The various items of a customer's order are then consolidated and sent to the customer's home whether in Billings, Mont., or Bintulu, Malaysia. Before the business began, there were very few Internet sites that dealt with miniature model kits, but now hundreds of Web sites sell some form of these products. Another example of lower barriers to entry is in the comic industry. Paul Buethe, creator of Slow Jacket Cartoon Syndicate, has been drawing comics almost all his life. Buethe, who over the past five years has tried to break into the comic industry, has finally succeeded.
Wholesalers receive hundreds of applications from artists but only contract with a few.
These few lucky artists might receive up to 50 percent of the revenue that the newspapers, magazines and other retailers pay the wholesalers. Buethe entered the comic industry after a friend, who was interested in learning about building Web pages, built a basic Web page for Slow Jacket. For a few hundred dollars in fees to obtain copyrights, a Post Office box, a phone service, a Web site address and an Internet service provider, Slow Jacket was in business. Slow Jacket's electronic business strategy is to create an entertaining site that would sell various cartoonist creations. Buethe started to promote the Web site through savvy use of search engine technology and guerilla advertising techniques.