Amazon purchases ComiXology

It’s the ideal news story. There’s a shocking fact — Amazon has acquired the most significant digital comic distributor, ComiXology — but no idea what it will actually imply to the comic market, so people have lots of room for speculation. Which is why everyone’s already weighed in on it.

I’m reminded of Bruce Sterling’s quote, “Being scared of monolithic organizations especially when they have computers is like being scared of really big gorillas especially when they are on fire.” ComiXology had, in digital, already efficiently replicated the monopoly position of diamond distribution in print — they were the elephant you had to deal with if you wanted to join the circus. will being owned by Amazon change that? Make it worse?

Amazon is already publishing comics, although I never heard anybody speak of any of them. Amazon also sells digital comics for Kindle, although they don’t have the Guided view technology that makes the ComiXology experience smoother. From that perspective, we lose competition, as two of the most significant digital markets now will combine.

There was some fear, mostly hypothetical, about what would happen if ComiXology went out of business, because their locked format couldn’t be converted to anything else, so people would lose the comics they’ve “bought” so far. As part of a much bigger company, that’s now less likely to happen — although it’s still possible that Amazon will decide to relocation away from the format for some reason.

“Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed”, so we don’t know what ComiXology is worth. ComiXology will continue to operate under its name, as a subsidiary of Amazon. Comixology CEO David Steinberger will remain, and their offices will stay in new York City, with no layoffs planned.

Fans are speculating widely, with popular options including hoping for less expensive prices (not up to the company, but the publishers, unless Amazon starts throwing its weight around) and totally free digital copies with purchase of a physical edition, the same way Amazon does for numerous CDs. Still to be determined: What does this imply for Submit, ComiXology’s program for independent publishers? will you still be able to purchase comics in the iOS ComiXology app, or will Amazon remove the purchase path that gives Apple 30%? Personally, I wonder if this ties into Amazon’s enhanced emphasis on offering value to Prime customers now that they’re raising the yearly fees — will totally free comics come along with the totally free TV and film viewing?

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