Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on July 04, 2016, 01:20:31 AMQuote from: Gisele on June 28, 2016, 10:10:36 PM
My issue was more about losing existing sales to Amazon. Current buyers might prefer to go to Amazon 'cause they can get free shipping and bundle it up with something else. If I get too many of those, I almost have to sell double what I do now to make up for it. If I don't sell double, I'm losing. Sure, I might get more sales, but that doesn't mean more money. In any case, like I said, I'm considering it. I'm just very slow at doing this 'cause, well, I do everything myself for the most part, and have a lot of the go. It's no surprise people like to use publishers to put out their work as they don't have to worry about this stuff, but when you get 10% of profits as a creator when using a publisher, you have to sell a whole lot of books, and I know that there are many creators out there who sell more books than I do but are poorer 'cause of the way the system works. But again, I may jump in once I feel it's safe hehe
As a print publisher, I've heard that Image Comics has some kind of different system than I think almost any publisher uses. All of their books are creator-owned, which is why they seem to be releasing brand new titles almost every single month. While I'm not privvy to the exact details of how it works, I've been told that there's some sort of buy-in cost to the creators for start-up costs on launching a new title.
In effect, you the owner of the property are paying Image Comics as a "publishing service" for handling things like accounting, printing, advertising & promotion, editorial services, distribution. Once the book is launched, if it makes a certain minimum sales, then you the owner get a much larger percentage of the profit than would be the case with other publishers, but retain 100% ownership and control.
Just having the Image logo on a title and being under their aegis for solicitation purposes seems give a comic more notice and opportunity for serious consideration by potential readers in the current marketplace (ironic, I know, considering what they started out publishing, and in a few cases, still do). Not trying to sell anyone on the idea, because I don't know anyone who works there, but the concept sounds intriguing to me, if that situation as it exists is what I've been told it is.
I may eventually try Image for a project. Here are some interesting reads in that regard btw:
http://www.jimzub.com/the-reality-of-mainstream-creator-owned-comics/
http://www.jimzub.com/creator-owned-economics-the-changing-market/