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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2017 21:18:23 GMT -5
Looks like he thinks he can defray the costs by selling advertising... Here's the Bleeding Cool article that I got it from. I wonder if he could give me info on expected circuylation, distribution channels, market penetration and expected customer demographics if I inquired about purchasing an ad in his books? Anyone want to buy ad space that could reach at best a few thousand people? -M |
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jan 9, 2017 0:33:54 GMT -5
Isn't a major factor in comic pricing how much creators are compensated nowadays, particularly the big names like Bendis, etc.? I may be off base here, but it's my understanding that creators of all levels are payed better in relation to creators in the 60's-80's. I've read a few industry types effectively blame this for the inflated prices.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2017 0:52:46 GMT -5
Isn't a major factor in comic pricing how much creators are compensated nowadays, particularly the big names like Bendis, etc.? I may be off base here, but it's my understanding that creators of all levels are payed better in relation to creators in the 60's-80's. I've read a few industry types effectively blame this for the inflated prices. Better than they had been, sure, but better is relative. According to most accounts from insiders who have given salary details (and not a lot do), starting page rates for a penciller at the big 2 is about $100 a page and a writer about half that. So for a 20 page book, that $2K to pencil and $1k to write in salary costs. So if Marvel is getting about $1 per copy sold on the $3.99 books (because of the Diamond middle man hierarchy of costs) they need to sell 3K copies of the book to pay for that. They don't have to pay it when it sells a second time in trade, but the creators may get some residuals based on sales of trades depending on contracts. Certainly superstar creators get more, but I wouldn't lay all of the pricing on creator salaries. -M |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jan 9, 2017 2:22:10 GMT -5
Isn't a major factor in comic pricing how much creators are compensated nowadays, particularly the big names like Bendis, etc.? I may be off base here, but it's my understanding that creators of all levels are payed better in relation to creators in the 60's-80's. I've read a few industry types effectively blame this for the inflated prices. Better than they had been, sure, but better is relative. According to most accounts from insiders who have given salary details (and not a lot do), starting page rates for a penciller at the big 2 is about $100 a page and a writer about half that. So for a 20 page book, that $2K to pencil and $1k to write in salary costs. So if Marvel is getting about $1 per copy sold on the $3.99 books (because of the Diamond middle man hierarchy of costs) they need to sell 3K copies of the book to pay for that. They don't have to pay it when it sells a second time in trade, but the creators may get some residuals based on sales of trades depending on contracts. Certainly superstar creators get more, but I wouldn't lay all of the pricing on creator salaries. -M Those salaries per page you quoted don't seem much higher than what many were getting back in the 1970s once you adjust it for inflation. My understanding is the price of comics is as high as it is simply because the numbers sold are so low. Salaries for the creative and management staff, price of paper and printing, cost of distribution... these are all fixed costs (actually printing costs go up as the print run goes own). So the retail price has to be high to cover all the costs and maintain a reasonable profit. |
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jan 9, 2017 3:17:46 GMT -5
I guess that does make the most sense. The profits from a standard $3.99 book that averages 50k in sales would be roughly equivalent to a $1.00 book in the 80's that averaged 200k in sales. Still, publishers have regular trades and digital to boost their bottom line, something that didn't exist back then. I'd guess the company line would be that it doesn't matter, since the physical issues need to make a certain profit and need to stand on their own.
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Post by MDG on Jan 9, 2017 11:28:41 GMT -5
If Marvel/DC wanted to sell more units at higher margin, I'd imagine getting rid of floppies and putting out an equal amount of content in thicker anthology titles. Each one would be more expensive, sure, but the logistics of putting out 4-6 "real" magazines per month rather than dozens of pamphlets would probably yield big savings.
Of course, the core market would hate it...
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