Thursday, March 10, 2005

Bribery - a new syndication model

Ok, so I didn't think I'd be putting anything up today. I flaked around the place, looking for something worthy of comment. Found a link on Boing Boing for Magnatune, a creative commons record label. Interesting idea though it is, I couldn't be bothered going into it. Then I was on Comixpedia, where I found a news item about Hyena Comics putting a call out for submissions. So I checked in and had a look but found nothing to that explained what benefit joining would be to us. Now, in actuality I know what benefit it have for BifSniff Cartoons but I did expect some explanation as to how their set-up works. Anyway, still nothing to write about. No funny cartoons, though todays Daily Dinosaur made me smile, and no big webcomic stories. Then I spotted a piece on the Hyena Comics website about how Komikwerks had picked up weekly cartoon strip The Zoo. So I checked that out and...nothing. Don't get me wrong, Komikwerks is an interesting enough site but I just couldn't find anything pertinent to write about. Still digging though, and wondering what the deal does for The Zoo, I went to The Zoo site. Nothing more on the Komikwerks deal but I'm guessing he's getting paid, plain and simple. Great for him but not really worth writing about - certainly not without more details. Then I read his little call out for guest artists. In the last week of April he'll be running five guest strips. Nothing spectacular there except that his favourite guest strip will run in his regular Friday slot and, in turn, will run in his regular online and print syndication spots. Which is worth mentioning and, even more than that, got me wondering about his syndication. Would a syndicate or licensing agent really allow him to do that. The answer, I believe, is no but there's no prove of that here because Gabe Strine, the creator, is self-syndicating and he has a cunning plan for doing it. Now I can't deep link to the particular page, because he's using a frameset, but as an incentive to spread the word, Gabe is offering readers $50 if his strip gets picked up through their recommendation. It's a new enough ploy and I have no idea how it's working out but I like it. It shows initiative and, most importantly, it's another step towards pulling the rug from under the bigger syndicates. It does, of course, serve to remind me that we'll never get syndicated. Shame.