How many comics need to be sold for a story to be considered a success?
from Lhamat@lemm.ee to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world on 23 Aug 20:05
https://lemm.ee/post/40407108

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Quicky@lemmy.world on 23 Aug 20:10 next collapse

Several

mcherm@lemmy.world on 23 Aug 20:13 next collapse

One.

I’m thinking of a comic made to tell the story of a relationship, culminating in a wedding proposal.

The definition of success is different for different cases.

CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world on 24 Aug 07:57 collapse

Damn, you sold it to her? That’s cold!

mcherm@lemmy.world on 02 Sep 08:46 collapse

LOL – good point. I guess the correct answer is zero. 😃

Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world on 23 Aug 20:22 next collapse

Literary success: None.

Financial success: a shit ton more than that.

Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world on 23 Aug 20:59 collapse

Well this certainly clears that up!

SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 23 Aug 20:28 next collapse

So let’s allow A to represent the cost of producing the comic.

Let’s let B represent the amount you’re selling each comic for.

So, C will be the amount of profit made.

So:

B - A = C

If C is zero you’ve broken even, if C is less than zero, you’ve spent more money than you’ve made, and if C is above zero you’ve turned a profit.

So C being above zero would be a “success.”

snooggums@midwest.social on 23 Aug 21:03 collapse

While that is a great summary of reaching a profit, breaking even or a small amount of profit is rarely considered a success especially if that is the criteria for sequels/continuations/similar products.

So a one off single comic that has zero expectations might be a success if it makes a small profit, but as a test to see if it should become a series a significant amount of profit would be needed.

SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 23 Aug 21:11 collapse

It was mostly sarcasm (a la Fight Club recall/no recall equation), but thank you for the compliment and the more detailed writeup of what actually matters.

Archelon@lemmy.world on 24 Aug 12:43 collapse

So with adjustment:

If the goal is to make a living wring a serial comic, success would be having C>=A so you can afford to keep making and publishing more comics.

AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world on 23 Aug 20:29 next collapse

All of them.

The size of the first run is calibrated to expected sales and costs. If it sells out, it met whatever expectations led to the decision to print it.

beepbooprobot@lemmy.world on 23 Aug 21:13 next collapse

None. OP, you’re a success just for trying. Publish your dream, sales won’t add to or take away from that.

hoshikarakitaridia@lemmy.world on 23 Aug 21:44 next collapse

I love all the different takes on this. The answers make you realize why it’s a great question.

zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev on 23 Aug 23:28 collapse

Enough that it’s a better return percentage than index funds.