Over at sci-fi publisher website Tor.com, Heather Massey points out that the ceiling on comic book pricing is being steadily pushed higher by the big publishers, especially Marvel, which now prices individual issues of some of its titles at $3.99 each.
In an economy where people are looking to cut back on expenses, is Marvel making a wise decision? Or will it just drive readers to trade paperbacks and pirated torrents?
I don’t want to see comics die. But I, like many, am afraid that forking over $3.99 for what essentially amounts to 10 minutes of reading pleasure (at best) simply isn’t a sound decision.
“Are Comic Books Dying?”
(Photo: shuttermonkey)
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There are many problems in the comic book industry. Mostly the biggest problem is greed by the big publishers. Artists (inkers, letterers, and the artistic staff, too) don’t make much unless they are famous.
Comic book distribution is entirely handled by DIAMOND Comics. They can make money because of scale. Start reading at http://www.milehighcomics.com/tales/cbg118.html. Incidentally, Diamond also controls a significant portion of the role-playing game industry, although Wizards of the Coast and some other companies such as Games Workshop have direct to store divisions.
Now dedicated comic book retailers are in this loop somewhere. This is the “direct” market, where you go to a dedicated comic book retail store. This is the store you can buy your bags, and backs, and all the other things that go into collecting comics like price guides and boxes and back issues. The retailer faces challenges that most customers can’t see.
First, retailers have to order their comic books at least 3 months in advance. This is where “Previews” comes in. Previews contains all the information marketed to retailers about the comic books they are buying in 3 months. Sometimes the descriptions are good, most of the time they aren’t. The comic book company pays for ads in this book just like in any other magazine. (of course they pay in discounts for product or other terms, not money) This 3 month order gap means that the comic book store has to plan 3 months ahead of the economy, meet the other sales goals of the distributor (more below) and then repeat the cycle. You also have a minimum order amount.
Second, once you order the comics, you have no idea when or even if the comics will ever show up. you are entirely at the whim of the publisher and the distributor to not have writer’s block, the ability to count, and the ability to place your comics in a box and ship them to you to have them arrive on your designated arrival day.
Third, the order will come in either COD or will automatically be billed to a credit card. How many of you could take an unknown credit card charge every week? It is generally much easier and safer to pay cash, you can’t get behind on your cash payment. If you are good for a while they may change your terms to “Net zero” which means that when you get the order you cut them a check, which saves on cod fees.
Fourth, your random sized order will usually not qualify for free shipping, using whatever calculation they choose today. That’s business overhead.
Fifth, the overall discount from retail that your comic shop gets is determined by the volume of comics you ordered from Diamond for the month you ordered it from. This is calculated by Diamond, and while usually you can guess about what discount you will have, it’s up to them to get it right. Plus, all the sundry non-comic stuff like action figs, cards, boxes, etc each have their own discount rates. Since you don’t have much notice as to when things will arrive, and you don’t know how much you will be charged for them, then your weekly comic bill and comic profit will fluctuate wildly.
Sixth, 80% or more of your comic book churn is made in the 2 days immediately following delivery. If you are lucky and planned things out (and your customers haven’t paid with a credit/debit card to further eat into your profit) then you have covered the basic operating expenses of running a comic book shop. The next step of course is profit.
Seventh, there is NO seventh step.
Eighth, you have to also pay all of your overhead, such as rent, staff, the dreaded credit card fees, new computers to track your stuff, new front windows to replace the ones your loyal customers tossed a brick through, and on and on. I know of very few companies that make money through comics, and all of them do it through volume, not customer service.
Finally, remember all those loyal customers who want their subscriptions bagged and backed, and a discount for their continued business? well, until you are ordering SIGNIFICANT comics, the biggest discount you’ll see on them is 35% off retail. This means your gross profit on a 3.99 comic is 1.39. Minus 10 cents for the bag and back. Minus the shipping cost, minus cc charges (which is a minimum of .25) and minus the time you put in over the course of 3 months to order the comic, check the order, prepare the display space, etc. and for each comic you might clear 50 cents before your “non order associated overhead.” Now the customer wants something for being a loyal customer. so you offer them 5 percent off. that’s .20 more.
So you just spent 3 months of hassle for maybe 20 cents profit. Congratulations, and welcome to direct comic book sales.
Man, if comics here were printed like in Japan. Phonebook sized with the paper quality comparable to newspapers.
There are a lot of very sophisticated and challenging superhero stories now that would not have been produced 25 years ago. At the same time, there are also a lot of stories that are just explicit “modernized” retellings of plot ideas that Stan Lee created during the sixties. Comics seem to have trouble staying on schedule these days, and DC and Marvel are endlessly releasing these special event crossover things that repeat concepts from the eighties.
I think $3.99 is too much for a single comic book unless it has no ads and doesn’t suck. When I started reading comics as a child, they were 45 cents. When I was 17 or 18, they were 60 cents or maybe 75. I buy a few trade paperbacks a year, and I think those are overpriced too, but not as overpriced as a single ad-stuffed issue for $3.99.
I admit, I still buy comics. Only a select few, though, and only those characters and titles I adore. Spiderman won’t stop printing if I don’t buy his comic. But Deadpool might, so I buy his.
But yeah, overall? Buy trades. Much better use of your money.
@Rob Weddle: Yeah, by the time I was a teenager I was reading more the Sandman and Crow comics. I still read some Marvel stuff but had moved on, especially after I had to buy so many X-titles to get the whole story and I couldn’t afford all of them then!
Look how much magazines cost and how much of them are advertising. At least with comics you get a story that you can go back and read again, magazines have a shorter life span.
Print media is dying. Wired magazine at 80cents is struggling. There was a recent article about Playboy magazine drowning. Sorry there’s more and arguably better adult material on the web than Playboy.
Obviously the folks at Consumer Reports have caught on with this fine blog (the consumerist).
Things go up in price, there’s no question, but like any other customer I would prefer creep as well. I understand that comics are no longer painted on newsprint and have better and more varied colors, and I like all of that, but a 30% jump in two years? Sounds a bit like price gouging.
Look at things like CD sales. Sure, things have declined, people just aren’t buying music like they used to, but the music industry has adjusted how they make money. They’re getting more of a cut from tours, merchandising, and licensing.
Personally, I think Marvel/DC should focus their efforts into licensing and/or film-making. Use the comics as a loss-leader while making the real bank on (hopefully) successful films. Look how much IRON MAN pulled in.
So, all of that said, $3.99 is a steep jump for me and as I type this I’ve already started to cull my weekly Pull List. I hope Marve/DC can take a hint.
Increasing prices is not exactly a bad thing. The cousins of comics books, printed magaziness, are going through rough times with decreasing numbers of subscribers and buyers. This extends even to their online presence. Their problem is that people don’t want to pay for information that they can get online for free.
One solution they’ve come up with in the industry is to offer periodicals at even higher prices. It is true that this will drive away potential buyers, but it also reinforces the value of the product. Even in a recession the brand must be protected ([bit.ly]). Lowering the price or a product can be detrimental in that it lowers the value of the brand.
Luckily, comic books are best read in print (this is a debate that can be expound elswhere). We don’t have to worry about a shift in this industry’s paradigm. But the glut of the 1990′s comic book explosion and speculation brought so many arguably bad comics. Hopefully, with our decreased buying power as consumers we’ll help the comic book industry shed more of it’s 1990′s fat. Raise the price. Cut the crappy titles. Build the brand and flagship titles.
Personally, I don’t like paying for $4 comic books, but I’m loyal enough and value them enough to be willing to shell out…every once in a while.