Readmagine 2018 included the 5th International Digital Distributors Meeting, organized by IPDA and FANDE with the collaboration of the Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez. During this edition was the first occasion to talk about the digital comics and their different business models.
The participants were moderated by Luis González (Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez) and were representatives of three diverse approaches: Kazuyuki Masuda (Managing Director at VIZ Media Europe) Luc Bourcier (CEO at Izneo, France)
Giuseppe Ciancia (Editor in Chief at Verticomics, Italy).
Each of the three participants was invited to present their respective products; from a large company with a large number of publishing houses in very diverse formats to the outline of an app to discover and read comics in a digital device and organize personal collections.
Giuseppe Ciancia was born in Italy in 1987. In 2010 he attended lessons of screenplay writing for comics at Accademia delle Belle Arti in Genova. He deals with digital publishing since 2011, when he becomes editor of Verticalismi.it, the first italian webcomics & lab magazine. Since 2015 he works as editor-in-chief for VERTICOMICS s.r.l., a digital comics distributor. In 2016 he also started working with VERTICOMICS as web-marketer and data analyst.
Kazuyuki Masuda has been working from 1985 to 2011 for Shueisha Inc., a major Japanese Publishing Company in the Manga (Japanese Graphic novels, Comics) Editorial Team, he has then greatly contributed to the Digital Business Department until 2016, launching “Jump & Margaret Digital Book Store”, etc. In view of the International expansion of Manga properties, he joined the Rights Business Department in the Overseas Publishing Division to finally come to Europe at VIZ Media Europe Group, as Managing Director of Publishing licensing, Direct Publishing and Sales.2) short motto on the Round Table, 7th June 2018 morning, “Development and commercialization of Digital Comics”.
Luc Bourcier is the CEO of Izneo, Europe’s leading digital comic platform. He has achieved most of his career in video games. In 1988, he launched the Sega brand in France, as Marketing and Commercial Director before creating in 1996, the French subsidiary of the American video games publisher: GT Interactive. From 2000, he assumed the general management of Acclaim and Codemasters for France and Southern Europe. Graduated from Audencia, he also holds a PhD from Celsa and an MBA “Marketing and Commerce on Internet”. Luc Bourcier began his career with Nathan Editions, after creating Bederama a small comic publishing house during his studies.
Set up in 2010, the Izneo service allows you to discover, acquire and read the most extensive catalog in all genres of comics, bande dessinée, mangas and now webtoons across all screens. Its shareholding is made up of the main French comics publishers as well as Fnac.
Luis Gonzalez is Managing Director of the Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez. Since 1992 he joined the Administradores corps (senior civil servants in Spain’s National Public Administration) and worked as the director of different departments within the Spain’s National Administration, such as regional development units or R & D divisions. During his stage at the Ministry of Culture launched the National Reading Strategy. In 2004 joined the GSR Foundation where he designed and developed projects such as Casa del Lector (the Madrid’s new centre for the R&D of readership), several digital platforms (Canal Lector, Lecturalab, Lectyo or Lectylab), research projects (Territorio Ebook, Nubeteca) or innovation forums for the industry (Readmagine, Renodo). He is a lecturer, professor and author of several books.
