AiT/PLANETLAR DOESN'T SELL-OUT OF ANYTHING

[MattBrady]

Press Release

Publisher Larry Young announced today that his publishing house, AiT/Planet Lar, HASN’T sold out of anything they publish. "There’s been a real drive lately from the various comic book publishing houses to issue press releases saying that they’ve sold out of this book or that," said Young. "Frankly, I think that’s just bad business. If you’ve sold out of a book you’ve published, that means that you’ve set your print runs too low and that your customers CAN’T GET A COPY of a book you’ve published that they want. That’s sort of not the point of comic book publishing, as I understand it. I want every single person who wants to purchase a copy of LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS, or a copy of SWITCHBLADE HONEY, or a copy of ASTRONAUTS IN TROUBLE, or whatever, to be able to go into their local comic book store, or to their local Barnes and Noble, or to log in to their favorite online store, and to get a copy of any of our books, whenever."

Both SWITCHBLADE HONEY and LAST OF THE INDEPENDENTS have recently been favorably mentioned in the pop culture media. "How would it look," said AiT/Planet Lar publisher Mimi Rosenheim, "if when LOTI was talked-up by ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY that you couldn’t go into you comic store or a book store and get a copy for yourself? We’d look like morons. We WANT everyone who wants a copy of the books we publish to be able to get one. We set our print runs so we DON’T sell out to assure our loyal fans and interested folks and even just regular people who may not have ever bought a comic before but have read of SKY APE in ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY or CHANNEL ZERO in WIRED or whatever media outlet they see that they can get a copy of the books we publish."

Young agrees: "We try to set our print runs for a year’s worth of stock, but even then, we often get surprised. Warren Ellis’ collection of comic book commentary, COME IN ALONE, sold out of its initial printing in a mere six weeks, Mike Brennan’s ELECTRIC GIRL, and Bri Wood’s COUSCOUS EXPRESS have both sold out of massive initial print runs before then….But to say something’s ‘sold out’ is an admission of failure, to my way of thinking. As long as there is one person on this Earth who needs a book of ours we publish, we’ll never be sold out. This is our commitment to the comic book community: our comic books will always be in print, and available, in one form or another, whoever wants one, for as long as we are publishers."

"It’s an impressive bit of logistics, you can tell," said AiT/Planet Lar production co-ordinator Ryan Yount, "but our books remain in print and available. The next big step for us is to make sure we keep up with the demand for Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan’s DEMO. It’s been a while since AiT has tackled the monthly format, best-known for trades and OGNs like we are. But even our monthly superhero book will be available for people to get."

AiT/Planet Lar books are available at you local comic store, at your local bookstore, and from various online distributors.

[Barry]

Whoda thunk that a comics publisher would issue a press release informing the public that there books are AVAILABLE for purchase? Kinda makes these 'sell-out' press releases look a little silly, don't it?

That said, thanks to Larry and the folks at AiT/PlanetLar for some great comic books/OGNs and for their commitment to keep them in stock and available for anyone who wants them.

[Riliss]

LOL, that was a great press release.

[db]

This has made my day.
Well done lads.

[Just A Pilgrim]

That's a garbage press release! Smacks of sour grapes. Fact is ait/planetlar would cream thier pants to be able to say they sold out of anything, bad thing for them is not enough people know about thier stuff or desire any of it to make that ever happen. To throw mud at DC with this kind of petty press release is plain childish... grow up AIT/Planetlar! It's kinda sad that, in an age when comic's as a whole are kicking and screaming for respect as a medium, a (supposedly) high brow publisher would deem in nessicary to carry out this sort of low brow pot shot. How's anyone supposed to take you serious when you constantly prove how immature you are? Smooth move Exlax.

[Academic]

Originally posted by Just A Pilgrim
That's a garbage press release! Smacks of sour grapes. Fact is ait/planetlar would cream thier pants to be able to say they sold out of anything, bad thing for them is not enough people know about thier stuff or desire any of it to make that ever happen. To throw mud at DC with this kind of petty press release is plain childish... grow up AIT/Planetlar! It's kinda sad that, in an age when comic's as a whole are kicking and screaming for respect as a medium, a (supposedly) high brow publisher would deem in nessicary to carry out this sort of low brow pot shot. How's anyone supposed to take you serious when you constantly prove how immature you are? Smooth move Exlax.

Troll.

Anyone who's been watching the comic industry even remotely over the past few years knows that this whole thing started with Marvel and the Jemas/Quesada team. Announcing that books have "sold out quicker than expected" makes them look hot -- thus making comic buyers pay attention to the next release so that they don't miss out.

In other words, it's a marketing gimmick... but one with a catch.

Don't think for a moment that there isn't someone who got interested in Teen Titans or El Cazador after they heard it got hot, only to find out from their local comic store that they sold out the first day or -- worse -- they didn't get enough copies to meet demand.

What do you say to those people? Really??

AiT is right: the worst thing comicdom can have right now is a situation where readers hearing about good books late can't get a copy without having to wait for an additional printing which may or may not arrive at the publisher's whim....

Read an AiT publication. They produce top quality stuff. Making sure that the rest of the market can read it too is just smart business sense... especially when the shelf life on good literature is "forever."

[MattBrady]

Originally posted by Just A Pilgrim
Fact is ait/planetlar would cream thier pants to be able to say they sold out of anything

Fact? Name your source.

Fact is, I think Larry would like to see everyone who wants one of his books get one, which he said in the release, unless I missed something.

MattB

[briancwood]

Originally posted by Just A Pilgrim
Fact is ait/planetlar would cream thier pants to be able to say they sold out of anything,

it said in the press release that they have been surprised and sold out of printings (and gone straight back to press). i myself am enjoying the third printing of my Channel Zero, and the second printings of Couscous Express and Jennie One.

-bri

[majorjoe23]

I'm happy that a great company has all their stuff in print, but isn't AiT/Planet Lar a trade only company? Most companies don't issue press releases when they sell out of trades, because almost every company makes it a point to keep their trades in print.

This seems like kind of an apples and oranges comparrison.

[Just A Pilgrim]

The point is the AIT release was meant for no other purpose than to deride and ridicule a competing comic company. How does the release help AIT? It doesn't, it's states the reduntnantly obvious. So you think DC and Marvel's announcements are somewhat of a marketing ploy? Okay, they probably are, and that's a negative for comic's how? It's one thing to say "your doing this and this is bad for my business and this industry as a whole" but that's not even what AIT's release says, it basically says "your doing this and i think it's lame, so i'm going to do something overtly petty to get back at you, nah-nah-na- boo-boo". It's just petty as hell and if the roles were reversed and Marvel or DC had issued a release like this aimed at one of the smaller houses, people would be coming out of the wood work to slam them.

[NotAnIssue]

Originally posted by Academic

Don't think for a moment that there isn't someone who got interested in Teen Titans or El Cazador after they heard it got hot, only to find out from their local comic store that they sold out the first day or -- worse -- they didn't get enough copies to meet demand.

What do you say to those people? Really??

AiT is right: the worst thing comicdom can have right now is a situation where readers hearing about good books late can't get a copy without having to wait for an additional printing which may or may not arrive at the publisher's whim....

What do you say to those people? Without sounding crass...be more informed. In a perfect world, issues wouldn't sell out, but come on. It's not like sellouts are a new phenomenon. I remember having my dad drive me around to the different comic stores to get a first print of Robin #1 (that first 5-issue miniseries).

Back then you didn't have websites or first looks, etc to preview upcoming books. You had Comics Buyer's Guide, in house ads and the fanzines to let you know what was coming. That's about it.

Today you can go to myriad publishers' sites, news sites (like this one), creators' personal sites, many messageboards and even the major comic DISTRIBUTOR's website. There is no excuse for not knowing about a title debut or a particular hot issue (far) in advance (some slack cut for those without an internet connection). How many comic stores DON'T offer a subscription service? With a little effort anyone can be well aware of comics coming down the pipe and pre-order accordingly.


Retailers hate hearing it, but in a lot of instances THEY could have avoided running out of something by having a clear sense of how many issues to order. How many stores ordered "Origin" appropriately? How many stores took up to 6 months to start ordering "Ultimate Spider-Man" appropriately? Being able to properly gauge interest is part of the business.

And honestly, you mention the 'publisher's whim' concerning 2nd prints...how many "HOT" books never saw another print run? "Superman: Red Son"? Isolated incident. How many prestige mini-series (not one-shots like "The Killing Joke") have that kind of success, never mind an Elseworlds title? Teen Titans was up to what, its 3rd print? Who doesn't have one that wants one? I'll find you one for cover price. I think Marvel & DC especially have stepped up to the plate regarding this. The DC catch-up issues of things like "Y The Last Man" and the first 2 chapters of "Hush"....Marvel's "Might Must Haves"...I don't see your point there. 'El Cazador' is seeing a 2nd print. Even smaller houses like IDW put out 2nd prints of '30 Days of Night'.

Publisher's whim, indeed.


There will always be books that exceed expected demand. Always have been. There's no perfect solution, other than to be informed.

[Nat Gertler]

Actually, this does most of the things that you want with a press release for existing projects:

* it exposes readers to the AiT titles and includes indications of popularity
* it reminds retailers that the AiT titles are available for restock
* it puts forth AiT as a company that provides ongoing support to the retailer, and shows creators that AiT is a company that will keep their works in stock.

And if it gives Larry another venue for putting forth his views about the way things should be done, well that's Larry.

[Barry]

Originally posted by Just A Pilgrim
The point is the AIT release was meant for no other purpose than to deride and ridicule a competing comic company. How does the release help AIT? It doesn't, it's states the reduntnantly obvious. So you think DC and Marvel's announcements are somewhat of a marketing ploy? Okay, they probably are, and that's a negative for comic's how? It's one thing to say "your doing this and this is bad for my business and this industry as a whole" but that's not even what AIT's release says, it basically says "your doing this and i think it's lame, so i'm going to do something overtly petty to get back at you, nah-nah-na- boo-boo". It's just petty as hell and if the roles were reversed and Marvel or DC had issued a release like this aimed at one of the smaller houses, people would be coming out of the wood work to slam them.

Get over it.

[Santiago Casares]

Originally posted by majorjoe23
I'm happy that a great company has all their stuff in print, but isn't AiT/Planet Lar a trade only company? Most companies don't issue press releases when they sell out of trades, because almost every company makes it a point to keep their trades in print.

This seems like kind of an apples and oranges comparrison.

In the article it is clearly stated that AiT/PlanetLar is going to publish DEMO, a 12 issue series by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan, and that their commitment for the series to remain in print will aply.

[Just A Pilgrim]

Get over it.

Is that intended for me.... or AIT/Planetlar?

[Dave Phelps]

There is no excuse for not knowing about a title debut or a particular hot issue (far) in advance (some slack cut for those without an internet connection). How many comic stores DON'T offer a subscription service? With a little effort anyone can be well aware of comics coming down the pipe and pre-order accordingly.

Yeah, but knowing a book is coming out and knowing you'll be interested in getting it are two different things. You have to take hype with a metric ton of salt so some people like to wait until they hear some good word of mouth before picking up a title.

Besides, it's not like everyone who reads comics checks for this stuff. Some people actually still don't know what's out until they get to their store. (Hard to believe I know... )

Retailers hate hearing it, but in a lot of instances THEY could have avoided running out of something by having a clear sense of how many issues to order. How many stores ordered "Origin" appropriately? How many stores took up to 6 months to start ordering "Ultimate Spider-Man" appropriately? Being able to properly gauge interest is part of the business.

Origin probably seems like a no-brainer, but I can't blame them for Ultimate Spider-Man. The last Spider-Man revamp wasn't particularly well received; Bagely's never been a "hot" artist; and Bendis wasn't BENDIS when USM started, he was "that guy doing the Spawn spinoff."

Still, look at some of the other sell outs we've seen: a pirate comic, a revival of a franchise that's had two poorly received revivals in a row (not to mention the lack of the interest in the tail end of the one preceding that), etc. These are NOT "no-brainers" on the retailer's part. And if they had guessed wrong, they'd be sitting on a lot of unsold books.

And honestly, you mention the 'publisher's whim' concerning 2nd prints...how many "HOT" books never saw another print run?

This one I'll give you.

As for Larry's press release, I thought it was hilarious. And I really wish all "sold out" press releases included some section of what the company is going to do to take of the people who missed out (i.e., second printing, compilations, telling them to wait for the trade, etc.).

[kingofcities]

I think this press release was both hilarious, and a point well made. Could you imagine Coke saying "This is great! We ran through our whole supply! The rest of you who were interested in purchasing a single can of our product are shit outta luck, but if you're still interested in Coke, we have plenty of 6-Packs left!". That is just retarted. It's one thing to not be able to anticipate demand and then run out of a product. DC does this all the time. And what do they do in most cases? Go back to the presses!!! I admit to being a little biased in my opinions here. I have been saving for a trip I am taking in a week here for the last 3 months. In order to do this, I have had to temporarily drop all of my comics until I get back so I can save extra cash. The suck thing is that I know when I get back and I'm trying to catch up on all these books, I'm gonna be screwed on finding quite a few of the Marvel titles I buy unless I want to pick up TPB's. I don't mind TPB's, but it would be nice to have an option. I'm not Marvel bashing either, just making a point. Either way, it's nice to know that some publishers have the outlook that AiT seem to possess about this topic. Just my 2 cents.

Kent / kingofcities

[comicreader666]

wow, i'm surprised at the lack of a sense of humor of a lot of people on these pages.

this is quite simply one of the best press releases i've ever read.

i've barely even heard of this company and these products before this post (which i guess makes me a completely uninformed fool according to some of these posters ), so it did it's job of making me aware of something new.

do i take the opposite attack and get pissed when a DC/Marvel/Whatever press release mentions something being sold out? no, that's great for those companies, though it does show that they are pretty damn short sighted and fairly out of touch with what their public wants, with a few exceptions.

the reply about USM makes sense. most people really hadn't been into that character for some time because of the whole clone debacle, so it didn't make sense for that reboot, much less being the first in the ultimate line (which i'm sure they weren't sure how it would sell) to be overprinted.

as for things like DCs teen titans, everybody was aware of that book, it was splattered everywhere on these sites and wizard, etc, so it's really surprising that DC didn't print enough the first go round considering they were aiming i think for the old school TT fans that liked the perez stuff, which is a pretty big base.

not everyone puts everything on their subscription list. if i'd read that the TT release was great a week after the book came out and was able to get #1 easily, i would have. but y'know, whatever, there's more than enough good books i can buy instead of playing catch up, and paying over cover price, with that one, so i'm not going to bother.

similarly i would have been annoyed if i'd remembered to put empire on my sub list and actually payed for it, because now that i've seen an issue on the shelf and flipped through it, i'm definetly not interested (for opinion reasons, don't like the art, think the story seems weak). i'm not putting the book down for the people who like it, but i'm glad that i didn't spend my money on it.

in the end, i think this is a great press release, very funny, has good points and i just find the people that are being nasty about it to be total hypocrites, "hey, let's be nasty and put this guy down for being nasty to the major companies in his press release".

>>>>>The point is the AIT release was meant for no other purpose than to deride and ridicule a competing comic company. How does the release help AIT? It doesn't, it's states the reduntnantly obvious. So you think DC and Marvel's announcements are somewhat of a marketing ploy? Okay, they probably are, and that's a negative for comic's how? It's one thing to say "your doing this and this is bad for my business and this industry as a whole" but that's not even what AIT's release says, it basically says "your doing this and i think it's lame, so i'm going to do something overtly petty to get back at you, nah-nah-na- boo-boo". It's just petty as hell and if the roles were reversed and Marvel or DC had issued a release like this aimed at one of the smaller houses, people would be coming out of the wood work to slam them.

basically there were way nicer ways to say the same thing without sounding like a total dick who has no life.

[Estlin]

Originally posted by NotAnIssue
What do you say to those people? Without sounding crass...be more informed.

If you look at the point that Larry was making, you'll see. (Of course this is just MY interpretation) When Larry talks about books being favorably mentioned in pop culture media he's referring to people who DON'T normally read comics. Put it this way...

You're reading your copy of Entertainment Weekly. They tell you that Ultimate DP 7 is the single best piece of entertainment available to anyone. You think "Well Hell, if it's the best, why not?" You waddle your way down to your local comic shop and inquire about Ultimate DP 7 the retailer replies, "sorry they're sold out." That's not gonna happen too many times before you say screw it! Comic fiends know about the good shit, they're already buying it, it's the people who either rarely or have never read comics that don't find out about it and they're the ones who should have the product more widely available to them. They are the ones who are going to save comics, the people who don't read them...unless of course comics fiends start buying 5 copies instead of one...

In essense the books should be available to whoever wants to read them, not just rabid fanboys and fangrrls, but to the soccer mom who has tired of Danielle Steele, the kids who are tired of SpongeBob Squarepants. They shouldn't be ostracized for not knowing what's good. They should be taken by the hand and given the good shit...even if it IS Ultimate DP 7.

[comicreader666]

>>>good shit...even if it IS Ultimate DP 7.

Ultimate DP7!!!!

yes, when is this coming out?!?!?!?

i want Ultimate Scuzz RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!

he would look so cool with hitch drawing him!!!

[Estlin]

Originally posted by comicreader666
>>>good shit...even if it IS Ultimate DP 7.

Ultimate DP7!!!!

yes, when is this coming out?!?!?!?

i want Ultimate Scuzz RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!

he would look so cool with hitch drawing him!!!

I hope it's out soon. Anybody help out? Joe Q are you listening!? The people have demands.

[Just A Pilgrim]

okay, this is getting silly.
Let's first and foremost remember that comic's companies are just that.. companies., and each has to do what best suits thier bottom line. The current business model being what it is, DC (and most other mainstreamers) recieve orders from retailers and base thier print runs on that information. It seems to me rather fool hardy, and monetarily irresponsible, to pay no attention to retailer order quantities when determining the length of a print run. What are they supposed to do, pick a number out of thin air? Print how many copies they"hope" will sale? I'd imagine the producers of new comic's are pretty confident in each and every issue they go thru the trouble of making, they probablly would like to see each issue sale 500,000 copies, but knowing the marketplace as they do, they realise that is not logical. So they take what info they have readily available and print as many copies as they fiscally can without burying themselves. Until a better system is found for more acurately determining print run length, i don't think it's very fair to throw rocks at DC for trying to ensure thier coorperation stays financially viable.

A question, is the problem here with DC that they actually sold out of TT #3, or is it just the continuous "sold-out" press releases? Two seperate issues entirely. Personally, I am growing tired of the "sold-out" news briefs, but i'm thilled as hell that books that i like are hot properties.

[Shakespeare]

Hey what about Image? Not only do DC and Marvel use this tactic but Image really abuses it. I find it really silly when Image puts out a press realease of a book that has sold out at the publisher level and you see on the Diamond top 300 list that the book had less than 6,000 solicitations. That's about what 2 issues per comic store to sell out?

[NotAnIssue]

Comic fiends know about the good shit, they're already buying it, it's the people who either rarely or have never read comics that don't find out about it and they're the ones who should have the product more widely available to them.

I'd have to disagree with you there. While I'm sure there are some instances where non-regular comics buying folks walk into a store to find that the title they wanted to try is gone, I think it's mostly the 'comic fiends' you mention, along with average comic buyers that are being (temporarily) deprived of titles like Teen Titans, etc.

Think this could be helped by comics people PRE-ORDERING books when they can? Even the most diligent pre-ordering fans are going to have impulse buys in the store or overlook a title until it's been released. But if comic buyers, especially the ones that frequent the SAME store every week gave their retailer a list of the specific issues they KNOW they're going to want, wouldn't it make it easier on said retailer to gauge interest in a title? I've gone round for round with a local store over this. Origin, Batman #608, Teen Titans, Amazing Spider-Man #36, etc.....some issues you just KNOW are going to be hot. I can appreciate the fact that retailers fear getting 'stuck' with books that don't move....but if you don't have an eye for books like that short list I just mentioned, you probably shouldn't be in charge of ordering.

This post is really all over the place....apologies. But my point is that I think the burden of solving this problem lies with comic buyers. I'm sure the average fan has at least several books he KNOWS he's going to want. Let your retailer know.

[Eric Yonge]

My sympathies go out to NotAnIssue, because I've had the exact same arguments with my local retailer. They ordered JLA/Avengers only for those that subscribed to it (zero rack copies) because they "never know what will be hot." I mean, come on!

I thought Larry's press release was pretty funny... I also want to take this opportunity to say that "Last of the Independents" was a dang good book! I was blown away by that.

-Eric