Spike, the publisher at Iron Circus Comics is a BS-free zone and she recently had a few things to say about the costs involved with publishing an original graphic novel and how page rates factor in. Spike being Spike, it’s succinct and cuts right to the numbers:

Hey, folks. I'm seeing a lot of talk about transparency in paying cartoonists and demonizing publishers. So I'd like to talk financials. — Iron Spike (@Iron_Spike) March 25, 2017

(This is not, BTW, to say there are no publishers who pay unfairly low rates. There are. But I think a reality check is in order, here.) — Iron Spike (@Iron_Spike) March 25, 2017

Guess what. I am a fairy princess, and I've just waved a wand! Page rates for newjack cartoonists are now universally $200 per. Awesome. — Iron Spike (@Iron_Spike) March 25, 2017

I, a publisher, sign a new and unknown cartoonist to produce their first graphic novel. It will be 200 pages. This will cost me $40,000. — Iron Spike (@Iron_Spike) March 25, 2017

If I farm out the pre-press to a freelancer, that will be another $2,000. Printing, if I'm smart, will be in Asia, for around $6,000. — Iron Spike (@Iron_Spike) March 25, 2017

Getting the book from Hong Kong to my warehouse will be I dunno, another $3,000. I'm now in the hole on this book for around $51,000. — Iron Spike (@Iron_Spike) March 25, 2017

Let's give this book a cover price of $20- entirely fair- and start selling it. Math tells me I have to sell 2550 copies to break even. — Iron Spike (@Iron_Spike) March 25, 2017

Except that's not how I'll be selling most of them. Most will go through distro, which sells at a discount off cover price, and gets 30%. — Iron Spike (@Iron_Spike) March 25, 2017

So let's say, at the end of the day, I, the publisher, walk away with 30% of cover. $6.00. — Iron Spike (@Iron_Spike) March 25, 2017

So if we go FULLY through distro, no conventions, no online store sales, it's 8,500 copies to break even. — Iron Spike (@Iron_Spike) March 25, 2017

Here is a fact. I won't be selling 8,500 copies of a GN from a cartoonist no one has heard of very fast. — Iron Spike (@Iron_Spike) March 25, 2017

MANY popular and successful alt-cartoonists don't sell 8,500 copies of their books. That is a huge number. Bigger than Smut Peddler 2014. — Iron Spike (@Iron_Spike) March 25, 2017

The audience for the alt and small press is niche, and the pay usually matches. (Not to say prose authors fare any better. They don't.) — Iron Spike (@Iron_Spike) March 25, 2017

The rest of the thread is here and if this is interesting to you, consider yourself encouraged to dive in. Spike goes on to extol the virtues of launching a new book with Kickstarter, which absolutely does make for vastly better margins than the distribution channels.

If you’re going through distributor channels, that’s how the OGN game works. It’s one of the reasons that many publishers run monthly comics to try and further amortize those overall costs. Iron Circus doesn’t do monthlies, just books, so that’s where they have to recoup all the costs.

Want to learn more about how comics publishing and digital comics work? Try Todd’s book, Economics of Digital Comics or try some fiction.