Regarding Wowio…
Hey all…
After spending several hours speaking with Platinum Owner Scott Rosenberg and Wowio execs/owners David Palumbo, Will Lidwell, and Kristin Ellison…I’ve got more news on things.
Wowio is at a point of re-building. It’s not the same Wowio I’ve grown to love. But it’ll hopefully get back to that place soon.
WIth that in mind. I’m holding off on joining back up with Wowio.
It is my hope that at some point in the near future they will get enough sponsors to open up Free Downloads for EVERYONE. That’s what made Wowio so great when it was just the U.S. residents. It was FREE.
I’ve had so many people tell me how much they loved the making of books, the animated books, and all the rest of the 70+ books I put up on Wowio over the last year.
I’m quite flattered.
This is a major reason why I don’t feel comfortable putting these books up for sale. The site is free. The Wowio downloads should be as well.
Over the last year I’ve really come to respect the people at Wowio…and after speaking to them again this last week…I respect them even more.
Did you guys know that they paid out over $500,000 last year to publishers?
Maybe you did.
But did you know that they didn’t have the Sponsors to cover that?
So what did they do? They did a very honorable thing. They covered everyone’s checks by paying out of their accounts. The owners of Wowio paid us out of pocket.
That garners some respect from me.
So I’m willing to wait.
I’m not a fan of the “preview” feature (which is essentially a mirror of our webcomics). And I don’t need/want the pay to download e-books.
But as soon as they get Sponsored worldwide books up and running. I’m there.
I hope it’s soon as I really want all of you International readers to see how much fun they are.
Plus I have several other books ready to go too. Gary the Pirate, My Grandparents are Secret Agents, Cameron and his Dinosarus, and Hyperactive.
It’s killing me holding on to them. So please…PLEASE hurry up Wowio!
🙂
Thank you all for your patience and I hope this explains my point of view and lack of participation on Wowio at this time.
Scott
I love and respect Wowio for everything it’s been doing. I wish it goes worldwide and I can wait… It’s hard, as I want to read many books, but I can stand a little more. I hope Wowio get enough sponsors so it will never more have to pay from its owners pockets. (It’s owners have a huge sense of duty and honour).
Wow, they paid out of pocket? Thats amazing! I really hope they go free again, my kids really love the comic, but I am still a little reluctant to point them directly to your site. I know you take pains to make it all age freindly, but the first time they click a link to “Top Web Comics” then it will be just a few more clicks to webcomics I dont want them to see….
Thanks again for keeping it free though, I really appreciate your view on this.
Joe
The ability to read books online is a bit different than just viewing the comic. Among other things, you are able to select page size, and selecting the large page size allows many details that aren’t readily visible in the original online version of some of the books I’ve looked at recently to be easily seen.
As long as they allow free online viewing that is better than the original, it MAY be worth getting involved.
Do you know if your animations would be supported on the online preview w/o your having to redo them, or would they only work in PDF format?
I’ve never really checked out Wowio–other than downloading a few of The Dreamland Chronicles when I can–but I have a deep respect for them…I like the thought of it being free to download them, and someday I hope to put up some of my own work…(I hope they continue with what they’re doing.)
But I can understand if they don’t have the sponsors…I was wondering how they were able to pay so many publishers–it really amazes me that they paid out of their own pocket. (You don’t see things like that too often these days.) 🙂
Don’t touch Platinum Studios! They are seriously crooked, as has been proven time and time again. Just say no. Google things like “Platinum Studios payment” and “Platinum Studios contract” for the dirty details.
Most help artceils on the web are inaccurate or incoherent. Not this!