UK indy publisher Insomnia (who were behind the well-received Cancertown which went down a storm in our Belfast store during a signing and the new Burke and Hare graphic novel) are, like many publishers, joining the digital market. In their case they are in, right at the launch, with Sony’s new PSP Network Digital Comics store, alongside larger players like IDW and Marvel, an achievement which has the Insomnia crew quite pleased and, from what Crawford Coutts said on the publisher’s Red Eye blog, also quite happy with the support and help they had from Sony’s end of things too, which is good to hear. The Insomnia titles will be offered on the PSP in single issue length chapters after the print publication of the books, with the first chapter of each title being offered free as a sample to potential readers.
(cover to Cancertown by Cy Dethan and Stephen Downey, published Insomnia)
The digital/mobile side of the business is becoming increasingly important for publishers of all sizes, but for the Indy publishers I’d imagine it has the potential to be a real boon, adding other potential revenue streams for them and hopefully also reaching new readers who may well never have picked up a print version of their comic, even assuming they saw one on the bookshelves (and hopefully those online readers may feel compelled to dabble in some new print works as a result) as well as existing comics fans.
Sun, Oct 18, 2009
Comics and cartoons