Comments on: Do webcomics make money? If so, how?

Question: Do webcomics make money? If so, how?

raydexter — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 07:59:25 -0800

What webcomics are actually making money? How do they generate these revenues?

By: o2b

o2b — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 08:04:23 -0800

I don't have any insight other than what anyone can see, but I'm certain Achewood, Penny Arcade and Diesel Sweeties are making money.

I'm not 100% sure how PA first made its money, it must be merch, plus their other many enterprises.

Achewood and DS both sell tons of merch -- books and t-shirts, mostly.

Homestar Runner makes money the same way (and lots of it).

By: grapefruit

grapefruit — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 08:09:06 -0800

From memory, the authors of Achewood, Penny Arcade, Wigu / Overcompensating, and Dinousaur Comics are all supported by their comics. I don't know what you're looking for as far as revenue generation beyond the obvioius (merchandising and advertisements), but maybe this article from Joey Manley will help.

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 08:15:15 -0800

Scott Kurtz of PvP and Pete Abrams of Sluggy Freelance are other examples of successful, full-time webcomics artists. Again, the vast majority of their income comes from merchandising sales, with ad revenue a small supplement.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 08:21:03 -0800

Schlock Mercenary supports it's author thru advertising, merchandise and appearances.

By: Zozo

Zozo — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 08:28:05 -0800

Jeph Jacques lives quite comfortably off the proceeds of "Questionable Content" merchandise.

By: phil

phil — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 08:28:06 -0800

for a long time the folks at penny arcade where supported by reader donations. they stopped excepting them when other avenues of income started paying the bills though. if i remember correctly they make a fair amount on advertisements. if you read through the achieves there are several posts talking about insanely high click through and thus a much better than average rate for advertisements.

By: anotherpanacea

anotherpanacea — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 08:28:19 -0800

Goats is doing pretty well.

By: edgeways

edgeways — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 08:30:39 -0800

I THINK Something Positive makes money, trough donations. Questionable Content also seems to move a heckalota merch so prob is money making

By: chndrcks

chndrcks — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 08:30:51 -0800

Something Positive's author raised a year's salary in donations in return for the promise of daily updates (and better spelling)

By: SpecialK

SpecialK — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 08:32:23 -0800

Megatokyo supports Fred and his wife.

By: Iridic

Iridic — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 08:41:56 -0800

Dorothy Gambrell of Cat And Girl often draws cartoons illustrating what she does with reader donations.

By: adamkempa

adamkempa — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 08:45:59 -0800

There's a good interview with Chris Onsted (Achewood) in this month's issue of the Comics Journal, in which he talks specifics of supporting oneself via webcomic.

By: adamkempa

adamkempa — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 08:48:15 -0800

I guess I should be less tangential and actually answer the question at hand: He talks about viewing the strip as a 'loss leader' - and how the wide array of merchindise he's created actually pays the bills.

By: PinkStainlessTail

PinkStainlessTail — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 08:56:49 -0800

Penny Arcade and Megatokyo also have book deals with a "real" publisher.

By: mpt

mpt — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 08:58:49 -0800

The “how” question was covered in an SXSW 2006 panel, “How to blog for money by learning from comics”. Luke Wroblewski and Kevin Cheng have good summaries, or you can listen to the entire session (MP3).

By: utsutsu

utsutsu — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 09:22:43 -0800

I believe that Penny Arcade now supports 4 salaries. At one time they relied on donations(and merch), but then started with the ads.

By: rinkjustice

rinkjustice — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 09:35:28 -0800

Total coolness. Thanks for every comment thus far.

By: rinkjustice

rinkjustice — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 09:40:54 -0800

P.s. This is my daughter's account (her nickname is ray dexter) which I used to ask this question. Thanks again to everyone.

By: limeonaire

limeonaire — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 09:42:36 -0800

Ctrl-Alt-Del is now self-supporting. And Mac Hall does generate revenue via t-shirt and book sales, though I'm guessing their revenue stream isn't as steady right now, since they haven't been updating as often.

By: PenDevil

PenDevil — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 10:47:14 -0800

I'm pretty sure Penny Arcade also make money off of the Penny Arcade Expo.

Scott Kurtz (PvP) also does two comic books for Image (a PvP one and "Truth, Justin and the American Way").

By: kaytwo

kaytwo — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 14:17:02 -0800

Although I did not attend, there was a "how to make money with your webcomic" panel at Comic-Con this year. Might want to ask around and find someone that attended it, I'm pretty sure some of the big few's authers were on it.

Alternatively, just ask them.