0

By David Rothman

wowio The word from Scott Christian Sava is that Wowio wants major publishers involved. And he says these companies don’t want ads in their precious books—hence a change in the Wowio site and business model. No more free PDFs with a tolerable number of ads.

Recently bought by Platinum Studios, Wowio is now just a bookstore with rude, blinking ads and reader-hostile way to try out the books online. I can’t fit the pages on my screen without shrinking the type to the point where I have trouble seeing it.

Back to the old way, please

Scott, himself a former Wowio pubisher, joins me in hoping that Platinum will reconsider. Wowio brought him $40,000 last year “and it cost my readers nothing,” a fact for large publishers to ponder.

I thank Scott for writing in and would love to hear from the big houses giving their views. At least one pretty good-sized company, Oxford University Press, actually did provide a number of Wowio books, including a memorable Mencken biography. OUP will be pleased to know that, yes, I associate the company’s name with the free books—not just the authors’. Talk about goodwill! And keep in mind that, as you just heard from Scott, publishers and thus writers and artists are actually being paid.

Advice for Platinum

So what would I tell Platinum, which just scooped up Wowio? Go back to the old model and old site design immediately, while working to educate the big publishers. The present site, with atrocious display of comics and text-oriented works alike, is inhume treatment of visitors. Do you think that smart majors want to associate their names with such a botch of a site?

image I’m pleased to say that I’ll soon be able to publish Wowio’s side. Meanwhile here’s a good round-up—on the Wowio disaster—written by Heidi MacDonald for PW’s blog on comics culture.

Just as I said earlier, and as Scott has, too, separately, let’s hope that the current site is just a transitional one. I’ll be a fast forgiver if Wowio returns to the old approach.

Technorati Tags:
 
0