Keskustelujen arkisto

I'd be on board for this, though I strongly suspect it would not work financially for them. This is the same thinking that compels me to buy the DC and Marvel black and white trades...more story, less money! :) Color and especially high-grade paper, while of course very nice, is not a priority for me. I realize they can offer the L&T of Scrooge book for that price on higher grade paper because it's such a popular trade with more than normal demand, but I'd think they should be able to do other books at that price point a few times a year, especially if they went to cheaper paper stock.

No way! $8 a pop is high enough!
And another thing! Speaking of subscriptions almost every magazine on earth that I know of discounts their subscription considerably from the cover price! Not Gemstone!

Louis, I proposed a similar idea awhile ago. My idea was for Gemstone to publish a *monthly* TPB with the amount of pages of 3 prestige titles (64 x 3 = 192 pages) for $19.95. This way we could get back to about 200 pages each month for *less* than the cost of 3 prestige titles. Not only would the $19.95 price be cheaper, but likely Amazon would likely charge less and have a healthy discount.
It seems most other people would not like that idea, and I doubt Gemstone would do it, so I don't think there is any "worry" of this ever happening though.

>this would never happen...$8 is outrageous enough.
In theory, a "trade paperback" format would increase sales through bookstores and online retailers. I understand the sticker shock a would be a problem for current readers; that's why I suggested a less frequent schedule.
LL

>I'd think they should be able to do other books at that price point a few times a year, especially if they went to cheaper paper stock.
Friends in the printing business tell me that demand for newsprint is up, and that the cost of newsprint is much higher than in years past. DC has been printing some grahpic novels on newsprint lately (most recently, The Greatest Shazam! Stories Ever Told) at prices that are not much (if any) cheaper than other books. I suspect part of the reason the cover prices are not "super cheap" is because of the rising cost of newsprint.
One can dream, though.
LL

I think I may not have explained myself well. I was *not* talking about a monthly TPB *and* 2 or 3 monthly prestige titles, but was talking about a monthly TPB *instead* of the monthly titles. In this scenario, we would actually pay less each month than we do now, so it is not like this idea would eat up more of your money each month.
Louis made a good point how TPBs are *much* more attractive to bookstores than prestige format monthly comics. So that is another thing in its favor.
Morequack, you seem very upset that Gemstone's two prestige titles are 8 dollars each. In a way, I don't blame you. Who wants to spend 8 dollars for a comic book?!? On the other hand though, what other option does Gemstone have? They tried newsstand titles and they did not just work out financially after awhile. *I* would like them to publish more TPBs. However it looks like prestige titles are what we are going to get the most of. And while 8 dollars *is* a lot for one comic book, I don't think Gemstone is charging much more than DC or Marvel would for a similar title.
Plus, Morequack, couldn't you easily cut your Disney comics budget in half just buy not buying two copies of each title? Now of course I don't know why you buy two copies of each. Perhaps you are getting extra copies so your kids have them to read down the road, as a future investment, etc. All of these are reasonable ideas. I have a hypothetical question for you: would you rather but one copy each of *4* different prestige titles each month, or would you rather buy two copies each of only *2* prestige titles each month? Just curious.
One question I would be curious to hear everyone's opinion on. Would you: A, like Gemstone to publish more each month; B, publish less each month; or C, publish about the same amount each month as they currently do. I would *love* for Gemstone to publish *much* more each month, but I am curious what others think.
I agree that Gemstone should give some discount to subscribers. I never have given it much thought as I have my comics shipped to me once a month by Westfield comics as it is simpler and cheaper for me to order through them than my local comic book store. All I can think of it that Gemstone's profit margins must be so low than they can not afford any discount to subscribers, which if is the case, is a scary idea...

As a collector of stories I would like Gemstone to publish more, especially rare material. That said, I perfectly understand that not all readers have large collection of Disney comics, and would like to see e.g. a Carl Barks collection.