6th April 2011, 19:44 | #5141 |
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Not entirely sure if it is realistic as I've got no idea of the numbers involved, but perhaps a system rather like many Video On Demand sites use could be a solution?
Last edited by Sheogorath; 6th April 2011 at 20:00.
In short, freeloaders like the majority here have to watch a commercial of some kind for every request they make (in this situation, a download) and the income generated by this gets donated to the artists/websites that own the material? It seems to help many other sites containing copyrighted material to stay up. In my eyes having to watch a video ad is a small inconvenience in order to be able to enjoy the releases artists work so hard on. @ the above post: Personally I think the idea of a subscription fee for an entire website is a concept that will vanish in the near future in favor of micro transactions, or at least a combination of the 2. If I for instance am only interested in a part of what the site offers I'll still have to pay the full fee right now rather than just be able to pay for those bits that I want to have. Another drawback is the fact that once a sub ends, you no longer have access to any of the material that was available at that point unless you resub. In the specific situation of comics downloading the images is of course an option, but often site owners will make doing so as cumbersome as possible to increase the chance of people not wanting to bother. Which in turn raises the possibility of future income. Finally there's the example you bring up Mick; failure to meet deadlines. Not many people have enough money to toss around to be able to remain subbed to their favorite sites constantly, so they'll sub whenever there's enough new material available to make a renewed sub desirable. Say I am interested in 3 upcoming releases in the next month. I subscribe in order to be able to get all 3 as soon as they are available, yet 1 or more fail to be released in time. I'd feel my subscription was wasted and the odds of me paying again for that content would become slim to none. A micro transaction based system would not suffer from such issues. |
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6th April 2011, 21:51 | #5142 |
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This might be a stupid question but why cant these sites make their content free and make money from advertising.
As shown by this thread there are thousands of users who would go to these sites if it was free. Sorry if this has been discussed before and i do mean no offence. |
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6th April 2011, 21:52 | #5143 | |
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6th April 2011, 23:16 | #5144 | |||
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I myself rendered about 5 issues worth of "Body Image" months ago as I went into my final stretch of higher education, but I have now burned through that stockpile and I am struggling to break even. We are all struggling as hard as we can, sleeping very little, eating very little, to get our stories done and done on time, making large sacrifices to our lifestyles to keep doing this. We get our stories finished, even if they are a day or two late, but please know this is not because we don't care about our readers or are too lazy to bother doing them. We are currently stretched paper-thin and even now I have pages rendering in the background. And this is just for our paying members; to work so hard only to actively lose readers more and more as we amp up our efforts is beyond discouraging. Concerning pricing, we are talking heavily about what we can do. We might re-instigate our super-cheap "Trial" memberships, or find an avenue for hosting. Let me be clear; if we can find a way to keep doing this to keep us at the minimum financially stable and get you guys content, we'll do it. But we're talking and restructuring right now. Again, it's not like we're a big, snooty corporation; we're just a bunch of guys (and gals) that do this because, like you, we like these types of stories and comics. We're open to ideas, and we're debating them, but I'd like to let everyone know every one of us has taken a big price cut or is even forgoing payment altogether to offset the costs of our comics. If we are to keep doing this, we need support, and we just aren't able to cut or sacrifice anything else at this time. Trust me, I know money is tight with everyone; I feel it too; but we've allowed these comics to exist here with full knowledge we weren't getting a cent from any download because we loved the exposure and passion you guys gave us... and we'd very much like to get into a position, financially, where we can do that again. Quote:
Our lifeblood comes from the readers, just as any medium such as movies, comics, games, and music, gets most of its support not from advertisement but from direct customer support. Again, we're not some big company with dental plans and paid vacations; we're just some average guys that do this as a hobby without much of the means to even pay for advertising space. We advertise on deviantart, hypnopics, forums like this, blogs, wikipedias, and even facebook, and we're looking for ideas on how to reach out, but to do it on the cheap. We're open to ideas, but it's finally reached the threshold where we just can't afford to have our comics be free anymore. We were outright losing far more than we were gaining from doing so, and real-life setbacks have only made things harder on us all. I'm so very glad most of you have been so understanding, and, again, we're looking at ways to turn this around and keep doing what we love doing, but for those upset by our decision, I only ask for understanding and a willingness to either support us or do without, and for those disappointed by the cutbacks and delays, please realize we are working ourselves ill to get you what you expect and demand as rapidly as possible with the modest resources and people we have. Thank you so much for all the support thus far. This is not the end, but merely a change, one that we are continuing to go through, and we hope you'll continue to support us even though we can't survive on generosity alone anymore. It's been great getting feedback and hearing the cries for more of our comics, and so long as those remain, we'll struggle to get them to you, somehow and someway. |
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6th April 2011, 23:25 | #5145 |
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Hey guys, no worry...there are a lot of other aritst outside with also great content....And between me and finister is everthing ok...we had no problems, but he must react but this had an another background...
he also told me it is like taking a bucket of water out of the ocean as far as having any effect on content sharing of my stuff .... maybe we find a way that both sides can live with...or maybe they can find a way that they get paid per view.....If I look at my thread and the views...nearly 8 000 000...if they do it that way and get for every view one cent (that won't hurt..)..they will not have problems anymore..... |
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7th April 2011, 04:53 | #5146 |
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Hello everyone
Hi everyone. Doc Robo here. My friends Trishbot, Akonkid, and Finister Foul recently alerted me to the discussion here. I have been following the conversation casually for a few days now, but I wanted to take a minute to chime in and share some thoughts, if you don't mind.
I am of two minds about the whole concept of free sharing. As a comics creator and owner, I don't much like it. But as a comics fan and consumer, I can see the obvious benefits. Akonkid made a good point earlier (and I'm paraphrasing): We wish we could do this for free. Or, even more truthfully, we wish we could make so much money on this that we wouldn't mind if a few comics were given away for free. Regardless, we do have an obligation to HIPcomix and MCcomix to protect the rather small business, and the paying customers. It certainly isn't personal. That said, I have read your comments about our work, specifically regarding Metrobay Comix, and I am pleased that most of you seem to enjoy what we do. It is really gratifying to pour so much time and effort into a creation like Metrobay, and get such a positive response to it. I thank you all for the kind words, and I hope that we can work something out in the near future so you all can continue to keep up on the great stories we have to offer. Thanks again, - Doc |
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7th April 2011, 05:23 | #5147 |
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I was a member for awhile. I found them through this thread. I was a big fan of Badabooms work. But because of the same thing of every one cutting back, I had to cancel. Updates got fewer and I made a request that never came to be. So that made my decision of which site to choose. Sorry! It is good to Air Out your concerns and let the Fans express there issue's. Maybe If you had an Artist rotate once a month on filling a request that was voted on. Let the Artist pick a few request then put a poll and have people vote on what story they would like to see. Maybe that would keep people interested more and less cancellations. Just a thought.
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7th April 2011, 10:27 | #5148 |
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Thanks to the Artists
HeHo Let's Go !
I would like to thank Akonkid, Doc Robo (and their friends in the background) for explaining and discussing with us. That takes b*lls. Hats off. And ole 'doc' I for one (I think we can state 'we') indeedy verrrrrrry like the work you guys (and girls ? ) do and these interesting cities you all create. Wishing you all a million Greetz, LeeMJvd - NL |
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7th April 2011, 16:04 | #5149 | |
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