ComiXology is probably the biggest name in the digital comics world, and their new service wants to help self-publishing artists reach the largest audience possible. ComiXology Submit allows artists to submit their work to be adapted into the “Guided View” format — for free, and have it distributed through the service, splitting the profits evenly with comiXology. There’s about to be a lot more digital comics in the world, and that’s just fine with us.
This isn’t far off from models being used by the likes of Amazon for eBook self-publishing, and similar to how Amazon uses CreateSpace to help authors get their work into the Kindle ecosystem. ComiXology is going to make digital comics easier to publish, and to buy.
Sure, artists have been able to throw their work up online pretty easily since the days of Geocities, but getting it seen and making money off it has been problematic. Being able to easily get their work on one of the most popular platforms for digital comics, and letting that platform handle the payment process is a big deal.
ComiXology launched Submit in beta a few months ago, but now it’s up and running for everyone. There’s no fees to submit or publish through the service up front since comiXology is looking to make their money off the sale of work, rather than from the artists themselves. Some might object to a 50/50 split between publisher and artist, but considering the huge audience, free “Guided View” conversion, and not having to handle payments, I’d say it’s more than a fair deal.
Go forth and publish.
(via ComiXology Submit)
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