All Blogs

How to Sell Digital Comics Online

In this day and age of not wanting to conform to the rigid rules of a workplace, every other person is a digital nomad. Everyone wants to work on the go and have complete autonomy in their work with no one telling them what to do. Artists especially take the leverage of the technology boom as well as the e-commerce boom. They can now sell their art online while they are on the move!

Webcomic creators have benefitted from this digital shift drastically. Now they can use a variety of different channels to publish their work and get revenue. Online revenue channels are becoming increasingly popular. Earlier artists could either publish their comics on print media and maybe get it published on merchandise like t-shirts mugs etc. But selling online gives the webcomic so much more reach and potential. The creator can upload the webcomic on their online shop in a suitable format and people interested can check out all the different comics they can choose from and buy a digital copy! It’s as simple as that!

A step by step guide to selling your webcomic online -

  1. Create your webcomic
    2. If you want to venture into the world of selling your art online the first step obviously needs to be - to create some awesome webcomics! Apart from just publishing your work in print media the online world is a great way to let your art reach places it cannot reach in the offline world. When you sell your ar online people can buy it and use it with your permission. Selling webcomics online gives your art and talent a much wider reach.
  2. Identify websites you want to sell on
    3. You can sell your webcomic on e-commerce service providers like E-Junkie or Gumroad or Payloadz. Each of these websites has its own pros and cons so you need to see which one fits your requirements most accurately. Listing your webcomic on these websites gives you the online presence you need to make it big in the e-commerce world.
  3. Time to sell!
    4. After you have listed your webcomic on the relevant sites you need to share the link to your online shop on all of your social media platforms. This is the simplest and the most effective way to market your product on a small scale. If you are looking at taking things to the next level then you can even loo into Google Ads and give your comic the boost it needs.

What formats are best for webcomics?

While most formats like JPEGs PDFs and PNGs work well for webcomics there is definitely a factor of ease that comes along with using JPEGs for webcomics. This is because not only are JPEG file sizes smaller than their PNG counterparts but they are also very easy to edit over Photoshop. The size criterion is absolutely essential if you want to sell your webcomic online because it makes uploading the webcomic on an e-commerce website easy and quick. But apart from these formats, there are some specific ones which make viewing webcomics convenient.

The most popular comic book readers use some formats specific to webcomics like CBR, CBZ, CBT, and CBA in addition to the regular JPEGs, PNGs, PDFs, and GIFs.

CBR files are nothing but a series of PNGs or JPEGs stored on a single RAR archive folder. This allows the viewer to view the comic as a collection of webcomic pages. CBR files can be opened on a variety of Windows (Comical, eComic, WinRAR, File Viewer Plus, etc), Mac (Calibre, The Unarchiver), Linux (Calibre, MComix), and iOS programs (Cloudreaders).

CBZ files are similar to CBR files but they use ZIP as a method of compressing PNG and JPEG files instead of using RAR. CBZ and CBR formats are very convenient for webcomics as they can string together multiple files and display them seamlessly. CBZ files can be opened on Windows (Comical, eComic, WinRAR, File Viewer Plus, etc), Mac (Calibre, Comical), Linux (Xylasoft Comic Seer, Mcomix), and Android programs ( File Viewer).

The CBT file format is similar to CBR and CBZ but only uses TAR archiver tool to compress multiple files together. CBA files use ACE compression. So depending on what compression tool you want to use and the compatibility of the file formats with the comic readers you can use any of these formats for your webcomics.

How to sell your webcomic?

Independent art and content creators have a great advantage at hand when they have access to technology enablers like E-Junkie Gumroad and Payloadz. These websites let the seller set up online shops or landing pages with absolute ease and at nominal to none cost. This way people who are interested in buying your webcomics can see all your work in one place. These sites also have multiple payment gateways so that no customer is left behind. Anyone from all over the world can see your items for sale and make purchases with just a click of a button. These sites are great for independent creators to build a loyal customer database and make money on the go!

You can also see the analytics of your shop to understand what works and what needs to be improved. These technology enablers are a gamechanger for the ambitious digital nomads who want to capitalize on their skills.

How to market your webcomic?

Marketing is one big part of selling anything, especially when it comes to the online space. Now that you have listed your webcomic on an e-commerce site the next step is to spread the word! You can do so by sharing the link of your shop or the product landing page on your social media pages. Apart from this method, you can also use more niche websites to publicize your work.

Since you are working as an independent webcomic artist you have all the creative freedom in the world to take as many chances you want. But with this freedom comes the challenge of not having any professional marketing advice at hand. But with a little practice, you can become capable to market your product successfully.

With the power of the internet, you can find out your target audience and understand what they need. With online purchases, you also get access to their email addresses which makes it easy for you as a seller to send them any updates regarding your latest work. This is a way for you to make some personal connections with your buyers. Personalization has been known to increase sales as well so don’t be shy to show them the real and authentic you!

If you want to read more about marketing your webcomic effectively then click on the links below -

https://www.e-junkie.com/wiki/selling-ebooks

https://www.e-junkie.com/wiki/help-sell