darrellsan

I grow more and more frustrated with drivethrucomics.com, with whom I've been selling digital comics for some time. On the one hand they allow me to publish digital comics with explicit material for which I'm grateful. On the other hand they make it %$#@! hard for people to find that material, as they won't display my latest book with the rest of the recently published comics, and they won't allow anyone to preview my comics unless that someone already has an account on their site. 
Me: I'm selling THIS COMIC, please check it out at drivethrucomics.com
You: Okay, I'll click on that link and check it out!
DriveThru: Sorry you can't preview an adult comic until after you've opened an account with us.
You: But I want to check out the comic first. If I want to buy it, then I'll open an account. Like how it is almost everywhere else on the internet.
DriveThru: Sorry, you must open an account with us first, then you can preview the comic.
You: You want me to open an account just to preview a comic I might not even buy? That's ass backwards. Nevermind.
End result: No sale.

So, because of this scenario, most of my sales at DriveThru came from readers who were already members of the site, just casually browsing for stuff to buy. Whenever I published something it would show up as the most recently published book and I'd get a bunch of sales that way. Now, adult comics don't even show up with the rest of the recently published books (unless you click the very small, very not-noticeable "see all" link way off to the right). So now, even people who actually have accounts can't see new adult comics unless they take an added step (and they may not even be aware of the step to take).

I did write the owner of the site a couple of times asking if they'd change this policy. First he responded that it was to protect kids, which is understandable. I responded that a) they should have an age confirmation dialogue box and b) even hardcore porn sites let you preview stuff before asking you to open an account. His response was that Google would then rank them as an adult site. Horror of horrors.

I had a similar issue with comixcentral a couple of years ago. Unlike DriveThru, they actually would allow non-accountholders to preview my comics, but similar to DriveThru, they wouldn't feature my latest work along with the other most recent books. I asked them to change this policy, and although I really didn't expect them to, they did. Now comixcentral is where I sell most of my books, which as you probably know consist of past Blonde Marvel material. But some new stuff is on the way. Well, new to you, probably.

Last year I was commissioned by an anonymous patron to do a special Blonde Marvel story. "The Baby Maker" is about the Blonde Marvel having to go through a full pregnancy cycle in one day and features a few characters we haven't seen in years, such as Fritz Krieg, her husband Harold, and her kids, Cassie and Nick. Most of my best Blonde Marvel stories are the ones that are only two or three pages in length but I have to say "The Baby Maker" is my best long story, both in terms of art and story. I'll be selling the digital book to the general public soon and I hope you have a look.