Where to Sell Your Work & Why and the Mystery of Scott Pilgrim

Now heres a quote for ya, so good it got picked up to be the lead on Journalista today:

The fundamental takeaway was that comics retailers want publishers to drive people into comic stores. And it’s a worthwhile goal, but at the same time, it’s very much a chicken and egg thing. If I, hypothetically, as a small publisher work to build my own audience on the internet (because that’s the easiest place to do so), then what’s the impetus for me to point people anywhere but my website to buy my books?

Marvel and DC and the larger publishers all have a heavy investment in the direct market. They’ve got a vested interest in keeping driving audiences into comic stores. But when independent publishers are met with resistance and pushback and questions about audience in the direct market, there’s suddenly a dis-incentive to start with the DM.

Well, my ready answer would be that I don't want to lose ANY places, whether DM reliant or non-DM reliant, to sell my work. I want to be seen everywhere, not just some places. You never know whose eyeballs are going to latch onto your work.

Yes, the delight is that we can now interact one on one in a way with our fans that would have been impossible only 8 or 9 years ago, and that alone is worth the monthly fees to AT&T, but that it can lead to a source of revenue is the next great step. (Print on Demand is the next interesting part of the equation for the started, as it sidesteps the economy of scale that basically kept the loner out of the playing field.)

Now why we had to bring the Celestial Madonna into this I don't know, but, yes, there are some lines you shouldn't cross.

And I'll ask the question that will get me flamed: What is the big deal with Scott Pilgrim? Brandon Lee O'Malley leaves me cold. Its not bad, but I don't thinks its clever new or all that interesting. Someone please explain it to me.