[...] from print to digital, but it’s certainly one of the higher-profile ones, from a company that has a history of digital experimentation. They’re handling this in a smart fashion, with prominent links to [...]

[...] with its retail release last January, brick-and-mortar comic shops chafed and some even rebelled, asking for “evidence” that free online simul-publication would not eat their [...]

[...] just as they did for North Wind (in a very successful promotion), every issue of Hexed will also be available same day online for [...]

[...] at their site. (Will retailers complain the way they threw a fit when Boom! did the same thing with North Wind? Probably not — most of those kinds of comic shops don’t care much about manga, having [...]

[...] then, I knew these guys got the potential of the internet after their North Wind giveaway, which resulted in issues selling out and sales increasing as the miniseries went on. Says [...]

[...] accompanied by a donation button and a link to an Amazon store. (The free giveaway is a popular choice lately among forward-looking creators and [...]

[...] at the vitriol surrounding the successful marketing campaign by Boom! Studios. Their rollout was a little clumsy, but the instinct was spot on. And they have a success because [...]

[...] reported a rise of interest in THE FOUNDATION #1 that coincided with BOOM! Studios’ historic online and in-store simultaneous release of their other series, NORTH WIND, in conjunction with the MySpace Comic Book [...]

[...] on Free Samples: “the more his book was available for free, the more sales of the actual book [...]

[...] response to the outcry over their MySpace promotion, I asked Marketing and Sales Director Chip Mosher if they’d do anything different if they [...]

Morgan, some retailers are going to answer your #3 with “never”. Others are going to request that what you give away online isn’t as complete as as what you sell. Some may suggest giving away #1 a month or more after the print release in order to sell more #2. The answers will vary, and I doubt consensus will happen.

James, good points. It may take getting “younger” people (if only in temperament) making decisions for some of these things to become accepted.

My niece has a page though, and she actually asked me what that noise was when I had to use my modem for something when my high speed was down. She has slide shows, flash movies and other things that she made on her page. (and she’s only 15!)

The ease of use for creating there, plus the huge youth audience, is sort of what makes me a little annoyed that companies like DC and Marvel signed up but do little or nothing with it as it’d be so easy to keep up to date these days. (slide shows of the weekly comics, news letter bulletins and the like)

Oh well…

2. It sounds like this promotion was a last minute deal, made months after orders were already placed. How could the publisher have notified retailers of a deal that did not exist?

3. If same day concurrent release is bad, when would it be acceptable to give away digital copies in hopes that people will want to buy print versions later without having to tell retailers in advance? A week, a month?

4. How do you tell if the promotion works or not anyway? Are retailers selling out of all their other Boom books? This book apparently sold out, where the publisher has other books in stock, so either the publisher printed this one extra tight or someone ordered those extra copies.

But your mileage might vary.

Thanks for adding more mySpace comics info — I’ve never checked it out much, because I don’t like the random music. It’s like someone took all the “do nots” from usability guidelines and built the user toolbox from them. (Me? Fogey?)

[...] Johanna Draper Carlson looks at the retailer uproar over Boom! Studios’ decision to simultaneously release David [...]

It does seem weird that they’d offer it for free on the same day.

Myspace does open up comics to an entirely new audience it seems though. I know I was surprised to see something about 2 million people voting for some comic thing on it the other day.

I signed up last year to mainly keep in touch with some coworkers/friends (some of who went out of state) after our work got downsized. Yet it has been interesting to see how the comic companies use it.

Some are creative and using it to really promote their work. Others are just as archaic as in any other thing online. DC being the biggest one at fault there, as they seemed to just slap up links to their “real” sites and left it.(even ignoring inappropriate posts in their comments)

Marvel isn’t much better, their only art is for Civil War #1. Yet at least they do a weekly bulletin about what comics of theirs are coming out.