MORE ON DDP/ASP.
From Blog@Newsarama:
Despite reports circulating yesterday, Archaia Studios Press is being acquired by Chicago-based Kunoichi Inc., and not Devil’s Due Publishing.
More here.
From Mark Smylie in the link above:
… we are indeed shifting from a more traditional publishing contract to something that can be better described as a media rights contract; this is in part a reflection both of the overall direction of the comics industry, for better or for worse — every company or individual investor that had talked to us about an acquisition expressed the same sentiment, that our IP approach would have to change to match our competitors — and Archaia’s interest in working with its creators on broader and more long term IP development. Despite the changes, we have tried to put in place as many guarantees of creator control and protection as we can; at root, we’re still all about trying to find creators who have a specific vision they want to pursue and letting them do that in a way which hopefully profits both them and the company. I’m signing Artesia to the company under the same contract as everyone else and am remaining on board as the managing editor, so I wanted to make sure that creators had as much final say over their properties as possible. We’re still in the process of finalizing a few individual creator contracts, but it’s looking like most of our previously published titles will be moving forward as part of Archaia’s new publishing schedule. We strongly believe that the new contract is competitive with industry standards and has a high degree of creator control that can these days only be beat by self-publishing.
While the debate on taking or leaving projects as they wish continues, it's the contract changing - the very thing that brought many creators to ASP in the first place - that's at the core of this. I have more than a few creators who have said they will not be signing the new contract. And three are having troubles with negotiations. Definitely there's been a fundamental change of ASP's mission statement which I assume is better from a company view. It remains to be seen what it means from a creator's view.
By the way, this comment was left in the comments section of my previous post:
Normally, Devil’s Due Publishing would not comment on unattributed rumors. But, due to the amount of queries we have received about this, we want to set the record straight.
While DDP and Archaia Studios Press had some initial exploratory conversations, DDP is not acquiring ASP. We are continuing to have conversations with Archaia about the possibilities of working together in some capacity, as we are with many other publishers both big and small.
It starts with "This is Brian Warmoth, Marketing Manager of DDP." That same comment showed up in the Beat's recent post on the situation but this time attributed to DDP CEO P.J. Bickett who owns Kunoichi, Inc. the company formed by DDP's Josh Blaylock.
Isn't this sort of like saying "DC isn't buying Marvel. Warner Brothers is buying Marvel"?
To be continued for sure...
Despite reports circulating yesterday, Archaia Studios Press is being acquired by Chicago-based Kunoichi Inc., and not Devil’s Due Publishing.
More here.
From Mark Smylie in the link above:
… we are indeed shifting from a more traditional publishing contract to something that can be better described as a media rights contract; this is in part a reflection both of the overall direction of the comics industry, for better or for worse — every company or individual investor that had talked to us about an acquisition expressed the same sentiment, that our IP approach would have to change to match our competitors — and Archaia’s interest in working with its creators on broader and more long term IP development. Despite the changes, we have tried to put in place as many guarantees of creator control and protection as we can; at root, we’re still all about trying to find creators who have a specific vision they want to pursue and letting them do that in a way which hopefully profits both them and the company. I’m signing Artesia to the company under the same contract as everyone else and am remaining on board as the managing editor, so I wanted to make sure that creators had as much final say over their properties as possible. We’re still in the process of finalizing a few individual creator contracts, but it’s looking like most of our previously published titles will be moving forward as part of Archaia’s new publishing schedule. We strongly believe that the new contract is competitive with industry standards and has a high degree of creator control that can these days only be beat by self-publishing.
While the debate on taking or leaving projects as they wish continues, it's the contract changing - the very thing that brought many creators to ASP in the first place - that's at the core of this. I have more than a few creators who have said they will not be signing the new contract. And three are having troubles with negotiations. Definitely there's been a fundamental change of ASP's mission statement which I assume is better from a company view. It remains to be seen what it means from a creator's view.
By the way, this comment was left in the comments section of my previous post:
Normally, Devil’s Due Publishing would not comment on unattributed rumors. But, due to the amount of queries we have received about this, we want to set the record straight.
While DDP and Archaia Studios Press had some initial exploratory conversations, DDP is not acquiring ASP. We are continuing to have conversations with Archaia about the possibilities of working together in some capacity, as we are with many other publishers both big and small.
It starts with "This is Brian Warmoth, Marketing Manager of DDP." That same comment showed up in the Beat's recent post on the situation but this time attributed to DDP CEO P.J. Bickett who owns Kunoichi, Inc. the company formed by DDP's Josh Blaylock.
Isn't this sort of like saying "DC isn't buying Marvel. Warner Brothers is buying Marvel"?
To be continued for sure...
posted by Peter at
2:23 PM
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