Comix.one partners with HP for new Print-On-Demand service

Australia-based Comix.one, who deliver an end-to-end ecosystem for Indie comics, has announced a collaboration with HP’s Graphics Solutions Business and its global Print Service Providers (PSP) network to deliver a new Print-On-Demand (POD) service that will empower independent comic book creators from around the world to more efficiently reach and engage fans of print comics, now able to order a printed copy of a digital comic they like from the Comix.one platform in multiple countries: printed, packaged and shipped exclusively for each reader.

A phased rollout of this new POD opportunity will see fans of comic books locally and in the USA, Canada, UK and EU able to order books on demand directly from Comix.one, from late August, prior to being rolled out into multiple other countries.

Saurabh Bhatia, Comix.one founder and CTO says: “As a lifelong fan of comic books and now independent ones, we love the feeling of holding a physical book in our hands. Thanks to this collaboration with HP, we intend to bring stability, scalability, reliability and great customer experience to our creators and readers.”

Against the mantra ‘Creator Owned. Reader Supported’, Bhatia and his small team have seen their business grow from a small start-up concept to a flourishing business platform. The opportunity now with the power and scope of HP Brand Center software and HP Site Flow APIs behind it, will enable considerably deeper integration with the Comix.one tech platform, as well as a direct interface with HP’s extensive global PSP network. From pre-press proofing to sending the book orders directly to the partner PSPs, Comix.one intends to build the whole workflow directly into its online dashboard and app.

Bhatia adds: “We recently launched a crowd-funding platform to enable comic creators from around the world to sell and distribute their creator-owned work digitally to readers through our platform. Now, with the HP collaboration, they can also distribute them directly to their fans via print-on-demand. Other upcoming features on our roadmap include the entire marketplace through our mobile app, as well as our own social media features to engage and build fan communities and live selling with live streaming and subscriptions.”

For the fans of independent comics, Comix.one offers a diverse set of comics and creators spanning across genres and cultures and a convenient way to purchase and access them on the go, while enabling the creators to retain 100% IP of their original characters. The company describes itself as offering an end-to-end ecosystem for Indie comics, where comic book readers can discover fresh comics created by Indie creators.

According to market research operation Cognitive Research the 2025 value of comic books in Australia was $200m, and it forecasts the market will rise by 50% in the next eight years to $300m, as demand from fans continues to grow. The independent comic book sector is much smaller, but likely to see similar growth.

While HP has a large install base of customers using its hardware and software in Australia, the customers Comix.one brings on as print partners for fulfilment will be decided between Comix.one and the Print Service Provider. Which orders go to which printers will be decided by Comix.one, and the commercial arrangements will be between Comix.one and the PSPs participating in Comix.one’s fulfilment network.

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