Comics / Comics News

The Gutter: The NEW Direct Market

By The Editor
December 28, 2010 - 04:33

2011 is just days away and the whole world is brimming with hope for better economic times. That’s what New Years is all about after all, a clean slate, a new beginning, a new resolve.

Personally, I hate the word hope. It is such and ineffectual state of mind. Hope, to me, is the most meager last resort in an effort to achieve or acquire a goal. If it is necessary to resort to hope, then it is assumed that all other efforts have been exhausted and failed.

Hope has managed to achieve a state of popular acceptance because of its blind faith nature. Those calling upon hope can equate it with placing their aspirations in the hands of God, a higher power or the Universe.

We are much too quick to resort to hope. It is too convenient and too acceptable.

So, I am unwilling to hope that 2011 will be a better year. I am determined that 2011 will be a great year especially for CO2 Comics.

New beginnings require change if we intend to see improvement. This is not Groundhogs Day where we can afford to keep repeating what has gone before.

Change is good!

The biggest change is how readers are going to get their comics.

Direct!

Not Direct Market but Direct to Customer.

I know I just blasphemed the market that has supported the entire industry for the last thirty years and made it possible for independent publishers to be able to sell their comics to a target market but it is time to acknowledge that for the comics industry to grow we are going to have to step outside of the comforts of the Direct Market to reach new audiences.

Direct to Customer is not really change it is the embracing of the oldest form of marketing with the most modern tools available. Ben Franklin did just this when he created the first mail order catalog to sell directly to his customers without ever meeting them. He could not have done it without a printing press and a postal service.

Today we have something better than a printing press and the postal service, we have the internet and digital downloads. In the blink of an eye comics can be delivered to your computer, cell phone or e-reading device.

CO2 Comics delivers free content via our website with new updates daily. Award winning comic creators like Bernie Mirault, Mike Baron, Mitch O’Connell, Don Lomax and Frank Thorne top off a list artists that present two dozen features and hundred of pages of comics for your reading enjoyment.

The printing press and the post office still offer an opportunity to put physical book in our readers hands. Digital printing presses now give us the opportunity to print one book at a time. This Print on Demand method of publishing gives us the opportunity to produce books and ship them to you hot off the press.

CO2 Comics first print publication, David Anthony Kraft’s COMICS INTERVIEW: The Complete Collection Volume 1, is a beautiful 680 page black and white book that is offered in two different paperback and hardback editions. The Premier editions which feature a classic style logo that has been available for a limited time only are set to expire on New Year’s Eve. Be a Direct Customer and get your limited edition while you still have a chance.

Direct to Customer comics, whether they be digital or print have the opportunity to find comic readers that may never make their way into a comic shop. Good comics will light a fire in the new readers making them want more and inspire them to share their interest with others.

Sharing the experience of good comics will promote the industry better than any marketing strategy. Word of Mouth is always the best promotion and thanks to social networks like Facebook and Twitter Word of Mouth spreads faster than ever before.

It will be the sharing experience that drives the customer back to the comic shops. Comic shops and comic conventions will be the homes of the culture of the comic enthusiasts. Comic shops will become cultural institutions where fans of the medium gather to share, educate and communicate face-to-face with others that enjoy the same interest.

2011 will be a dynamic year of change in the comic industry as digital content develops a stronger foothold. We all need to work together to enthusiastically promote the medium rather than resist the dramatic changes in format and marketing. A unified front will benefit everyone and ensure economic success for creators, publishers, distributors, and retailers alike.

This is the greatest opportunity for a new beginning since the first comic book was published let us all take advantage it. You can bet CO2 Comics will.

Happy New Year!

Making comics because I want to

Gerry Giovinco

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12