[Fuzz McG]

I do think a regular schedule is important, particularly for single issues. Otherwise you're more likely to lose readers with each succeeding issue or readers will simply trade-wait, regardless of whether a trade ever actually happens because of low sales of the monthly.

[Fysh]

Originally Posted by Fuzz McG

I do think a regular schedule is important, particularly for single issues. Otherwise you're more likely to lose readers with each succeeding issue or readers will simply trade-wait, regardless of whether a trade ever actually happens because of low sales of the monthly.

I find myself growing ever more frustrated with the whole "oh, we couldn't do a trade as the single issues didn't pay off" attitude from larger publishers, because it is to my mind stupid thinking.

The audience for collected editions is, to a substantial extent, not the same as the audience for single issues. I get that for smaller publishers or titles with niche appeal the serialisation lets them offset production costs as they go, but the notion that low sales of a cost-ineffective serialised format can be indicative or representative of sales expected for a complete and self-contained book-format edition of the same material is stupid.

Aside from anything else, if you want to bring in money from the serialised form while cutting costs, the smart way to do it is digital releases - much easier to scale up, lower overheads, and wider reach.

But yes, as a general rule if you're small press or independently publishing your own stuff, start off small. I've lost count of the number of otherwise-promising artists who've tried to immediately launch into huge sprawling stories that fell apart two or three issues in because they couldn't afford to self-publish the whole thing. Either start off with self-contained stuff, or do your longform epic as a webcomic, sell the collections as they are completed and point people to your site for the ongoing story.

[Thwip!]

Originally Posted by Fysh

I find myself growing ever more frustrated with the whole "oh, we couldn't do a trade as the single issues didn't pay off" attitude from larger publishers, because it is to my mind stupid thinking.

The audience for collected editions is, to a substantial extent, not the same as the audience for single issues. I get that for smaller publishers or titles with niche appeal the serialisation lets them offset production costs as they go, but the notion that low sales of a cost-ineffective serialised format can be indicative or representative of sales expected for a complete and self-contained book-format edition of the same material is stupid.

Aside from anything else, if you want to bring in money from the serialised form while cutting costs, the smart way to do it is digital releases - much easier to scale up, lower overheads, and wider reach.

But yes, as a general rule if you're small press or independently publishing your own stuff, start off small. I've lost count of the number of otherwise-promising artists who've tried to immediately launch into huge sprawling stories that fell apart two or three issues in because they couldn't afford to self-publish the whole thing. Either start off with self-contained stuff, or do your longform epic as a webcomic, sell the collections as they are completed and point people to your site for the ongoing story.

That's my general plan anyway

[jill_valentine]

I remember when I was reading Runaways thinking "Well thank Christ for this, maybe superhero comics aren't dead after all!" but alas... Runaways lost momentum when Vaughan moved on and Marvel didn't seem to know how to capitalise on it or learn from it. It seemed like their movie success went to their heads and suddenly everything had to be a big blockbuster event or something.

[Fysh]

Originally Posted by jill_valentine

I remember when I was reading Runaways thinking "Well thank Christ for this, maybe superhero comics aren't dead after all!" but alas... Runaways lost momentum when Vaughan moved on and Marvel didn't seem to know how to capitalise on it or learn from it. It seemed like their movie success went to their heads and suddenly everything had to be a big blockbuster event or something.

I find that Marvel over the last 6 years or so have become more and more risk-averse (for want of a better way to put it) as they've become more solvent and had success with the movies. Stuff like the Lethem/Dalrymple Omega The Unknown series, or Nextwave, or probably Runaways or even Iron Man: Hypervelocity don't seem like they could happen now - or at least, not unless they had a Big Event Tie In With Crucial Developments! or a $3.99 cover price (Guest Starring Spider-Man - In His Latest New Costume!).

The success of the movies and subsequent Movie-fication of the main Marvel universe has rendered the Ultimate universe kind of pointless (although the desire to continue having longform monthly series was always going to do that) as well. They rarely do any interesting self-contained minis any more, as far as I can tell (well, with the exception of the Skottie Young Oz stuff). So yeah, it feels like Marvel have got the same problem DC had for years ie being beholden to their own continuity and terrified of releasing anything self-contained and standalone that didn't chain you to the monthly release cycle treadmill.

It's a shame, but I figure if they don't want my money I'll just go spend it elsewhere. It's not like I'm short on alternatives