ComiXology Submit will stop accepting submissions Sept. 15

Following the news earlier this week that comiXology would transition from their current website to Amazon.com, many creators have taken to Twitter to share that they’ve been informed that comiXology Submit will stop accepting submissions later this month.

According to the posted letter, comiXology Submit will stop taking submissions after Sept. 15. Readers who own copies of previous Submit titles will still be able to access them, but creators will need to begin using Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing, or KDP, system instead — and re-upload their existing Submit titles through that system. There’s an FAQ about it up on comiXology’s site.

If you aren’t familiar with it, comiXology Submit allowed pretty much any comics creator to upload and sell their comic through the popular online digital comics platform. It launched back in 2013 with Submit titles featured prominently on the comiXology home page at the time.

The FAQ lists some of the benefits of the Kindle system over Submit:

• Get to market fast. Your comics on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) that meet KDP guidelines can be published on the Amazon website in as little as 72 hours. You can find more information about KDP timelines here.
• Get access to KDP’s royalty reporting dashboard, where sales reports can be generated with just a few clicks.
• Add Guided View to your comics with Kindle Create. You can now make changes to your comics at any time and create your own Guided View.
• Publish in digital and print. Use KDP to print your digital comics.
• Group by series. KDP now supports creating eBook series.

But creators who already have titles on comiXology will have some work ahead of them — not only will they need to learn KDP, but they’ll also have to build out their own Guided View functionality, which is a popular feature with many users. And it sounds like they’ll be doing it for a smaller stake of the sales.

Several creators expressed their disappointment with this change on social media, with Jodie Troutman of Trout Cave Comics giving a lengthy overview on Twitter:

Just got an email: Comixology Submit is dead. Previous Submit books are opt-in for the new marketplace. Future comics only published through KDP.

— Jodie Troutman (@LongTallJodie) September 2, 2021

TBH, I feel like the writing has been on the wall for the Comixology Submit program for a while now. Notably, new Submit releases used to be somewhat curated. They've just been dumped out alphabetically for a while now, leaving good comics lost in the chaff.

— Jodie Troutman (@LongTallJodie) September 2, 2021

Oh, hey, I missed that there's a FAQ. Notable, for me: comic creators publishing via KDP now have to create their own Guided View if they want it. This was previously done for us on Comixology's end. https://t.co/LoYX21TLKB

— Jodie Troutman (@LongTallJodie) September 2, 2021

You can qualify for a 70% royalty if you can prove a your eBook is being listed at 20% below the physical book's list price.

Which does NOT ACTUALLY HELP IF YOU'RE DIGITAL-ONLY.

— Jodie Troutman (@LongTallJodie) September 2, 2021

Pocket Bear Press shared part of the message they received:

Well, looks like comiXology submit is dead. I'm kinda upset. I really loved @comiXology and they loved me. I wish everything good didn't have to get absorbed into The Monopoly. pic.twitter.com/RksVeJ8MGg

— Pocket Bear Press (@PocketBearPress) September 2, 2021

And Matthew Dow Smith notes he would actually prefer to have more control over the Guided View functionality for his books:

I actually really prefer the KDP self-publishing tools to the Submit tools because you can set the Guided View progression yourself and you don’t have to through the Submit approval process, which has been fine but time-consuming.

— Matthew Dow Smith (@matthewdowsmith) September 2, 2021

You can find out more about the changes in the FAQ.