Robot 6
Tightening its belt, Marvel reportedly cuts into collection royalties
Amid staff layoffs, multiple title cancellations and “new budgetary mandates” word surfaces of still another cost-cutting measure at Marvel, this time involving trade paperback royalties.
According to Bleeding Cool, about a month ago the publisher issued an updated payment agreement that finally addressed digital sales while also amending the percentage of trade paperbacks exempt from royalties because of “returns, anticipated returns, promotional copies and damages.” What used to be 25 percent is now 30 percent, which the more math-minded note is a nearly 7-percent hit to creators.
Rich Johnston describes the exemption clause as “ambiguous,” something expanded upon by Graeme McMillan, who points out that Marvel doesn’t actually offer promotional copies to reviewers like DC Comics and most other publishers do.
9 Comments
Batman
November 9, 2011 at 8:28 am
Brubaker, Aaron, Hickman…DC please.
Snikt snakt
November 9, 2011 at 9:32 am
Marvel’s gotta make more of a profit for the House of Mouse, so lets cut creator profits from the collected edition lines!! Way to treat your talent, guys…
Ninjazilla
November 9, 2011 at 10:00 am
Van lente to DC please
Earth-2 Chad
November 9, 2011 at 10:29 am
Talk about killing the golden goose…
Wesley SMith
November 9, 2011 at 10:32 am
For all we know, this may be to fall more in line with the rest of Disney’s publishing standards.
Alemander
November 9, 2011 at 1:46 pm
Sorry, Wesley, but the internet and comment boards are not the place for thinking before responding or giving the benefit of the doubt, etc, etc.
“Everyone at Marvel to DC, please.”
~Sarcastro
Acer
November 9, 2011 at 3:55 pm
Allow me to amend the Sherman advice from “The Critic” for this case:
If the publisher’s decision stinks, disconnect yourself from the publisher.
Francis Dawson
November 9, 2011 at 4:57 pm
Corporate comics suck. Boycott Marvel.
Carmichael
November 9, 2011 at 10:27 pm
So, now I had to buy more trades so guys like Brubaker and Aaron (whose comics I like) get the same amount of money they used to?
Yeah, I can do that.