I See Posts Before My Eyes

halcyonglaze asked: Is there a reason why the pricing for collections in Digital form is the same as in paper, at least initially when the only paperback equivalent is the hardcover? Five-issue books are costing 19.99 digitally, which is actually MORE expensive (granted only by a few cents, but still) than buying the individual issues. It just seems odd that the price has to be 1:1 to me.

brevoortformspring:

It’s not that odd if you’re the owner of a brick and mortal comic book store or bookstore.

This rather puts a bit of weight to the theory that Marvel is in a precarious position, wanting to take advantage of the benefits of digital publishing, but not wanting to alienate the comic shops.  Records companies have had no such worries, as they don’t have the same kind of relationship with record stores.

But the real thing to remember is that digital comics are FAR more profitable to the publishers.  At least one middleman, and the printing costs, go away, and the publisher gets a great deal more of that cover price.  So much so that they could certainly discount that price, and still be making more money.  But that would be undercutting the comic shops, that that’s something they don’t want to do.  

So effectively, the publishers, in an attempt to play fair with the LCSes, are making more money off digital than print.

Nice work, if you can get it.