FREE COMICS! (would you pay to read them?)
March 9th, 2008Gary, of FLEEN, has posted a link to a compelling idea from Dawn Douglas over at Dawnkey Notes. Basically, Dawn is creating a syndicate for comics this year and part of that service will offer readers a place to purchase a cartoon for display. Think cell phones, PDA’s and the like. The model seems to take a page from the large cell companies, like purchasing desktop pics for your cell. Interesting ideas and I really look forward to seeing how this all pans out. On that note, I finished reading a fascinating article in WIRED called Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business. This is a MUST read article. You can read Dawn’s take on the article here.
My take on FREE COMICS? Seems like no one wants to pay for content on the web. I mean no one. Until that paradigm shifts; offering up free entertainment then building a following thus generating ad revenue and selling swag seems to be the best working business model for the webcomic artist. Dawn? Prove me wrong.
March 9th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Hi Dave, thanks for the interest.
INKswig2008 isn’t the full vision of our model, which is to change the “free” culture by giving everybody a stake in respecting digital copyright. (Part of this is that people can earn back more money than they spend on the cartoons if they choose to participate in our advertising program that will attach an ad *they select* to the cartoons they choose.)
But my problem has been that venture capitalists always want proven success BEFORE they will invest. So I’m trying to launch a very scaled down version of what we want to do, just to give these money guys a taste of what’s possible.
So, yeah, I hope to prove you wrong.
Cute strip btw. I’ve always been attracted to the little body/big head style. Good job with it!
March 9th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Oh, btw, Dave, your title is misleading. All of our cartoons can be read for free. They only need to pay if they want to take a copy to display somewhere and talk about it with their friends and visitors to their blog or whatever.
March 9th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Thanks, Dawn. I didn’t mean to mislead anyone regarding INKswig2008. I was merely creating a provocative headline to get more attention to the “free” business model that is so prevalent. I want to learn more about INKswig2008 or SWIG.