This is the place to discuss the episodes of the Comic Book Page podcast, the Comic Book Page website or pretty much anything else of interest to the Comic Book Page community...
comicm wrote:
2) Throw in more ad space to account for the needed cost. Maybe place those full page ads with many ads inside of them that way smaller companies can advertise. They used to do this in older comics. I personally don't mind ads and actually love looking at them when reading old back issues as it gives me a little bit of pop culture history. I would much rather deal with more ads then a price hike.
Aren't you concerned that sales might drop if/when comics start having more pages of ads than story?
And with the additional ad pages the comics are heavier which impacts the shipping costs for the retailers thererby hurting them.
johnmayo wrote: I like this idea. Particularly if the total page count for these comics was 24 pages. The additional pages would allow for a letter page and some ads. The only change I would suggest would be to lower the price a penny and go with $1.99 instead of $2.00. Conventional marketing wisdom seems to dictate that people will feel that the price is more acceptable since it is under $2 versus being $2.
The other upside to this format is that since the creative team needs to produce fewer pages each issue, they ought to be able to get them out on time.
Isn't this $1.99 reduced page count idea what was being experimented with by Warren Ellis on Fell from Image? I really enjoyed reading Fell and didn't mind the smaller than average panels that were nine to a page. I found Fell thanks to a suggestion on another thread on this forum about people's top ten titles. I think the series sort of just stopped at #9, because Ellis and artist Ben Templesmith got too busy working on other projects. Those other projects probably paid them faster and more money. This idea could work for some stories like Fell, which is a crime drama. I'm not so sure it would work well on all titles like many of the superhero books. Superhero books rely more on splash pages and are heavy on visuals. I like the 1.99 idea in general though and think it could help keep all prices from going up to 3.99. Keep the great ideas coming as I like to read about them.
johnmayo wrote: I like this idea. Particularly if the total page count for these comics was 24 pages. The additional pages would allow for a letter page and some ads. The only change I would suggest would be to lower the price a penny and go with $1.99 instead of $2.00. Conventional marketing wisdom seems to dictate that people will feel that the price is more acceptable since it is under $2 versus being $2.
The other upside to this format is that since the creative team needs to produce fewer pages each issue, they ought to be able to get them out on time.
Isn't this $1.99 reduced page count idea what was being experimented with by Warren Ellis on Fell from Image? I really enjoyed reading Fell and didn't mind the smaller than average panels that were nine to a page. I found Fell thanks to a suggestion on another thread on this forum about people's top ten titles. I think the series sort of just stopped at #9, because Ellis and artist Ben Templesmith got too busy working on other projects. Those other projects probably paid them faster and more money. This idea could work for some stories like Fell, which is a crime drama. I'm not so sure it would work well on all titles like many of the superhero books. Superhero books rely more on splash pages and are heavy on visuals. I like the 1.99 idea in general though and think it could help keep all prices from going up to 3.99. Keep the great ideas coming as I like to read about them.
Good point about Fell just sort of vanishing. While I like this approach to a cheaper format, I have to wonder if the retailers would like it since it involves the same amount of work to stock but makes them less money per copy.
Anyone have a model of costs going into a book and revenues generated?
There are one-time costs for the content and on-going costs for production, royalties and shipping. Then there are revenues gotten by adverts and book sales.
We know approx how many books have to seel before they get cancelled, and if we make educated guesses on what Marvel takes in on each book, we have a baseline budget.
IMHO, the bottom line is that Marvel needs to sell more books relative to their overhead. If I were to replace Joe Q and have carte blanche, I'd probably cancel at least half the titles and concentrate on core books by upping the quality of stories and art.
I will finish the minis I have started at the $3.99 price point, but I'm not going to order new ones. (The DCBS discount kinda masks the price.)
johnmayo wrote:
Aren't you concerned that sales might drop if/when comics start having more pages of ads than story?
And with the additional ad pages the comics are heavier which impacts the shipping costs for the retailers thererby hurting them.
Personally I like the ads so I don't care. I think more people will drop if comics go up a $1 then if they have 4 more pages of ads. They did these types of ads in early comics. Why not again?
I would gladly pay more shipping costs for the quantity of books I get; then have to drop many books because of the price going up.
johnmayo wrote:
Aren't you concerned that sales might drop if/when comics start having more pages of ads than story?
And with the additional ad pages the comics are heavier which impacts the shipping costs for the retailers thereby hurting them.
Personally I like the ads so I don't care. I think more people will drop if comics go up a $1 then if they have 4 more pages of ads. They did these types of ads in early comics. Why not again?
I would gladly pay more shipping costs for the quantity of books I get; then have to drop many books because of the price going up.
And, personally, I agree with you.
All I'm saying is that some readers might be put off for paying for more ad pages than story pages and some retailers might be put off but the lower profit per copy and increased shipping cost per story page.
The real question is how much money is brought in by each ad page and would increasing the number of them make enough of a difference or not. If it does, great.
johnmayo wrote:All I'm saying is that some readers might be put off for paying for more ad pages than story pages and some retailers might be put off but the lower profit per copy and increased shipping cost per story page.
The real question is how much money is brought in by each ad page and would increasing the number of them make enough of a difference or not. If it does, great.
I would fall under this category of thinking that too many adds in a comic book is a bit off putting. I think currently some of the books are stretching with the adds. When adds overtake the book, reading and engrossing oneself in the story become difficult. Now, I don't know if I would stop buying comics if the add quantity increased, but who knows.
Case in point. I used to listen to the radio to and from work each day. About a year and a half ago I got into listening to podcast (some of them being radio programs sans commercials). About two weeks ago I found myself all caught up on podcast, so I turned on the radio. After about 30 minutes I turned it off. It was 7 minutes of content and five minutes of commercials. I never felt connected to the topics being discussed because as they were getting interesting, the station cut to commercial. So, I could definitely see too many adds in comics having this affect with me. If that were to be the case...I could see myself focusing more on collecting the trades.
johnmayo wrote:All I'm saying is that some readers might be put off for paying for more ad pages than story pages and some retailers might be put off but the lower profit per copy and increased shipping cost per story page.
The real question is how much money is brought in by each ad page and would increasing the number of them make enough of a difference or not. If it does, great.
I would fall under this category of thinking that too many adds in a comic book is a bit off putting. I think currently some of the books are stretching with the adds. When adds overtake the book, reading and engrossing oneself in the story become difficult. Now, I don't know if I would stop buying comics if the add quantity increased, but who knows.
Case in point. I used to listen to the radio to and from work each day. About a year and a half ago I got into listening to podcast (some of them being radio programs sans commercials). About two weeks ago I found myself all caught up on podcast, so I turned on the radio. After about 30 minutes I turned it off. It was 7 minutes of content and five minutes of commercials. I never felt connected to the topics being discussed because as they were getting interesting, the station cut to commercial. So, I could definitely see too many adds in comics having this affect with me. If that were to be the case...I could see myself focusing more on collecting the trades.
So what you are saying is you would rather pay $3.99 than pay $2.99 with 4 more pages of ads? I think that is insane. For me ads add to my enjoyment of back issues. I can see what video games, tv and movies were hot. If you don't like ads that is what trades are for. Personally I don't like trades as much and rather stick with monthlies. Ads have been there since the Silver age and they used to have more and I don't think it has ever detracted from the story except when they have those damn cards hanging in the center of the book.
I don't mind the ads in comics because it takes only a second to turn the page past them and get on with the story, as opposed to having to sit through 5 minutes of commercials on a radio program while driving your car.
If a few more ad pages could help companies hold out at the $2.99 price, I'd be all for it.
JLAFan wrote:I don't mind the ads in comics because it takes only a second to turn the page past them and get on with the story, as opposed to having to sit through 5 minutes of commercials on a radio program while driving your car.
If a few more ad pages could help companies hold out at the $2.99 price, I'd be all for it.
You have a good point on the lack of impact of the ads in comics. Half the time I flip past them without really noticing them. I have to wonder how that factor plays out in terms of the effectiveness of the ads and as a result how much money the publishers can get for them.
JLAFan wrote:I don't mind the ads in comics because it takes only a second to turn the page past them and get on with the story, as opposed to having to sit through 5 minutes of commercials on a radio program while driving your car.
If a few more ad pages could help companies hold out at the $2.99 price, I'd be all for it.
You have a good point on the lack of impact of the ads in comics. Half the time I flip past them without really noticing them. I have to wonder how that factor plays out in terms of the effectiveness of the ads and as a result how much money the publishers can get for them.
That's the case for advertising in general. VERY low returns per imprint, which is why it's always been a volume business [more eyeyballs, more dollars]. Outside of online advertising [which has slowed DRAMATICALLY in the last six weeks], every other component of advertising [TV, radio, print, billboard] is seeing year on year DECLINES.
comicm wrote:So what you are saying is you would rather pay $3.99 than pay $2.99 with 4 more pages of ads? I think that is insane. For me ads add to my enjoyment of back issues. I can see what video games, tv and movies were hot. If you don't like ads that is what trades are for. Personally I don't like trades as much and rather stick with monthlies. Ads have been there since the Silver age and they used to have more and I don't think it has ever detracted from the story except when they have those damn cards hanging in the center of the book.
Um... no...I'm not saying that at all. I simply said that increasing ads in a book to a point where it overtakes the product I'm buying takes away from that product.
I think that ads from old comics are fun. Even more so in retrospect. But I'd hardly consider my enjoyment enhanced by going back to relived those Clarisol pimple pad ads from books in the late 80s. But to each there own I suppose.
