Some questions for comic readers and writers

[Kafine]

and MOST IMPORTANTLY, be possessed. Humans are a possessive race.

I also am doing a paper, but mine is on something a little different than yours. Good luck!

Ahah... that's definatley an interesting point. I shall have to look into that aspect of it a little further.

Thankyou! Good luck with yours too.

I am in a bit of a fluster at the moment because I've got to submit a draft next thursady, and I'm going to Angouléme on the weekend... time drain! Arg. So sorry if my responses sound a little weird.

Thanks again for the responses guys, I really appreciate it!

[Thekornzombie]

If a comic offers printed versions, do you buy them? No, but that's cause I'm broke.

Do I prefer them? Yes. Why? Because theres something wrong about curling up with a laptop.

If you don't (yet) offer printed versions, would you one day like to? Yes. Not to put too fine a point on it, but it's more $$$$$

Aaand finally; WHY do you think, in the digital age, people will still even buy books? I say, yes, people will still buy books. Why? The answer is the same as with question #2: because no matter how great your laptop is, it still cannot compare to curling up with a book.

[Fabio Ciccone]

IF a comic offers printed versions, do you buy them?

If I like it very very much and have the money, yes.

Do you PREFER them?

Yes.

If you don't (yet) offer printed versions, would you one day like to?

Yes. I think it's a way to get to more readers and to have some profit. But I say that because I'm in Brazil and we don't really have a webcomic culture here.

Aaand finally; WHY do you think, in the digital age, people will still even buy books?

Because they're much more comfortable to read. I HATE digital books.

[Pip]

When more people have grown up used to computers I think that kind of preference for books will lessen. Kind of like how older people still read newspapers but most youngsters don't.

At the same time computers or whatever portable standards for reading develop are more or less fixed in size. You have to design content for common resolutions. Books offer more variety in size and non-digital content, so there will always be a reason for them to be around.

[Fabio Ciccone]

When more people have grown up used to computers I think that kind of preference for books will lessen. Kind of like how older people still read newspapers but most youngsters don't.

At the same time computers or whatever portable standards for reading develop are more or less fixed in size. You have to design content for common resolutions. Books offer more variety in size and non-digital content, so there will always be a reason for them to be around.

Now that's true. When we have a digital medium which is actually great, paper will disappear. Al Gore will love it.

[TheSuburbanLetdown]

The news is a little different though. It can be updated at any time and is always current so any news on paper is already old news. Things like books and such can't be judged the same way.

[TheWhiteWilSmith]

Personally, I'm more apt to buy the physical copy, just because I'm more of a tactile person. I still haven't fully adjusted to downloading songs on iTunes and not having it in my CD collection, it just doesn't seem like I "own" it unless it's physically there.

[Pip]

The news is a little different though. It can be updated at any time and is always current so any news on paper is already old news. Things like books and such can't be judged the same way.

I was commenting on its familiarity more than anything. The newspapers aren't being ignored by the younger generation because of a careful analysis of how quickly they need to get their information- most kids probably don't even check the news in any kind of way on a daily basis. It's just a cut-off point- because they never developed a habit for reading newspapers and have an alternative to get their casual news from they'll never get around to reading the papers. Older people who are used to reading them continue to, and they don't really suffer in any way for having one day's news provided to them the morning after it happened.

Likewise with books, many of us grew up reading before the interweb became such a common thing or possibly before it even existed. I put comics online but I'd much rather read them in books just because I'm used to that. There are however, people who are growing up with access to the interweb and most of the reading they're doing is of message boards/blogs/webcomics etc. These people are going to be less likely to form an aversion to reading stories of any kind online. If it ever gets to that point, maybe they'll point out how they prefer reading on computers or other digital means because they get to have thousands of books in one place rather than needing a massive bookshelf or something.

[McDuffies]

IF a comic offers printed versions, do you buy them? Do you PREFER them?

If I like a comic very much, yes, I do like to have a printed copy. Since it's much more complicated to order books from where I am, I have to really really really like it.
Here's a thing though, with webcomics I can sample goods before I buy them, while with most of printed comics I have to buy them first. I have a whole lot of comics on my shelves that I wouldn't have bought if I knew what crap they were.

If you don't (yet) offer printed versions, would you one day like to?

Yes I would if I ever produce a comic that's popular enough and worthy of publishing by my own standards. (LWK is worthy of publishing by my own standards, but many pages would have to be heavily brushed up)

Aaand finally; WHY do you think, in the digital age, people will still even buy books?

I guess people really feel that they own something only when they own it in material form. Then also, you have to sometimes take a break from the screen, right? It's not good for your eyes and it's very exausting to look at the screen too much, so I try to cut down on that by prefering to read things in printed form, when that's possible.

[Alschroeder]

Oddly enough, I am fairly lukewarm about print books of webcomics, and for that matter, web-versions of print comics. (Although I've been enjoying looking through Marvel's archives since my wife got me a yearly subscription to Marvel's Digital comics). I tend to prefer a comic in the original media it was made for---but that's probably just me.---Al

[Joel Fagin]

IF a comic offers printed versions, do you buy them? Do you PREFER them?

Depends on the comic. If the art and writing is of suitably high quality then I prefer it in book form.

If you offer printed books of your comics; WHY do you?

I don't.

If you don't (yet) offer printed versions, would you one day like to?

Yep. As to why, I'd want one for myself. (See last answer.)

WHY do you think, in the digital age, people will still even buy books?

Three reasons.

Frstly, what alternatives are there? Digital copies of books (whether comics or otherwise) have only just started to be seriously supported by WOWIO (for webcomics) and Amazon's Kindle.

Secondly, books are more portable and more manoeverable. And by "manoeverable" I mean that I can lie on my back on my bed and read before turning over and resting on my elbows for a while. I can slump in a chair, stretch in front of a fire or curl up on a sofa.

Thirdly, people like to have solid, tactile things. We even invent solid things to represent completely ephemeral concepts like "best movie" or "fastest runner". We like things to be real, to have texture and mass.

We want this moreso for achievements than commodities, I admitt, but I think it's a factor.

- Joel Fagin

[Renee Katz]

I've always wanted to make my comic into a book, even though I think they will ultimately become obsolete.

[Shishio]

IF a comic offers printed versions, do you buy them? Do you PREFER them?

If you offer printed books of your comics; WHY do you?
Was it requested, did you see a potential for profit, did you just think it might be nice to see it printed, et cetera?

If you don't (yet) offer printed versions, would you one day like to?

Aaand finally; WHY do you think, in the digital age, people will still even buy books?

Or any other thoughts you have to offer on the matter!

1) If it's good enough and I have cash to burn, yes. As for preference, I'm so used to reading on a computer that I don't really care either way. I buy books to support the creators whose work I enjoy.

2) NA

3) I don't really care about having my work in print. If there is ever enough demand to justify all the work it entails, then fine, otherwise, no.

4) It's hard to say. I suspect we'll always have dead-tree books simply because people love the tactile pleasure of holding something in their hands. (And I suspect that digital "readers" will not offer the same pleasure, but we'll see).

[Legion of Boom]

IF a comic offers printed versions, do you buy them? Do you PREFER them?
I would prefer reading someone's work in a book rather than hundreds of comic strips online. I haven't bought any lately but I have dozens of traditional and web comic strip book collections on my bookshelves.

If you offer printed books of your comics; WHY do you?
I've printed over 1500 copies of my Tubularman comics over the years and I only printed them to satisfy demand and to have something to show at a comic con. But that was when my comics were strictly in newspapers. Much easier to market to readers since newspapers were regional.

If you don't (yet) offer printed versions, would you one day like to?
Yes. Thanks to the latest print-on-demand services like Ka-Blam and Lulu, I have the freedom to do some low print run collections without much cost up front and no worries about unsold inventory. When I was using offset printers, I literally needed some of my books pre-sold before dropping $3000 at a printer. However offset is still a far superior print quality.

Aaand finally; WHY do you think, in the digital age, people will still even buy books?
For most reasons already mentioned. When I had my first job out of college, I was marketing coordinator for a small software firm. I remember vividly one of the owners standing in my doorway telling me that "printing will be gone in a few years." Very laughable. However his company's user manuals were phased out a few years later. But for the most part, there are more books, magazines and bookstores today then ever before. Despite the decline in newspaper readership (maybe its the actual content and not the format??), people still like to hold printed pages while reading something at their leisure.

[Ihatelapels]

IF a comic offers printed versions, do you buy them? Do you PREFER them?

If you offer printed books of your comics; WHY do you? Was it requested, did you see a potential for profit, did you just think it might be nice to see it printed, et cetera?

If you don't (yet) offer printed versions, would you one day like to?

WHY do you think, in the digital age, people will still even buy books?

I do buy and prefer printed versions of comic art. Some types of art do look better online though I think.

If I offered printed versions it would be because I know there are people like me who enjoy it. Also I'd probably add things to the printed version that wouldn't get uploaded, just to make it an interesting experience for the viewer. A little personalization or something maybe.

Books are a tactile experience. Something you can carry along that doesn't require anything but sufficient lighting to enjoy. Also, they can survive bathtub accidents much more successfully than electronic versions!