What if publishers dropped monthies?

[sonic-attack]

What if the publishers stopped doing Monthly books ?

With all the talk about the future of comics I though this may be interesting.

Would the approach to trades/graphic novels change...the way the story would be told?

[aerodynamics]

Zounds, what a notion!

Honestly, I'd probably read a lot less comics. There's something about the weekly ritual of the thing ...

[jon_samuelson]

I think the companies would lose a lot of their ability to reel people in slowly in order to get them to try new things. I know I'm a lot more likely to give something a chance for an issue or two at $3 a pop, than I am to shell out $15+ for something I'm less certain of.

[conorkilpatrick]

I think the companies would lose a lot of their ability to reel people in slowly in order to get them to try new things. I know I'm a lot more likely to give something a chance for an issue or two at $3 a pop, than I am to shell out $15+ for something I'm less certain of.

It's no different than prose books.

[jon_samuelson]

I never said that there was anything inherently different between them. And to a degree your statement sort of proves my point. I'm not terribly likely to just run out trying every prose book that comes along either. Certainly not in the same way I do with comics, where a hardcover volume costs $25+. My point is that I'm a lot more liable to just try things out for the hell of it when it only costs $3 to see if I like it. Vertigo has a good entry point pricing system for the first volume of their trades. I think that would be a good format to follow.

[deadspace]

I think it may happen. Oddly enough I'm not that bothered. I'm starting to enjoy reading trades more these days anyway.

Single issues might get moved online, either for free or via a site like itunes.

Warren Ellis has done Freakangels online for free, with a new 6-page 'issue' put up each week. But he's also putting out a trade - which I'm going to buy. I wouldn't mind if things moved in that direction. Well ok, I'd mind a little bit cos obviously reading a paper issue is better than reading it off your monitor but the paper version would still be there in trade format.

I think I might make a vlog about how digital comics could save the entire comic book industry :p

[sugarsickness]

I don't want to lose the invaluable discussion I often find in the letter columns of my GRENDEL comics (Only reason I hunted down all the different releases of the single issues after I collected all the trades available was to read from those).

I don't want to lose the interviews and writing advice snippets from the back of my BOOM! books.

[optimus187prime]

I would be down with that. I like having a huge book chock full of story.

[jon_samuelson]

Grand scheme of things I wouldn't be that disappointed either. I prefer being able to put TPB's up on my book shelf and reread them. But I will miss that whole weekly/monthly fix.

[racemccloud]

Well, it would finally force me to switch to trades.

Honestly, I'd probably prefer it.

[sonic-attack]

My take on this is that monthlys let you both sample books to see if you like them, and to slowly grow the stories, get used cast etc. I know that I have picked up a lot of monthlys for a couple of issues and then decided that there not for me.
I would love to know what the profit difference is between producing a run of monthlys and the producing a trade of the same run.
The future....who knows maybe the option as Deadspace said is sample issues online to get the story started free or available via itunes or amazon.

What about a comic version of amazons Kindle? Automatic download of your monthly subscribed comic all stored on your kindle so that you could read when you want.

[deadspace]

I'm not really a fan of these portable book readers. But I did surprise myself when I decided I quite liked the idea of reading comics on the TV. More importantly, I think kids would be into this.

When you take out the cost of printing and even distribution it means you could sell your monthly digital comics really cheap, which means it's easier for readers to try new stuff. This automatically solves the problems people are talking about - comics are too expensive, comic shops are too 'out of the way', comics are hidden in comic shops instead of in supermarkets etc, diamond has a monopoly on distribution... all of those things are fixed when comics are brought onto the internet. You could even download via a games console. You could have a sample comic on the disks of comic-based games.

The big two have been researching this kind of thing for some time now and I believe that if done right it could be pretty cool.

[sonic-attack]

A lot of people dont like reading off a computer / tv screen the flicker even though its unnoticable hurts their eyes.
That why the Kindle has been sucessfull as it like reading from a page not a screen.

[racemccloud]

My take on this is that monthlys let you both sample books to see if you like them, and to slowly grow the stories, get used cast etc. I know that I have picked up a lot of monthlys for a couple of issues and then decided that there not for me.
I would love to know what the profit difference is between producing a run of monthlys and the producing a trade of the same run.
The future....who knows maybe the option as Deadspace said is sample issues online to get the story started free or available via itunes or amazon.

What about a comic version of amazons Kindle? Automatic download of your monthly subscribed comic all stored on your kindle so that you could read when you want.

I would be ALL OVER the comics version of iTunes or Kindle or whatever. Resoundingly so.

[optimus187prime]

A lot of people dont like reading off a computer / tv screen the flicker even though its unnoticable hurts their eyes.
That why the Kindle has been sucessfull as it like reading from a page not a screen.

Im one of those people. Besides the eye strain, I cant do without having the paper between my fingers. The smell too, how will they replicate the smell?

[deadspace]

A lot of people dont like reading off a computer / tv screen the flicker even though its unnoticable hurts their eyes.
That why the Kindle has been sucessfull as it like reading from a page not a screen.

A lot of people? I would have thought it was a minority. These are the people that can buy a Kindle. The main objection to devices like Kindles is the price. I mean, hundreds of dollars so that you can read a digital book? People already complain about $2.99 for a comic. Why would they buy a bit of technology for $350 and then still have to buy the comics? Ask a kid of they'd prefer a PS3 or a Kindle :p

By making the downloading of comics onto something that the reader already owns whether it's a PC, TV, phone, whatever is more likely to be successful I think. It's all about convergence technologies these days.

[racemccloud]

A lot of people? I would have thought it was a minority. These are the people that can buy a Kindle. The main objection to devices like Kindles is the price. I mean, hundreds of dollars so that you can read a digital book? People already complain about $2.99 for a comic. Why would they buy a bit of technology for $350 and then still have to buy the comics? Ask a kid of they'd prefer a PS3 or a Kindle :p

By making the downloading of comics onto something that the reader already owns whether it's a PC, TV, phone, whatever is more likely to be successful I think. It's all about convergence technologies these days.

This is why the digital reading industry is going to need a universal standard device, one that reads newspapers, novels, comics, etc., etc., in order to really take off. I like the idea of the iTunes of comics. I don't like the idea of having to turn a laptop sideways to enjoy them. If the device successfully unites the various genres of literature into a lightweight digital format, I can see it moving at a near $200 price point. You're telling me I can download my daily newspaper onto it for a fraction of the newstand price? Hell, that hypothetical device could save the print journalism industry (and keep newsprint off of my fingertips.) I can also download my comics and novels to it? That puppy sells itself. But it needs universality.

That universal device is not here yet, but the Kindle is a step.

[sn4tch]

Recently I sold all my monthlies and have gone TPB only. It is kind of rough because so many stories are either Out of Print or not collected at all. Almost makes me wish they would get rid of monthlies so they would be forced to put out the old stories that I want to read.

[sonic-attack]

The whole thing about a Kindle style device is portability, you can read it on the bus or train while traveling to work. Obviously the price point is high at the moment as the tech is new what if you could pick up a colour version the size of a comic for around $100.

Some of the screen manufacturers are working on flexible displays that can be rolled or folded this is where the future lies for print media but its a good bit off.

[deadspace]

Personally I wouldn't buy one until they were as you say, the kind of e-paper that you can fold or roll up. It would need to be colour and I would need to be able to write on it - whats the point in downloading the guardian if you can't do the crossword? :p

I'd love for something to exist like this in say 5-10 years time though. I think even $200 is reasonable when you start talking about full colour and something that's light-weight (and not as ugly as the kindle).

I think it's a very real alternative to monthly paper comics. And think of the ease of access. No travelling to a comic shop which while for me is easy, is really out of the way for some people. A few clicks of a button and you could have your monthly comics downloaded onto your device. Kids in particular I think will love that kind of thing. It's the older folk like me that might moan about how paper is so much more superior ;-)

The thing is though, (and this is what Antony Johnson said on his blog - I just agree), when we have digital comics, I think it mightn't be enough to just release a regular trade version to collect the digital issues. Trades might take on the 'deluxe' model of being limited edition, velvet-covered, super-sized and with a bunch of extras to attract people to buy them. Similar to what Radiohead did with their latest album that people could, if they wanted, download for free. Then they released the CD as a regular version and also as a big mega pack with loads of extra stuff - but the price was high of course. Trades might go that way.

Freakangels has kinda done that because while it's free to read online (and it's awesome by the way) it's being released as 3 different versions: a regular trade, a limited to 2000 hardcover, and a limited to 1000 signed hardcover.

But god forbid if trades ever become digital too. I would cry.

[racemccloud]

The thing is though, (and this is what Antony Johnson said on his blog - I just agree), when we have digital comics, I think it mightn't be enough to just release a regular trade version to collect the digital issues. Trades might take on the 'deluxe' model of being limited edition, velvet-covered, super-sized and with a bunch of extras to attract people to buy them. Similar to what Radiohead did with their latest album that people could, if they wanted, download for free. Then they released the CD as a regular version and also as a big mega pack with loads of extra stuff - but the price was high of course. Trades might go that way.

Freakangels has kinda done that because while it's free to read online (and it's awesome by the way) it's being released as 3 different versions: a regular trade, a limited to 2000 hardcover, and a limited to 1000 signed hardcover.

But god forbid if trades ever become digital too. I would cry.

Ditto on this part. Great points. But monthlies are almost tailor-made for an eventual digital format.