Get Gassed

So, some of those numbers are mis-reported. I admit, my passion for gassing up the Black comics/media community is my toxic trait and I get overzealous sometimes. I posted it (and left it on my socials) because its sensationality does drive a steak into the heart of the issue: Black Comic Creators, You're Doing Fine.

Here are revised or better researched numbers:

Only

Fewer than 1.1% of books manage to sell more than 50,000 copies.

Roughly

Lemme back up: pre trump Crime Syndicate Era, waaay back in 2022 Penguin Random House, the largest publisher in the country, went to federal court to defend its deal to acquire Simon & Schuster (the fourth largest) against the DOJ. Their used to be these ancient rules, I think in the bible they're called antitrust laws, that stopped corporations from owning every asset and/or manipulating all facets of a particular industry. That's called having or becoming a Monopoly. And since the largest corp in the book market was trying to buy the fourth largest, our Department of Justice figured they were dangerously close to doing that shit.

(Side Note: Paramount, the potential seller of Simon & Shuster, is in their own Monopoly calamity trying to acquire the WB. A lawsuit led by attorneys general from 12 states (including New York, California, and Colorado) argues that combining two major Hollywood studios will illegally reduce market competition and harm industry workers. So, a trial is incoming. Apparently, Paramount is in their Nino Brown era, treating Trad Books, TV & Film like the Carter.)

The inciting numbers came out of testimony via the trial. Because while corporations will propagandize or mislead you, they tell the judge the truth. Not because they want to, because lying under oath costs money...but I digress.

The incendiary numbers aren’t even the most damning info to come out of the trial.

Stephen King even testified against Simon & Shuster, his own publisher lol. His opinion is that the corps are squeezing indies out, especially when it comes to shelf space in the market. I felt that. But even that isn't the news.

The revelation is that the 'underperforming' is strategy for the publishers. Publishing functions heavily on a venture-capital model. Executives testified that just 4% of published titles account for 60% of the company's total profit. The majority of a publisher's catalog loses money or barely breaks even, and publishers bank on a fraction of runaway blockbusters (like Stephen King or Harry Potter n' them) to subsidize everything else. Their investment in the other content is lopsided by design.

To the point where it only looks like the content that moves resonates with most audiences, but the truth is that what ends up in front of those audiences is the content that gets the biggest financial push. 'Hollywood has no new ideas' because the old ideas get all the promo budget, Spider-Man gets all the TV spots, Batman gets all the video games, and Harry Potter gets all the theme park rides. You could argue that the fandom(s) are only choosing from the narrow pool of what they're allowed to see. And folks like us indies are left to the elements fend for ourselves, even under the big company umbrella.

But in those numbers, the revelations & chaos, there's hope.

As a small indie publisher, your performance doesn't have to reach King level sales, so it's actually a big deal if you sell close to the 66%'s 1000 copies, because your bottom-line is hitting your pocket. Not to mention, you're reaching the corporation's standard level of reach.

If you sold more than 12 copies this year, ya'll are doing better than 14.7% of content from the Big 5. I know for a fact that Black indie comics from publishers like Kingwood Comics, Webway Comics, Rae Comics, and Stranger Comics sell well over that 1k milestone.

Perception is king. We've been programmed to think our content is less than, or illegitimate without gatekeeper approval. But the evidence is showing that we are actually comparable and we're scaling at a respectable pace on our own terms. Internalize that.

Take some joy out of the fact that you don't have to kowtow to some weirdo exec, middle management editors, and fuck agents that only exist to justify their employment rather than look out for your best interest. While you're indie, you're your own boss. You can create the work that you're fully interested in pursuing.

The knowledge of what's actually happening in the markets, for me, is demystifying. What those numbers reveal is that this game is winnable for creators like us. A lot of the barriers aren't all structural; some are just psychological, sleight of hand even. So, Keep moving and producing. Invest in learning what kind of marketing works for you and your brand. Keep trying out ideas and throwing them at the wall and double down on what sticks.

You're doing better than you think. Don't ever let them son you.