Jun 30 2008
[Resource of the Day] - Publish or Perish, or Publish AND Perish?
Today’s article: Publish And / Or Perish
by: Brian Hibbs
via: CBR’s Tilting At Windmills column
I read Brian Hibbs’s column fairly regularly; it’s a good resource if you’d like to know more about the innerworkings of the comic book direct market. This recent column talks about TOKYOPOP’s decline as of late. TOKYOPOP has been the darling of the manga category for a decade now, but suddenly, the company is slashing production and letting work-for-hire folks go. What gave TOKYOPOP its competitive advantage was its ability to produce books that required very little work; since the company simply localized Japanese comics for the American market, all it had to do was hire some translators and re-letter its books. TOKYOPOP did release some original material as well (including the poorly done World of WarCraft books), but the company has had most of its success rooted in localizing manga.
Hibbs discusses the fact that the bookstore market itself is nearing saturation for manga and comics (which I would say is probably true) and that the days of growth are over. TOKYOPOP is feeling the sting the most because it’s spent so much time courting the bookstore industry and trying to get preferential treatment. But since TOKYOPOP has focused on the major stores (Borders, B&N, BAM!, Amazon), if those stores face problems, it does too.
Hibbs then goes on to outline a formula for success in the comic book “direct market”:

