Indie Comics Gamble on New Digital Strategies

Simon found herself asking “what’s next?” and discovered the answer in Comics Pipeline, a website that combines publishing and social media.

“Comics Pipeline answers the long-time question, ‘What is the next step in the evolution of comics in today’s digital age?’” Simon told Wired.com. “If you had to reinvent the comic book industry today, how should it be done? Readers nowadays want more than panels on a page…. They want exclusive insights into the creative process, the ability to pull up content on the run.”

What Comics Pipeline does is create a sort of Netflix-meets-Facebook method for distributing content. Users register on the site and pay a monthly fee of $5 to gain access to work from the creators of their choice. Like social networking sites, Comics Pipeline — which launches Wednesday — offers users a more direct connection to creators, as well as on-demand content.

Creators can post pages, concepts and sketches, and constantly update their fans with never-before-seen stories as well as insight into their working process. A two-week “open house” lets registrants try Comics Pipeline for the first two weeks of December for free, and then decide if they want to subscribe.

http://www.comicspipeline.com/