Graphic Novel Distribution & Top 10 Comics Talents

Naysayers, the accuracy of BookScan, graphic novel distribution, sale-or-return – read "Return to the Big Nothing" on Journalista! The Comics Journal Weblog. It's a long article but it does get into the nitty gritty. Here's a taste:

In The Comics Journal #276, Strangers in Paradise creator Terry Moore, who does business with the market through Diamond Book Distributors, noted that returns make the act of placing books in this market less a science than an art:

'Returns have not been a big problem for us. I think it's a big problem if, when you first sign with a book distributor, and if you're fortunate, you get this really big order from some of the chains and, if you're truly stupid, you fill that order. [Laughter.] Because they'll order, you know, a ton of copies. "We need on million copies of your number one book, whatsitsname."

'And you go, "Yay! We made the big time," and you send a million books out, and then six months later, they send 950,000 copies back and you're ruined...'

Thanks to Colleen Doran for the heads up on this. Go read her blog and pages of A Distant Soil, which she has kindly uploaded for everyone.

On another note, the Den of Geeks website has identified "10 Comicbook Creators to Watch Out For: A guide to the newest and most promising forces in the comics world (and, later, the movie world...?)". Dwight L MacPherson of Edgar Allan Poo fame who has been a major commentator on comics distribution (and whom we've referenced in a previous blog post) gets the nod at number 2. Onward and upward. Get those movie deals happenin'!

Comics Digital Distribution through iVerse

Comics distribution has been very topical in the comics print and online press lately. The Newsarama website and blog has now weighed in on the matter with an interesting article "Brainstorming: Digital Content", which focuses on iVerse Media releasing digital comics through iPhones and iPod Touch. The article tells us that:

The opportunity to pave a new market for digital comics has never been greater. Some have said that all it will take is an iTunes for comics before digital comics will take off, well now comics are on iTunes... most go for 99c which isn't bad for full length comic book content.

The method of viewing is simple, the panels and word balloons are cropped and placed into 480 x 320 segments that you scroll through with your finger.

The article further explains some of the formatting disadvantages for comics created prior to the iPhone but that creators can now begin to keep the iVerse specs in mind when developing new content. Check out the article here, and specifically look for three examples of panel layout (located at the bottom) to give you an idea of how these digital comics will be read/viewed via the technology

MUST READ: ComicsMonkey Launch – Print on Demand Comics Distribution for Direct Market Comic Shops

This is an important initiative for the comics community. Ka-Blam – the company that also runs IndyPlanet, the comic book print on demand service, has just launched ComicsMonkey, a "No Benchmarks, No Thresholds, No Minimums and No Fees" digital printing direct market comics distribution system. 

According to its blog, Ka-Blam has been working on and testing this model since 2005, and has now launched Comics Monkey nine months ahead of schedule in response to the recent Diamond Distributors announcement, which we covered in a previous post.

... you'll find a lot of similarities between the way IndyPlanet operates and the way ComicsMonkey will operate. The primary difference of course being that IndyPlanet is a retail site that will accept orders from anyone and ComicsMonkey will accept orders only from registered, verified comics retailers.

The products will be sold to retailers on a firm sale basis and with a beginning 35% discount off the cover price. Publishers should get 10% off retail price for every unit sold, although this figure has not been confirmed yet.

You can check out the Retailer policy here.

You can check out the Supplier (Publisher) policy here.

IMPORTANT NEWS – Diamond Distributor Raises Minimum Threshold for Comics Publishers [UPDATED 22 & 27/1/09]

Diamond Distributors, which describes itself as 'the world's largest distributor of English-language comic books, graphic novels and related pop-culture merchandise" has just raised its minimum order threshold for comics publishers from $1,500 per month to $2,500 per month, which is predicted to have a devastating impact on small press.

Comic Book Resources tells us that:

The increase of the purchase-order threshold means each book needs to generate at least $2,500 of revenue to be listed in Previews [the order catalogue sent to retailers, which lists upcoming comic books and graphic novels]. 

... SLG Publishing's Dan Vado points out that figure means "a litle over $6,000 in sales at retail based on the discount we give to Diamond."

That means the average $3 comic would have to sell more than 2,100 copies – a rare feat for many small publishers. (The number of copies varies depending on the discount offered to Diamond.) 

CBR follows up with another article on iVerse and its Total Digital Distribution package, which offers hope to publishers and creators to get their product out electronically into the market place and to get paid in the process. William Schanes, Vice President of Purchasing at Diamond, speaks out on the policy change in this interview.

In the meantime, Dwight L MacPherson (creator of Edgar Allan Poo) seems to have his finger on the pulse in regard to alternative avenues of comics digital and print distribution. Check out his blog to read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 in a series which analyses the advantages and disadvantages of putting your product onto WOWIO or print on demand publishing through IndyPlanet.