CBR: EXCLUSIVE: Inside Dark Horse Digital

[CBR News]

Dark Horse Comics launches their new digital comics store today, and CBR News has an [em]exclusive[/em] interview with Matt Parkinson about the launch, what differs Dark Horse Digital from other comics apps and more.


Full article here.

[I-Ching]

Can someone please explain this pricing to me?

If you have issues that you would NOT be making ANY money of off because they're not as readily available and not available in the same format then why charge $1.99?

When I rent a movie from iTunes it's not the same experience as viewing it in the movie theater, however the studio knows that the profit from that avenue no longer exists to this one/at home SHOULD be cheaper...and it is. So I'm paying less but they're still making a profit. Win/Win.

The production for a digital comic is NOT equal to paper. It's not. Period. Those comics can be purchased over and over and over and over again but if I want Buffy Season 8 issue #23 there are only 40K copies available at the initial printing, maybe 25 at my local store and after that on eBay I may end up paying more than the original price so how is this digital format setting/maintaining this price?

I have no desire to pay $1.99. If I want to read Entertainment Weekly in the paper/magazine format it's $3.95. If I want to read it online I pay $0.00.

I have a strong opinion on this and I know that it's 100% opinion based and not fact but I firmly believe this pricing is completely based off of fear of a new market, fear of piracy, complete lack of experience/not wanting to pioneer something different from other companies (except you Archie!) and the price is based off of what you'd pay at the store.

It costs MORE than an iTunes single? MORE than even some tv shows? NO THANKS!

I'm am ready to take the plunge and read comics online for $0.99 a month! $12 a year to read titles I'm interested in but NOT interested in paying full price? Bring it on! However based on this illogical, based on inexperience/borderline fear of a new market I'm going to wait until companies can get their sh#t together. Heck it took them this long to get online to begin with!

Congrats Dark Horse but lets quicken the pace and get up to speed with venturing into a new market.

[chrisgiff]

I have a strong opinion on this and I know that it's 100% opinion based and not fact but I firmly believe this pricing is completely based off of fear of a new market, fear of piracy, complete lack of experience/not wanting to pioneer something different from other companies (except you Archie!) and the price is based off of what you'd pay at the store.
.

i agree with most of what you said.

i do buy digital comics from the comixology app pretty regularly and the one thing that holds me back from purchasing even more is that $1.99 price point. why price a book that was printed in 1996 at $2 an issue?

i really wish dark horse would have stuck with their initial promises of cheaper issues on their app. i assume apple is to blame since they have strict pricing, but there has to be a way around it...

[grphxkindaguy]

The comics industry will learn that eventually that NO ONE will pay exhorbitant prices for online comics. Keep the price point low or else people will continue to pirate them until they do.

Look what happened w/Napster when iTunes took off. Their $1 per song killed them and many other pirate sites...

[I-Ching]

The price point is definitely not attractive. The old adage "You get what you pay for." has to be considered here and when you have networks that will re-air tv episodes FOR FREE on their own websites as well as MANY publications that have online content for free a consumer will ask "Is this worth $1.99?". The answer will be a resounding "No" since many readers remember purchasing comic books for that same price, get to keep them, re-read them, sell them, trade them, etc. Now you get a one shot read for that price? How is that a deal?

I don't know, but would like to know, how much it costs to have a comic book written, drawn, colored, lettered, and scanned into digitial format. The cost of that should factor into their pricing/profit margin and not just selecting a familiary price once common for comic books.

Someone needs to bite the bullet and have their own online "Quarter Bin" for comics and really make the back issue reading something fun for reader to get into. The fact that the most common online commodity is iTunes and they have a CHEAPER price point is really sort of insulting to a reader. I would wager a bet that a song sung by Lady Gaga and produced by Red One costs more than a comic written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Ivan Reis and yet the comic more expensive.

I honestly and truly thing this current pricing is something that readers years from now will look back up in disbelief and laugh slightly at the apprehension and narrow perspective the companies are taking now. Archie has really thrown down the gauntlet embracing the $0.99 price point and same day option.

How great is it that I could give my niece a gift card where she could purchase Archie Comics for less than a dollar like I did over 30 years ago?!

[hondobrode]

Gotta say I agree with all the posters here.

That content has already paid for itself, and if the publishers truly want to reach out to masses, price it at $.99 an issue, not more.

I truly think a lot of people would pick up singles for $.99.

I like the cloud angle to it tho.

Someone's going to bite the bullet and throw down at the digital $ .99 price point.

It's not a matter of if, but who and when.

Bravo to Archie for leading the way.

Who's next ?

[EmperorEmperor]

In Dark Horse's FAQ page is a question:
"Do I own the digital comic I purchased?

You do not. As with Amazon, Nook, and other e-book companies, you don’t own the book you buy; you license the right to read it on supported and authorized devices."

The price point is the biggest problem especially since you don't legally own the comic you paid for. The prices have to come down especially for old material. The industry finally has a new medium where comics can become affordable again. Instead, they price gouge the fan base and scare off potential new customers. I hope this is an ongoing work in progress.

On the positive Dark Horse has addressed the ability to download so we can keep our comics we paid for, even if the Dark Horse goes belly up and/or all the servers go dead. Imagine if your longboxes in your home magically disappearing with no chance of getting them back. Though I have not tested the download feature yet.

Though there is no mention of any DRM. I'd like to hear how they addressed this issue of Digital Rights Management and copy protection. Another big (and generally expensive) sticking point that tends to favor businesses and not the consumers.

[MichaelJasper]

I agree completely with the pricing issues raised here -- 99 cents for a 20-24 page comic is reasonable. $1.99 for a 40 pager makes sense, though it's pushing it a bit, cost-wise.

Why buy 6 digital issues at two bucks a pop when I can get a TPB for about the same amount (and cheaper at Amazon, most likely)?

Granted, I'm reading comics on my computer screen or my iPhone, not an iPad.

But the prices should be lower. The same battle's being fought in print publishing, with some digital novels selling for 99 cents to $3.99, while other digital novels sell for $9.99 and up. I don't get it.

Keep the prices low, and you'll snag more readers, INCLUDING the non-traditional comics reader! Someone who's just browsing and making impulse buys.

And making first issues free is a fantastic way to hook those readers.

That said, the Dark Horse web store is quite nicely set up, and I'll be buying stuff from there as well as Comixology and Graphicly...

[mistergoodman]

Huh. So if I wanted to buy, say, Empowered Volume 1, the cover price for the trade is $14.95, it's $13.68 on Amazon, and it's $5.99 at the Dark Horse Digital store. And you guys have a problem with this? Dark Horse sells most of their paper comics for $3.50, but you're complaining about $1.99?

Dark Horse did want to sell comics for $1.50, but Apple put the kibbosh on that. (Apple doesn't support that price point, nor do they permit content sold through their digital store to be available digitally for less elsewhere. Which sucks and is kind of fascist, but there's nothing Dark Horse can do about it if they want to offer their content on the best digital comics reader on the market today.)

I've only played with Dark Horse's Digital store a little so far. It seems decent, but so far I don't see that they really allow you to download and backup your files on a hard drive. It seems like files just get downloaded and locked on a device, or you access content on a browser with Flash, just like ComiXology and other programs. Maybe I'm missing something. Lack of control over files is what keeps me from buying higher priced digital comics- it feels more like I'm renting a comic rather than buying it. But I'll buy some comics for $1.99 (just bought Serenity: Float Out from Dark Horse's store), and I buy tons of digital comics during the 99 cent sales.

[mistergoodman]

It seems decent, but so far I don't see that they really allow you to download and backup your files on a hard drive. It seems like files just get downloaded and locked on a device, or you access content on a browser with Flash, just like ComiXology and other programs. Maybe I'm missing something.

I was wrong about Flash. It looks like you can access the comics on a modern browser without Flash installed. Smart move.