Webcomics.com reax roundup
January 6, 2010 | Posted by Brigid The news event of the week (so far anyway) is the Halfpixel team’s decision to make Webcomics.com a subscription-only site. I spoke to editor-in-chief Brad Guigar about the reasons for the decision, his plans for the site, and his reaction to the fallout in this week’s Unbound column at Robot 6.
Some thoughts from around the blogosphere
Eric Burns, Websnark
… the potential influence this site can have on the industry has just dropped precipitously. When major posts went up, they could be linked to easily on everything from blogs to Facebook to Twitter. Now, those links will lead to a request for $30 — and no one who follows the link is going to think “hey, $30 for a year of webcomics.com seems fair! That’s just two-fifty a month! I spend more than that on lattes!” They’re going to think “oh the Hell I’m going to pay thirty bucks to read some essay on distribution” and close the site.
Johanna Draper Carlson, Comics Worth Reading:
I’m not sure “it just isn’t the same” is a compelling counter-argument, given the audience. Many of them may see the posts and discussions as entertainment, especially casual/newer comickers who aren’t ready to think of their work as a small business. People are also rather upset that what was free yesterday is no longer, with no warning, and there are no sample posts or content available to judge what their money will buy.
Patrick Scullin, creator of Super Siblings:
No one wants to pay for news online, and if no one’s paying for it online then how do you stay in business? Who pays the journalists? Who keeps the lights on? Ad revenue alone is not going to cut it. If that’s true, then how does one expect to make it in webcomics? My answer has always been, aim low and have a day job. Consider the webcomic a small business that over time has the potential to make a one family income.
Gary Tyrrell, Fleen:
I can see the argument that WDC takes Guigar as long to produce on a daily basis as any of his strips, but with no recompense other than perhaps driving a few people to his strips (although I doubt many who frequented WDC didn’t already read his comics). That effort deserves remuneration, and Guigar has set what he thinks is a fair price.
I just don’t think that many people are going to pay it.
Gary also has a late update in which he reports that Guigar will be adding Terms and Conditions to the site soon and that Guigar describes the number of subscriptions purchased so far as “For a non-porn site, encouraging.”
Also, check out the comment thread at The Daily Cartoonist and Coyote Trax’s Wordythinks Podcast.
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2 Comments »
Some interesting discussion on this at ComixTalk too: http://comixtalk.com/marvelouspatric/rip_halfpixel_and_webcomicscom
I think Carlson’s point is the best. While many people want to turn their webcomic into a business, for the vast (VAST) majority of us, publishing a webcomic is just a fun diversion, i.e., a hobby. So the distinction between “will people pay for business advice versus entertainment” probably isn’t 100% accurate. Instead, the more accurate distinction might be “will people pay for advice about their hobby versus entertainment?”