There’s been a lot of developments over the past year in the world of digital comics that impacts self-publishing options. As the digital comics market continues to grow, it’s even a better avenue for self-publishers to take advantage of. Unless your title’s popularity warrants it, it could be best to forego thinking about making physical comics and to focus on the digital market first. It’s a lot cheaper and easier to publish. When distributing digitally its best to take advantage of multiple avenues to increase exposure. I am still shocked when I find a really cool self-publishing group only selling digital copies from their website. Here’s a look at what the digital distribution world has to offer.
The Demise Of Graphicly
In May this year, Graphicly quickly announced they were closing shop. Graphicly, for $150 and $75 for an ISBN number, would take your digital comics and distribute them for you through Amazon, iTunes, Nook, and their own platform, saving you the time and hassle. As part of the shutdown of Graphicly, the CEO Micah Baldwin and a core team joined the digital book distribution company, Blurb. As someone who championed and used Graphicly, this came as quite a blow. Not only did they not warn their users (I received no emails from them) but they did not pay creators any money owed. Lots of creators lost all their revenue from sales (including me). Graphicly had no regular payment dispersal to creators. You can read about all of this here in Bleeding Cool and CBR. I will be very skeptical before ever using a distribution service like this again. I certainly won’t be using Blurb for books, comics, or anything else. I once considered using Smashwords for my novels, but no more. If you want to take advantage of Amazon and iTunes, just submit to them directly. It takes more time, but it also gives you more control over your work and you avoid getting ripped off. The bottom line is that Graphicly couldn’t compete in the evolving digital distribution market, they weren’t fully transparent with sales data, and in the end began losing lots of money. It’s just unfortunate the creators had to pay for it.
Comixology on Top
Perhaps the biggest news is that Comixology, the leader in digital comics distribution, has opened up their platform to self-publishing creators. Comixology now has an official submissions page and any submitted comic will go through a review process (about 3 months I hear). If the comic meets their quality standards, they will format it for their guided viewing and distribute it with no cost to the creator. Comixology splits sales, with the creator getting 50%. It’s a decent deal considering that with Graphicly, creators had to pay $150 upfront for distribution plus money for the ISBN, the creator had to set up the guided viewing, and the distributors (Amazon/iTunes) would still take their cut. Most creators did not make back the $150 in sales. By not having to put money upfront, the creator can only gain with Comixology. The other big news is that Comixology was bought out by Amazon. I assume it won’t be long before people can use Comixology with their Amazon account and the market for comics will grow even more. This aspect bodes well for indie creators, although there is apprehension about the Amazon behemoth controlling everything. To Amazon’s credit, post-buyout, Comixology also introduced DRM free downloads of their comics.
iVerse/ComicsPlus is another good digital comics platform that accepts submissions from self-publishers. It’s similar in quality and presentation to Comixology, but does not have as many users or publishers as Comixology (but they still have giants like Marvel and indies like Image, Ape, Viper). They also allow self-publishers to submit their works for distribution, but are more vague on who gets in. It seems more selective and they say they only take a “small percentage” of sales with the creator keeping a majority but don’t say how much. It’s still a good option to try.
PDF Collectors
For PDFs, there’s still DriveThruComics, which offers DRM free comics. Any creator can put their works on Drive Thru. You get 60% of sales and can receive money after $10 of sales. They have some free advertising you can use on the site, but DriveThru appears to have the same UI as they’ve always had. It’s functional but needs an upgrade to remain relevant as digital comic distribution evolves. Specifically, the site needs to improve presentation and make login/purchase time faster. Another fine option for selling your comic book PDFs is Gumroad. I used this with the initial releases of Satanic Hell and it worked great. Gumroad allows fans to purchase your digital comic with ease directly from your site. People buying your comic don’t need accounts. They click on the comic they want on your website, it takes them to the Gumroad page with your comic graphic and description, they click on purchase, enter their credit card info, and they receive the comic. You can even give your comic away for free using Gumroad. Sellfy is another similar service that I have seen comic creators using.
The Netflix of Digital Comics
ComicsFix is the newest addition to digital marketplace. Users pay $8 a month to read as many comics and graphic novels as they want. Currently, they don’t have the massive stock that Comixology, Comicsplus, DriveThru or MDC have, but they do have some indies (Hound, Alterna, Asylum for example). Comicsfix actively encourages creators to send them there goods. Your pay is based on the number of reads you get a month. Amazon introduced this concept to a select group of their Kindle books, and if it’s successful, it’s likely to get bigger. This model could be problematic for small press and self-publishers as they might get lost in the ocean of comics if everything goes this route. If someone is paying $8/month, they may follow just the bigger series/releases. Or even if people do read the small press and self-published works, will that be enough to provide any real return? While many creators aren’t making that much anyway, moving to a model that lowers their small revenue even more would be problematic. I tried Comicsfix out and as a reader, and I enjoyed it. There’s a few things they can improve with the experience (the viewer can be buggy), but overall it’s fine. Despite any misgivings, I would still submit my work to them. The more eyes reading your comics, the better.
If anyone has recent experience with any of these options or others not mentioned, I’d love to hear about them.
The Demise Of Graphicly
In May this year, Graphicly quickly announced they were closing shop. Graphicly, for $150 and $75 for an ISBN number, would take your digital comics and distribute them for you through Amazon, iTunes, Nook, and their own platform, saving you the time and hassle. As part of the shutdown of Graphicly, the CEO Micah Baldwin and a core team joined the digital book distribution company, Blurb. As someone who championed and used Graphicly, this came as quite a blow. Not only did they not warn their users (I received no emails from them) but they did not pay creators any money owed. Lots of creators lost all their revenue from sales (including me). Graphicly had no regular payment dispersal to creators. You can read about all of this here in Bleeding Cool and CBR. I will be very skeptical before ever using a distribution service like this again. I certainly won’t be using Blurb for books, comics, or anything else. I once considered using Smashwords for my novels, but no more. If you want to take advantage of Amazon and iTunes, just submit to them directly. It takes more time, but it also gives you more control over your work and you avoid getting ripped off. The bottom line is that Graphicly couldn’t compete in the evolving digital distribution market, they weren’t fully transparent with sales data, and in the end began losing lots of money. It’s just unfortunate the creators had to pay for it.
Comixology on Top
Perhaps the biggest news is that Comixology, the leader in digital comics distribution, has opened up their platform to self-publishing creators. Comixology now has an official submissions page and any submitted comic will go through a review process (about 3 months I hear). If the comic meets their quality standards, they will format it for their guided viewing and distribute it with no cost to the creator. Comixology splits sales, with the creator getting 50%. It’s a decent deal considering that with Graphicly, creators had to pay $150 upfront for distribution plus money for the ISBN, the creator had to set up the guided viewing, and the distributors (Amazon/iTunes) would still take their cut. Most creators did not make back the $150 in sales. By not having to put money upfront, the creator can only gain with Comixology. The other big news is that Comixology was bought out by Amazon. I assume it won’t be long before people can use Comixology with their Amazon account and the market for comics will grow even more. This aspect bodes well for indie creators, although there is apprehension about the Amazon behemoth controlling everything. To Amazon’s credit, post-buyout, Comixology also introduced DRM free downloads of their comics.
iVerse/ComicsPlus is another good digital comics platform that accepts submissions from self-publishers. It’s similar in quality and presentation to Comixology, but does not have as many users or publishers as Comixology (but they still have giants like Marvel and indies like Image, Ape, Viper). They also allow self-publishers to submit their works for distribution, but are more vague on who gets in. It seems more selective and they say they only take a “small percentage” of sales with the creator keeping a majority but don’t say how much. It’s still a good option to try.
PDF Collectors
For PDFs, there’s still DriveThruComics, which offers DRM free comics. Any creator can put their works on Drive Thru. You get 60% of sales and can receive money after $10 of sales. They have some free advertising you can use on the site, but DriveThru appears to have the same UI as they’ve always had. It’s functional but needs an upgrade to remain relevant as digital comic distribution evolves. Specifically, the site needs to improve presentation and make login/purchase time faster. Another fine option for selling your comic book PDFs is Gumroad. I used this with the initial releases of Satanic Hell and it worked great. Gumroad allows fans to purchase your digital comic with ease directly from your site. People buying your comic don’t need accounts. They click on the comic they want on your website, it takes them to the Gumroad page with your comic graphic and description, they click on purchase, enter their credit card info, and they receive the comic. You can even give your comic away for free using Gumroad. Sellfy is another similar service that I have seen comic creators using.
The Netflix of Digital Comics
ComicsFix is the newest addition to digital marketplace. Users pay $8 a month to read as many comics and graphic novels as they want. Currently, they don’t have the massive stock that Comixology, Comicsplus, DriveThru or MDC have, but they do have some indies (Hound, Alterna, Asylum for example). Comicsfix actively encourages creators to send them there goods. Your pay is based on the number of reads you get a month. Amazon introduced this concept to a select group of their Kindle books, and if it’s successful, it’s likely to get bigger. This model could be problematic for small press and self-publishers as they might get lost in the ocean of comics if everything goes this route. If someone is paying $8/month, they may follow just the bigger series/releases. Or even if people do read the small press and self-published works, will that be enough to provide any real return? While many creators aren’t making that much anyway, moving to a model that lowers their small revenue even more would be problematic. I tried Comicsfix out and as a reader, and I enjoyed it. There’s a few things they can improve with the experience (the viewer can be buggy), but overall it’s fine. Despite any misgivings, I would still submit my work to them. The more eyes reading your comics, the better.
If anyone has recent experience with any of these options or others not mentioned, I’d love to hear about them.