No. Putting your comic in comic shops doesn't help indie creators.(CAPS)

Ethan Van Sciver talking about whether to pursue notoriety by having your comic book in brick and mortar shops or selling them online, namely via the Comicsgate audience. More profit can be made online, but the content, like with anything in the shops, needs to be good in order to do so (concept, story, art). Of course you can put out your content via multiple methods, but there are (big) problems and considerations to take into account which Van Sciver points out. Not everyone is going to make it, but many think they deserve success nevertheless. Success in comics these days is harder than ever.  

Best comment on You Tube:

@Dherkin_McGhurken
The problem with putting indie comics into shops isn't just the cut the shop, the distributor, etc take. It's about customers.

Comics aren't selling 100k a issue anymore, the last numbers anyone could really somewhat kinda trust the best selling comics were moving only 50k a issue... across the whole country. So 1 comic shop might, MIGHT have 2-5 of your potential customers in that area. Add in the randomness of people actually going to the comic shop to buy so it may take a day, a week, a month, a year to just move 1 of 5-10 copies a store buys . Then add in the fact that a comic shop that is open one day may be closed for good the next day.

So congrats you got your indie comic into a shop that might have 1-5 potential customers who'd buy your comic, but whose schedule's don't align and may miss out when the shop eventually closes, or converts to a TCG/Funko/3D printing shop. Versus targeting people through social media, youtube, forums, etc and can get a potential 10-1,000 customers and actually move comics.

Comics could've been saved if Marvel didn't have FemThor, REEE! REEE! williams as black Iron Man, Captain Black America, and Asian Hulk during the peak of the MCU. Comics are now a niche of a niche and you may as well treat it as you would the Matrix fandom in 2025. It WAS a thing but now it's just oldheads who need retirement money.

[Posted at the SpookyWeather2 blog, January 8, 2025.]