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Comic Sales Soar After Artist Engages 4chan Pirates
An anonymous reader writes "Steve Lieber, the artist behind the graphic novel Underground, discovered that someone on 4chan had scanned and posted the entire comic. Rather than complaining, he joined the conversation, chatting with the 4channers about the comic... and the next day he saw his sales jump to unheard-of levels, much higher than he'd seen even when the comic book was reviewed on popular sites like Boing Boing."
Engaging your customer base is good for business...
4chan can use their powers for good?
Um... I just don't know how to process that information...
Those with high sales would see them reduce, and relative unknowns would see them increase.
Thus the resistance at the high end, and embracing at the lower end.
Fighting 4Chan is a bad idea. But exploiting them for money? That's new! Will this trend extend to other vendors such as Doritos or Mr. Pibb? Maybe that infamous "Dollar Menu? I'd hit it!" ad that seems to advocation burgersex was actually aimed at 4Chan.
(-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
Windows sales: post to piratebay
Thanks in advance, although, a cashier's check in the amount of Euro 100,000,000 would help.
Yours In Krasnoyarsk,
Kilgore Trout
It's the adjectival form of datum, duh.
Scientists point out problems, engineers fix them
altslashdot.org: The future of slashdot.
As Cory Doctorow says "my biggest threat as an author isn't piracy, it's obscurity."
What better way to increase sales than making sure that everyone has heard of your work?
...the comic was not about Gene Simmons?
is people like gene simmons and lars ulrich trying to convince executives that the real reason their sales suck is because of piracy. I guess this pretty much destroys that line of thinking.
This kind of reminds me of what Monty Python creating their own YouTube channel and their sales going up 23,000%. http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/kit-eaton/technomix/monty-python-youtube-move-boosts-dvd-sales-23000
Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon what's the difference? All steal money from devs and control with walled gardens.
From the graph that got posted, it looks like they DDoSed his bank account.
... how many of the sales were completed using credit card numbers that turned out to be stolen? (grin)
The summary tries to spin this story as "theft increases sales". In reality the theft just prompted the author to do the smart thing and talk to potential customers.
Apple is a good example of this phenomenon.
Treating your customers with respect is the best way to see them respect you right back, often with money and sales. RIAA needs to seriously take notice of this.
I can't wait to see his sales graph after he adds the /. effect. How do we stack up to 4chan in terms of economic power?
I'm ordering the TPB. I got back into comics about a year ago after dropping out for a decade. Wish I'd noticed this when it came out.
See that "Preview" button?
So that's what happens when you feed the trolls...
- RG>
Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
ComicRack is simply the best.
No, really, it is. But Comix is passable if you want a leaner program.
When you're afraid to download music illegally in your own home, then the terrorists have won!
Ah, but as shares concentrate into the hands of the few and powerful,but sales dwindle
Then the music publishers affiliated with the major record labels will likely start making accusations of cryptomnesia, or accidental infringement of copyright in a work published years ago, against indie songwriters and recording artists. See Bright Tunes Music v. Harrisongs Music for an example of how it could go down.
The B&W chapter 1 preview PDF on the author's site is NSFW.
It's a perfect time for being wasted.
A perfect time to watch the stars.
- Burden Brothers, "Beautiful Night"
will 4chan bless me with more rain if i sacrifice my goat?
Start with "goat sacrifice", and then sacrifice the letters in the middle of the second word.
[the game]
No, because they got to see the artwork and read the story, and then engage with the author immediately afterward, as a surprise. If he just showed up out of the blue, a bunch of jerks would be all "who the hell are you, and why should we care", etc. Others would think he was an imposter, and a ton more would assume it's a crappy marketing ploy.
Steve Lieber is a nice guy and a talented artist, and his comics are worth reading, but let's put this scenario into a little perspective. This is not a case of Steve posting to 4chan and then all the little 4channers running out to buy his comics.
Point 1: Underground could already be downloaded for free from Lieber's Web site, so it being "pirated" on 4chan wasn't that big of a coup.
Point 2: Comic book companies do not track sales on a daily basis. The sales that went "through the roof" were sales of signed print editions from Lieber's Etsy store.
So rather than a massive vindication of 4chan, "engaging your audience," or anything else, I see this more as a case of: A.) creator makes a product available online; B.) author manages (if inadvertently) to find an effective marketing channel for said product; C.) people who spend most of their time online notice the marketing and buy the product.
Pretty simple, really. Engaging his audience helped, but he would have been happy to engage anybody that came his way to begin with. The problem is, "build it and they will come" doesn't really work on the Web. Lieber lucked out that someone else noticed him and chose to promote his product in a way that he couldn't on his own. He was smart enough to pounce on the opportunity.
Breakfast served all day!
K.T., I find your advocacy of the distribution of dangerous viruses to unsuspecting cybercitizens to be reprehensible.
I think we're missing the point. 4chan (likley /co/) purchased, reviewed, and raved about a non-cp, gore or furry comic. That's quite impressive! In all honesty, I am doubting the validity of this because as we all know, such a cause and effect with the given circumstances is not possible around the chan. It requires filth, so much so that not even a mountain of dial-soap could be of any help. That's why I am dismissing this article by calling it fluff in attempt to get more sales.
It wasn't the free sharing of this book that boosted its sales. What boosted sales was that the artist got tipped off about it, and had a chance to introduce himself and interact with the pirates, and put a face on "the copyright holder" for them. He was no longer some non-person they could continue to not give a fuck about; he was a human being (and a pretty cool one) whose creativity should be rewarded. It's easy to rip off some anonymous corporation like "Disney" or "Sony" or even "Image Comics", but not so easy to rip off "Steve Lieber" and his co-creator "Jeff Parker". Lieber met them where they lived, and gently poked a hole in their disregard for him as a creator by being a real person. It's a good lesson for other creators... but it'd be nice if more consumers were willing to meet the creators on their own home field as well. If you like a person's work, don't just "share" it with 100,000 of your closest friends: bring them to the creator's web site or Facebook page or whatever, so he has a chance to interact with them like a human being. An artist shouldn't have to engage in detective work to ferret out the people who like his work; if they really like it, they should act like real fans (rather than leeches) and reach out to him.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
I think this post by Steve clinched it for the lurkers. http://undergroundthecomic.com/4chan_thread_20614483.html#20642617
No, you’re missing the point. With a physical object, like a house, someone else moving in uninvited would detract from your ability to use the house. With information, it doesn’t, unless you’re a snob... somebody else having a copy of your painting doesn’t interfere with your ability to enjoy it, unless your enjoyment of it was partly based on the fact that nobody else had it in the first place.
It’s more like they copied the blueprint for your house and used it to design virtual houses in SecondLife, which became so popular that people who would otherwise never have known about you came and wanted to buy copies of your blueprint to build real houses.
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
Is that you?
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
This shows that sometimes you will do better when you're actually nice to potential customers, and don't try to ram things down their throats or P. T. Barnum them.
These sales CANNOT compare to the BILLIONS UPON BILLIONS of dollars he would have earned had these evil pirates not stolen his property.
(signed, the RIAA)
If anyone in the industry is listening, hear this.
The last three video games I purchased were purchased after first torrenting them.
Nothing, and I mean nothing, will give me more incentive to buy something then a test drive--a test drive that ends with positive results.
You have nothing to fear if you create a worthy product.
And, in terms of reviews of a product, nothing speaks like seed/leech numbers...at least until someone starts gaming THAT as well.
Steve just reminds us that we all have a choice--you can keep paddling into that wave, or you can hop on your board and go for a ride. Either way, that wave is headed for the beach and it just might be the best one of the day.
People underestimate the power of not being a dick.
True
Not so,
What the artist did is called "good marketing".
If the artist had of run in and shouted "Pirates, ha, I'll sue you, and you and your grandma, I'll dig up her grandma and sue her after I finish having my sweet, sweet way with her corpse" the people would have just said "what a douche, I'll just copy his crap".
Instead he walked in and said "so... you like my work, lets talk about it". From this people got the impression that he was creating things because he wanted to, not to make a quick buck. It's not about guilting them into it as you've inferred. If it were that easy the RIAA would have a picture of a kitten with a gun to it's head on every street corner to remind everyone of the "real" cost of copyright infringement. His sales increased because people liked him, this is part of the reason Valve is doing so well, people like them.
This is good marketing.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.