The new Mad Cave Digital reader is a web-based platform accessible through the company’s website, selling individual comics and trades across the Mad Cave, Papercutz, Maverick and Nakama Press imprints on a pay-per-download basis. According to the announcement, the digital platform will offer early access to titles, as much as a week before physical release. A program called Series Bundles lets readers subscribe to a series digitally, then receive a physical trade collection shipped direct once the series is wrapped.
Salkowitz: Why build your own digital reading platform?
Allison Pond: We’re super community-driven, so we wanted to have a digital reading platform specifically for our fans and readers, similar to what is offered by DC, Marvel and other publishers. We want to make sure our material is available to everyone in a format they are comfortable with, and offer some exclusive benefits like early access and the option for subscribers to get the physical trade collection when it comes out.
Sure, but there are already plenty of digital options for readers, from ComiXology to GlobalComix. What are the benefits of having your own branded outlet rather than taking advantage of infrastructure that’s already built?
This is actually the first step in a larger plan. As our catalog grows, we want to automate and optimize everything, so this is going to be part of a larger digital infrastructure we’re building across all our imprints.
We started working with [metadata platform] Biblio about two years ago, bringing all our data onto that software. Every time we update that data, it automatically updates our website and optimizes our search engine discoverability.
Along the way, we decided we also wanted to incorporate a digital storefront platform so people could read our comics, but then also build a loyalty program around that: badges, reward points, leaderboards. I’m all about gamification and community, and I think people who contribute to our community should be rewarded and recognized.
So yes, we already have distribution digitally through Simon & Schuster, GlobalComix and Hoopla. But this is more for our community of readers, a place where you can chat with people who enjoy the same things, get suggestions, and earn points. Right now, people are exhausted by a lot of public social networks and want a space where you can have more intimate and real conversations, because those are ones people tend to spend more time in. Once we have this space, I think it’s going to be very well received when people see how cool it is.
Is this subscription-based or pay-to-download?
Our first version is going to be pay-to-download, as well as the series bundles. You can read them in our [browser-based] reader or download the PDFs to read in the app of your choice. The interface is set up like Netflix, so you can see all the issues coming up, and then at the end, you get the trade physically shipped to you.
Is this traditional comics layout or vertical scroll?
The reader has different views, so you can do one-page, two-page or zoom in for more detail. You can switch between reading modes. There’s also a scroll bar to skep ahead, and a bookmark feature.
Are you concerned about retailer reaction to offering the digital copies in advance of the physical release dates?
I mean, retailers have always been competing with web comics and the digital space. Our President, Mark Irwin, was actually pushing for the early preview feature. He wants to communicate that if you’re a fan, if you have an account with us and spend time on the Mad Cave site, you’re going to get perks. That’s foreshadowing some of what we’re going to provide. I don’t know if Early Access is going to be forever, but we’re doing it in celebration of the launch. We’re very open to feedback and are trying to be communicative. We want our customers happy and our retailers happy.
Are there features for retailers on the site?
Though this is starting off as consumer-facing, we definitely have plans to make this a good experience for retailers as well. We’re working on a retailer portal on the website, so they can access their own digital preview PDFs. We’re also working on a direct ordering portal so they can get automatic discounts applied to their retail stores, earn points for their stores, and unlock incentives.
How does this help tie the different parts of your business together?
It’s definitely a couple things at once, and this is only version 1.0. Since this is the first thing we’re showing to the public, we’re starting with customers first. But especially as we moved over to Lunar exclusively for Direct Market distribution, we’ve seen a huge increase in our direct orders, so we want to be sure that our site is super-friendly for those orders, that retailers can create their own logins, order whatever they want, and have an automatic discount applied. We want to have order profiles so people can see what’s being ordered and make personalized suggestions off that.
We’ve already been running incentive programs for stores, like our store of the month program. Last year we did that based on data provided to use by our distributors, to let us know when a store is really supportive. But now we’re going to have direct insight into that data, to see that, for example, a store is ordering a ton of Gatchaman, so we’ll send them a free case of 50 slap bracelets they can give customers as a gift with their next purchase. The hope is for us to be better informed, to put a face to the names of the people we work with so we can reward them, especially the folks who are loyal or who have certain ordering patterns. The goal is to understand our audience more, whether it’s the retailer or the consumer.
At the same time, if there’s a late order or something like that, it will show up in Biblio first and then automatically get updated on our website, so our information will always be updated and correct. This will also help on the trade book side.
It sounds like this is much bigger than just the launch of the digital reader.
I’m very excited because this is the tip of the iceberg. We’ve always been innovators and early adopters. We need to adapt so we can serve people better. We just celebrated our 10th anniversary and have grown really fast. We want to have huge catalogs [across our imprints] and we want to make sure the infrastructure we’re building is really strong.
The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
Rob Salkowitz (@robsalk) is the author of Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture and a two-time Eisner Award nominee.