Woke up this morning and saw the following link over at Comixtalk.

“Todd Allen cranks through some numbers on whether creators would be better off working outside of the Marvel/DC-plex. This is all coming out of a very comic book-specific debate Robert Kirkman and Brian Bendis had online earlier this year. (One web-related bit – he has the PvP comic book sales numbers in his chart.)”

Robert is a friend of mine, I’m interested in this debate, and my name is mentioned. That was a sure-fire clickthru for me.

So, let’s get to first things first: Are Todd’s numbers right for PvP? Yes. PvP sells on average around 3k a month. It breaks even and makes anywhere from 300-500 bucks for me per issue. So to categorize the monthly title as “making beer money” is pretty accurate. Used to be a lot more but I’ve done a lot to ruin that profit margin. Here are some tips for those of you who want to make your own monthly titles.

1) Don’t reprint material that’s free on the web.
2) Don’t tell people IN the comic that the same material is free on the web.
3) Don’t be habitually late telling people in a print comic that they can get the same material for free on the web.

Todd really needs to take Trade paperback collections into account though. The trade paperbacks are doing gangbusters for me, especially the ones I sell directly to you online. The monthly title though? Yeah. Beer money these days. A lot of time the monthly title breaking even or making beer money is all you need to get to the collection that brings the real payday.

This is one contributing factor to why as of issue 50, PvP will stop being a monthly Image title. The book has really become nothing more than a sad monthly placeholder. Looking at the numbers of what I sell through the year, it’s clear what fans want: Larger collections of web-strips, and new PvP material that’s not on the web (preferably in comic BOOK style format). So that’s what I’m going to give you in 2009.

I thought about selling the monthly title online directly to readers, but it’s too expensive mailing something that has to arrive in pristine condition. That’s why offering those back-issue grab-bags didn’t go over so hot. People were furious they arrived with a dinged corner or a bent cover. Nobody just reads comics anymore. We need to go back to a time when comics were rolled up and stuffed in pockets maybe.

But then again, I guess traditional magazines don’t have that problem and even despite higher circulation numbers they can’t even stay afloat.

Anyway. Food for thought. Read the article. It’s a good read-thru.