From January 21, 2012:
Comics need to figure out how to evolve and quickly or else they’re done. The more I think about it, the more I love a Netflix type of subscription. It’s almost like a TV network where there is limited space so only some shows stay on and some some get replaced. Same here as it would not be financially smart to flood the market with titles if people are paying a flat monthly fee. Yet because of that very same flat fee, fans would try new titles and new creators, since their paying the same money and it’s all included. So the choice would not be, do I drop these titles, but do I drop comics completely (less likely if the price is low enough).
I think if they really pushed this, there could conceivably be 200-300K minimum monthly subscribers. With a price of 10-20 a month, the gross revenue would be 2-3 million in rental income. Spread among no more than 20 monthly titles and you got something going on. This would not include advertising or one-click sales for individual titles to own or the fact that this would feed people into merchandise and trades etc. It would less product but higher profits. And there is so much more you can do digitally than with paper titles.
I still think this is a great idea. Here is how I’d do it.
- $7.99 rental fee per month basic plan.
- $13.99 Gold Plan (includes 10 free monthly purchases)
- You get to read every single comic that comes out. You can read them for 90 days, then they’re gone.
- If you like a comic, you can buy it for $.99 and have it stored in your locker (or downloaded) forever. The Gold plan allows your first 10 purchases to be free.
- Social media, rate the books etc. would be built in and contests for sharing, commenting and so on.
- With the data engine this system would know what you like, don’t like and where you’re located. Lots of possibilities could be had such as:
- Recommendation engine too so if you gave the latest Captain America 3 stars or higher, it would recommend a trade paperback for you with a coupon to buy it
- The coupon would be good at the nearest store (which the app would know) and auto-generated.
And so much more is possible. Thoughts? CLICK HERE AND TELL ME
