Whatever its intent, the recent news about Diamond Distribution’s attempt at digital distribution has stirred up a lot of talk about the future of Local Comics Stores (LCS). Digital delivery of comics through services like The Illustrated Section or Comixology has certainly disrupted the business of selling and distributing physical comic books, but does this mean that comics stores are no longer relevant? Is there more to what ails LCS? Can they adapt their business model to become more relevant than ever before?

I’m grateful to be joined by two people who lend a boat-load of insight on the subject:

Eli Neiburger is the Associate Director of IT and Production at the Ann Arbor District Library and author of Gamers… In the Library?!

Barry Gregory is the owner of the Ka-Blam Digital Printing service as well as the IndyPlanet and ComicsMonkey fulfillment and distribution services.

Together we explore how LCS can reach new audiences and find their unique value proposition by partnering with local cartoonists and begin thinking of themselves as much as a content creator as they are a content seller. We use some successful strategies used by libraries as models for consideration.

Some links mentioned in this episode:

* Eli’s “Libraries are Screwed” talk he led at the Library Journal/School Library Journal Online Summit

* Green Brain Comics

* Vault of Midnight

* Wondermark

* Achewood

* Raina Telgemeier

* The Dok Library

* My talk at Ignite Chelsea, The 21st Century Cartoonist

* A blog post I made on the topic of LCS pursuing local talent to create content

We talk a lot about interactive comics events during our discussion, which reminds me to point you at the Kids Read Comics Extravaganza on March 12 in Ann Arbor, MI!

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