TILTING @ WINDMILLS #21

[MattBrady]

by Brian Hibbs

(#137 – October 2005 – “Streams of Consciousness”)

Comics retailing, like any other business, has its own set of unexpressed secrets, things we wish we could say, but never will.

Some times it is things like, well, The Customer is Often Wrong. Oh, sure, you try to treat them like they’re Always Right, but one thing you learn quickly in any form of retail is that the General Public has a really significant percentage of deranged and broken people wandering around in it free and unchecked.

No one wants to say something like that out loud, really, but I doubt there’s a retailer alive who couldn’t regale you for an hour or two with Insane Customer stories. For one of a hundred examples, I could tell you about the woman who yelled at me for 10 minutes because she was positive Marvel published Superman.

So, there’s stuff we just don’t talk about – usually because of the well-meaning desire to not make waves. Lies are the lubricant of society, in many ways.

But sometimes I really do believe that it’s better to come out with the hard truths once in a while to that people understand the score. The hope is that even greater tragedies can be avoided down the line by being blunt, and cutting to the bottom line.

(In many circles, this makes me a, well, a dick. That’s cool, I’ll own to that.)

So here’s another thing that we generally don’t say out loud: Most publishers aren’t actually very good at doing their jobs.

Click here for the column.

[redragon]

wish more posts were this objective(I amnot talking about Mattbrady or newsarama, but people like "me.") Mr. Hibbs was fair & balanced. He showed all parts of the industry could use some business practice "pruning," as well as down to earth common sense. He didnt take any one company bias. was a straight shooter and helped me get a better idea of the bigger picture. This was good constructive criticsm. hopefully the we are all listening...

thanks for posting this.

cheers

my current pull list:
Infinite Crisis, New Avengers, House of M, HOM, Arana, Spider-Man HOM Uncanny X-men: Kitty Pryde, JSA, JLA, JSA Classified, JLA Classified, All-Star Batman and Robin, Justice, Super Girl, Doom Patrol, Blood of the Demon, Astonishing Xmen, Birds of Prey, Hawkman, Legion of Superheroes, Astro City, Silent Dragon, Green Lantern, Villians United, Day of Vengeance, Rann-Thanagar War, Omac, Superman/Batman, Action Comics, Adventures of Superman, Gravity, Runaways, New Warriors, Nightcrawler, Grim Jack, Manhunter, Marvel Teamup, Xmen:the end, FF, Ultimate FF, Ultimates, Ultimate Xmen, Capt America, Ironman, Defenders, Dark Elf Trilogy, Pakkins Land, Killer Stunts Inc, Deal with the Devil, Battle Hymn, Imaginaries, Iron Ghost, Green Lantern, Godland, Stardust Kid, David, Devil’s Keeper, Lullaby,The Gimole, Opposite Forces, XIII, PSI-KIX, Samuri: Heaven and Earth, Soulfire, Jon Sable, The Human Race, Secret Wars, TeenTitans, Gimoles, Donna Troy, Seven Soldiers, Thor:Blood Oath, Revelations, Ghost Rider, Blade of the Immortal, Exiles, Armor Quest, HULK


Future Stuff: Ultimate Universe trilogy, Infinite Crisis, Big in Japan, Marvel Monsters, Xmen & PowerPack, Wagner Batman minis, New Excaliber, New Xmen, Xfactor, Ulitmate Wolverine & Hulk mini, Ultimate Xmen/FF mini, Johnny Caronte:Zombie Detective & the Revolver, Chrono Mechanics, Snake Plissken

[adamcasey]

It's always good to read the thoughts of Mr. Hibbs.

[Steve Bryant]

Another fascinating article, as usual, Brian. And very timely, from my perspective. I have a new book coming out this January from Speakeasy Comics. The book is ATHENA VOLTAIRE: FLIGHT OF THE FALCON, a 5-issue miniseries based on our Eisner Award-nominated online comic, Athena Voltaire. The miniseries will be all-new material, not reprints of the online comic.

I realize that in spite of the critical acclaim, we’re a largely unknown commodity. Since AV launched in September 2002, it’s run exclusively on subscription sites. Starting on October 31, I’m moving the strip off of the subscription site and will be rerunning the series for free, keeping all of the archives free, as well.

Of course, this is timed to coincide with the solicitation in Previews and will run throughout the time that the series is being released. In addition to the usual online previews of the book, hopefully this will generate interest in the comic, as well as giving a pretty decent representation of what readers can expect from the print comic.

With one line of code, retailers can "simulcast" the strip on their site. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the strip on your site automatically updates.
There’s no real effort or maintenance needed on the retailers’ part, aside from pasting in the code that first time. Hopefully, it’s a win/win situation for both of us: (a) it generates interest in AV and ( possibly gives customers an additional reason to check back at your site (3 times a week).

I'm realistic. I'm not asking retailers to buy the book and get folks to pick it up off the shelf; they'd have much better luck generating dough for themselves with Marvel or DC material that way. This doesn't require any financial outlay on their part (just pasting one line of code into a webpage one time), and I seriously doubt that preorders on AV will take any sales away from their existing Marvel/DC bread-and-butter.

We’ll also be running the standard 6-page preview of the actual book on all of the news sites, and I plan on making the entire book available to retailers as an online preview, too….this is just an additional promotion that I’d like to try.

Is this the sort of thing that makes a retailer’s life easier?

--Steve

[Not From Around]

I understand the laments about lack of professionalism among publishers. It's a commodity still not common enough in an industry where the major publishers routinely ship late.

Yet professionalism isn't enough. CrossGen was very professional about their quality of product and the meeting of deadlines, yet they were a disaster. Ironically the vast sums they spent making everything so professional meant they never really had a chance of recouping in the current comics market. They based their hopes for success on breakout hits into other markets or media that never happened.

To have maximum chances of success in launching a new comics publisher, you have to be very professional, with great management, reliable shipping schedules, etc., yet also operate on a shoestring budget that makes this sort of thing almost impossible. Look at Alias and its initial launch fiasco. I'm sure that was due to simple inexperience and lack of resources. Could have happened to anybody. Yet starting off on the wrong foot like that has probably done serious harm to their credibility with retailers and readers.

No wonder new publishers have such a hard time!

[jasinmartin]

As always, another great column.
I really look forward to these...

So I’d like to see a whole lot less comics being published each month (and, yes, from Marvel and DC and Image as well – each of them could stand to cut their output from 30-50%, which would yield better sales and focus on the remaining titles)

Exactly. I really believe that as well.

Distribution, I think, is going to be the greatest structural problem of the next 3-5 years, and will likely be one of the key factors in determining what the Direct Sales market ultimately becomes.
Because we’re clearly in the process of Becoming something – the shift towards books from periodicals is accelerating,

Also, I believe the change in Diamond’s thresholds increases this drive. It almost seems like a loophole to the policy, but basically, one could sell far less copies of a larger, higher price point book, to reach the required sales thresholds. Making the trade/book format more attainable for the new publisher, as the thresholds as I understand them are for comic books and graphic novels (one category).

I know there are already a lot of proponents for trade first format in small press, citing better margins, easier chance of success out the gate, but as you point out, the price point gives you far less penetration to the market. To me that’s a major problem. To say nothing about the retailing/marketing challenges you bring up of the book format.


Here’s another thing, you speak about the time constraints as a retailer “A retailer’s most precious commodity is that of time” and the unwieldy size of the Previews catalog, a retailers main tool for ordering and setting up their sales. As a new publisher, if you’ve spent any time understanding the industry, you’re painfully aware of those factors. Couple that with the new more stringent distribution thresholds/policies, and it’s clear there’s a need for a better tool. Because if the main tool for retailers, Previews, is a burden, and you as a new publisher are shuffled off to the back section with everyone else, and the market is oversaturated to start with, well you can clearly see it is a real challenge (and one you're perhaps a bit dismissive of). Sure, advertising in Previews is a logical answer to that, but at the costs associated with ad space in the catalog, and the potential returns for an unknown commodity, you can quickly lose some coin (not that an upstart venture doesn’t do that, or need to per se), but there aren’t really many options beyond that, that offer that kind of reach.

So I got to thinking, and have this idea rolling around my mind... What if we as small publishers did something, something simple, to provide a better tool to the retailers and readers? Previews is set up to give attention to the upper tier publishers, but what if there was a catalog that did the same for us? So my idea is to create a promotional catalog open only for publishers in the back section of Previews, that grants the same coverage that the front of Previews publishers receive (full to half page size listing etc, or similar), via paid participation. A supplement to Previews for independent publishers provided to retailers and/or customers, free of cost. A quick look at costs indicates, it would require an investment on the parts of the participating publishers that is far less than ad space in Previews, with potentially higher results. Presumably granting a win for all involved - exciting alternative publishers receive more attention for their product, retailers get a better tool to help them with the most problematic area of sales, customers get more information for ordering as well, and Diamond benefits from the potential increased sales.

However, key in all of this, is the retailer, and whether they have the time to use such a tool?
(And remember, this is paid participation, so it's not the full listing of soup-to-nuts publishers already in the back of the book, or even if it became that, it'd be much clearer to read and scan than the postage stamp-sized listings)

Just a thought.
Again, this is a catalog supplement, not something that’s at all editorially driven, just an improved catalog/solicitation for smaller publishers, to give them as much potential attention as the big publishers, or at least more penetration then they currently receive.

Any thoughts out there from retailers on this? Or publishers?

Look if I can send a promotional item via Diamond at a nominal fee per item to their customer base, plus my cost to produce said item, it seems logical that if I got together with other publishers and we together split the cost, it would be feasible to set something like this up. (With the idea being, that formatted together as a regular tool, it would receive more attention than publishers one-off promotions.)

In the meantime, I'll keep doing whatever creative promotions I can think of, to give my project the shot it deserves (and in this market, needs).

[GeorgeG]

How much time does it take for your average week to look at Previews Mr. Hibbs? How much time out of your average week do you look at samples, whether they're Web sites or printed material?

[Ricber]

Excellent and insightful article, Brian. I really enjoy features like these. Thank you!
-Rich B.
www.sentinelsonline.com

[Evil Rick Shea]

Excellent article as always Brian. I've been saying the same thing for years. "Less books, better books" would really help the industry progress instead of crowding the shelves with so much dead weight.

Evil Rick Shea
Famous Faces & Funnies
Melbourne, FL

[steveupson]

he said 'lubricant'...

[smitch]

Brian Hibbs, I wish you were the god of Comics! Or at least the emperor, because your thoughts consistently make sense

[Brian Hibbs]

Originally posted by Steve Bryant
Of course, this is timed to coincide with the solicitation in Previews....

I can only speak for myself, but our in-store newsletter, ONOMATOPOEIA, which is our primary tool in communicating solicitation copy to our customers, is already into production for the January listings.

If there's things a publisher wants me to communicate to my customers, art to show, etc. etc. etc. -- it needs to be WEEKS (2, minimum) *before* PREVIEWS ships...

Originally posted by Steve Bryant
Is this the sort of thing that makes a retailer’s life easier?

Again, just for me, not really. We don't have an e-commerce type of a website, it's purely "business card"; we don't do a email newsletter... mostly because I hate getting on lists for them myself.

As near as I can tell, well less than half of our customers visit ANY comics sites, news or otherwise. Informal polling a year+ back said it was like 30%.

If you want my attention, really, my requirements are seeing a hardcopy excerpt from the work -- photcopies are fine. I LOATH reading comics on the computer, just hate it.

But that's me, other retailers might have other needs/wants

-B

[Brian Hibbs]

Originally posted by Not From Around
Yet professionalism isn't enough. CrossGen was very professional about their quality of product and the meeting of deadlines, yet they were a disaster.

I think CrossGen erred up front by "linking" the books via the "sigil" thingy -- generally speaking consumers aren't looking for brand new pre-produced shared universes: they get enough of that from Marvel and DC.

Further, I think the 4 launch books were pretty durn dull -- it wasn't until about SOJOURN that I found anything there that attracted *me* as a reader.

Finally, the whole "We will be #1 within 3 years" thing (or whatever it was exactly) stank of hubris, and turned a lot of people off.

All IMO

-B

[Brian Hibbs]

Originally posted by jasinmartin
(And remember, this is paid participation, so it's not the full listing of soup-to-nuts publishers already in the back of the book....)

That right there renders it pretty much functionally useless.

If it isn't "complete", in the same order as the way PREVIEWS lists an item, I don't imagine very many retailers would find this more than just another thing to lose on thier desk....

-B

[Brian Hibbs]

Originally posted by GeorgeG
How much time does it take for your average week to look at Previews Mr. Hibbs? How much time out of your average week do you look at samples, whether they're Web sites or printed material?

Not really a valid question, as it doesn't break out that way.

PREVIEWS is, for the most part, for most retailers, is an all-at-once thing, not a little-bit-every-day thing.

Mailed samples get opened on the spot and looked at right away, then either discarded or put in our preview area on the counter on the store, depending on whether it is "good" or not.

Web sites go into the "when I have a free moment" pile, because it has to be done from home, and then we're on family time. On top of that I don't have the time to print out various things and then bring them into the store for the preview area.

-B

[GeorgeG]

I don't see why it wouldn't be a valid question, since you're the one who keeps on bringing up time constraints.

Could it all total five hours (Previews, samples, Web sites) in your work week? Less or more? Why would you be looking at sites at home in any case--since you pretty much state it does you no good--when a computer (laptop perhaps) at work would be more efficient?

If you don't have enough time, perhaps you're not using your time effectively and/or efficiently enough.

[hebitudinous]

Coke had a great saying that I think could be changed to this industry:

"How can I (as a smaller publisher) help my customer (the comic book store) sell more effectively to consumers?"

The lessons that I think Brian is trying to impart are the same lessons from other industries. When I worked for Coke's marketing group, there was solid evidence that less is more: when McDonald's has their value meals - essentially anticipating the consumer's needs and providing a bundle that makes it easy - it helped consumers make decisions faster and ultimately made McDonald's more profitable. Coke made sure this lesson was replicated at other fast food chains and it led to amazing profitability for all parties concerned.

It's the difference between brand proliferation (lots of brands clogging the aisles) or brand optimization (category managers looking at genres and deciding which units to stock). If you go to the smaller restaurants all over America that aren't doing well, you see they have dozens and dozens of menu items. There are too many to process and the chef doesn't have the time to learn how to do all of them well -- he learns to do them all in what time he has.

If you're an indie publisher then the bar is set high indeed. You can't afford to be as "good" as DC or Marvel -- you have to be "GREAT". Indeed, there are books out there on why the biggest enemy of "great" is "good enough".

Ignore Brian's sage advice at your peril.

[nenad]

The problem is even when does samples are mailed out - are they looked at, are they going to be used to advertise the comics to customers. Is the retailer going to advise customers based on preview that they should order that comics.

I am wondering how many active and knowledgable comics retailers are there. I mean, we all know that for the most part only 10% of the shops order from the back of the catalogue. Do you think that sending previews, samples, comics to those 90% of the stores does any good? I don't think so. They are just lazy retailers. How many comics stores are stocking Persepolis - clearly a bestseller and all interest book. How many are stocking even a single Fantagraphics title (while some of their titles are for very limited audience, you can't deny the appeal of something like Peanuts). In other words is the problem also in part with retailers who are lazy to work on selling the comics, lazy to examine new comics, lazy to even check them out; expecting that the comics they order sell themselves or perhaps just going with the flow and making little effort to actually understand comics?

There was also a note on the discount. While the big 2 can offer deep discounts, one has to understand that many of the smaller publishers are working on thin margins and maybe more for the love of medium and not so much for profit that they can't match the offers by big 2. Also, some retailers expect unrealistic discounts based on only one ordered book. The publisher should offer no discount on only one book ordered. Sure you can always price the books to include deep discounts to retailers, but then there is the problem that the book becomes even less attractive to customers who will find it too expensive. This leads to less sales and I thought the whole idea of discount was to give the retailers incentive to sell more books.

Another problem I see is when sometimes a publisher decides to do a book for book market only or decides to sell only directly; particularly if they are books from well known indy or image, Dark Horse. When that news is announced one has to just glance the responses from retailers who are mad that they have been cut from the chain. But in reality, the book publisher decided to forgo the retailers because the book would not have been supported by retailes.

The answer why even smaller publishers are going TPB route is quite easy to find. With so much stuff being published, your pamphlet only gets to be displayed for one week (if it's ordered at all). Because it's a pamphlet there is no way to sell the back issue (as a publisher); so your numbers from first few issues are basically it. The TPB has longer shelf life and at least the category is not yet that crowded (although it is becoming) so the retailer might order one and the customer might see it and buy it. It's also easily reorder-able through STAR system.

[Brian Hibbs]

Originally posted by nenad
How many comics stores are stocking Persepolis - clearly a bestseller and all interest book. How many are stocking even a single Fantagraphics title (while some of their titles are for very limited audience, you can't deny the appeal of something like Peanuts).

Volume 1 of PEANUTS, in 2004, was the #97th most ordered TP/GN in the Direct Market (#28 in dollars spent) Link

PERSEPOLIS hasn't appeared on any DM chart that I've been able to find with a quick search, but I will note that Diamond's stocking of it is pretty spotty -- they have no copies of v1 for sale as of this very moment, either in HC or SC. (they have both version of v2 in stock, however) [it appears they have 30 copies of the SC, and 49 copies of the HC of v2 in stock at the moment]

In point of fact, I would suggest to you that the bottleneck more often tends to be distribution issues than lack of supply or demand.

Are "90%" of comic stores "bad"? Maybe. But 90% of EVERYTHING is bad.

Originally posted by nenad
There was also a note on the discount. While the big 2 can offer deep discounts, one has to understand that many of the smaller publishers are working on thin margins and maybe more for the love of medium and not so much for profit that they can't match the offers by big 2.

I don't think anyone expects the 57-58% top accounts can reach -- but being able to get to Keystoning (50%) would be nice.

Remember, the fundemental calculus of the Direct Market is that we've traded returnability for margin. If you can't step up to the plate at that point, then, probably you shouldn't be publishing.

Originally posted by nenad
With so much stuff being published, your pamphlet only gets to be displayed for one week (if it's ordered at all).....The TPB has longer shelf life and at least the category is not yet that crowded (although it is becoming) so the retailer might order one and the customer might see it and buy it. It's also easily reorder-able through STAR system.

Periodicals are most certainly displayed for more than one week -- 4-8 weeks is the generally accepted standard. More importantly, periodicals are displayed with some portion of their cover on display.

Books are generally cover-out only on week #1, then they get relegated to spine-out.

I think "easily reorder-able" from STAR is a vast overexageration -- I'd have to double-check, but I have my doubts that even half of Fantagraphics on-hand inventory is actually available for immediate purchase from Diamond. For smaller publishers, that could be 10% or less.

Besides, Diamond's 3% reorder penalty makes Diamond an extremely unattractive business partner on a significant number of publishers.

-B

[Nat Gertler]

Originally posted by nenad
How many comics stores are stocking Persepolis - clearly a bestseller and all interest book. How many are stocking even a single Fantagraphics title (while some of their titles are for very limited audience, you can't deny the appeal of something like Peanuts). In other words is the problem also in part with retailers who are lazy to work on selling the comics,

It's a mistake to assume that a retailer that doesn't carry Persepolis or Peanuts is "lazy". Individual stores have their individual focus and styles, and for a shop that is largely a superhero-and-gaming shop, carrying books that do not aim at their core audience and which are available and frequently discounted at the nearby bookstore chains may not be the wisest move.

There was also a note on the discount. While the big 2 can offer deep discounts, one has to understand that many of the smaller publishers are working on thin margins and maybe more for the love of medium and not so much for profit that they can't match the offers by big 2.

If they are unable to work as a business with a reasonable discount, it should come as little surprise that retail businesses are reluctant to give them money. As a level of practical reality, the retailers that are apt to order from the back of Previews are used to discounts on that material that are somewhat less than what the brokered publishers offer, but if you can't go with a discount that's typical of tha back of the book publishers, even those retail businessmen will understandably support a friendlier publisher.

Also, some retailers expect unrealistic discounts based on only one ordered book. The publisher should offer no discount on only one book ordered.

...if the publisher doesn't want to get their foot in the door at the retailer. Luckily, most such orders are done via a distributor, who is not apt these days to hold anyone to a per-title minimum.

Sure you can always price the books to include deep discounts to retailers, but then there is the problem that the book becomes even less attractive to customers who will find it too expensive. This leads to less sales and I thought the whole idea of discount was to give the retailers incentive to sell more books.

The idea is to give retailers incentive to sell books, period. Retailers exist to make money on the difference between their wholesale and retail prices - the discount. Short discounts make it very hard to make money, and make purchasing non-returnable comics quite risky.

Some math reality: a retailer is trying to decide between backing one of two new books. Publisher A's books are discounted at 45% off cover (fairly typical of back-of-the-book folk), while Publisher B's are 35% (which at least one new publisher has tried to offer recently). It may not sound like much of a difference, just 10%. However, that changes quickly when looked at in terms of return on investment. For each buck invested in Publisher A's book, if the material sells through, the retailer sees a marginal profit 82 cents. Publisher B? 54 cents. That's right, the profits from selling through an investment is about 50% higher for the book with the larger discount. That's what happens when publisher B wants the retailer to risk more money for less potential profit.

Another problem I see is when sometimes a publisher decides to do a book for book market only or decides to sell only directly; particularly if they are books from well known indy or image, Dark Horse. When that news is announced one has to just glance the responses from retailers who are mad that they have been cut from the chain. But in reality, the book publisher decided to forgo the retailers because the book would not have been supported by retailes.

Not always; books that would have been supported by retailers are exclusive to a specific book retailer because the book retailer offers the publisher a special deal to get that exclusive.

Because it's a pamphlet there is no way to sell the back issue (as a publisher);

Sure there is. Plenty of publishers sell back issues. Some publishers do quite well with ongoing sales of pamphlets. Slave Labor has continued to sell back issues of Johnny The Homicidal Maniac for years, repeatedly returning them to press and generate impressive sales figures. This won't necessarily work for every pamphlet out there, mind you.

Overall, Brian overstates his case somewhat (not only is it possible for a publisher to rebound from an error, but most publishers have overcome a mistake somewhere along the way), but he is probably more right than wrong. A number of publishers are trying to start out big these days, and that is an understandable strategy, but it makes it hard to make small mistakes. The common starter mistakes are immediately big.

[Nat Gertler]

Originally posted by Brian Hibbs
Volume 1 of PEANUTS, in 2004, was the #97th most ordered TP/GN in the Direct Market (#28 in dollars spent)

And in the full DM, it was probably higher than that. The cited list is Diamond's, which should include the full sales of most of the books listed (for which Diamond is the exclusive/brokered DM distributor) but not for Fantagraphics. In addition to selling through other distributors, they also sell directly to retailers. On top of that, Volume 1 was also sold in 2004 as part of a boxed set, which would have been tracked as a separate item and thus even Diamond sales of it would not show in the top 100 list totals.

[Not From Around]

Originally posted by Brian Hibbs
I think CrossGen erred up front by "linking" the books via the "sigil" thingy -- generally speaking consumers aren't looking for brand new pre-produced shared universes: they get enough of that from Marvel and DC.

Further, I think the 4 launch books were pretty durn dull -- it wasn't until about SOJOURN that I found anything there that attracted *me* as a reader.

Finally, the whole "We will be #1 within 3 years" thing (or whatever it was exactly) stank of hubris, and turned a lot of people off.

All IMO

-B

Pretty dead-on, it looks to me. Linked universe, slow-moving arcs (things happened in each issue, but actual story was doled out in very tiny increments on many CG titles), and hubris, all help explain why people didn't get into reading them. Even if their titles had attracted more readers, though, the sheer expense of starting the way they did would likely have bankrupted the company sooner or later. I think you've said something before about how new publishers need to avoid starting too big. CrossGen is exhibit A for that.