I was thinking looking into releasing some of my stuff with them, but I've heard a lot of mixed feedback about them. I was wondering if anyone had tried using Wowio before and if it's a good idea.

All I've heard about Wowio is negative, and that they won't be able to pay anyone, etc... I don't know the whole deal as from the posting I've seen about them, I've elected to stay away from it.

I am fortunate enough to know several fairly successful webcomickers. The topic of Wowio came up at our recent meeting during a discussion on the economy and webcomics. Here's the basics of what was said:

1. People who have been on Wowio for a while are having more luck than people who aren't.

2. Wowio isn't being consistent in paying people. They do seem to be late with their most recent round of payments. The economy's hitting them too, apparently.

3. One of the major draws of a PDF/paper edition of your webcomic is likely going to be extra material that can only be viewed if the special edition is "bought". However, since Wowio makes it so that people can view the PDF online without downloading it, there's no incentive. They can see the extra material without "buying". According to R.C. Monroe over at Out There ( http://www.outtherecomic.com/ ) Wowio pays less for online views than they do for book downloads. R.C.'s noted money made from Wowio has gone down significantly since that happened.

In short, Wowio doesn't seem like the best bet at the moment. You might be better off trying for a print-on-demand service like Lulu or a PDF store like RPGNow.com (which also does comics).

I wouldn't do Lulu for comics. They're far too overpriced. They're great for book books... I have some of theirs kicking around... but for printing comics, it just costs too much. Better to go with one particularly for comics, like Ka-Blam or something. If you're gonna go POD, I suggest checking this page out for a review of several services. http://calamitiesofnature.com/extras/podreview.php

Somehow I think it'd probably be better than Wowio.

Actually, I do some freelance work as an editor for a comic company that uses Ka-Blam for their comics. They said that the hardest part was finding people interested in buying the books off of Indy Planet. People would have no problem buying the books at conventions and from the stores, but no one wanted to spend the money online. It hurts them a lot cause they're always hoping the Indy Planet sales will help offset the print run costs. I think that's yet to actually happen from the sound of it. That's why I wanted to look into Wowio, see if I could maybe use that to help bank my comics. I guess that plan is kind of debunked though.

To get prints of your comic dark phoenix is fairly cheap compared to some others I have looked at. I have never dealt with Wowio though. http://www.darkphoenixprinting.com/

Wowio sucks, Drunk Duck rocks!

Speaking of Drunk Duck. This is in Chris Hazelton's blog over at Misfile .

"DAYS THAT MY 2ND QUARTER ROYALTIES FROM WOWIO/PLATINUM STUDIOS (Over $7000) ARE OVERDUE: 110 AND STILL COUNTING!!! WHERE IS MY MONEY, WOWIO?!"

thoththegrey
"DAYS THAT MY 2ND QUARTER ROYALTIES FROM WOWIO/PLATINUM STUDIOS (Over $7000) ARE OVERDUE: 110 AND STILL COUNTING!!! WHERE IS MY MONEY, WOWIO?!"

Wow, I think that says it all.

Yeah, Wowio used to be okay - even sort of cool.

Now, for reasons stated in this thread, they suck. A lot. It's very sad, the direction such things begin heading.

I'll say. That's pretty disappointing. It was such a cool idea, I wonder where things went wrong.