Dara Hannon of Pyrimid Comics & Games in Sierra Vista, Arizona read Steve Bennett's latest column regarding small press comics (see "Confessions of a Comic Book Guy--One Thing You Could Do...") and had this to say.

As a comic store manager, I fully agree with Mr. Bennett’s suggestions for small press comics.  Free comic books are a way to get stores to pay attention.  It gives them something that they can read so they know which of their customers might like the book as well as a sample to show those customers with the hope that, after looking at it, the customer orders it.  I know that this is, of course, very expensive to the small presses but it's a good way to get people to look at a comic book as it requires no investment from the store when money is really tight.

Another good way is what Zenescope and Radical Publishing have been doing for a while and Dark Horse recently started doing.  They offer preview issues of their comics for $1.  Usually it is part of the story and an interview with the author as to where the story is probably going to go, as a teaser.  From experience, I will say that it is much easier on the store’s budget to order five or ten of these instead of five or ten of the full price first issues.  It is also so much easier to get a customer to put down $1 for the preview issue than it is for a full price first issue and a good percentage of my customers that pick up the preview issue will pick up the actual series.

One warning to this though.  Publishers do need to be careful about timing.  If the preview issue is put out too much before the first issue, the first issue won’t sell.  Customers are patient but there is a limit to their patience and attention span.  I’ve seen several times when a preview or first look for a game or comic or RPG came out and my customers were really excited about it for the first month or two.  However, when it ended up being three or four months or even more before the actual item came out, that excitement turned into annoyance and frustration with the product.  So, when it finally hit the shelves, I couldn’t sell even one copy where, if it had come out within a month or two of the preview, I already had five or more orders for it.  

So, though free comic books and low price preview issues are expensive for small presses, as Mr. Bennett pointed out, they are also an excellent way to increase profits over all, again as Mr. Bennett advised, and should be explored... even if it is a couple of pages scanned into a computer and sent out PDF style.  

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.