நாளை நமதே

In this critical time of pandemic, impacting the majority of people’s livelihood, let us think of some ways to make money from our favorite pass-time ‘COMICS’. We have always been spending on this hobby, for now when few of us needing money even for our survival, let us think ways of monetizing it. If not, supporting those who need it!

1. We can start writing stories for comics or offer professional translation – there are many publishing companies that are always looking out for good stories/ concepts.
2. Start a library service in your neighborhood, listing all your books in a ledger. There is a “borrowing charge” as well as “one time membership fee” – you can continue earning multiple ways.
3. Start exchanging and selling your old collection and investing in newer books (This is the same principle that wine collectors do – price increases by ageing, but selling wine at the right time creates space for new stock for future sales)
4. The ancillary service industry to comics is practically nil in India now. Example – there is not a professional service to “cover” the books or spray insecticide or restoration works/ etc.. depending upon the type of service you are expert at, you can start providing the service to avid collectors.
5. After studying thoroughly the standards, you could start offering to “Rate” the condition of the comic books owned by the connoisseurs – this system is not available in India and could be a trend setter if promoted properly.
6. Start a platform that is easy to earn revenue from – like youtube / facebook page – and start building content from home – it can be as simple as scanning your very old books you have (expired copyright) to narrating a review – iMovies could be used to create professional movies out from scanned images!
7. Audio comic books could be pioneered – Just take up any old comic, get a team from your friends and relatives – and start recording in your android phone with the right software!
8. Offer a group/category services – and charge members to be part of them – example, if you have a “bidding group” where we get rare collectibles – start offering the service for x amount per month participation fee.
9. If you are more into business thinking and less into creative side, start crowd-funded campaigns for creating new content with individual sale-targets for participants like KickStarter campaigns. With the right business plan, group effort never goes in vain!
10. Value Addition is the key to any economic activity – Add value to your books and sell it off – Example: take autographs from celebrities, authors and sell the copies at premium / Cover the books like a collectors edition for additional price / etc.

What we should do so that the Tamil comic reading community is benefitted:

1. In case of printed copies, only purchase comics written by locals, edited by locals, illustrated by local talents, printed in Indian papers by local publishing houses!
2. In case of digital comics, prioritize the money we spend towards locally developed content.
3. Encourage reviews/ critique by new-comers; Visit blogs, subscribe their youtube channels, comment on their channels, search for the content proactively – instead of waiting passively for someone to share link to reach us. If we are proactive – the ability for the content creator to monetize their platform increases proportionally!

What would be hurting the efforts to give life to fellow tamilians in dire need:

1. Fan made scanlations: As much as they are fun, they tend to be economically hazarduous to local talent, mainly because:
   a. It is clear that local talent is not to the international level (at-least for the time being)
   b. We only strive to follow the best, and not prioritize the locally-made
2. Following international characters and stories
   a. While so-far this had not hurt the economy per-se, post-pandemic world challenges should be understood in the right perspective.

At the end of the day, the question comes more or so to this I guess:

“With my comic-reading habit, how much wealth am I creating for myself? Will writer in a auto or taxi driver help him pay his daughter’s school fee? Will it help an illustrator in a electrician pay his rent? How am I helping fellow Tamils…”