Since a young age, Ace has been obsessed with writing and telling stories. Since 2004, he has split his time between writing and publishing Masterpiece Comics, and publishing the online magazine The Written Word, a place where he has tried to give other writers a voice.
Beyond Masterpiece Comics and The Written Word, he has written for other small press comic companies and wrote numerous short stories, the most recently of which, He Waited, was published by Long Story Short. In 2008, he branched out further by writing the play Fallen by the Numbers, produced by Cloverleaf Productions.
Recently, in addition to his writing, Ace has turned his hand toward acting and was cast in the lead of the short film Five Minutes for the Phoenix 24 Hour Film Challenge.
2009 is shaping up to be a great year, with new and better opportunities that Ace is fully embracing.
Converting the Converted
By Ace Masters
This column was originally planned to be a bi-weekly column, but it hasn’t quite worked out that way. Unfortunately an insignificant thing called life has gotten in the way, and who ever thought I would have one of those?
From this moment on I will be more diligent to make sure this column goes up bi-weekly. It is not like there is a shortage of subjects to comment on in the comic’s world.
In fact, I want to touch upon one now that I refer to as "Converting the Converted."
Recently I read a piece that mentioned the problem with the comics industry was that it was trying to bring in new readers.
Trying to get new readers is a problem? Without reservation, that thought is stupid.
The comic industry needs new readers, as any industry needs a new consumer base, to grow and expand. All readers were once new readers. But it does not need to garner those new readers at the expense of the old and current readers.
New readers should be in addition to the established fan base, not in replacement of them. Otherwise you either break even, or worse, lose readers.
Now, how some companies go about getting new readers, by completely revamping titles or starting them over – to make them more accessible to new readers – is a problem. What good does it do when the new readers they want to gain still don’t know about the titles, and have no idea they have been revamped to suit them?
What good does it do to promote a revamp of titles, re launches or just the newest "changes everything" storyline in the regular title to those who already read them?
In other words, what good does it do to Convert the Converted?
Across the board the comic book industry has one major self-defeating flaw: 9 out of 10 times it promotes to itself. That is, its promotion is strictly to comic readers and not "outside the industry."
The only way to gain new readers and grow is to educate and bring in people who aren’t already part of the fan base. This is not done by promoting to the established fan base.
This is also not done by revamping titles to bring in new readers, when those potential new readers aren’t aware of the title, nor know it has been revamped to make it more accessible to them.
The only way to brings in new readers is to promote outside the industry. 
Instead of, or in addition to, advertising or getting coverage in Previews, Wizard or Comic Buyer’s Guide, or pop culture websites like IGN.com, go outside the norm: buy ad space in other magazines (short story magazines, mainstream entertainment magazines) that don’t go to just the comic crowd. Send out copies of comics for review to major newspapers or review magazines.
Send out press releases to announce the new title, re launch or revamp: to everyone! Comic properties are hot in TV and film, but not in comics where the marketplace is continually shrinking because there are few and fewer new readers all the time.
Granted, small press and some of the smaller indy publishers can’t afford to do the advertising mentioned above, even in Wizard, CBG or Previews. But they can send out press releases, copies of comics for review and more. There are a wealth of free promotional opportunities out there to reach the comic and non-comic market.
However, to be honest, the small press and indy companies do rely on Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, IDW and Dynamite to bring readers into the store – and hopefully those readers will see their title(s). Many people won’t know about the smaller titles until they see them on the shelves next to Marvel, DC and others.
That is one reason alone that it falls on Marvel and DC – and to a lesser degree Dark Horse, IDW and Dynamite – to bring in the new fan base. The other reasons: they have the means, money and established characters known the world over.
Unfortunately, the attempt to bring in new readers doesn’t appear to be working, even with mega hit films. When Spider-Man is setting records with every film and The Dark Knight becomes the first film to threaten Titanic’s domestic box office gross, how were the sales of the comics affected? They weren’t.
Sales for the comics stayed the same as they were before the movies came out. There was little attempt to capitalize and use these to get new readers into the stores. Millions of people went and saw the movies, yet only tens of thousands buy the comics.
Personally, I met people at theaters who didn’t even realize Batman and Spider-Man, or Superman or Iron
Man, were still being published. That’s on the publisher.
I remember in the ’90s seeing TV commercials, paid for by Marvel, promoting Marvel trading cards. When is the last time there was a commercial promoting Marvel Comics?
Warner Brothers owns DC Comics, how easy would it be for them to promote DC in their movies and TV shows?
The Star Wars comics average about fifteen to twenty thousand sales per issue, per month. Yet there are tens of millions of Star Wars fans in the world. The novels sell upwards of a million copies. So why don’t the comics? Many Star Wars fans aren’t aware of the comic, unless they read comics, or constantly go to Star Wars.com. The same goes for Star Trek, Transformers, GI JOE.
Many of the fans of these licensed franchises, some of the biggest and most popular of all time, don’t know about the comics, because the comics are usually only promoted to the already established comic book fan base.
Now, granted, there are a lot of the fans that don’t buy the comics because they don’t like comics. But then, change their mind.
The bottom line is this: the market has been shrinking over the last fifteen years. Small press or indy titles that are considered hits with 5,000 print runs wouldn’t have made a dent in the ’80s or early ‘90s. Marvel and DC titles that are considered hits with a 40,000 print run on a first issue, would probably not have had a second issue twenty years ago.
Keep in mind a title like Power Man and Iron First was canceled in 1983 for low sales . . . of 125,000 copies per month. Today, that would make it a top ten, if not number one, title in the country.
The generational turnover is no longer there. The new generation of young readers – despite what many say – has not jumped on board. Instead they save their money to buy the newest video game for sixty bucks, go online to watch YouTube videos or some other so-called "interactive" venue.
For perhaps the first time in its history, comics need to generate new readers and not rely on the fact that they will "be there."
The problem is how they are going about generating those new readers, and the risk they run with the current tactics of alienating the established fan base.
Burning Thought for the next time: Advertising: The devil you do. Why so many don’t, and why they should.
Got a comment or question about the Burning Mind?
Leave at message at the Ace's Cinders Forum.