Posted in: Comics | Tagged: G.Willow Wilson, marvel, ms marvel, peter david, trade waiting

Ms. Marvel Co-Creator G. Willow Wilson On Comics Sales: "It's The Industry's Job To Keep Up With The Way You Read"

Published Wed, 07 Jun 2017 09:00:07 -0500

Conventional comic book industry wisdom has always told us that some comic book sales are more important than others. If a book is canceled, many industry professionals often say, it's because not enough people bought it monthly. Peter David famously said of X-Factor when it was canceled:

All I did was write a book that got tons of positive write-ups. Which I guess is enough to encourage people to buy it when it comes out in trades, oblivious to the fact that books get cancelled when you do that. Whatever.

But after commenting on a tweet by Gail Simone…

Vinyl sales are saving the music industry, Kindle sales are flat or dropping, book sales going up.

Interesting.

— Gail Simone (@GailSimone) June 5, 2017

Ms. Marvel co-creator G. Willow Wilson was asked if trade waiters kill comics:

Since I mostly read trades, am I saving or killing your industry? Does being a millennial change the answer?

— Rob Wieland's Darkplace (@robowieland) June 6, 2017

And she replied, refreshingly:

https://twitter.com/GWillowWilson/status/871926289422274561

Wilson elaborated:

https://twitter.com/GWillowWilson/status/871927189771563009

And noted that, in fact, publishers should be expected to know what they're doing in the field of… er… publishing:

I've heard it's super important to buy the first few issues before trades, to support the comic. Does this factor in with the question?

— Nika Harper (@NikaHarper) June 6, 2017

https://twitter.com/GWillowWilson/status/871928848845295617

In another bold statement bucking industry traditions, Wilson suggested that tactics other than guilt could actually compel readers to purchase monthly comics:

https://twitter.com/GWillowWilson/status/871932403178143744

https://twitter.com/GWillowWilson/status/871932652542197760

And though she noted that there are cases where monthly fan support is important…

https://twitter.com/GWillowWilson/status/871933331042168832

…that shouldn't be the case when books are being published by subsidiaries of multinational conglomerates:

https://twitter.com/GWillowWilson/status/871933763261018112

Though some industry habits are hard to break:

https://twitter.com/GWillowWilson/status/871937363299192833

So, big publishers: are you listening?

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