Digital Comics: the new distribution war | The Beat

 

 

 

While news of Haven Distribution shutting down yesterday marked the end of one attempt at breaking up the dominance of Diamond as comics giant distributor, in digital land, there is still a LOT of competition. Monday’s dueling announcements from Graphicly and Comixology on going day and date with Image Comics is a case in point.

First off, there seems to be a bit of confusion over just what each company announced. Graphicly said they were going to be going DaD with the “entire publishing catalog”, while Comixology promised “top titles.” Does Graphicly have MORE image titles than Comixology?

Not really. Since Image is a loose confederation of creators, they have the final say over how their books are sold. In a letter to Image creators, they were offered a choice to go day and date. Not everyone has. No one is selling SPAWN day and date, for instance. So no one has the ENTIRE line — and both companies are actually offering the same number of new Image titles.

ComiXology does have a significant lead on Graphicly on the number of Image titles available, 3,515 to Graphicly’s 112.

At present, Graphicly has a few distribution models Comixology doesn’t, like their embedable Facebook comics — and it hasn’t really been announced exactly how and who and what will be sold on the Kindle Fire…let alone by whom.

One thing’s for sure, ComiXology, Graphicly and iVerse (and a few smaller companies)are all very competitive right now. Although ComiXology is definitely the biggest digital comics distributor in the game right now, all the competition means more opportunities for publishers and creators.

One final digital note: Graeme McMillan has an canny look at how digital comics are going towards the “agency model” for pricing, and that may not last. The agency model is where publishers set the price for their digital editions — a policy that became popular n order to not undercut the print editions. That’s why you see high prices for what is really nothing but a data download. Agency pricing is not popular in some quarters:

Multiple publishers and digital booksellers are facing a staggering seventeen class action lawsuits over the pricing of digital books, specifically something called “agency pricing,” which is essentially how digital comic prices are set.

Digital comics publishing may no longer be the wild wild west, but it’s far from settled.

via Digital Comics: the new distribution war | The Beat.

Huge Discounts on your Favorite Comics @ DriveThruComics.com
Comic Reviews

Review: Hawk The Slayer #5

August 10, 2022 Michael Nimmo 0

From Rebellion comes the last in this mini-series. This is Hawk The Slayer #5. UK and DIGITAL: 10 August £3.99 NORTH AMERICA: TBC $6.50 DIAMOND: TBC Don’t miss the all new comic-book sequel to the classic eighties fantasy […]

About Michael Nimmo 11221 Articles
Owner of the site, lord of all....