Indie creators, your day is here.
The transition our medium has taken into the digital realm has not been an easy one; it wasn’t that long ago that digital releases on the same day as print ones was headline making news. But now, after an ongoing struggle for indie/creator-owned books to become widely available, as available as anything by Marvel and DC, Comixology has finally put their new Submit platform out of beta and into the mainstream.
This is pretty huge. This is happening after the weekend of Emerald City Comic Con, a weekend where budding creators of all kinds tried to push their goods on passer-bys, who may only have been interested in where they can take their latest copy of “Batman” to get signed. Now there’s a new way to get your book into the hands of potential #1 fans: on their iPads, and not just in a “give us some money, we’ll send you a high-res PDF” fashion. Now you get a brand new kind of file, a brand new experience, and one that you can access anytime anywhere provided you have some kind of interface capable of an internet connection and app use.
Comixology’s digital comics are a great way to get new readers our favorite books. I’ve personally used it to turn non-comic reading friends into fans of various series, and it was just last week that I noted the digital “Cerebus” issues are a whole new experience of reading the book. By making this widely available as a tool for everyone, Comixology really will transform the face of the industry.
It will, however, be interesting to see the retailer reaction to this. Retailers weren’t particularly happy about digital comics to begin with, as it took customers away from stores. Now with budding creators able to get their content out there without having to push it to retailers, it changes the dynamic even further, and any retailer who was hesitant about stocking a local creator’s self-published book might be even more hesitant now.
Still, this is a great moment for the comic industry as we push into the future. Comics are about to get a whole new level of interesting.
For the full press release from Comixology, please see below.
Comixology Press Release
Starting now, independent comic book and graphic novel creators can build a worldwide following and profit from their work. Through a portal called comiXology Submit, from comiXology, the revolutionary digital comics platform, independent creators simply need to upload their comic book and graphic novels for approval at no cost. ComiXology does the rest, from transforming the work with comiXology’s Guided View reading technology, to making it available on comiXology’s buy once, read anywhere digital comics platform, which includes an iTunes top 10-grossing iPad app, iPhone, Android, Kindle Fire and Windows 8 apps, and a web store and reader at www.comixology.com. Creators and comiXology equally split all profits, with creators maintaining full ownership of their work.
ComiXology Submit enables independent comics creators, from promising new talent to established veterans, to reach a global audience of comic book fans for whom comiXology already created the first viable digital marketplace for leading publishers. At the same time, comiXology Submit bolsters comiXology’s commitment to bringing its customers the best and most diverse content available.
Independent creators’ works will be transformed into Guided View , comiXology’s groundbreaking technology that turns reading comics into an immersive, cinematic experience. Works from Shannon Wheeler (“Too Much Coffee Man” cartoons), Jake Parker (“The Antler Boy and Other Stories”), Becky Cloonan (“Wolves,” ”The Mire”), Richard Stevens (“Diesel Sweeties”) and other top independent creators are available today, with many more to follow now that the platform is open
“While we continue to push ourselves to innovate the digital comic experience, comiXology Submit provides an incredible opportunity for creators to sell their work to a highly targeted and global audience of comic book and graphic novel fans,” said David Steinberger, comiXology co-founder and CEO. “The next generation of creators will reap great benefit alongside more well known creators selling books that are no longer available in print.”
“This is also about making sure we always have the best, most diverse content available, the best reading and buying experience, and at the same time, supporting comic book creators around the globe,” said John D. Roberts, comiXology co-founder.
Continued below“ComiXology Submit opens it up for independent comic books artists, creating the chance to digitally publish comics that one can sell everywhere,” said Shannon Wheeler, creator of the critically hailed “Too Much Coffee Man” series and a contributing cartoonist to The New Yorker. “When I created ‘Too Much Coffee Man’ 20 years ago in Austin, I spent many late nights making the stupid comics. Then I spent long days bugging shop owners to sell my stuff. Then I spent minutes losing the invoices, ensuring I never got paid. With comiXology Submit, I could have spent all that time creating my comics and I’d have gotten paid twice as often too.”
More details about comiXology Submit will be unveiled on Saturday at 5:45 PM CST at SXSW Interactive, as comiXology co-founder and CEO Steinberger takes the stage with fellow co-founder Roberts and Wheeler on the SXSW GEEK Stage at the Palmer Auditorium in Austin, TX.
Creators interested in submitting works for approval can visit http://submit.comixology.com. Comic book fans interested in finding works by independent creators now available on comiXology are invited to visit http://www.comixology.com/submit.
About comiXology
Founded in 2007, comiXology revolutionized the comic book and graphic novel industry by delivering a cloud-based digital comics platform that makes discovering, buying, and reading comics more fun than ever before. ComiXology’s Guided View reading technology transforms the comic book medium into an immersive and cinematic experience, helping comiXology become one of iTunes’ top 10-grossing iPad apps in 2011 and 2012. Its new comiXology Submit platform enables independent comics creators to efficiently self-publish and immediately profit from their work. Offering the broadest library of comic book content from the top 75 publishers, plus leading and emerging independent creators, comiXology will not stop until everyone on the face of the planet has become a comic book fan. The privately held company is based in Gotham City. For more information visit www.comixology.com.
