Early this year, I wondered if the independent
comics industry was ready for an independent merchandise platform (See Do
You Want to Create Merchandise for Your Comics?). During the spring, I
created a business model that would fulfill this theoretical need and discussed
its’ potential. (See The Magic
in a Batman T-Shirt). Over the
summer, I set up a survey to test the market and see if conditions were
favorable for launching such a venture (See The
Great Independent Comics Survey). Now that New York Comic Con is just
around the corner, I’d like to share the results with you. While they don’t support my business model, I
still think there are some important lessons that independent artists can take
from the survey. This post intends to share both the results of the survey
and my interpretation of those results.
Methodology
Keep in mind that I am not a
statistician. I don’t have a degree in marketing or any background in
analytics. I simply asked ten questions
to determine the current size and scope of the independent comics market.
My questions might not have been ideally worded to generate optimum results. My
sample size (based on the Facebook, Linked In and Google + groups I belong to)
might not be representative of the overall US market. I just tried to work with
the resources I had available. This is what I got.
I broke the survey into three parts;
sales, distribution and merchandise rights.
Sales
Question
1: How many creator owned titles do you release per year?
Answer: 75% of the group
releases 1 or 2 titles per year. This makes sense since creator owned projects are often passion projects that have to take a
back seat to day jobs and paying work for hire gigs that up and coming
artists need to gain recognition (See Entertainment
Contracts 101). The reality from a retail standpoint is that more titles in
the market provide more chances for readers to find a title and a story they
like. If the one title available doesn’t suit them, the reader has to move on
to another book.
Answer Choices
|
Responses
|
1-2
|
76.67%
|
3-4
|
10%
|
4-5
|
3.33%
|
5+
|
10%
|
Question
2: How many issues do you release for each title per year?
Answer: 87% of the group
releases 1-4 four issues of each title per year. This reduces the market entry
points for independent artists even further, because readers used to monthly
offerings in the mainstream comics market are more likely to turn away from or forget
a book that comes out quarterly or annually. While it might not be realistic
given the time constraints, more issues of a title can raise the profile of the
title as a whole.
Answer Choices
|
Responses
|
1-4
|
86.67%
|
4-8
|
6.67%
|
8-12
|
3.33%
|
12+
|
3.33%
|
Question 3:
How many copies per year do you sell for each creator owned title?
Answer: 53% sell less than
100 copies, 23% sell less than 250 copies. This could be the result of many
factors, but depending on the price point of each book, this suggests that many creator owned books lose money and do
not recoup their initial investment.
Answer Choices
|
Responses
|
0-100
|
53.33%
|
101-250
|
23.33%
|
251-500
|
10%
|
501-750
|
6.67%
|
750-1,000
|
6.67%
|
1000-3,000
|
0%
|
3,000+
|
0%
|
Question
4: What is the average number of copies that you sell per month?
Answer: 83% stated that they
sold an average of less than 50 copies per month. This question is an
elaboration of question 3 that reinforces the idea that the overall sales of
independent books have a lot of room for growth.
Answer Choices
|
Responses
|
0-50
|
82.76%
|
100-150
|
3.45%
|
150-200
|
3.45%
|
200+
|
0%
|
51-75
|
10.34%
|
76-100
|
0%
|
My next post will look at the
distribution and merchandise aspects of the survey.
Have fun.
Gamal
Gamal