Modern Tales Changes Business Model
- Posted by Johanna on January 3, 2006 at 12:14 pm
- Category: Digital and Webcomics
Modern Tales, the premier (imo) webcomics portal, has announced that in the new year, its business model is changing. It will be moving from a primarily subscription-based model to an ad-supported one.
That sounds like good news to me. Free comics means more readers means more people to buy merchandise and eventual print collections. Plus (from the selfish side), I can easily block ads, while I can’t break through password screens.
Also, Eric Burns has accepted a position as Editor for the free site, tasked with handling submissions and growing the number of strips that are part of the site. Good luck to both him and Joey Manley, publisher.
Update: Eric has posted the submission guidelines for Modern Tales Free (which will have a better name).
December 31, 2005 at 9:05 PM
Cool. So any tips on what to try? I just don’t know a heck of a lot about webcomics.
January 2, 2006 at 7:57 AM
January 2, 2006 at 8:30 AM
Not to sound thoughtless or careless, but I don’t really consider that my problem. (I do the same thing with TV, by the way, using TiVo to watch shows sans ads.) If people start trying to find ways around ad-blocking, then I’ll quit visiting those sites. They can have me as a viewer (and potential consumer of products like collected versions) on my terms, or not at all.
They aren’t due my attention and they can’t take me for granted as a consumer.
In this particular case, Joey Manley has shown himself to be a really smart guy. If this model doesn’t work, then in another couple of years, I’m sure he’ll find a new one that does.