CBR: Scott Kurtz's "PvP" Leaves Image, Returns to Self-Publishing

[CBR News]

Citing the changing marketplace for his work, "PvP" creator Scott Kurtz has announced that the Webcomic published in print by Image Comics will return to its self-publishing roots.


Full article here.

[randomengine]

Interesting. I guess this continues the trend of declining floppy sales and the rise of the TPB.

[Crowley]

Sounds like a very smart business move.

Best of luck to Scott Kurtz.

[fredmanson]

It seems that the US comic book market is in its evolution. More and more editors are going outside the Diamond marketing.

Is this the return of mass media market with book/groceries/supermarkets chains and the real direct market with the Internet and retailers?

[petefromoz]

"Readers who discovered PvP in comic shops have shifted from monthly readers to online readers, and their buying habits have changed. The monthly floppy is selling less and the trade paperbacks are selling more."

I suspect that might have had something to do with the massive delays in publishing the "monthly" issues before they finally stopped all together.

#34 - due May 07, arrived Jun 07
#35 - due Jun 07, arrived Oct 07
#36 - due Jul 07, arrived Nov 07
#37 - due Aug 07, arrived Dec 07
#38 - due Sep 07, arrived Feb 08
#39 - due Dec 07, arrived Mar 08
#40 - due Jan 08, arrived Sep 08
#41 - due Mar 08, arrived Oct 08
#42 - due Apr 08, arrived Jun 09
#43 - due Jun 08, arrived Jan 10
#44 - due Feb 09, arrived Feb 10
#45 - due Apr 09, arrived Mar 10

Don't get me wrong - I love the comic, and happily paid for the monthlies as well as reading it for free online.

But when you're shipping reprint books up to a year late, with huge gaps between issues, it's hardly surprising sales fall off...

[keilthetarheel]

I suspect that might have had something to do with the massive delays in publishing the "monthly" issues before they finally stopped all together.

#34 - due May 07, arrived Jun 07
#35 - due Jun 07, arrived Oct 07
#36 - due Jul 07, arrived Nov 07
#37 - due Aug 07, arrived Dec 07
#38 - due Sep 07, arrived Feb 08
#39 - due Dec 07, arrived Mar 08
#40 - due Jan 08, arrived Sep 08
#41 - due Mar 08, arrived Oct 08
#42 - due Apr 08, arrived Jun 09
#43 - due Jun 08, arrived Jan 10
#44 - due Feb 09, arrived Feb 10
#45 - due Apr 09, arrived Mar 10

Don't get me wrong - I love the comic, and happily paid for the monthlies as well as reading it for free online.

But when you're shipping reprint books up to a year late, with huge gaps between issues, it's hardly surprising sales fall off...

excellent point

thanks for the dose of truth

[Scott Kurtz]

There very much is truth in the numbers on the PVP monthly but let me add some clarification:

1) Decreasing sales on the book were 100% my fault. In recent years my business has focused more on PvP's online efforts and I neglected the floppy. It never came out on time and it absolutely killed sales. Add on to that the fact that the book is a reprint book of existing material online and the fact that said material is being printed faster than it's being made and you can see the inevitability of something having to change. Or end.

2) My decision to leave image had NOTHING to do with the sales of the floppy. Had I decided to stay with them to publish future editions of my collections, the monthly floppy would have ended anyway.

3) A great portion of my monthly floppy readers moved to online readers before the large gaps in PvP's printing schedule entered into the equation. In fact, I think the influx of new online business probably helped draw my attention away from the monthlies and helped cause the problem in my publishing schedule.