Valles Wrote:Interestingly, I'm one of those individuals who caught part of the Negima anime in fansubs for an episode or two, then decided not to pursue it. Speaking just for myself, the likelihood of my acquiring the first disc or two of it as a 'blind taste test' without that first experimentation are effectively nil. My budget is tight enough that a US$20 DVD is a significant chunk of the monthly total, one that I refuse to gamble on something that I have no idea if it will be worth it.So... you've never gone to see a movie in the theatre? Never rented a video from Blockbuster? Never gotten a Netflix account? Never checked a book out of the library? Never gone to a bookstore and read the first chapter of a manga?
Your arguments in this matter have accordingly so far failed to satisfy the burden of proof in my mind. The evidence advanced by Eric Flint and the other contributors to Baen's Free Library Palavers have.
Regardless. Bob, could you put on your Moderator Hat for a moment and transfer this thread to Politics, please?
When I wanted to go read a copy of Negima to see if it was for me I went to Chapters. They actually have comfy chairs on site. They encourage people to read before buying. I read the first chapter, decided I didn't like Negima and checked out about five more books before settling on one I wanted to buy. All perfectly legal and didn't require any scanlations. I can do similar things with books at my local library (I read all Stephen Kings work at my local library before I bought the four books of his I really enjoyed for example).
I find the argument that the only way to get free previews of manga is through scanlations to not satisfy my burden or proof.
Now as to your argument that offering work for free increase sales. Let's put this to the test. Thankfully we have a really large sample size to compare: Free webcomics (where the authors give away all the material for free and you can pay for collections) and commercial comics.
Now, tell me: is there a major motion picture being produced for... say, Sluggy Freelance? How about PvP? No?
Well, maybe comparing the webcomic artists to people like Jim Lee and Frank Miller is bad. After all, Jim Lee and Frank Miller are comic superstars. People who do purely indy comics can't possibly make as much money. Well, unless your Bryan Lee O'Malley, who does an entirely indy comic that netted him a major motion picture deal due out this summer.
Here's the thing: I will admit offering free samples improves sales. But it is by far not the only way, nor neccesarily even the most successful way of doing so. If a company decides not to offer free samples of their work to you, that's their right. There are a lot of ways for you to preview before you buy, after all.
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