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Is it possible to make CHKDSK print the files that are affected?

Is it possible to make any profit from a small- or medium-sized comic book print run if the book is sold in a store?

  • I have a consignment agreement on the table with a comic shop for a 50/50 split. As far as I know, that's reasonable. But I did a small print run, so a 50/50 split is a total loss for me. I printed with Kablam (http://www.ka-blam.com) on a short run, but when reprints are are in order I'll have to switch printers. Still, is it even possible to get print costs low enough where I can make some money too? Raising the price is obviously not an option - nobody is going to buy a $5 single issue even if it is 28 pages of full color. I already have a digital version on major outlets (graphicly, Kindle, iBooks, etc), but I don't want to abandon the paper medium completely. It just doesn't make sense to take a loss on every issue.

  • Answer:

    It's possible to be profitable, but it's not easy!!! Your biggest obstacle is going to be color printing, which -- as you've already found out -- is @#$%ing expensive! To keep your printing costs as low as possible, I recommend looking into alternatives to boutique printers like Ka-Blam and comicXpress. While they do good work, they're not very cost effective. Personally, I've found that ordering my color copies from a discount website (like Best Value Copy, for example) saves me a ton of money. But that also means I need to get my pages cut (I use FedEx Office, it's cheaper than having the discount copy service cut them). And that means I need to fold and staple (with an inexpensive booklet stapler) the comics myself. That seemed unfathomable to me when I started self-publishing, but nowadays I've come to appreciate the experience of getting hands-on with every comic book I produce. With that said, I'm not using myself as an example of profitability. I'm just saying that it can be achieved if you work hard enough at it. Also, try to convince shops on a 60/40 or 70/30 split instead. They'll understand if you explain it to them... they know you're not Marvel and DC, and it's not fair to be held up to their mass distribution standards when you're hustling and doing every step of the production process.

Nick Marino at Quora Visit the source

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This is a three parter: "not really"-Paid Artist/Writer: If you are looking to be compensated for your time and effort (even at minimum wage level, let alone livable wage) the answer is often," no." And that answer does not always reflect the subjective question of quality work or concept. "As an investment maybe."-IP and Art Owner: However, if you control your IP, your original art and create a market strategy that accurately consideres the market place value of your comic, then over time you could get paid for your effort over time. "For expenses...sure."-Puisher: All you need to do for the printing-retail sales part is consider your expenses per issue and assess a reasonable expectation on the demand of your product and cost of promotion. Include all this in the cover price and you can (especially if the price is low and the print run is low) brake even...or turn a profit even.

Ben Cohen

Are you sure there are no cheaper printers available? I realize printing a comic book is not like printing a regular book, but if you can lower the printing cost, it might help. You could also consider the printed books as promotion to boost your more lucrative online sales. If you have to, bump up the book price a bit, and if people know that the online version is cheaper, they might buy it there instead.

Alexandre Coutu

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