

Graphic novel piracy on 4chan leads to massive spike in sales - ukdm
http://www.geek.com/articles/news/graphic-novel-piracy-on-4chan-leads-to-massive-spike-in-sales-20101021/

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zeteo
If you read the article to the end, it says that it wasn't the piracy that led
to increased sales. The decisive part was the author engaging with the 4chan
community and earning their respect.

~~~
auxbuss
The author's engagement is key, absolutely. But the fact remains that the good
was freely available, regardless.

However, the spike in sales would never have happened if the book hadn't been
freely available to start with.

This is a measurable demonstration of a working business model, and it is,
clearly, not the model the publishing business is using. Indeed, it is
precisely this model that they are lobbying, and succeeding, to make a
criminal offence.

It's absolute madness.

~~~
hugh3
_However, the spike in sales would never have happened if the book hadn't been
freely available to start with._

For all the works that have their sales increased by the extra exposure that
piracy can sometimes give, how many do you think have their sales reduced by
piracy due to, y'know, piracy?

~~~
noonespecial
I don't know. _We_ don't know. That's kind of become the lynchpin of the
entire debate.

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noonespecial
I know this is supposed to seem like a huge outlier and ridiculously far-
fetched, but historically, its just not.

Its called:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patronage>

Yep. People give money to artists because they like what they're doing and
they have a _relationship_ with the artist. Not because some middle-man
arbitrates the price of the art of some unreachable "star" or because some
lawyer mugged them with paper weapons.

Edit: I know that this probably won't work at "Madonna" scale. The artist
can't possibly make a meaningful connection with a fanbase that large. That
might be the point.

~~~
mattmanser
In the internet world this relies on every artist being an extrovert and a
marketing expert as well as an artist.

Also, we don't live in a feudal system or aristocracy where a significant
proportion of the wealth is controlled by a small elite who have little more
to do than live idly.

So the conditions are different, an artist has to gain a lot more followers
than in previous times through a method which is actually pretty specialised
and tough.

But if you're that passionate about your art, maybe you're just going to have
to learn how to gain a base of fans willing to patronise you.

~~~
wazoox
> Also, we don't live in a feudal system or aristocracy where a significant
> proportion of the wealth is controlled by a small elite who have little more
> to do than live idly.

This is definitely wrong. Most of the wealth is actually controlled by a small
elite, as a matter of fact.

------
macrael
So, free access to a digital version of the comic led more people to buy the
physical vesion. What about when the physical version doesn't exist anymore or
is more completely substitutable with a digital version?

Digital distribution is fantastic and is still in the process of changing many
industries, but I think that this case likely would not have had the large
beneficial effect for the author had it happened in a day when the distributed
digital good was just as good/easy as the physical, purchasable one.

~~~
kqr2
But doesn't this example show that people _want_ physical copies. As long as
people want an item, there will be a market for it.

Traditional print runs may no longer exist, however, print on demand may
continue to grow.

For example, Hacker News magazine uses Magcloud for printing and distribution.

<http://www.magcloud.com/>

HN folks are among the most tech savvy people, yet there is still a demand for
print copies.

~~~
tedunangst
People like physical books. They're less enthusiastic about physical music or
movies, which are the subjects in most discussions about piracy.

~~~
shantanubala
Exactly. As soon as E-Readers become the norm, I'll bet physical books will be
a collector's item just like Vinyl (mostly) or CDs (almost) are.

------
dbfclark
One recalls

<http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/17/3014462.htm>

which may be pertinent. The fundamental truth is still the Tim O'Reily
aphorism that the main enemy of most authors isn't piracy but obscurity.
There's some sense in which this is a form of freemium pricing -- use a lower-
quality (in this case, crappy scanned) version to drive engagement, then use
engagement to drive sales of the good, pay version.

There's a decent chance that the actual publishers get this -- near as I can
tell, the real problems with understanding this idea come from the top of the
multinational media companies that own the publishers.

~~~
smallblacksun
That may be true for fringe authors/artists/musicians, but those are not the
people being pirated the most. People mostly pirate blockbuster movies, big-
name artists, and bestselling books.

------
armandososa
Comic industry seems to get it better than other industries.

I can download digital comics through Comixology apps at a fair price and
awesome quality which makes it easier and more convenient than downloading
poorly scanned and heavy .cbr files from shady websites.

They just need it to release it the day it comes out in print.

------
JofArnold
Oh this is so damn clever. Genius!

Think about it - copyright and brand owners must hate 4chan. But 4chan hates
marketers and insincere people who don't "get" it. So why not post a story
about how some writer "engaged" with his audience there leading to a massive
sales spike and all-of-a-sudden it'll be crushed under the weight of semi-
earnest marketing types attempting to convince "anonymous" to buy their wares.

Genius, I say! Before you know it there will be "4chan social marketing"
consultants popping up all over the place, touting their snake oil at
advertising events!

;)

~~~
aristus
<http://xkcd.com/591/>

Randall always seems to have a comic to fit the occasion.

~~~
JofArnold
Haha! Yes, I think that's what I had in my subconscious.

Presumably on other sites I'd award you "+100 internetz" for that? :)

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gyardley
This is plausible only if it's extremely rare, so the novelty of someone
interacting with 4chan is shocking and cool enough to drive sales.

Let's not confuse 'chatting with pirates' with a sustainable business model
for everybody.

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code_duck
Someday publishers will learn that free products creates exposure that creates
fans who buy products.

I can't even name how many bands I listen to because of Napster and Limewire
in the early 00s, which led to me buying several albums from each band and
attending many of their concerts - actually, I got into entire genres this way
and now that I'm not a broke student, have spent a lot of money. If I hadn't
been able to download full versions of songs and listen to them as much as I
wanted, I never would have found out how much I like these bands.

------
sliverstorm
I am no longer surprised by anything relating to 4chan. I decided a while ago
that they basically break all the rules (in a good way) that we have come to
understand, though only within their walls.

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TheAmazingIdiot
Hmm. So if you aren't an ass to prospective customers, you can still get their
sales? Who would have thunk that?

Its not a proof positive way to get sales via advocating copyright
infringement. However if you're less known, it works wonders.

And yes, I saw his works linked from /b/

