Dear Author: Romance Book Reviews, Author Interviews, and Commentary

Marvel’s sales are down due to rising operational costs and digital initiatives. Since 2008, earnings were down 17.5% to $21.6 million and revenue was down $3.6% to $58.3 million. Still, Marvel has excellent margins at 37%-40% for the year 2008 but that is down from its 42% operating margin in 2007.

Via Publishers Weekly.

Marjorie Liu, author of the soon to be released, The Iron Hunt, has been writing for Marvel Comics in starting in August, her books will be relanuching the NYX X-book series featuring mutant teens living homeless in the streets of New York City.

You can read more about the creative team’s efforts in this IGN interview.

Marvel Comics is joining the digital publishing move by making available over 2500 back issues including “the first appearances of Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Incredible Hulk.” In the future, new issues won’t be available online until six months after the print publication date.

To sell people on the idea of paying for content that they can get on a week by week basis in a newspaper, Marvel is offering a 250 title sampler package for free. The archive is available only online at a subscription price of $59.88 per year or $9.99 per month.

Via USA Today.