – and that’s probably a low guess.”
To fearful folks in the publishing industry, I want you to really focus on what I’m about to say next. Go ahead: get comfortable and really take this in.
Are you friggin’ kidding me?
Seriously, are ya? Because fear-mongering about Kindles and iTouchs is beyond short-sighted. Have you learned nothing from the music and movie industries? (Curious about why I mention music and movies? If so, read this great post by Jeremy Meyers for some insight.) And I don’t mean to pick on John – he redeems himself as I’ll explain later in this post – but acting like the Kindle is going to kill Batman is LAME.
Future Business Models
In fact, rather than kill the comics industry, electronic readers like the Kindle or the iTouch could end up saving the comics industry.
If this business is so low-margin and frugal, any additional profit should be considered. Here are a few business ideas for comic book publishers:
- Allow me to buy single issues at a cheap price. You already have the content and you’ll spend nothing on paper or distribution. It’s almost pure profit for you. (Sure, you’ll have to allot some time for scanning and development, but not much.)
- Allow me to pay a subscription fee for back issues. I would gladly pay $5 per month to browse back issues of the X-men and I’m sure I’m not alone. The interaction doesn’t need to be robust – just assign a scanner to an intern and collect the (electronic) checks. It’d be the Netflix of comic books.
- Allow me to subscribe to the electronic version. Comic books get mangled in the mail and delivery can be spotty (I know from personal experience). I would gladly pay a slightly reduced rate to have the files sent to me each month. It would be consistent, trackable, and automatic.
- Create a website or app that allows me to create my pull list and then prompt me to purchase directly. There are iPod apps that do this, but no real market leader. With this, you would have an ongoing source of income from a customer who asks to be contacted. Plus, consider the market research capabilities (i.e. imagine lots of readers with The Fantastic Four on their pull list who suddenly stop ordering it – that’s immediate notification that something about the book has gone sour.)
- Wrap in author/artist interviews or other bonus material with each comic book and charge me a premium rate. Again, this is content that doesn’t take much effort to create – just figure out how to package it. Remember that fans open their wallets for access.
There are lots of options. But try something – anything! – to stay competitive in the market place.
No Zero Sum
The point is – and this speaks to John the DC VP’s quote – that this industry is not a zero sum game.
Marketing guys (myself included) question why people would buy more than one copy of a comic book and wonder about the limited resource of time. “It’s illogical to read the same thing in paper and also read an electronic version, isn’t it?” “If people only have an hour per day to read, we’re competing for time in the hour, aren’t we?”
Maybe not. Internal reporting from Amazon shows that Kindle users are actually consuming more content (or at least paying for it). John Wall from the Marketing Over Coffee podcast mentioned that “[a]n analyst was reporting [at Amazon's Kindle launch] that Kindle users buy 2.7 times the number of [electronic] books they would physical books” (minute 2:21).
I might not peel off another $4 to try out a new comic book on the stands, but I might download one for 99 cents.
Will People Pay For Online Content?
John Cunningham, the VP of Advertising at DC, later goes on to say:
“I think the key is not to figure out how to ferret out the pirates; it’s to come up with a digital delivery system that you can – early on in the process, and that would be sometime in the next 12-16 months – come up with a way where you can convince people [that] it’s worthwhile to pay for this stuff because they don’t believe that digital stuff should be paid for.”
Things like “people won’t pay for content online” get said so many times that we eventually assume that it is correct. But that’s not necessarily true.
People will pay for your content if it’s priced correctly and if the process is convenient. You already have delivery systems: they’re called iTunes and Amazon.com.
I’ve bought every issue of Proof available. Why? They were 99 cents each, they download straight to my iTouch in about 30 seconds, and I can read comic books while looking like a regular businessman on the train (petty, but true). Simple, cheap, and convenient.
BitTorrent is difficult to understand and use for the vast majority of Americans. A lot of people are like Julien Smith as recently featured on the Media Hacks podcast:
Mitch Joel: “If you know as a consumer that you can grab a song off of BitTorrent or it’s 99 cents, your value of that is diminished.”
Julien Smith: “No, I disagree. I buy a lot of song on iTunes and I have BitTorrented music before. But I will tell you: iTunes is my first choice…because of the fact that iTunes will automatically put it into my [darn] iTunes and onto my iPhone right away. I choose it first even though it costs more, and I’m not the only one” (minute 34:15).
Simple, cheap, and convenient.
And here’s the kicker: one of the key comic book audiences is the most likely to pay for content online. Despite conventional “wisdom,” the Pew Internet Project reports that “[o]nline adults under age 30 are more likely than other age groups to pay for content online” (Online Shopping PDF, page 13).
Yowza.
What Do You Think?
Am I right or am I wrong? Have you seen a comic book company doing work specifically for an electronic reader? Would you consider buying comic books online if it was simple, cheap, and convenient? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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(Image courtesy of marceatsworld via Flickr)
Tags: comic books, DC Comics, Image Comics, Marketing, Marvel Comics, Online marketing
All true points, DJ. I’ve been giving this kind of thing a lot of thought, obviously. I think what big companies are really saying, whether they know it or not is “we’re scared that our industry’s bubble is going to burst and our bottom line is going to re-center based on a figure that we have no control over.” It has happened with music already (people seem to think that number is $0, but I think its somewhere around $3-5).
Although the motivations behind this may be easily misconstrued as “we’re losing money and im gonna have to give up my yacht!” in these economic times there are real human consequences to a re-centering of the financial proposition for major companies.
That said, if ever there was an industry that could find an explosion of consumption with the adoption of a subscription-based system, its long-form print. I would pay $200/yr for a Kindle subscription.
Comics seem to me to have a lot of upside, as you’ve mentioned, in things like being able to mine the archives. However, they also have the benefit of having value assigned to the physical product (on a much greater scale than, say, music). People COLLECT comicbooks as objects, more than just as carriers for content.
I think ultimately it will be short-term-loss/long-term-gain for the comics industry. Unfortunately, as we’ve seen in music, the switch to digital/unlimted “shelf space”/instant gratification really requires a significant infrastructure investment to digitize older material that consumers expect (obviously for the record biz “making available every album thats ever been released” is an ultimate pie-in-the-sky goal, but a challenge to execute against with current staffing/economic limitations.
Good job.
Hey DJ, the Marvel Digital Media Group fully embraces the idea of wider distribution paths for comics. We are constantly exploring new platforms to expand our audience and expose new fans to the same excitement that lifelong fans experience every Wednesday in their local comic shops on new comic book day.
We re-launched Marvel Digital Comics in 2005, experimenting first with promotional comics in support of our local retailers. The launch included the debut of our smart panel feature that gives fans the option to scroll through the comics panel by panel, single page or using the two page option. These early experiments and surveys prepared us for the launch of our subscription service in 2007, Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited.
http://marvel.com/digitalcomics/titles/ASTONISHING_X-MEN.2004
We now have over 5,500 comics available in our library, which can be accessed by fans at an annual rate of $59.88 ($4.99 per month) or $9.99. The library includes 1000 issues related to X-Men. The discount code Spidey46 will give you 10% off.
We fully realize this is only the tip of the iceberg. You’ll continue to see announcements on our efforts throughout the year as we explore new avenues and devices to bring comics to our fans all over the world.
More Said Later,
John Dokes,
Vice President, Sales and Marketing – Marvel Digital Media Group
Great comments! Thanks everyone for reading and for commenting.
@Jeremy – You make a great point. The music industry thought they were in the business of making shiny, round disks, so they clung to that model instead of embracing digital. That’s unlike comic books which do hold an intrinsic physical value (which is a similar reason why we’ll never completely trade in paper books). Great point.
@John – I’m honored that you read my post. Thanks for mentioning Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited. I think it’s great and don’t want to disparage your work (I know how tough things like that are to get off the ground). It’s a great beginning which you seem to agree with.
I hope future iterations will consider portability. I know there are security concerns any time you transfer digital content, but people are really buying the intellectual property – not just printed sheets of paper. I want to be able to read a book on my computer and then finish it on my iTouch during my commute. (I also realize this might be a couple years down the line.)
One small idea when you’re thinking of moving forward: Consider whether it would be worthwhile to partner directly with DC (and possibly smaller publishing houses). Here’s my reasoning:
Most readers don’t distinguish between publishing houses. We like comic books. Even if I’m a hardcore Marvel fan, that doesn’t mean loyalty is going to keep me away from Batman, you know? I can’t imagine buying only Harper-Collins books but nothing from Penguin – it just doesn’t work like that.
So let’s say you come up with a great way to handle pull lists or subscriptions on handheld devices. Awesome. Except that as a reader, it only takes care of part of the books I want to read. I still have to go to the store for my DC books. That gives you only a partial share of my business.
BUT, if you worked out a referral system with DC, you could really change the game. Maybe you ask for a 10% referral feel for any DC subscriptions that come through your system. You don’t have to worry about any of the circulation – just collect the checks. Now, as a reader, you are my main source for all (or almost all) of my books. You’d have a near monopoly on this sort of system which you could leverage when speaking to Amazon or Apple or DC or whomever. We’ve seen this happen. Image if iTunes only stocked Geffen music – would you go there as much? Would it be as helpful?
I was the marketing manager for a small magazine once, so believe me, I understand the difficulties of the business. But online might actually clear up some of the trouble and an innovative business model that considers the readers first will eventually win.
Just my 2 cents!
I’m in complete agreement, DJ. We haven’t seen any drop in initial preorders for Proof since the early issues became available for the iTouch. In fact, we’ve heard from many readers who’ve begun picking up the trade paperback reprints so they can have the same material in print. I tend to think the two formats feed into and market each other.
Riley Rossmo (Proof artist) and I are currently creating an original comic book series specifically for the iTouch and Google Android. As happy as we are with the reformatting that’s been done on Proof (and we are very happy), we’d like to see whether we can take better advantage of the new medium.
Handheld devices may well be the future of comics if they can offer genuine artistic benefits of their own. And if that’s the case, how can they be a bad thing?
Thanks for mentioning Proof!
-Alex Grecian
Proof writer
Great article. I wish someone would hire you to help implement this.
I wanted to touch on what Alex pointed out about his readers also collecting the trade paperbacks.
I’ve been going the way of the trade paperback for years now, as has much of comicdom. I prefer more story as I sit down to read, they look better on my shelf, and I’m not a comic speculator. I think that the majority of the comic audience has come to the realization that most issues in their collection will never be worth anything, and this is a good thing. Obviously, it’s gotten a lot of us back to the real reason we read comics, the story.
I’ve been replacing my old issues with trades, or just buying trades outright, whenever I can. The only problem I’ve run into while collecting trades is the time period in between publishing leaves me craving more story.
My old solution was to buy the issues to read until the trade comes out, then buy the trade and give away or ebay my issues.
As soon as I discovered bittorrent, I saved myself 80-140 dollars a month and began reading all the issues on my computer. I don’t feel awful about it, because I read (mostly) only series that I will eventually purchase in trade form. I don’t feel awful about it, but I could feel better.
I would gladly pay a subscription for my favorite comics online.
More than wanting to reward the creators in a monetary sense, I want to vote with my dollars. If millions of people are reading a comic for free, how can the company who publishes it know that anyone is reading it at all, and why would they continue to publish it? Online subscriptions sound like a pretty good answer to me. I get to vote, but it doesn’t cost me an arm and a leg to do so. I get instant gratification, a mobile comic book store. The companies get paid, and there are still books to be printed.
The only potential drawback I see is for the brick and mortar comic book retailer.
In any case, that’s all I’ve really got to aimlessly ramble about,
-Matt
It will be so cool to get all the issues of marvel and DC that i lost when i was a kid. I’m not fortunate to live by a comic retailer nor am I able to hit up a ComicCon since im over seas so much. I’m so surprised Marvel, DC or any of the independents havent jumped at the potential digital media provides for them. Lord the money they could make on back issues alone would be rediculous. I know for a fact that A good chunk of the per diem i make would go directly to these back issues. I just downloaded the kindle app for my itouch and yesterday alone i spent over 300 dollars on star wars, world of warcraft, and diablo books alone. Now that im able to get my books instantly rather than waiting 3 weeks to a month to for the next book in the series to arrive at my APO address i can get them as soon as i want them. Lord come to think of it maybe the fact i cant get them instantly is a good thing i probably will be broke. But seriously Marvel, and DC jump on this its the future and i want it now.