15 Comments | Posted: September 18th, 2008 | Filed under: Thinking about Comics Marketing | Tags: comics marketing, facebook
Facebook is one of the best timekillers/ad display ideas that’s come across in quite some time. Where MySpace reveled in its Geocities-meets-Friendster garishness, Facebook made everyone conform to some sort of design standard and made sure that nobody in the office would know you were visiting the site due to an errant profile blaring “Crank That.” It gives you one “landing page” that lets you see whatever activity your friends wish to share with you and access to the various applications you may want to use.
As a marketing tool, it offers a nice extension of your brand, giving people who enjoy your comic book/strip a place to gather and talk about your projects:
However, this is why I would never, ever use it as my sole online presence versus having my own domain as the primary point of contact between me and the customer base:
Despite the fact that Facebook is free and super-easy to get involved with, that little login section is a barrier between the customer and you. Marketing is, at its core, about eliminating those barriers and making sure that your audience is able to listen to what you’re trying to say with as little work as possible.
More and more I’m seeing creators (such as Billy Tucci in Chris Sims’s comments) using Facebook as their main method of communicating to their fans. While I can see the appeal: it’s free and easy as hell, it’s not an example of reaching out with your message. Instead, Facebook groups and the like are preaching to the choir: people that have already added you as a contact. They know what you’re selling. Throw in the fact that all of your content is hidden from the search engines because of its closed system and it’s plain to see that Facebook is lousy for acquiring active, inquisitive customers unless you’ve got a social media manager doing the heavy lifting and customer engagement for you.
It boils down to this: If you’re serious about your product, you should have your own domain. If you can’t spend $10 a month maintaining your own domain, then maybe you’re not serious enough about your business. Business cards and emails shouldn’t feature a url like http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=26254088540 or http://www.myspace.com/therackcomic on them: they should present something that anyone can type in within seconds and look at what you’re trying to sell, be it www.therackcomic.com or http://www.dccomics.com.
Once you’re up and running, it’s important to note that almost every webhost in the world allows you to add a new domain to your existing account with them for the cost of registering a URL. With Dreamhost, it’s literally two minutes from “I want to buy a domain” to starting the initial stages of development, which in many cases could be a basic WordPress installation, a template that will be customized, and a nice gallery package: perfect for title-specific websites. A great example of this is PhonogramComic.com, even with their “click here to enter” front page.
It’s easier than ever for creators and publishers to have a platform that allows people from anywhere in the world to see what they have to offer. Facebook and the like provide an easy way to do things, but it’s not the best way. Each new project is a chance to sell more of your work to new people – do the lifting so they don’t have to. Use social media and networking sites to fire up your existing base and keep them abreast of things, but use the web to get new people on board.
6 Comments | Posted: September 8th, 2008 | Filed under: Thinking about Comics Marketing | Tags: comics marketing, crystal fractal comics, web marketing
Crystal Fractal Comics (which is located, counter-intuitively, at crystalfractals.com and not crystalfractalcomics.com) is a small publisher of superhero comics located in Toronto. They, like a couple-dozen other comics companies (cf Platinum Studios) that have cropped up in the last few years or so, are “seeking to diversify the industry through the dynamic storylines and characters of its titles.”
Apparently, they include Batman among those characters:
The graphic on that sidebar there doesn’t act like an ad on the web should: there’s no way to click through to get more information about The Dark Knight, so why’s it there? Here’s three theories.
- They want people visiting the site to go “Oh, these people are involved in licensing comics properties! Properties like Batman! Maybe they can get me Aquaman!”
- Similarly: “Batman endorses them! I trust Batman! I will do business with these people!”
- Crystal Fractal Comics offers advertising space on their site and they slapped a graphic in that spot as a placeholder. However, instead of sticking in an ad for said space, they thought The Dark Knight would look nicer there.
I suspect the third, which is the most innocuous choice, but I’m of the attitude that smaller publishers benefit very little by having ads for other companies or products on their site: they likely don’t get the traffic that could command a high enough rate for it to make any real difference in their finances, and their brand impression becomes muddled right off the bat. Someone like me (and likely the sort of person who buys up superheroes and the like for the screen) thinks that if a publisher can’t afford the $12-20 a month that hosting a website like that would cost without throwing ads on their front page, then maybe they shouldn’t be in the game to begin with.
(A side note: If you’ve been to the Marvel Comics site, you might have seen what is an amusing phenomenon: DC animated projects advertised on the site’s homepage, likely through a mass media buy done through Warner Brothers. Right now, Heroes (a Universal property) is sponsoring episodes of X-Men: Evolution on the Marvel site, and the comics related to that series are published by Warner Brothers, so I suspect that at that point, the money becomes impressive enough to ignore pesky things like brand solidarity. This is probably doubly true since Marvel became its own production house and is looking for better distribution deals for the films.)
8 Comments | Posted: September 3rd, 2008 | Filed under: Thinking about Comics Marketing | Tags: game trade magazine, web marketing
This is
Game Trade Magazine, a publication that describes itself as follows:
The serious games magazine for serious gamers, Game Trade Magazine remains the most comprehensive and accessible monthly resource for the latest, up-to-the-minute product information in the world of games, anime, and hobby supplies going on 8 years and running! Packed with reviews, previews, product excerpts, exclusive scenarios, giveaways and collectible inserts from your favorite games and manufacturers, there’s no better source to feed your gaming needs!
The magazine is
closely associated with Diamond Comics Distributors, which means it’s available in many comics shops and frequently handed out alongside
Previews. I’d never seen a copy (as I tend to go to comics shops that just sell comics exclusively) before
Pal Dave showed it to me. He then pointed out something interesting involving a contest they’re having in the latest issue (September, 2008.)
Readers can win all of these (apparently very desirable)
Dungeons and Dragons 4th editions books if they fill out the form that’s attached and get lucky. They can also visit This is
gametrademagazine.com to enter the contest. Or so they claim. When you visit the website, you see nothing about the giveaway or any new content since February 28th of this year.
Yeah, this is what I’d like to think of as a pretty definitive online marketing failure. This isn’t a website not being updated on a Thursday for next week’s comics; this isn’t a publisher forgetting to put easy-to-grab images on their website – this is a company serving a sector that’s hungry for content, that’s generally very computer savvy. From the content that’s present, it looks like there was once an organized effort to maintain and update the site with content from the magazine, but it appears that the organization dropped the ball completely and letting their website rot instead of treating it like a valuable resource.
25 Comments | Posted: August 27th, 2008 | Filed under: Thinking about Comics Marketing | Tags: comics retail, internet marketing
Tom Spurgeon had this to say about my two recent posts about That Local Retailer:
This is for the pair of you that keep e-mailing to ask if I think this material about a retailer that suggests people don’t buy certain comics is an example of backseat driving someone’s business: I suspect it is. I understand why folks might think that kind of thing worth commentary as an example of comics’ twisted values. I’m sure someone has posted “Never tell your customers not to buy something!” somewhere, and I bet someone has brought up some horror stories about being made fun of at the cash register. At the same I also think it’s pretty common in retail on a lot of levels. I’ve even had the owner of a restaurant tell me he didn’t particularly like the white fish he had in the house at the moment and I should stick to the crab cakes. It was an owner of a restaurant where my father and I ate — you guessed it — every Wednesday night. I have no idea how this retailer conducts business from day to day so I can’t testify as to how his telling people not to buy something fits within the overall tone of his establishment. To be honest, I’d rather have the retailer that told the truth about some comic he didn’t like as opposed to all the retailers I’ve had that failed to tell the truth about the availability of books I wanted.
1.
I find it odd that Tom, of all people, fails to see the difference between “good individual customer service” and “poor overall marketing practices.” Someone telling a regular customer “You know, that’s just probably not what you want to buy” is distinctly different from sending out an email to a few hundred people that says “Don’t buy this – we think it sucks.”
Tom’s example of restaurant owner telling two regular customers he wasn’t crazy about something on the menu that night is an example of the former: the owner knew Tom and his dad, knew their tastes, and knew he’d see them next week. This comics retailer was doing the equivalent of emailing his customers and saying “Wow, don’t come in and eat the white fish.” No mention of the crab cakes or anything else on the menu.
2.
And he’s sending that out there to people who may have only visited once and left their email. An email newsletter sent out to your customer base as a whole should serve one purpose: getting people into your store. I’ve never been to this retailer’s shop, but I am on their list after attending a small convention they had set up at. I’d happily ignored these emails until curiosity struck and they they sent out two emails that said “Don’t buy this comic that’s coming out” prior to the first one I posted, with the second featuring no other comics, just a long, poorly-spelled and unedited screed against the current Marvel editorial team and Amazing Spider-Man.
That doesn’t really make me want to shop there, and I buy way, way too many comic books. In a business where no small amount of readable, enjoyable material comes out every week, it’s not hard to find something you can recommend to your readers.
3.
Other people have brought up the fact that their retailers do the same thing, and mentioned some shops that have a considerable presence in the blogosphere. (Which, let’s face it, is the equivalent of having a considerable presence at the Poughkeepsie Flea Market.)
I wouldn’t shop at their stores, either. Call me weird – I don’t want or appreciate preemptive negativity in my retail interactions. Yes, that probably comes across as jargon, but this is what I do for money: I think about how businesses present themselves on the web (and in print, of late.) If a customer is reading and enjoying Amazing Spider-Man, there’s a chance than an email like the second one discussed would sour their opinion of the shop in question.
4.
Now, I’m not saying I don’t want their opinion on something, but I am saying I don’t want them telling me that they don’t like something without knowing my tastes and buying habits. There are some retailers who I solicit advice from pretty often, particularly when it comes to niches they obviously enjoy and know a lot about.
5.
A lot of people have said “Well, that means he cares about me.” No, he cares about his little clubhouse of nerds and making sure you know what they think about how things should be run at Marvel or DC. The small group of nerds who feel some sort of validation by their retailer “telling it like it is” is vastly outweighed by regular people who just want to buy some funnybooks and maybe pick up something new they’d like.
6.
Yes, the irony is apparent to me too, even if I think the term “backseat driving” is a bit much.
11 Comments | Posted: August 23rd, 2008 | Filed under: Thinking about Comics Marketing | Tags: hawkeye, solo avengers
From Comic Shop News: August 12, 1987
2 Comments | Posted: August 21st, 2008 | Filed under: Thinking about Comics Marketing | Tags: fringe, wildstorm
This was seen while I was prepping my latest order through DCBService.com: Wildstorm is asking retailers (and the fans who may pre-order the book) to buy the first three issues of their
Fringe tie-in comic without knowing who the creators involved are, only that the show is created by Abrams, Orci, and Kurtzman.
…
Yeah.
Comments Off | Posted: August 21st, 2008 | Filed under: Outbound Linkage, Thinking about Comics Marketing | Tags: BOOM!, chip mosher, laura hudson, myriad issues
Comic Foundry senior editor and comics journalist Laura Hudson talks to BOOM!’s Chip Mosher, a man I like for more than just his angelic gaze and ability to hold his liquor; he speaks my language in a way that few I’ve met do:
What I’m most interested in is just trying to reach a wider audience. I think expanding the number of people reading comics on a regular basis is incredibly important. We as an industry are horribly guilt of not trying to expand our audience… and marketing by singing to the choir. Knowing that, that’s one of the things I wanted to not do.
2 Comments | Posted: August 20th, 2008 | Filed under: Thinking about Comics Marketing | Tags: marketing, slave labor graphics, webcomics
In addition to their pay-to-download comics available through EyeMelt, Slave Labor Graphics has joined Top Shelf, BOOM!, and a few other publishers in offering free webcomics that will appeal to their customer base written and drawn creators whose books they offer.
The site navigation’s a bit odd: while the first page is fairly straightforward, the landing pages for each strip are confusing and don’t offer the latest installment, only a way to get there with another click. This is likely due to their website’s content management platform, which is more retail and general-information oriented. Worringly, I can’t actually find an link for the new webcomics in their sidebar or through the top navigation bar, and the link to “Eyemelt – Comic Downloads” on the left (the easiest cross-sell they’ve got for the webcomics) goes to a paltry selection on the Slave Labor site, not the actual EyeMelt.com store, where quite a bit more is on offer.
(Tangent: That right there is something that a lot of publishers do: they don’t canonize a version of a product or service and stick to it. The EyeMelt.com site uses “EyeMelt” while the SLG site uses “Eyemelt.” It’s something that subliminally wears your brand down, even if it seems like it’s no big deal.)
49 Comments | Posted: August 19th, 2008 | Filed under: Thinking about Comics Marketing | Tags: comics retail
An exact quote from latest email from the retailer who sent out last week’s newsletter:
What will [REDACTED] think about Amazing Spiderman #568 that ships this week??
I know that I am disgusted. Incopetennce has been rewarded. When Peter revealed himself in Civil War our store had a huge influx of “civilians” readers who wanted to read comics again. Theese new customers and long time fans were betrayed by Marvel with their erasing of years of continuity. The books have been terrible. Awful. From what sales data I can locate it appears that Amazing Spider-man’s numbers are up. UP!! Most fans are not enjoying the new status quo, AND the books are selling better. Good Lord.
This was a teaser sent out, presumably, to everyone in the database, linking to a review that ends with:
Not only don’t buy this, but shout out to Marvel you won’t buy it as well. Maybe they’ll find another reset button.
Last week’s lesson was: “Don’t Buy” is a very poor message to send to customers.
This week’s lesson is: If you think sending out emails trashing the products you sell is a good idea, use spell-check, for fuck’s sake.
Comments Off | Posted: August 14th, 2008 | Filed under: Outbound Linkage, Thinking about Comics Marketing | Tags: dmp, emanga, manga, yaoi
Brigid at Mangablog talks about the new “emanga” service from DMP, where readers can “rent” access to a currently-limited library of various yaoi and “how to draw” titles and brings up the monetization factor. DMP is charging around $4 for 72 hours access to their files through a proprietary Flash-based reader (like Zuda,) which is certainly long enough to read the latest installation of Super Sad Willowy Dudes, but seems a bit steep, as it’s between 20-40% of the retail price of a paperback volume. As Brigid points out, it’s almost like they’re aiming at young people who can’t bring the comics into their home for whatever reason, but what teenager has access to the debit or credit card that allows them to buy points at the site? It may be greater than I suspect.
A strange, bold move. I’m curious to see if they’ll be able to monetize their niche market. I don’t want to predict failure yet, as a subculture as devoted as those who read and enjoy yaoi may be willing to pay a higher premium on getting their fix.
1 Comment | Posted: August 13th, 2008 | Filed under: Thinking about Comics Marketing | Tags: adhouse, the web
The new Adhouse Books site is a big improvement on the original while still maintaining Chris Pitzer’s signature clean design and easy navigation. Bloggers and reviewers can now link to individual titles in the company’s catalog and each individual page lets you take a look at PDF previews and buy directly from them with Paypal. I recently (maybe even when talking to Pitzer and his wife) compared Adhouse to a quality indie record label in how it’s run: they’ve got a very distinct company look and feel, even if titles and their contents are wildly different. It’s nice to see that continue on the web and in their new HTML (and plain text) emails to their readers.
1 Comment | Posted: August 13th, 2008 | Filed under: Thinking about Comics Marketing | Tags: banner ads
1 Comment | Posted: August 13th, 2008 | Filed under: Thinking about Comics Marketing | Tags: manga, tokyopop
Retailer Chris Butcher’s discussion of Tokyopop’s current “not canceled, really” list is really interesting, as is Brigid Alverson’s original article, which discusses some new series that have sprung up since the company’s recent triage. Tokyopop states that they have had to go back to the original license holders to renegotiate new release dates on the resuscitated books. It’s easy to see how saying books were canceled may have been a stopgap measure – it may have been the neatest, most expeditious way to take care of the situation during a turbulent period, but man, you don’t mess with manga fans. They’re like caged dogs, people!
1 Comment | Posted: August 12th, 2008 | Filed under: Thinking about Comics Marketing
…that post that’s getting a lot of traffic.
I laughed, but I’m an easy mark.
6 Comments | Posted: August 12th, 2008 | Filed under: Thinking about Comics Marketing | Tags: dmp, marketing, yaoi
I never thought I’d say anything positive about this particular company – the loss of Bambi and her Pink Gun still stings – but I really like how DMP’s solicitations in Previews are formatted. Of course, there’s the large sales-y image of young, wispy men looking as if they’re suffering either great gastrointestinal distress or romantic troubles, but below is this nicely, done, succinct breakdown of the title:
While the description itself may be a bit lacking (and is probably taken from the back of the jacket, where it’d likely make a bit more sense), I really like how the Publishing Strategy section sells the books to readers and retailers alike, discussing the author’s accomplishments and previous releases (while including ISBNs.) It’s a positive sales tool that manages to push the brand and author without being over the top. Also of note is the specs column on the right, which is something I’ve seen other publishers (Oni, for instance) do and I really like that as a tool that gives retailers some idea of what shelfspace will be needed and so on, along with some general idea of its perceived “value” to customers. I know that the regular Diamond solicitations work in that same information, but the presentation here makes it easier to picture the book and how it works in the store’s scheme.
124 Comments | Posted: August 11th, 2008 | Filed under: Thinking about Comics Marketing | Tags: comics retail
So, somehow I got the mailing list of a retailer who’s based in the same general area as myself. His email newsletter is actually not horrible, done in HTML and very attractive, with inbound links to his website designed to get traffic up. He talks about sales, shows, and perhaps most interestingly, he reviews comics. Here’s the review of this week’s Astonishing X-Men:
This issue improves a little over the last one, but not much. The whole issue takes place at a spaceship graveyard where the X-Men are looking for a murderer. They find him. A battle ensues. A spaceship blows up and the X-Men escape, angst intact. A decent enough plot for a comic yarn, but the execution leaves much to be desired. I just don’t believe Ellis has a handle on these characters.
Throughout the issue, everyone seems to feel the need to explain how their powers are going to work, as if this were a brand new team book. Instead of Emma just telling her teammates she found the one guy not thinking in Indonesian, we get a lengthy exchange of dialogue leading to a full page revelation of “he’s up there†(at a strange angle). This was backward. They are a strike team. You give the information first.
Explanations come after if there’s time. Also, we had to be told three times that Wolverine is heavy. Why all this extra explanatory dialogue? Let’s move on to the art. Bianchi’s line work is really good. The ink washes are very stylish and the coloring reflects that. The problem is, the art isn’t serving to tell a story. I don’t know if this is the case, but it seems as if all that extra explanation thrown in the dialogue is because the art didn’t tell the story it needed to. There seems to be some poor choices in panel layout here. The fight between the bad guy and Wolverine barely makes any sense, even with the poor dialogue. For those of you needing your X-Men fix, you may want to stick with Uncanny. This new version of Astonishing doesn’t measure up to the preceding team. Not buy.
Not buy. A retailer, in his newsletter to customers, is telling people to not buy a comic book before it hits stands. He’s telling them in advance that he doesn’t think they should spend their money at his shop, on this comic. This is the stupidest goddamn thing I’ve seen lately from an industry plagued with stupid goddamn things. I don’t want my bartender telling me that I’m drinking the wrong damn thing; I don’t want the clerk at the record store giving me shit because I’m buying some motherfucking Yanni; and I don’t want the guy who’s selling me my weekly comics fix to tell me to not buy a fucking X-Men comic. Also negatively reviewed: Trinity. You know, the weekly comic series that pretty much means $150 per customer over the course of a year to a shop who sells it?
As a lot of you know, I am an Extreme Part-Time Comics Shop Employee; I work every other Sunday. It pays for my singles and, frankly, I sort of enjoy the work: I like organizing shelves, doing little sales-y displays, and chatting with people. When people buy things I don’t read or care for, do you know what I say? Nothing. If they ask me what I think, I say something like “Oh yeah, a lot of people have been talking about that, but I’ve not gotten around to it yet” or “It’s not my thing, but a lot of people like it.” It’s called basic salesmanship, and it’s something that’s really lacking in comics retail.
