Monday, April 23, 2007

Free Comic Book Day

Free Comic Book Day is happening on May 5th and every year i kick myself because i want to put together a promotional freebie but things always get away from me.

So this year and inconjunction with the publication of Sureshot Presents Best of OzComics, I'm thinking of asking retailers with old issues of OzComics Magazine to give them away. so they don't lose any money from the sales I'll send them replayment copies of the new Sureshot Presents for each copy given away.

Does this seem like a good idea to people?

It always irks me slightly, when i see those big A4 magazine issues taking up space on the shelf distracting from other books. So it would clear some space.
But is the magazine a good give away? They are at the least 18 months old, at the most 3 years - dated in any case. Would this bug someone who picked them up?

I'm not really concerned with the lose of sending out the new SSP for free (i did make money from selling the ozcomic mag in the first place) and I trust retailers to do the right thing.

but if anyone can poke holes into the idea that would be appreciated

(cross posted with a post at Pulp Faction)

4 comments:

Ian T. said...

Mark, I know I wasn't the only one who was peeved at not getting a contributor copy of issues as they came out - we had to chase them once they hit the shops, which was often well after publication. While I'm glad they did well, but it's ironic to have them being given to people who'll most likely throw them in the bin.

(On a side not, the set held by the State Library of Victoria was bought and paid for by me.)

Mark Selan said...

Yeah - i can understand why people may have peeved. No one actually said anything about it (you may have). I never promised anything when i asked people for content - though i do remember offering to buy drinks for contributors at get togethers (and doing so).

I didn't do contributor copies for a couple reasons; The A4 size meant postage was relatively expensive (thats why i went A5 for SSp) and getting to a Post Office is a pain in the ass.

Also if at least contributors bought the mag from a comic shop at least that bumped up demand a tad more.

Karmically i think I've balanced that out with offering 150 copies for free to creator.

but yes, it is ironic. i think the bonus of clearing same shelf space and maybe introducing local books to people who don't normally read them might be good.

so if you were a contributor send me an email or post a comment and I'll send 2 issues of SSP you don't have (which you can take up until i stop publishing SSP) or buy you a drink.

Ian T. said...

Thanks, Mark!

G said...

I think it's a good idea. But I have similar reservations as Ian that people will most likely throw it out since it's not new or up-to-date and it's free.

It's definitely a good karmic thing you're doing though, Mark. I've been thinking of giving away Knight-Edge #1 for this Free Comic Book day thing but don't really want to piss off people whom have brought them already. I might do it one day...