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And so the orphan comics begin…one of the three most prominent comics reading apps is getting out of the app business, as Graphicly has just announced they’re focusing on transitioning all kinds of material—not just comics—into ebook format for tablets. You can read the whole announcement below, but basically all of the books you purchased through Graphicly apps will still be readable—you just won’t be able to download the apps any more.

That leaves comiXology and iVerse in the comics app business…for now. Ebooks are a huge and growing market and lots of print publishers are trying to get their products into the new platforms. Graphicly has been moving more and more into offering self-authoring tools, so it all seems like a natural progression. And where does this leave such comics-centric acquisitions as iFanboy?

For more infomation, David Brothers interviews Micah Baldwin and asks the big questions:

CA: Why did you choose to discontinue your digital comics sales service, as opposed to leaving it open for new sales but ceasing updates?

MB: We didn’t want to do anything halfway, and we realized that focusing on marketplace apps was pulling us away from our core value of supporting publishers and creators ability to be in every marketplace imaginable. Also, it makes no sense to have a marketplace within a marketplace. Books belong in the bookstore, not in some random app. And the success of the publishers who are using our platform attest to that reality.


Here’s the PR, but you’ll want to read the interview as well.

As you may have heard, today we made a very important announcement about the future of Graphicly and the direction we’re taking our business. Please take the time to read this as it outlines what changes are coming and how they affect you as a user of Graphicly.

Recently, we’ve expanded Graphicly’s service to help publishers get their titles in eBookstores such as Apple iBooks, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook and many others. In doing so, we’ve realized that this not only helps the publisher but also helps you, the reader to find great new material and read it through the various devices like iPads and Android Tablets, as the creators of those devices intended.

With this expansion, we have decided to focus on this initiative and work to help more publishers get more titles into these eBookstores.

You will notice that we haven’t used the word “comics.” That’s because the Graphicly platform, as our name implies, is optimized for all graphic-based work, from children’s books to art books to magazines to school textbooks to picture books to, yes, comic books. Every day, a larger percentage of the content that runs through the platform is not comics.

Have we lost our love for comics? No. But we know that comics are just one way to tell great stories; there are many others, and all deserve to be seen.

So what does this mean for you, the Graphicly user? Here’s a list of the changes that will be occurring:

As of this week, we will be retiring the previously-released Graphicly Comics marketplace applications. Our iPhone, iPad and Android applications, as well as a our Adobe AIR Desktop application will no longer be available for download.
If you have purchased titles and use these apps, you will still be able to read your titles via the apps, but you simply will not be able to purchase titles through the apps anymore.

Your complete library of purchased titles will be still be, and always be, available to be purchased and read via our website at http://graphicly.com/store as well as through our Facebook Application (http://apps.facebook.com/graphicly/).

To say we’re excited about this step forward would be an understatement. If you own an iPad or an Amazon Kindle Fire, or Barnes and Noble Nook or any other device, you’ll be able to access a wider library of titles and enjoy them in an optimized way, getting the most out of your device.

If you’re interested in reading any of the great titles from the hundreds of publishers Graphicly distributes, you can browse the Graphicly store at http://graphicly.com/store

If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to let us know – you can always get support from Graphicly here: https://getsatisfaction.com/graphicly/products/graphicly_web_beta

Thank you for your continued support and we hope you enjoy the future of Graphicly.

1 COMMENT

  1. I linked to this article over on Google+ and it has turned into a lively discussion the past two days among various independent comic creators about whether or not to jump into this new publishing platform Graphicly has started. Micah Baldwin stopped by the thread last night and has been fielding everyone’s questions and concerns.

    It’s still going and has turned into a wealth of knowledge about digital comics publishing for indie creators.

    https://plus.google.com/108110135961483137233/posts/2K7vD34Ei77?hl=en