Longbox Digital Comics

[shortstack comics]

CBR article on Longbox Digital Comics

 

Has anyone else been reading about this? I'm really excited for something like this. I find myself in the camp that would utilize both printed books (flopies) and digital books. Flopies for books that I collect and digital for books that I just enjoy reading, but I'm not necessarily collecting. I could really see a model like they are looking at producing... especially if the rumored Apple Tablet comes out.

 

Just wanted to bring it to the boards and see what other collector's (not just reader's) thoughts.

[Beau]

I already pay Marvel $60/year for digital comics, so you know which camp I'm in. I'll always prefer physical copies, but the digital books are nifty in their own right. If someone mentions a Marvel title here I'm not familiar with, I can 'try before I buy' with digital. I can read long runs of SA/BA/CA stuff I wouldn't necessarily want as a trade, but good enough to read once. If I'm looking for a particular panel and don't want to dig through my disorganized collection to find the book, I can take a screenshot of a digital comic. Lots of good reasons.

 

 

[codfish]

If it doesn't tap into the already very prevalent digital comics it will be a hard go. The underground pirating community already does a fantastic job and instead of treating them like criminals the publishers should building a digital distribution system from it. Marvel took the record company approach so far and that will fail or not help to grow their digital comic market. The last time I read about the Marvel digital comic platform it was inferior to what is already being produced on the pirate market. There are already a wealth of good readers out there so I do not see the need for a new one especially if it means copy protection. The cat is already out of the bag on piracy and you will not get it back in. The approach of publishers should be friendly and offer a service that people will buy into and any losses that may come from piracy will be reduced.

 

I wish this company the best in their venture.

[shortstack comics]

If it doesn't tap into the already very prevalent digital comics it will be a hard go.

 

That seems to be the best part about this company. Their reader actually supports .cbr and .cbz files. You can import them into the program, just like importing a cd or other mp3 files into itunes.

[agro23]

As a one-time creator and current writer and letterer I'm worried that the independent comics creator is going to get squeezed out by the mainstream just like in every other venue.

 

How does one pay to create comics in their "proprietary" digital format? Does LB take a piece of every book sold or (more likely) do they license the technology to make comics in their format? Who will take advantage of volume sales then?

 

This seems like it is technology driven more than comic driven. But still I hope for the best...

 

[sckao]

 

Actually, it seems to be price driven for me.

 

If a creator can create a comic without the overhead of print costs, and they can get a reasonable split of the electronic proceeds, then it seems to be a win-win situation.

 

Having seen digital comics, I would pay/subscribe to digital comics if they were affordable (and if they provided a voucher/discount towards the TPB or HC.)

 

I.E. I'd pay 99 cents per issue or $9.99 for a full year (12 issues) of Walking Dead. (With a coupon toward the TPB.)

 

 

 

 

[shortstack comics]

Actually, it seems to be price driven for me.

 

This is my thinking as well. This would reduce production costs (isn't marvel always griping about printing costs?) and I think it has the potential to increase profit to the publishers. Here's my logic.

 

Let's look at an issue of Nova. The latest solicited isue has a cover cost of 2.99. I purchased this issue from dcbservice for less than 1.60. Take from that both the dcbservice and diamond distributor markup and you have to think that diamond is paying less than .99 an issue. But assuming Marvel makes .99 revenue per issue, they stil have to pay printing costs, which again they continually state is their highest expense, which would have to be more than 9 cents an issue.

 

 

Longbox is talking about charging 10% an issue. That would be 9 cents leaving the publisher, in this case marvel, with 90 cents of revenue per unit sold. Without the printing costs marvel can increase it's profit per unit sold.

 

That doesn't even begin to include increased unit sales due to lower price point (.99 vs 2.99). Marvel could have the same profit per issue but increase revenue and profits based on units sold. I know I've dropped titles due to price increases and haven't tried titles because of high costs.

[agro23]

I'd pay 99 cents per issue or $9.99 for a full year (12 issues) of Walking Dead. (With a coupon toward the TPB.

This would be a win but I've never NEVER seen a technology-driven company apply that kind of model that I can think of (and I used to be a tech analyst specializing in convergence tech). MP3 was already out of the bag before the iPod came along or Apple would be charging through the nose for development. If there are NO or close to NO development costs for the creator then they may be on to something.

[MR.COMICBOOK]

They have to make the technology easy for the reader, I have marvel digital and it is a pain in the arse to navigate. They have to make it a more pleasant experience.