2008 –A Year Of Comic Recession?
It is very difficult to avoid mention of an economic recession at the moment. And with economic recessions in the past the comics industry has always suffered.
Suffered in many cases needlessly.
Marvel and DC can afford to ride out any financial crisis as,even if comic sales should fall slightly,there are major movies featuring characters from both companies that will bring in big bucks. If we had a bad recession I doubt either company would find itself on the “for sale” list because of prospective future profits from said film returns.
We’ll not see another dark period of crisis with Marvel where Onslaught returns,kills a lot of heroes and creators are asked to re-invent characters that will eventually fail as the old Marvel Universe returns.
We have already seen Marvel lawyers hitting download sites such as Komics Live but for each group closed or stopped from giving free Marvel downloads another one or two will appear.
Twomorrows Publishing is offering cheaper pdf versions of Alter Ego,etc.,and smaller companies are trying similar ideas.
Now,this seems a good idea but unless you have got great regular sales of the printed version pdf formats are not going to make your company a fortune –unless everyone switches to buying pdfs!
There are a lot of pro-con arguments on the pdf matter but I’d like to stick mainly to regular,printed comics.
Currently,comic fans are still debating the cost of their comics. No secret that I’ve drastically slashed my buying! What I found galling is that there were more and more $3.99 comics hitting the shelves in stores and less $2.99 titles. I checked them from cover to cover but saw no difference other than the price. Then,staff in the stores started asking out loud why there were more $3.99 titles and what the difference was!?
Independent comics,sadly,rarely get the opportunity to make great deals with distributors [I note here that the
UK only has one distributor now,Diamond,whereas for years there were 2-3] to increase their profits.
So,when you see an Independent title on the shelf you’ll note it’s more expensive than a Marvel or DC.
The Independent publisher has to deal with printers and their costs as well as freight handling. Oh,then there might be the percentage of any profits going to the creators. It is very difficult if you are a really small publisher. Having your own printing press might help!
Many creators are now using Print On Demand;no cash required for printing,freight or having to store thousands of copies somewhere. Someone wants to buy your book they order it and you get a set amount.
Cafepress and lulu.com are two of the main PODs but be warned:you have to set a price on your book to pay for the printing and PODs percentage as well as try to make something back. I’ve looked and calculated and have a book full of costings and there isn’t much of a way you can earn a living or run a small business based on POD unless you get huge sales. If you publish for fun then POD is okay.
You can’t really say to an Independent publisher:lower your cover price to attract more readers. Most barely make a profit big enough to secure the next issue.
I’d predict that we’ll see the current high number of small publishers do one of three things:
1] Simply go out of business.
2] Try to merge with another publisher but this rarely works –once a boss being a “co-owner” can lead to clashes and creative disasters.
3] Pack things up and wait for a new economic boom.
If you are old enough toremember the 1980s you’ll recall the big “Black & White Explosion” where small publishers and even Small Pressers made a lot of cash from the decline of DC and Marvel sales. Distributors loved the black & whites and could not handle enough titles –most survived because of these small publishers. Now the distributors treat them with disdain.
Hoping for another boom is wishful thinking –it isn’t a guaranteed add-on to economic recession in the industry so pinning hopes on a boom is a bad idea.
You see drops in comic sales,already happening,and gradually you’ll see comic stores go one-by-one. Fewer stores having a grip on what you buy means you’ll see less variety and higher prices. Hoping that online buying will see you get your comics cheaper is another dream as even that has a knock-on effect.
Titles may start getting cancelled. Not good.
Illegal downloading will increase –it is increasing at the moment.
Marvel and DC,who really don’t give a damn what I say,or any group of people say,could –could- stave off the worse effects of the economic downturn easily by lowering cover prices and drawing back more readers.
The sad truth is,though,that Marvel and DC answer to moneymen who seriously could not give a damn about a comic so long as it makes a profit. Below the moneymen are the publisher and management and after talking to many of them over the years I can tell you they don’t care about fans when job security is at risk.
Creators and some editors may well be nice guys and some rising from the ranks of fandom,but,they have little say when it comes to the financial side.
It really is a case of clawing in every penny and profits count.
When you consider you pay $2.99 or $3.99 for a comic with on average 12pp of ads out of a 36pp title then it’s more galling. Those advertisements are not put into the comic out of the kindness of the publishers heart. Inside front and back covers sell for a very high rate. The outside cover…phew. I never worry about the ads,even as a youngster I realised they must contribute something to printing [oh innocent youth!]
I’ll make it clearer. You are paying a high cover price for at least twelve pages of advertisements from companies you probably have no interest in and probably never will. But the publisher gets a nice fat cheque for them and charge you as well.
I have nothing against advertisers as they are a valuable commodity but Marvel and DC could honestly drop their cover prices and draw in more buyers because of this revenue.
A miracle could happen:Marvel and DC could drop cover prices.
For the smaller publisher it is a case of seeing how inventive you can get and developing tactics to ride any economic downturn. Reducing cover prices tend not to be an option.
Comic Bits Online is the web version of the Comic Bits magazine Edited and run by Terry Hooper. Currently Interviews Editor at Manga Life,Terry has over thirty years experience in the comic industry as script writer,artist,freelance Editor,publisher and much more. But if you want the facts:
Curriculum vitae Name:Terry HooperDob:6th June 1957 [50 yrs]Currently living Ashton Vale,Bristol,United Kingdom ...