5 Steps to Help Your Sales on Comixology

Image courtesy of Comixology

I hate lists. I find them marketing gimmicks meant to simply get quick traffic. And yet they work. They get traffic. They boost traffic. And, damn them, a few of them even suck me into clicking.

And yet for this piece I’m making a list. 

Why? 

To make a point (as well as a list).

Sometimes you have to sell. And that means sometimes you just have to do a few things that you don’t like or don’t want to do to help improve sales.

It seems that a lot of people in comics don’t like sales and marketing. I’m not one of them. I’ve been working in sales and marketing for fifteen years. I still help companies and nonprofits today grow their sales and marketing.

For several months, as I’ve combed through Comixology for my free and and 99¢ comics, I've seen so many independent creators doing, or actually not doing, so many things that left me in shock.

“How could you not...?” “Don't you see...?” 

And then I realized it was logical. Not every writer had been doing sales. I really only noticed it because of my own sales background, especially my work with retail distribution. 

Within sales, retail distribution has its own system, it’s own way of working. When you sell directly you work with a customer, you close a deal, the customer pays and you make your money. 

You have a different process with retail distribution however. You sell or work with a major retailer and you close your deal with that company. But, and here’s the bigger point, whether you get paid for that sale or not is inconsequential. Your work isn’t finished. 

Why?

Because you haven’t actually sold a damn thing until the final customer purchases from the retailer.

I saw it so often over the years. Companies would strike deals with major retailers, stick their products on the shelves and then pat themselves on the back for a job well done. But when the stuff didn’t sell and the retailer then looked to return most if not all the stock, life changed really quickly (some companies had even already cashed and spent the money on the goods they sold but never actually sold).

Imagine if you've already cashed that check.

Comixology works like a major retailer, in this case the biggest and best in digital comic books. And I see so many independent publishers and especially independent creators who seem to believe that once they’ve put the product on Comixology they’re done. Or at the very least they give that impression. 

And while I haven’t seen their numbers, I have to believe that they, anyone really, can take a few steps that could or should help improve sales.

So, to get to the point, here’s my list of some things you can do:

1. Create a company name before you submit.

We learned in our interview of Stronghold creators Brian Visaggio and Kevin Roberts that Comixology needs a company name. So if you didn’t know before, now you do. Take a moment and create a real company name, something that sounds good and has some meaning to you. It will help, especially since you’re going to use it for real.

2. Create and upload a logo.

There are a lot of companies on Comixology with this logo.

Visaggio and Roberts did this one well. They have a logo for Redline Comics. I can’t begin to tell you how many “companies” are on Comixology without a logo. It helps. You’re in a large market place and, if not competing for dollars, definitely asking for them. Every little bit helps and seeing a logo on Comixology can inspire just that much more confidence. Remember that not everybody on Comixology is a die-hard comics geek. They pull in the casual fan. You need to think and do the same.

3. Create a site and marketing based on your company.

You’ve created a company name so you might as well take advantage of it, right? Set up a site for your company. It doesn’t have to be too fancy and you don’t have to spend too much. But there’s a chance people are going to Google your company to check you out. Why not give them something real to look at?

You can register a domain for free on so many sites, depending on the deal, or usually around $10-$15. Hosting as well really shouldn’t cost you much more than $100 a year. It’s not too hard to build your own site today. Many, many non-techies learn to dominate WordPress well. There are also a number of site-builders that work well. This site, for example, we built on Squarespace. I personally found it even easier than WordPress.

Put some real content on your site. Study creating Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr accounts if you haven’t already done so. The more people see, read about and read from you, the better chance you have that they’ll buy your comic.

And remember on your site to link back to Comixology and any/all other places your comic book can be purchased. Try even linking right to a shopping cart and see if that adds to your conversion rates.

4. Create a real profile.

Trust Comxiology. This dude does exist.

So you’ve created a company name, logo and all that marketing. Good. 
But you’re a creator. A writer and/or an artist. People should learn more about you and your work as well.

Comixology allows writers and artists to create a profile. You can add a picture and even put up links to whatever pages you wish people to see.

Do it!

You’re not Mark Waid or Rick Remender (unless you are and, in that case, thank you for reading this! Wow!). People don’t know you. Give them that opportunity. The more people know you the better chance you have to get your comic book purchased. If nothing else people like to see a name and a face and some information attached to something they’re going to buy. Even for 99¢.

And even if you are Mark Waid, a well done profile and always help.

5. Work it.

Promote your book. Get into conversations on Twitter. Talk to podcasters or magazines. Update content on your site and pages.

Find out what Comixology asks for to promote books. They have a newsletter and a home page and probably a few other things. What are the costs? Can you find or talk to other indies who’ve done a promotion? Were they satisfied? What did they feel worked or didn’t work?

Can you be anywhere else selling your comic book? Comixology continues to be the biggest and the best, but they’re not the only digital retailer out there. Even if all the others combined don’t add up to number one’s market share, they still have market share. You want to reach anyone and everyone you can. As an independent creator you can especially find and take advantage of niche stores for indies.

Getting on Comixology is awesome. But it’s not everything. Remember your job isn’t finished and do that extra work to move your comic off those digital shelves. 

And if they ever have digital returns, never go crazy spending the cash first. Just trust me.