The Theory of Webcomics: Could DRM Kill Your Webcomic?

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4 Responses

  1. Andrew Bergstrom says:

    These are all good points, however you seemed to leave out several important points (unless you intend to address them in your next posted article.)Firstly, if you build your audience up, they will support you. Fans will donate occasionally to support a webcomic they enjoy, but I don't think that even Randy 'Something Positive' Milholland would have to say that would really going to support you by itself. Ads on a webcomic page help a lot more, especially those annoying google text ads that everyone ignores (they aren't graphic, and many of them are advertising 'ringtones' that don't exist!) The best way is to offer the comics for free, then collect them all at the end of the year in print and watch the sales grow! T-Shirts, mugs, bags, and anything else you come up with on your own also work well. While Cafe Press and print-on-demand publisher Lulu make this easy for you to accomplish, guess who makes the lion's share? I think that Howard 'Schlock Mercenary' Taylor has a better business plan by teaming up with local merchants to provide related items. He also spent extensive research finding a printer to do justice to his 'yearbooks' and be able to keep the prices down to earth (not to mention the coveted signed & numbered sketch editions for an additional $10!)Yup, you too can jump off the daily grind bandwagon and start making your very own webcomic! Just remember; there has to be quality in your plot, story, and art (not to mention timely updates) before you'll attract an audience that can support your independant lifestyle.Now if we could only convince the powers that be at Marvel & DC that they need to pare down the rubbish that they've been publishing, and work on characterization, plotting, and story to go with their fab art. Then again, many of those so-called artists at the big two could probably do with a refresher course in sequential art, and have their editors flogging those who use far too many splash pages to fill up the 22 page monthlies. Back in the '70's and '80's the short story format of UK's 2000AD Judge Dredd Weekly had stories so tight that they put today's comics to shame in the waste that is included…

    • Chuck Rozakis says:

      These are excellent points, and in fact, there's a follow-up to this in the works (a whole series, actually), so I didn't actually touch on any of them here. I tried to indicate that with my "Next!" bit at the end, but apparently I wasn't blatant enough.There's much more to come. Stay tuned.