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'!