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Spent the morning number crunching and analysing comic sales from the past 10 years. Purely from a straight up economical analysis it's bleak reading. The clear market leaders are Not even considered 'top ten' companies (because most of the data comes from diamond) cont..
Graphic Novels for kids NOT floppies are the way to make BIG money if you're in the comics game.The big 2 are actually nowhere near the 'big 2' in reality they are 'big 6 & 7' with only a couple of spikes.The next biggest player only holds a 3% market share the rest 1% or less ->
The North American market for comics is only $1.09B so a 1% market share is only worth approx $109million gross or less to the small players. However nothing indicates from the sales figures online that the smaller companies are making anywhere near this from sales (cont)
I'd be fascinated to chat with someone that is transparent about their own figures, but it looks like even with a couple of flagship titles after overheads (at least $10k to produce a comic before print and marketing) it's a sustainable way to make a tidy income (cont)
But never going to make you super rich within itself. IP and Licensing will be the thing that makes you the most money - eventually - not initially (you'll need the product first) of course it comes down to what you consider a financial success (cont)
A check for $20k can be life changing for doing something you love. Unless the BIG two are paying huge amounts for creatives and #comicspaidme suggests not. As a creative It makes more sense to go independent and raise through Patreon or kickstarter. (Cont)
Of course that's difficult without a following or cachet - but if you are pitching anyone, it looks like scholastic DOMINATES GN sales by a long long way (some scholastic titles shifting 600k or 10 times Batman's figures) it's fascinating stuff (cont)
I'm of course working with the figures available to me which are hugely fudged by DIAMOND not counting scholastic in their figures (because they are distributing elsewhere). Of course some creatives just want a steady paycheck not to start a company (cont)
so the big floppy companies are a stable source of income if you land a gig. If you want comics to make you " Stinking Rich® " then the following is the (published) route (assuming you don't go the fine art /signing/commission route) (cont)
- Create kids orientated or Manga IP with the true big 2 publishers (scholastic and Viz)
- Create an original IP character through a 'creator friendly' publisher such as Image and hope you have the next TWD, SAGA or marketable property on your hands. Get a decent agent.
- Create an original IP character through a 'creator friendly' publisher such as Image and hope you have the next TWD, SAGA or marketable property on your hands. Get a decent agent.
- fall over in the lobby of a big publisher and hire an injury lawyer*
*this is a joke
*this is a joke
COMICS BEAT, Filings, Forbes and ICV2 is where I sourced most of this information. So it's only as reliable as its source.The key to huge financial success seems to be (as with most businesses)
- Popular product
- Creator owned IP
- Exploitable cross genre IP
- Licensing
- Popular product
- Creator owned IP
- Exploitable cross genre IP
- Licensing
I'm happy for anyone to pick holes in this. Please do. It's very hard to find the FULL picture unbiased by Diamond or publishers inflating their success through variants and numerous #1 launches. But on paper I don't see how some of these smaller tier companies can stay afloat.
It's no wonder some if the #comicspaidme page rates are as low as $50 anymore and the company could go under. (Not saying it's right, just a fact)
Final thought: if you look at Diamond figures MARVEL and DC rule the roost if you look at fuller figures including other distributors they are nowhere near look at VIZ and Sholastic (SOURCE: COMICS BEAT)
*note those pie charts cover both '18 and '19 but there's little shift from my research
