IDW Publishing hired Jeff Webber to the new position of Director of E-Publishing. In the new job, he’ll “help explore the growing opportunities for comics to be sold via various electronic formats,” according to this Publishers Weekly article.
Publisher/owner Ted Adams thinks electronic distribution will be increasingly important to the company. “We’re looking at ebooks, iTunes applications, direct-to-desktop downloads similar to what Marvel is doing, and the Kindle. But within those ebook formats, what we’re focusing on now is iTunes apps.” They’re not, however, leaving into the field completely blind. “I’ve quietly been testing all kinds of formats and opportunities with a variety of partners. Any time anybody has approached me with a deal, I’ve done a deal with that person.” Thus, he’s seen a lot of what works and what doesn’t. iTunes, he thinks, has proven itself as a legitimate way to sell comics.
The title that decided IDW on the new path is their Star Trek: Countdown, which is a prequel to the film opening this Friday, and is written by the movie’s writers: Robert Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and J.J. Abrams. The comic delves into the origins of the film’s villain, Nero, and is “canon” in the Trek universe, which has probably helped sales. “We will sell as many iTunes apps [of Countdown] as we will of the print version,” Adams said. “That’s a lot of apps.” Each issue of the comic is being sold as an individual app, and regularly appears in the top 100 iTunes apps. The first print issue of Star Trek: Countdown sold about 15,000 copies.
IDW’s plans for its next electronic titles are also movie tie-ins: GI Joe and Transformers, but Webber expects to move the company quickly into non-tie-in titles. “I feel that IDW has a great collection of content that’s going to make a difference, not just with the licensed material but as a chance to promote some very creative new content.” One of his duties will be to work with editors on new and original content and developing print books with an eye for how best to translate them for digital distribution. “We’ve got editors on board who are developing print books and at the same time we’re all taking about how to prepare for both mobile and print.”
Previously, Webber had been the Vice President of Development at uClick, and before that worked at Hallmark and Shockwave.
This announcement comes on the heals of Dark Horse’s own move to iPhone apps (see yesterday’s article).