Bergen Street Comics to go subs only on Big Two monthly comicshttp://ift.tt/LygNa1
Bergen Street Comics owner Tom Adams made a brief Twitter announcement the other night about changing his business model for Marvel and DC periodicals to a subs-only model. Adams presented it as a business-driven change and not anything to do with politics or a “statement.”
You can read the tweets below, but based on everything I’ve seen in the last year, and especially he last few days, I’ve become more convinced than ever that the way to bring new readers to the comics medium and to broaden it beyond the usual demographics of the superhero universe is via complete graphic novels.
I’ll have a longer post on this when my travels have stopped (I’m flying home Friday, snow gods willing) but I think it is important for everyone reading about Adams’ decision to understand that there is more than one business model for comics, whether it be periodicals, or books or digital. We haven’t reached French percentages of readership yet (the best selling American GNs would sell 3-4 million copies of we did) but we’ve improved and its still growing. The economics remain precarious, but there are more outlets and more revenue streams than ever before.
Bergen Street Comics remains one of my favorite places to shop for comics; kudos to Adams for making a decision based on his own customer base.
Over the next couple of months we will stop racking/shelving almost all Marvel and DC monthly comics…
— Tom Adams (@BergenStComics) February 3, 2014
…All titles will still be available for preorder, subscription and reorder. Will enable us to better serve our customers.
— Tom Adams (@BergenStComics) February 3, 2014
Strength of self contained, creator controlled comics will let us move away from double shipping, editorially driven…
— Tom Adams (@BergenStComics) February 3, 2014
…artist-swapping, inconsistent, tied into events/gimmicks comics. Trying to keep this a going concern/think longterm.
— Tom Adams (@BergenStComics) February 3, 2014
Still love tons of Marvel/DC characters/comics/writers/artists, just doesn’t make financial sense to continue shelving.
— Tom Adams (@BergenStComics) February 3, 2014
Also: Specific to our shop and my personal interests/passions. Nothing to do with other shops/state of comics in general.
— Tom Adams (@BergenStComics) February 3, 2014
Also also: Represent such an insignificant amount of Big 2 sales this should mean nothing to anyone other than our regulars,
— Tom Adams (@BergenStComics) February 3, 2014
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