BeaucoupKevin(dot)com » marketing

Comics Marketing: SLG’s New Webcomics Initiative

Kevin Church — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 16:46:22 +0000

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.)

Comics Marketing Done Right: DMP

Kevin Church — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:00:30 +0000

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.