Earlier this month Diamond Comic Distributors, the largest distributors of comic books, graphic novels, and related merchandise announced that they would be going digital. Not completely, of course, but they will now offer digital options for traditional comic book stores in addition to their usual hard copies. DCD now joins an ever-growing list of companies offering digital comics such as ComiXology and Graphic.ly, however they are the only ones to offer both hard copy and digital versions of selected comic books.
To make this venture work, DCD teamed up with iVerse media, the creators of the popular ComicsPlus digital reader, to bring digital content to the more than 2,700 stores DCD currently supplies to. DCD and iVerse have made the process as easy as possible for traditional stores so they can make digital comic books a profitable part of their business.
All stores need to sell digital comics is the coupon code provided with the sale and a printer. The customer then uses the coupon code to redeem their digital comic book or graphic novel. Retailers will keep a significant portion of each sale and they will be billed only for the copies they sell on their regular DCD invoice. Retailers will also have the option to sell digital back issues of certain comics and they can offer special digital plus packages that provide a digital copy with the purchase of the hard copy of a comic.
For publishers, digital marketing with traditional stores could open up a new revenue stream. Publishers simply have to sell their digital content exclusively at the brick and mortar stores for 30 days prior to wide release on the internet or via other digital services.
More than 15 publishers are already on board and DCD is continuing to recruit additional publishers. This move by DCD and iVerse could be the solution brick and mortar stores have been looking for to compete with the growing digital comic book industry.
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Digital Comic Books, Diamond Comic Distributors