Publisher's Popularity (Con)Test bites their ass!

[ryuumajin]

Recently, the local publisher in my country made an announcement what would make their comics passable, but with UNDERSCORE and BOLD, so you know, implicitly, they want it done.

Fanbase.

Comments

[kitsunejey]

It's just my opinion, kitty. However, either that publisher had NO CLUE about how comic business works, or (probably) that publisher wanted that comic artists could be willing to do a "market study" FOR THEM..., but killing a lot of comic artists' careers in the process before those careers could begin, no matter if that was intended or not -_-U.

Thankfully, that rule was scraped, but there's something else that left me pretty concerned... As far as I could interpret from this experience, and as a fan of your Bitter Coffee comic, it seems that "niche audiences" DON'T have enough market appeal for publishers like that, ignoring that this kind of audience could grow, at least eventually =(.

[nseika]

Making the answer shorter… I think other than the free promotion, they want to tell the authors to look with their own eyes. There are not enough wallet ready to part with their money for Indonesian comic artists’ work to make the operation profitable.

[kitsunejey]

Hmmm, I don't know, Natsuki...

I admit that my knowledge about Indonesian Comic Market is not as deep as I would like... But a market study for showing local comic artists how much their market "sucks", and thus discouraging them to publish their own work, doesn't make much sense..., especially it any local editor has spotted a business opportunity in publishing comics produced by local authors (or at least, that's what it seems in this case).

It's true that some stories and genres have more market appeal for niche audiences than for wider audiences; it happens everywhere... But my point is that, if local editors really think that supporting local authors could be a profitable business, they should have THE GUTS for promoting those artist's works, which could help those artists to build a wider fanbase. I think this approach is more realistic than trying to "recruit" artist for finding by themselves a market that (sometimes) still doesn't exist.

[nseika]

Other than the non-licensed comic and several smaller publishers, mainstream comic industry in Indonesia is monopolized by a company. Even so, the market’s comic book consumption has been declining; production cost (and in extension retail price) has been rising while sales volume decreasing

[nseika]

Mentioned it before, old local publishers run tight. See how fast children physically grow, heal and change compared to adults and elderlies ? Don’t see them for several months and they could grow bigger than you imagined