What's the big idea?

I had this thought. It seems that everyone is worked up about copyright infringement and illegal downloading, and I get that. It's their intellectual property and they deserve to be paid for it and I certainly wouldn't argue against that position. But for myself, and certainly because I don't have a lot of intellectual property out there to be pirated, I think that it would be better if, on the internet, the electronic versions should be free. So that's the direction I'm moving with my creator-owned stuff.

Anything I create will be free to view and/or store on your hard drive. If you make money off something I've created, then of course I would want a cut of that, but by and large, I'll make some money off the print edition. The way I could see it working - my model if you will - would be to offer it free as a web edition, and monetize that with prints, t-shirts, stickers, etc. Then, upon sufficient material being available, I'll collect it and offer a download version (say for $ .99) and a print edition, maybe in chapters (or "issues") followed by a hardcover collection (with lots of extras) and finally a soft cover graphic novel. Maybe eventually an "Absolute" edition (of course I think DC Comics might have that term trademarked...) if the material warrants it. Well, that's the dream, anyway, right?

Why give it away for free? Well, to help grow an audience, first and foremost. I also believe that if people aren't willing to pay for your product, they wouldn't be your customers anyway. The comics nerds out there who support their local comic shops and publishers want that tactile sensation of holding the book in their hands, and the pride of displaying the collected edition on the bookshelf. So that won't go away. And the ones who spent $400+ on their iPad aren't going to have a problem spending a buck or two on digital comics. So there's that.

Anyway, I have a couple of concepts kicking around that I'm dying to try this on... I just have to draw them now! Oh well, it'll get done...