Advertise on Eye on ComicsHow Much Press Can You Get for $125?
Posted by Don MacPherson on September 2nd, 2008
“There’s no such thing as bad publicity” is an axiom that is unfortunately absolute in tone. Ask Sarah Palin and her family if they think there’s a benefit to all media coverage, and you might find the language they use might not be as Christian as the Alaskan governor claims to be. Still, there is some truth to the expression, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a better example than with the upcoming publication of Kramers Ergot from Buenaventura Press.
Slated for release in November, the seventh issue of Sammy Harkham’s comics anthology is breaking from its usual format. The new issue will be 96 pages long and retail for a suggested $125 US. The reason for the inflated price is the unconventional, oversized format with which Harkham has opted to experiment. It will be 16 by 21 inches; reportedly, the unusual format will require hand-stitched binding, and the project is of such import to those producing it that someone will travel overseas to oversee (heh, homonyms are fun) the printing process.
The high price point, despite the justifications offered by its editor, has resulted in a surprising controversy. Some supporters of indie/alternative comics craft have criticized the move, arguing the editor and publisher is putting Kramers Ergot Vol. 7 beyond the reach of many readers who have supported the anthology up ’til now. I’ve also read a criticism that the oversized format and niche-market pricing smack of self-importance.
Speaking as a media professional who’s observed the furor and some more reasoned discussions on the topic, I have to say the shift in format and cost to the consumer constitute a stroke of genius.
From a marketing perspective, the controversy surrounding KE Vol. 7 has paid off already for the book and Buenaventura Press. Thousands of comics enthusiasts who had never heard of the book are reading about Kramers Ergot online now. Even Newsarama actually covered the brouhaha, and its alt-comics coverage has been negligible in the past.
I have to admit that I’d barely heard tell of the book before the price debate among comics bloggers, and it’s the kind of work of which I really should have aware. Am I going to buy the expensive new volume? Hell no. It’s too much for me to plunk down on the comic-shop counter, even if it weren’t something of an unknown quantity for me.
However, when I see a past issue of Kramers Ergot on the shelves or perhaps a more affordable future issue, I will definitely stop and take note of it. I’ll check to see who the contributors are. I’ll thumb through its pages. I’ll pay attention. And therein lies the success of the KE Vol. 7 experiment. It’s got people talking about the title where there was no discussion before. It’s drawn ire from some critics, but it’s also fostered interest and curiosity.
Regardless of the potential sales success or creative success of Vol. 7, it seems to me that the venture will be prove to be worthwhile in the long run.
To quote Oscar Wilde, “There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”
September 4th, 2008 at 1:46 am
Don,
Why is the marketing of this book a success if you aren’t going to buy it, but MAY buy a cheaper issue down the road? They need to sell THIS book. This is the big one. 3500 copies at $80-$125 each. A 3500 copy printing bill to pay, even at Third World prices! What do you mean by the penultimate paragraph? Why would the venture be worthwhile “regardless of the potential sales success or creative success”? What other types of success are left for you to feel this is a worthwhile venture? Spiritual success?
Also, the name is Sammy HARKHAM.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:18 am
Thanks for the heads up on my mistake on Harkham’s name. I’ve corrected it.
My penultimate paragraph means that even if Vol. 7 doesn’t sell, many more people are now aware of Kramers Ergot and are curious about it. Have people talked about KE this much before now? Of course not.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Clearly, then, thank God for me!
September 4th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Christopher Allen: How about branding success? Harkham has already stated that this won’t be the final volume, and the next will likely be in a more… approachable… format. As a bookseller I’m often surprised by the people who aren’t familiar with the anthology, I think this will help out in that regard (and help to move current volumes, of which many are in print). I think Don’s thesis is generally correct.
September 4th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Alan (the ADD in the comments thread above, for those who don’t know), you and Tom Spurgeon and Heidi and all those others who have debated this publishing decision have absolutely offered the benefit of publicity to the book — and to the brand, as Christopher rightly points out (stating my point better than I did).
I understand your frustration with the KE Vol. 7 format. If memory serves, Alan, you are a fan of previous volumes of the series, so I would imagine you would welcome the greater awareness that’s arisen lately. You just don’t welcome the reason the awareness has come about (I assume).
September 4th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Hey Don,
As I’ve said elsewhere, specifically to my situation, I just don’t welcome the $125.00 price tag for a title that historically has about a 50/50 blend of essential cartoonists and utterly irrelevant ones; more generally to the world at large, I don’t believe the current economy will move 3,500 copies of this book at any price over, say, $60.00.
Despite aspersions cast elsewhere, I don’t claim they don’t have the right to sell it at whatever price they want, nor do I think the price point was reached out of greed or arrogance. I’m quite sure it was well-intentioned, or at least deemed necessary. But again, for me, given the many thousands I have spent on artcomix by many of these creators over the past decade or more, and the lengths I have gone to to support them on the web, on the radio and through word of mouth to anyone that will listen — if I am don’t see this book as affordable, I have a feeling many other readers who would otherwise be interested will also be passing it up and waiting for the individual contributions by creators like Ware, Clowes and the like to show up in future collections of their work.
But if I am wrong and the 3,500 copies fly off the shelves, God bless all involved and I hope it’s a huge success in any event.
ADD
September 4th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
The press and hype is layered. For example, there is the initial publicity talking about the high prices and then there are the follow up articles that talk about the publicity of the first round of articles. Either way the name of the book gets mentioned no matter what the intention of the author is. This article is really the same as the first round of publicity articles and the fact that the article focuses on the marketing aspect doesn’t change anything.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Bob wrote:
This article is really the same as the first round of publicity articles and the fact that the article focuses on the marketing aspect doesn’t change anything.
I have no idea what you mean by the above statement.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:52 am
Christopher: Good point. I tend to forget the backstock and if the discussion of this volume leads people to pick up one of the more affordable previous volumes, or remembers the name for another year until KE8, then on some level that’s a success.
September 5th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
I can’t figure out if I want to buy 5 or 10 of these. The resale value of these in about 5 years is going to be HUGE! I’m gonna get rich!
September 16th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
That is the most foolish reasoning I have EVER read.
The IDEA that a high price-point book will bring sales to lower price-point books is IDIOTIC. Please provide an EXAMPLE of this amazing SECERT capitalistic technique.
Sequential art is a NICHE market. This series is a niche unto itself. It doesn’t generate sales to begin with. HOW, is raising the price point supposed to bring NEW customers?
It’s not even coherant enough to be considered a logical fallacy.
September 16th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Kirth, art comix such as Kramers Ergot is a niche within a niche market. Your failure to understand my reasoning doesn’t mean the argument itself it flawed.
You also misrepresent the argument. I didn’t say the high price of KE Vol. 7 would drive up sales on the cheaper issues of the anthology series. I said the broader discussion has raised awareness of the title in a wider marketplace, which in turn can lead to added sales.
September 18th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
So then, we now have AWARENESS of a product we have NO INTEREST in.
Amazing.
So I sell hot dogs. I offer a SUPER hot dog for $125. The AWARENESS of my hot dogs, in general increases thus I sell more $1.25 hot dogs.
Can anyone point to an example where this actually took place or applies?
September 18th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Kirth wrote:
So then, we now have AWARENESS of a product we have NO INTEREST in. Amazing.So I sell hot dogs. I offer a SUPER hot dog for $125. The AWARENESS of my hot dogs, in general increases thus I sell more $1.25 hot dogs.
Here’s an example, right from my original essay:
In case you missed it, I’m saying I might end up purchasing an issue of the series. Not Vol. 7, but one of the cheaper ones.
There are plenty of commercial circumstances in which manufacturers or retailers offer a deluxe version of a product while also offering a more basic, less expensive version.
Here’s a hypothetical: What if Buenaventura Press ends up releasing a smaller, cheaper, abridged version of KE Vol. 7. They may end up moving hundreds of extra copies just based on the discussion of the original, oversized, expensive version.