Plan Nine Publishing was a small press book publisher known for publishing webcomics in printed form. The first series published, and perhaps its most famous, was '' Kevin and Kell''.

History

Plan Nine Publishing was named after the Ed Wood film ''

Plan 9 from Outer Space ''Plan 9 from Outer Space'' is a 1957 American independent science fiction-horror film produced, written, directed, and edited by Ed Wood. The film was shot in black-and-white in November 1956 and had a theatrical preview screening on March 15 ...

''. The publisher was owned by David Allen, who worked publishing alongside his day job as a

systems engineer Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their life cycles. At its core, systems engineering utilizes systems thinking p ...

at Financial Computing in Winston-Salem. Plan nine was started in 1996, and in January 2000 Allen left his day job to concentrate full-time on the publishing business. 98% of Plan Nine's products were sold direct to customers through their website. With low print runs (typically less than 2000), the company were able to run with a profit with runs as low as 300. The low running costs meant that the company was able to have a 70%

gross profit margin Gross margin is the difference between revenue and cost of goods sold (COGS), divided by revenue. Gross margin is expressed as a percentage. Generally, it is calculated as the selling price of an item, less the cost of goods sold (e. g. production ...

, and was able to give its artists a 20%

royalty Royalty may refer to: * Any individual monarch, such as a king, queen, emperor, empress, etc. * Royal family, the immediate family of a king or queen regnant, and sometimes his or her extended family * Royalty payment for use of such things as int ...

, more than 4 times the industrial average. In April 2008, the Plan Nine main page was replaced by a message stating: ''Plan Nine has gone on hiatus for re-tooling and transition to new owners. Please check back with us Sept 1st, 2008. Thanks for your support!'' That page remained until the site finally went offline in 2010.

Publications

In addition to ''Kevin and Kell'', Plan Nine published a number of other notable webcomics, including: * ''

Bastard Operator From Hell The Bastard Operator From Hell (BOFH) is a fictional rogue computer operator created by Simon Travaglia, who takes out his anger on users (who are "lusers" to him) and others who pester him with their computer problems, uses his expertise again ...

'' * ''

Buckles The buckle or clasp is a device used for fastening two loose ends, with one end attached to it and the other held by a catch in a secure but adjustable manner. Often taken for granted, the invention of the buckle was indispensable in securing tw ...

'' * '' Doctor Fun'' * ''

Monty Monty is a masculine given name, often a short form of Montgomery, Montague and other similar names. It is also a surname. Notable people with the name or nickname include: First name Nickname * Bernard Montgomery (1887–1976), British Secon ...

'' *''

On the Fastrack ''On the Fastrack'' is a comic strip drawn by Bill Holbrook about the curious characters employed at the fictional data storage firm Fastrack, Inc. Launched March 19, 1984, it was initially distributed by King Features Syndicate to 50 newspaper ...

'' * ''

Ozy and Millie ''Ozy and Millie'' is a daily comic strip that ran from 1998 to 2008, created by Dana Simpson (originally published under D.C. Simpson). It follows the adventures of assorted anthropomorphized animals, centering on Ozy and Millie, two young fo ...

'' *''

Safe Havens ''Safe Havens'' is a comic strip drawn by cartoonist Bill Holbrook. It was originally syndicated by Washington Post Writers Group starting October 3, 1988 as a weekday only strip (opposite the Sunday only strip '' Outland'' by Berkeley Breathed ...

'' * '' Sluggy Freelance'' * '' The Suburban Jungle'' * '' User Friendly'' Plan Nine also published '' Black Box Voting'' by

Bev Harris Bev Harris is an American writer, activist, and founder of Black Box Voting, a national, nonpartisan elections watchdog group. She helped popularize the term " black box voting", while authoring a book of that title. Original investigative work ...

, a nonfiction book discussing the issues involved in computer-based balloting. In 2004, the company published ''I Lived With My Parents and Other Tales of Terror,'' a collection of nonfiction and humor essays by Mary Jo Pehl.

References

Magazine publishing companies of the United States Webcomic publishing companies {{Webcomic-stub