Reinventing micropayments (again)

[Joel Fagin]

The second of my Comixpedia... Sorry, Comixtalk articles about micropayments is up after a month of annoying sickness-induced delay. The first looks at a reinvented market model for webcomics copied from iTunes and the second at how to execute it.

Part 1 - Reinventing Micropayments
Part 2 - Abandoning Micropayments

Anyway, I've come to the conclusion that pitching the thing isn't enough and that I'd like to get the idea out and about a bit. I was wondering if anyone here abouts would be interested in giving it a spin. There's lots of detail in the articles but the short version is that I suggest selling downloadable chapters of webcomics for a buck or two rather than try and get people to rent access to the comics or buy expensive books (as we do now). This market model is the same one that now has iTunes at the number three spot in US music sales (and number one online by a huge margin). Starline made $150 dollars in two months from this and Howard Taylor of Schlock Mercenary has raked in four thousand dollars from selling a colouring book in a similar way.

Schlock is clearly far more popular than any comic here but the key advantage isn't the money but that these things require next to no effort. You literally zip up your comic, rename the file and put it up for download. No third party merchandise merchants, no typesetting and no new artwork (if you don't want to). It'd about two hours and Starline, Howard and a couple of others have shown it works fine.

And I'd be happy to help anyone who want to give it a shot.

- Joel Fagin

[Kels]

Way, waaaay too early for me to be thinking of this stuff, although my strip is really suited to a collected format like that. Maybe in a year or so, but not quite yet.

[Tetsuo75]

Really? I mean, some people have told me that they've saved my whole archive to their hard drives (creepy, huh?)... you think anyone would bother paying for it?
Sounds very interesting, though....

[Adamiani]

What you're selling is downloadable versions of things that are already essentially downloadable for free-- there's very little value added. It's probably more viable than the micropayments model, though because most of the "cost" there is in the purchase decision itself (and in the hassle of processing), and you have ample access to samples instead of asking someone to buy a product sight unseen. It's unlikely to become a core business model, but it could potentially become a useful auxiliary to book collections, gear, donations.

Greg Dean's "Real Life Comics" sells color printouts of each day's comics for about that price-- save for being physical rather than downloadable, that's exactly the sort of you're talking about in "Abandoning Micropayments." I'd be curious to know if that's working out for him.

[NakedElf]

Really? I mean, some people have told me that they've saved my whole archive to their hard drives (creepy, huh?)... you think anyone would bother paying for it?
Sounds very interesting, though....

I theorize that some people would be willing to do so out of a notion that they'll be supporting an author/artist whose work they enjoy. At least, that's why I bother to buy books at the bookstore rather than just read them there.

However, the percentage of readers who're going to do that is probably really low.

[Tetsuo75]

Maybe you could value add... you know, throw in some sketches and unseen art into the zip file... that would make it more interesting.... you know, like DVD extras....

[Joel Fagin]

Really? I mean, some people have told me that they've saved my whole archive to their hard drives (creepy, huh?)... you think anyone would bother paying for it?

Short answer: iTunes content is available for free on Limewire. Why would anyone bother paying for that?

Longer answer: To save your comic, you have to painstakingly save every page in turn. Click "next", download the page, right click, save image as, click "next"...

A one click download that provides higher quality images in a neat package is much faster, more convenient and well worth a buck or two. Better than wasting a couple of hours which, at minimum wage, would cost you a whole heap more than $2.*

It'd also possibly appeal to people who maybe wouldn't mind downloading your comic a page at a time but really can't be bothered.

- Joel Fagin

* I am of course talking in American terms, BTW.

[Tetsuo75]

Sir, the more I hear this idea of yours, the more I like it ...

[Joel Fagin]

What you're selling is downloadable versions of things that are already essentially downloadable for free-- there's very little value added.

iTunes, which is a successful implementation of this idea and also competes with free content, actually has far less opportunity to add value than comics. Here we can have author's notes, extra strips, wallpapers and so on. iTunes just gives you the album cover art and could (but doesn't) package the lyrics as well.

It's unlikely to become a core business model, but it could potentially become a useful auxiliary to book collections, gear, donations.

You're quite right that all that you can expect for now is another source of income roughly equivalent to the others people already use. However, it's much easier to set up than most of the rest and the success of iTunes suggests the market might well grow if it becomes widespread enough to be noticed.

Not that we'll ever be anywhere near iTunes - music is far more popular - but I do expect it to get better than how it starts off.

- Joel Fagin

[Dr Neo Lao]

Man, I would be all over this if I had a decent archive to sell, or at least a decent comic...

[Spqrblues]

I've found that people will pay for:

1. convenience of having the comic all collected in one go, rather than having to click through the archives to catch up

2. convenience of being able to pick it up at a convention

3. supporting the artist--it's more like getting a gift from donating to a PBS pledge drive, than buying a comic

4. the tactile sensation of having a book with a cool cover or nice binding (didn't apply to my photocopied comic, but does for some collections made by my friends)

and, 5. at the convention, a lot of people were paying for the attention of the pretty smiling blonde (not myself) who coaxed them over to the table. Seriously.

Translating that to a downloadable archive, I believe it boils down to convenience and support. A micropayment of a few cents probably gives the perception of being inconvenient, especially if you have to set up some sort of account from which the tiny payment will be deducted, and paying two cents or five cents or whatever just doesn't feel like supporting the artist. Whereas Paypalling a couple or five dollars to someone, even if it's just through a donate button, feels easy and really does show support, which always makes me feel pretty good when I do it.

(Likewise, dropping ten bucks to iTunes may just feel more convenient than hunting around and waiting for a slow download of the Varese edition of the Conan the Barbarian soundtrack. Not that iTunes has the proper edition of the Conan the Barbarian soundtrack. I'm just sayin'.)

And maybe the artist could toss in a pinup of a pretty blond(e) with the download.

[Fesworks]

I'm still a fan for donations and an exclusive wallpapers.

Namier Deiter and You Say It First have excellent pay systems which also include a mini comic book mailed to you for meeting donation goals and donation amounts.

[Joel Fagin]

I'm still a fan for donations and an exclusive wallpapers.

This can easily be adapted as a donation reward, although it can't be so easily adapted into a wallpaper.

Actually, Howard Taylor's colouring book was a donation reward. I actually think it might be the better way to go. Instead of a mercenary sale, it's an exchange of gifts and just feels all round to be a friendlier sort of transaction (with the same net effect).

But I have no data on that, apart from Howards suggestive but entirely inconclusive $4000.

- Joel Fagin

[Spqrblues]

But I have no data on that, apart from Howards suggestive but entirely inconclusive $4000.

But Howard is the king of... well, all this stuff. Schlock Mercenary is such a special case, with its multitudes of loyal minions.

I was planning to make a pin-up calendar, but maybe I'll try doing it as a colouring book, because something whimsical might encourage more people to join in on the fun of it. "Dishy Soldiers of the Tenth Legion and their Buxom Camp Followers," as a gift for... what, for a donation, or everybody who donates gets one if a goal is reached? I've seen a few people try the "If I reach X amount, everybody gets a prize" model and not do so well, but that may have been a matter of lack of publicity. Someone who has a little extra cash to burn might feel particularly generous and go for a big donation that will benefit not just the artist, not just themselves, but all the comic's fans. People like feeling they've done something good and special, right?

[Tyras]

I suspect you'd have to have a rather large archive for this to be worth anyone's money. But it is an interesting concept, as they're not paying for the comic but, rather, paying for the convenience of not having to read the comic on your site. And people sure love to be lazy.

But honestly, I myself would never pay for such a thing. That's ridiculous. I can't see the benefit in it at all.

[Shishio]

As much as I like your idea Joel, I do see one problem.

Bandwidth.

You're saying that webcomic creators should make large, high-resolution copies of their comics available for download, which is a great idea, but to use the example you provided, both Ryuko's and Starline's "issues" were in the neighbourhood of 50 megs.

Last I checked, CG's terms of service prohibited hosting files to be downloaded, and even though they do not impose any bandwidth limits, something like this, if widely adapted, would put incredible strain on the servers, which aren't 100% as things are right now.

I would suggest "issues" of a much smaller filesize, and checking with the powers that be to see if they'll allow their clients to do this.

As for myself, it's not a problem, since I have tonnes of bandwidth that I don't even make a dent in, but I already provide a free downloadable archive of the first year's worth of my strips.

Still, if I can find a way around the problem I have with using Paypal, (That being anyone who sends you money can see your real name on their Paypal report.) I'm willing to make a higher-quality version available.

[Linkara]

The alternative (something I've been pondering for awhile) to making the archive available for download is to create original content that they could get, kind of like the Girl Genius model where they have both a free webcomic and an original title for people to pay for. The problem with this is that the majority of webcartoonists are both drawing and writing the comic and depending on the difficulty level of said comic's art, it may not be viable to create possible MONTHS worth of material for someone to pay for since the amount of buyers is probably going to be less than just the free readers. It's even worse if you have few readers to begin with,

[Turnsky]

i might keep this in mind should i get my own host, joel.

[Dr Neo Lao]

I don't see how this would violate the TOS and TOU of CG, on the provision that you hosted the zip files somewhere other than the CG server.

You're not supposed to host any non-comic material on your account (but the zip file is comic related) but the ad-free download would go against the 'ad at the top' clause. Maybe not specifically, but definately against the spirit of it.

You're only supposed to do profit-sharing for advertising on your comic (if it makes money that way) but as far as I can tell, merchandising is all yours. This would definately count as merchandising, same as if you sold books with the same material.

However, if a lot of webcomikers started doing this and it caused ad revenue to fall, I'd expect CG to review it's policy (which doesn't exist yet) on micropayments, but I don't see how it would adversly affect CG. If the file(s) are hosted off-site then there's no bandwidth loss and loads of people mirror their comics elsewhere (or use CG as the mirror).

So all up, from my limited knowledge this would be a fine thing to do, unless there was a major demographic shift that altered CG's cash flow...

[Joel Fagin]

I don't see how this would violate the TOS and TOU of CG, on the provision that you hosted the zip files somewhere other than the CG server.

I've asked Kisai so I could put in a useful reply here but haven't had a response yet. She did give Ryuko permission but that was for a test run and therefore a one-off and entirely different.

Thinking about it, though, CG could always charge 10c a download or something.

- Joel Fagin