Larry Young goes mental
Larry Young, publisher at AiT/PlanetLar, writes to tell us he has apparently gone mental:
Because, as you know, one of the best things about having your own business is being the guy responsible for everything is also the worst thing about owning your own business. Responsible for everything.
Take this online/scanning/pdf comics-delivery thing. It's my feeling that making a whole graphic novel available online at order time will only help orders in aggregate. Yes, there's always the risk that doing that will make some retailers NOT order the thing, but it's my FEELING that the orders you get by being so bold will offset the ones you don't. But there's no real way to test whether or not pre-releasing the book online to retailers has any effect one way or the other without actually doing it, and no one's that crazy.
Oh, right; except me.
Here's our June book in ones and zeroes:
http://www.ait-planetlar.com/resources/Continuity.pdf
Dead tree version in shops June 21. APR06 2846
Continuity is available on Amazon
posted by JK Parkin @ 6:33 PM
10 Comments:
It'll be interesting to see if this helps orders. A lot of people argue that when they download bit torrent versions of comics, it only causes them to buy more comics than before. It's interesting to see that a publisher is willing to test that theory.
And the book looks good. I'll be checking it out when it hits stores.
I gotta be honest- I'm probably not going to buy it unless it really knocks my socks off. But man, if you were charging for a (cheap) DRM-free download, I'd be shootin' cash right to you.
To the above poster- I'm sorta right. I got into comics, first by borrowing, then illegally downloading. I am by no means a steady customer, but I'll buy the trade of the good stuff now and again.
This little number is about to become the central 'look' for a display on Graphic Novels in Alice Springs Public Library.
Here are pages I can legally print off, blow up and use to promote our graphic novels.
If I tried that with one of DCs 'underwear perverts' (tm) I'd be a naughty copyright violator.
Oh, and I'll be ordering a copy for the library collection as soon as I get my hands on next years budget (I've spent thins years).
John - Children's and Youth Librarian
Alice Springs Public Library
John, drop me an email at
mimi@mimzilla.com
and I'll make sure Larry gets you print quality pages for your display.
The SF/fantasy publisher Baen has been aware for several years now that giving e-books away helps sell them in print.
It'll be interesting to see if the same holds true for comic books.
I wasn't really into comics until I started seeing them online. For example, I had never heard of Transmetropolitan or Sandman until someone passed me a high-res scanned PDF of them... I have now started purchasing monthly, with the aim of collecting the entire series of both over time. These are beautiful comics/graphic novels and the only reason I bought them is because they literally sold themselves to me visually.
The caveat is, of course, the people whose works don't make the grade and never quite nudge over into the "it's worth the money (and effort)" category. Hopefully the anti-DRM movement will not only promote more purchases, but also improve the overall standards through good competition for quality. If it's crap, it's not worth buying. If it's good, people will want to legally own it.
I'm sure you have a paypal button somewhere here so that as t3knomanser puts it, people can "... start shootin' cash right to you..."
You're not the only one willing to try that. Baen has been trying it for years.
Works great.
Sells books.
Go for it.
I agree with t3knomanser... I'd pay to download this, only a couple of dollars because I'm not a comic/graphic novel fan and my house is full of books... But once I'd started reading, I had to finish it! The story is worth some of my currency!
I stopped reading thirty or so pages into the .pdf, hopped on over to DCBS, and added the book to my June order. Initially, I tagged the book as worth a second look while thumbing through Previews. Allowing me access to the entire work was the kicker. Bold move. I hope it pays off for you. Excellent work, gents!
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