Huge Valiant Comixology sale!

[the1captain]

http://m.comixology.com/sale?featured_id=19856" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Basically all the new Valiant and a lot of the old for 99 cents. Frustrating that I have all the new Valiant already. And I like to read the old Valiant in print form. But there is over 200 books for those interested.

This is the 3rd or 4th time Valiant has had a sale like this on Comixology. Don't know if that's a good sign or bad for them. And as much as I want to support all of Valiant. Sales like this make me want to hold back on keeping up on books that aren't wowing me( like Q &W). And therefore just wait for another sale down the line if I want to catch up.

[BugsySig]

I think they view digital comics solely as a promotional tool at this point. If it brings in new readers great, if it makes them a little extra $$$ all the better. I have heard from a lot of people that they jumped on board VALIANT because of a Comixology sale and now get the books monthly or in trade.

Your case is probably a small minority of people, but I suppose waiting for a sale is better than dropping a title all together. And a lot of digital readers wait for the sales anyway, so those are readers VALIANT normally wouldn't have ever reached.

[lorddunlow]

I think they view digital comics solely as a promotional tool at this point. If it brings in new readers great, if it makes them a little extra $$$ all the better. I have heard from a lot of people that they jumped on board VALIANT because of a Comixology sale and now get the books monthly or in trade.

Your case is probably a small minority of people, but I suppose waiting for a sale is better than dropping a title all together. And a lot of digital readers wait for the sales anyway, so those are readers VALIANT normally wouldn't have ever reached.

Obviously the constant sales don't hurt business. Sony's PS Plus is a perfect example. I have almost stopped buying any games from Sony, but I do pony up $50 a year for the Plus service that gives free/discounted games monthly (several games a month actually). No way Sony would continue it if it didn't make them more money, but I am much less likely to buy, as the few games I have purchased recently ended up being free (or only a few bucks) a few months later.

Digital comics have negligible risk/cost for the publisher. It's a pretty effective advertising tool for a small company, and the sales make sure they pop up on everyone's Comixology splash screen when they open the app.

[DirtbagSailor]

Yup, I went to have a look and see what I could get!

Then I realized I bought everything last week at normal price.

Still worth it though.

I do love a little Valiant Marketing though, prob could use a bit more of it so that the masses come looking.

I do hope that XO #17, Harby #16, and Bloodshot #14 are $0.99 when they are released....

[mateo107]

as a promotional tool, I have to wonder about some of the selections in this sale that don't have anything to do with Unity or with any of the books currently in print, like Trinity Angels, Doctor Mirage, and Armorines. signs of things to come?

[CBurke76]

Finally I've been waiting for a 99 cent sale on the new stuff. I wish they would do the same as Marvel and include the digital copies as a bonus when you by the print copies. I like having a copy for my Iphone/Ipad when I am away from my home.

[lorddunlow]

I wish they would do the same as Marvel and include the digital copies as a bonus when you by the print copies.

This, definitely. Although I would settle on DRM free copies available for purchase directly from VEI. Cut out the middleman guys! Free the digital books from their chains!

[mateo107]

strange that Bloodshot #0 is in the sale, since it's been out less than a month.

[Knightt]

I wish they would do the same as Marvel and include the digital copies as a bonus when you by the print copies.

This, definitely. Although I would settle on DRM free copies available for purchase directly from VEI. Cut out the middleman guys! Free the digital books from their chains!

What is a 'DRM free copy" ?

[the1captain]

strange that Bloodshot #0 is in the sale, since it's been out less than a month.

Thanks for pointing that out. I missed it the first pass I made at the books. Was waiting until the dollar drop. This is much better.

Also noticed all of Harbinger Wars is on sale too. Well worth checking out to those that haven't yet.

[lorddunlow]

I wish they would do the same as Marvel and include the digital copies as a bonus when you by the print copies.

This, definitely. Although I would settle on DRM free copies available for purchase directly from VEI. Cut out the middleman guys! Free the digital books from their chains!

What is a 'DRM free copy" ?

This is my constant soapbox. I hate DRM (digital rights managment) on any media. This fight was fought for years with digital music, and is currently being fought with movies/TV/ebooks/ecomics. Pretty much all MP3/FLAC/whatever format you buy music in (if you are buying digitally - I still prefer to buy a disc and have the studio-quality CD as a hard copy backup and rip my own mp3s in whatever quality/format I prefer) are DRM-free - there is no software built in to limit how to copy, stream, modify the files. I could give them to you to have forever if I wanted to. Apple and the music industry fought this hard. They wanted to prevent copying, sharing, reusing, in addition to the piracy that existed. They also wanted to have a switch to turn that would prevent you from listening to your music as they saw fit. They lost - consumers won. And really, now that digital music has taken off, they have ultimately raked in the dough due to massively reduced cost of distribution - just like everyone kept telling them would happen.

Comixology is operating the same way iTunes did in its infancy. You do not purchase digital comics from them. If you read the User Agreement, your money is purchasing the rights to read the digital comics through their website and their various mobile apps. You don't own squat. They reserve the right to terminate or limit your access to the comics at any time with no notice. Amazon does the same with their ebooks, which rubs me the wrong way. There was a well publicized case where they deleted a book from everyone's Kindle remotely because the copyright holder said that version was not authorized by them. They deleted without warning, including any notes people had added. People just woke up, turned their Kindles on to finish that paper for their college class, but both the book and their own words about the book were gone. I don't like that idea at all.

As such, I refuse to give Comixology money. (I don't care for their reader software anyway, and the organization of books is atrocious and not customizable.) Back in the day, if I did want to get something from iTunes (exclusive tracks and such) I would purchase from them, and use a program to remove the DRM, and then copy and load to any device I wanted (you could only play iTunes music on a iPod back in the day - no other portable devices). There is a script floating around (although I have yet to find it) that does the same with Comixology books that you have purchased - that's how the current torrents of digital comics are obtained. I would purchase from Comixology if I had access to this, as then I could make my own DRM file to use with my preferred digital comic reader.

Image is supposedly going this route for their digital comics, but they have yet to release them. There are a handful of books available as a trial, but they haven't started the full library yet.

I don't like the idea of paying for something I don't own, unless it is a subscription, all-you-can-eat service like Netflix. I get annoyed when a show I'm in season 2 of 4 gets taken off their service, but they don't limit how often or how long I take to watch something in general, so I know what I'm paying for. Comixology is a little misleading in that many think they own the comics they purchase.

[bygranddesign]

+10000 Lorddunlow, great points

That's why I RARELY buy digital comics and even digital music. I like having the physical copy that I could do what I want with - trade, sell, keep or give it away. To invest your hard earned money into a comic collection that is not really yours didn't make much sense to me.

But like I said - i do on the RARE occasion buy digital comics especially if its a sale - I like having favorite issues easily accessible from my IPAD.

So even though I'm not a big digital buyer of comics, I do appreciate the heads up on this sale

[the1captain]

I totally understand the arguments about buying digital. And I admit there are problems that need to be addressed. That being said since I've gone all digital for new comics I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. After following comics for close to 25 years I don't need to get my wife more mad taking up more room with my collection. There are still the nice collected editions I'll buy. Or back issues I still rather read in their original form. But for modern comics that I just want to read for the stories and not worried about collecting them all, digital has been great for me. It lead me to trying a lot of indie books, including Valiant, that I wouldn't have through a regular store.

[bygranddesign]

I totally understand the arguments about buying digital. And I admit there are problems that need to be addressed. That being said since I've gone all digital for new comics I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. After following comics for close to 25 years I don't need to get my wife more mad taking up more room with my collection. There are still the nice collected editions I'll buy. Or back issues I still rather read in their original form. But for modern comics that I just want to read for the stories and not worried about collecting them all, digital has been great for me. It lead me to trying a lot of indie books, including Valiant, that I wouldn't have through a regular store.

good points as well

definitely some pro's
- convenience
- accessibility
- room saver