Heh heh, that really was ripped word for word from Agnostica.com, right down to the announcement of the "100th" anniversary. Of course, the funny thing is that that "news" item announced the launch of the Agnostica site, two years ago when it was the 100th year anniversary, for sure.
Guess I need to update the site more often.
Nice to know the folks at Slashdot celebrate Agnostica, though!
Scott is right about the unfortunate future of web advertising (which seems to be convinced the "future" involves pop-up ads, interstitials, and pretty much anything annoying you'd find on a porn site). However, he's forgotten that the web is free and is pretty much stuck that way. There will always be free stuff on the web and if you charge for your stuff, no one will come see it.
Since McCloud's recent strip, it's been suggested that Keenspot Comics (home of half the comics listed here) start this micropayment trend. However, I think this would be a really bad move. As it has been stated, this would only work for comics that are already popular and would surely stunt the growth of even popular comics. What new reader would pay for Nukees when Goats is available for free? Even though Keenspot and Keenspace house most of the webcomics out there, only the most die-hard fans will bother paying when all other web content is free. For artists that have worked for years for little to no pay, I think readership and artistic integrity is still more important than cash.
I think the solution, if the advertising market continues to die, is "Pay for convenience," not for content. We may, for instance, institute subscription rates for email delivery, or even home paper delivery (would you pay for a monthly digest of your favorite webcomic snailmailed to you?)
The real question is what will people pay for? Will people pay for convenience? It's difficult to tell. It was mentioned that Carson Fire of Elf Life has recently offered a cast shirt for sale, but it was not mentioned that few have bought that shirt. I've seen lots of shirts go unsold even though reader polls have shown high interest. So it turns out readers are lying when they say they'll pay for something? I think so. That music label buying Napster, for instance, is convinced that 1/2 of the current users will pay a $15/month fee for its use, based on a poll they conducted. How many of you believe that?
So what will people pay for? That's the real question.
Slashdot Mirror
Heh heh, that really was ripped word for word from Agnostica.com, right down to the announcement of the "100th" anniversary. Of course, the funny thing is that that "news" item announced the launch of the Agnostica site, two years ago when it was the 100th year anniversary, for sure.
Guess I need to update the site more often.
Nice to know the folks at Slashdot celebrate Agnostica, though!
Since McCloud's recent strip, it's been suggested that Keenspot Comics (home of half the comics listed here) start this micropayment trend. However, I think this would be a really bad move. As it has been stated, this would only work for comics that are already popular and would surely stunt the growth of even popular comics. What new reader would pay for Nukees when Goats is available for free? Even though Keenspot and Keenspace house most of the webcomics out there, only the most die-hard fans will bother paying when all other web content is free. For artists that have worked for years for little to no pay, I think readership and artistic integrity is still more important than cash.
I think the solution, if the advertising market continues to die, is "Pay for convenience," not for content. We may, for instance, institute subscription rates for email delivery, or even home paper delivery (would you pay for a monthly digest of your favorite webcomic snailmailed to you?)
The real question is what will people pay for? Will people pay for convenience? It's difficult to tell. It was mentioned that Carson Fire of Elf Life has recently offered a cast shirt for sale, but it was not mentioned that few have bought that shirt. I've seen lots of shirts go unsold even though reader polls have shown high interest. So it turns out readers are lying when they say they'll pay for something? I think so. That music label buying Napster, for instance, is convinced that 1/2 of the current users will pay a $15/month fee for its use, based on a poll they conducted. How many of you believe that?
So what will people pay for? That's the real question.
Darren "Gav" Bleuel
Keenspot Comics
Nukees, an atomic comic.
Lates...
Darren "Gav" Bleuel
Nukees, an atomic comic