Well right from the horses mouth in one of Peter's rare "Ask Peter" blogs:
http://peterlairdstmntblog.blogspot....l#comment-form
I find it funny that the persons name is "Dan" that asked the question.
Why were volume 4 issues 29-32 limited to 1,000 copies? They seem to be the most requested issues. Why print such a small number if you know you can sell more?
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PLApril 26, 2015 at 7:13 AM
What's that line from the old Rolling Stones song -- "You can't always get what you want"?
I decided to try this new publishing model back when I was still doing the book on a sort of regular basis, but wanted to have some more flexibility than was offered by the traditional distribution route. I decided to try something different -- to create a collectible right out of the box -- only print 1000 copies, and sell them each for $10 (to try to cover production costs and make some profit as well), but at the same time release the book online in a digital form which could be downloaded and read for FREE.
Is this a good model? I'm not entirely sure. It's an experiment. It allows some people to purchase something which is a pretty limited edition collectible (nothing new there, really -- publishers have been doing that for many years), while simultaneously everyone in the world with Internet access can read the issue for free, the same day it is released. And isn't the reading the whole point of comics? -- PL