From: jrd@frame.com (James Drew)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.furry
Subject: Re: Where's the *discussion*?
Date: 22 Dec 1992 14:26:02 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

David DeSimone (fox@rei.com (Fuzzy Fox)) writes:

>jrd@frame.com (James Drew) writes:
>
>>(Advertise Barbie comics in Barbie Magazine.  Sell Disney comics at Disney
>>theme parks.  Advertise science fiction comics in F&SF or Asimov's.  What a
>>*ludicrous* idea!  Heaven forbid that the comics should actually *sell*, not
>>to mention bring in *new* readers.)
>
>Could you repeat this another way?  I'm not sure I understand what point
>you're trying to make here.

While you *may* be being sarcastic, I'll have to assume otherwise, and explain.

Comic book publishers largely speak out of both sides of their mouths when
it comes to producing and marketing comics for audiences other than early
or pre-adolescent boys.  On the one hand, they say, "We need to produce comics
that will appeal to older readers, to women, to people who don't currently
read comic books."  But when it comes to marketing and promoting those books,
they do and say little.

Examples:

* Barbie comics (Barbie and Barbie Fashion) are available only in specialty
stores and on the newsstands.  There is a magazine (monthly?  bi-monthly?)
dedicated to Barbie, but Marvel doesn't advertise its comics there.  Barbie's
are sold in Toys 'R' Us and other stores, but Marvel doesn't put their
Barbie comics there.  (Put them three-to-a-bag, like with the Warner/DC's in
the late 70's.)

* Disney Comics imploded last year, because their titles weren't selling well
enough.  More than half the line was cancelled.  Disney has several major
theme parks around the world, and a chain of stores selling Disney
memorabilia.  Disney Comcs is an honest-to-God arm of Disney, not a simple
licensor, like Gladstone.  Are Disney Comics for sale at the Disney Store?
No.  Are Disney Comics for sale at Disney theme parks.  Yes, but only at a
single newsstand at the MGM park in Florida, on the same rack as Spider-Man
and Superman.

* The 'Nam started out as a newsstand title, but the marketing people said,
"It won't sell."  Against all odds, it did: at one point, I'm told it was
near 300,000 copies per issue.  Then the marketing people made it Direct
Sales only, and raised the price; sales dropped to 50,000 or so.  "See, we
told you it wouldn't sell," they said.

* Atlantis Chronicles, a comic definitely aimed at a more mature audience,
was given *no* promotion by DC Comics.

Simply put, *any* comic aimed at something beyond the super-hero market is
going to have to fight to hold its own.  If it is aimed at a demographic
groups currently not well-represented in the comics market, then it is going
to have an uphill battle, especially if that demographic group is not aware
that the comic even exists.  If you have a genre comic, then the best way
to maximize its sales is to tell the people who might want to buy it that it
exists.  Albedo and The Ray Bradbury Chronicles should be advertised in
science fiction magazines (with a line "Available at your local comic book
store, or by mail, at 1-800-555-1234.  VISA and MasterCard accepted.");
Barbie should be advertised in Barbie Magazine, and sold at toy stores;
Disney Comics should be advertised in Disney publications, and sold at the
Disney Store; when a soap opera comic is published, it should be advertised in
Soap Opera Digest.

It takes a little extra effort to do some of these things, but they *will*
pay off.  More hologram trading cards will not, in the long run.

------------------------------
                             |     "What are the odds?!" said Tam, waving a
Jim Drew                     | piece of paper tape.  "*Three* fortunes in a
jrd@frame.com                | row, and *all* the same!"
(Furry: Randy Puritan)       |     I took the tape and read it aloud.
"Innocent, but not naive."   |     "Hershey... Hershey..."
B(2)h t c k s g+(p) rv p e   |     "He has *Ch*inese *c*ookies confused with
S8/5 g l+ y+ o+ a+ u++- j++  | *ch*ocolate *k*isses," I told Ron.
{opinions: mine != frame's}  |     "His alliterative attempts are *always*
                             | annoying," Ron replied.
                             |		- Marc Lynx, "Gaol House Rock"