GHO
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Post by GHO on Mar 12, 2024 0:47:47 GMT
Listening to austin's new york comic picture story symposium and wondering about distribution. i've heard Austin E and Floyd T talk about this alot (along with possibly every other comics person).
I think it would be beneficial to have a place where people can post about shops that they like to work with (or don't like to work with but have some sort of response over email). I personally have been thinking more and more about shops in the middle of america or shops overseas that like american/english comics. for me middle american shops seem just as foreign to an extent.
if you have any experience with non traditional points of sale I.E. not comic shops that kind of info is great to have as well.
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GHO
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Post by GHO on Mar 12, 2024 1:16:11 GMT
Desert Island (BK,NY)
I personally have never dealt with gabe over email but it seems like he has people from a wide spectrum probably send an email contaning a video of your book with relevant info and he will stock it. maybe cold mailing would work as well just provide reply info.
Pure Folly (Hudson, NY)
Always super quick to respond and work out a deal with you. a very nice man runs this store, don't know how accepting they are of small press stuff but they seem pretty open. (never been there so can't say exactly). email with a video of the book is probably best.
Floating World (Portland, OR)
Responsive over email, maybe a cold mail is the best way to get in-contact since it is a bigger store.
Quimby's (Chicago, IL)
Very nice possibly just send books with contact info and they will reach out to you to fill out a consignment form. they take anything and do a 60/40 split on consignment. But more accepting in the realm of "zines" not just comics/drawn stuffs.
Codex/Human Relations/Book Thug Nation (Bowery/BK/BK, NY)
Never dealt with em over email. Maybe if you sent a copy and a nicely worded letter with your email they would reach out. Seems like they are more interested in you coming in and handing over the books yourself (since their zine sections are smaller). But i'm sure if they got something they liked they would be interested, especially if it has a spine. I combine them all because they are a network so if you get one to say yes you could possibly mail to one store and have them spread them around to each store. i've done this before in person. Nice people!
Silver Sprocket (SF,CA)
I cold mailed a package there and they told me not to do that (they also specify against this on their website) but accepted my books anyway. I have since tried to email them to stock future books but they haven't responded. this however might be my fault i'm not sure if I am emailing the right person. they recommend emailing a video or some pics. seems to be pretty accepting of things, probably following the rule of making sure it is a comic or drawn.
Partners and Sons. (Philadelphia,PA)
Handed them a book in person the first time but they seem to be responsive if A) you mail them one copy with contact info. B) Send video / Pics over email. no nonsense, very nice. following the rule of making sure it is a comic or drawn.
ok if you need an email/address message me.
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Post by dominocorp on Mar 12, 2024 16:10:46 GMT
I think about this a lot, but not so much in terms of individual artists contacting stores, because that will only work for a few people, and even for those few, it won't work long over time.
There really needs to be a catalog of the kind of work we all make that is run in the same way Diamond is. Because stories need to build habits of getting this kind of stuff and asking them to keep track of 50 different mini comic artists will never happen. I think Bubbles has done well with shops because there are a lot of issues, and stores need more than one book to make the whole hassle worth while for them, in my experience. Bubbles being good/popular helps of course, and the number of issues helps to build momentum. Of course the scale of Diamond is impossible, but as we all know, there are countless well done self published comics being made these days, having a robust catalog isn't limited by the work out there.
With the Domino wholesale thing ( dominobooks.org/wholesale.html ) I do, the goal was to go from selling maybe 50-100 copies a year of a popular mini-comic in the Domino store (which is direct to customers, not stores) to selling maybe 200-300 copies a year through stores of the same mini. I think currently we are in the 200+ range on a few titles, and everything else plugged into the wholesale side hovers around 50. I'm limited by my budget and the space I have to work with, but I have a list of 40 stores now that have ordered at least once from the service, and maybe a dozen of those are regular customers. Not great, but a good start. One thing I notice, as long as you keep something going, more stores/customers build up.Stores who understand tgis stuff but arent highly online disciver you eventually if youre there abd consistent, rather than you finding them.
I think people should do regional distros, there's all kinds of pockets of this stuff that aren't on the internet at all that stores (myself included) would want to be able to scoop up a whole offering of through one source...OR, artists should just start printing larger runs, because a distro needs to pay a little bit less than 50% to the artist if it's gonna sell back to stores at 50%...so larger runs from artists mean their cost per unit goes down and a distro can buy in larger bulk. I think the recent Fanche/Burlingame mini WWREC I've sold 60 copies of throughs stores in a couple months, but now I'm out.
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Post by mikesheawright on Mar 12, 2024 21:48:23 GMT
I think about this a lot, but not so much in terms of individual artists contacting stores, because that will only work for a few people, and even for those few, it won't work long over time. There really needs to be a catalog of the kind of work we all make that is run in the same way Diamond is. Because stories need to build habits of getting this kind of stuff and asking them to keep track of 50 different mini comic artists will never happen. I think Bubbles has done well with shops because there are a lot of issues, and stores need more than one book to make the whole hassle worth while for them, in my experience. Bubbles being good/popular helps of course, and the number of issues helps to build momentum. Of course the scale of Diamond is impossible, but as we all know, there are countless well done self published comics being made these days, having a robust catalog isn't limited by the work out there. With the Domino wholesale thing ( dominobooks.org/wholesale.html ) I do, the goal was to go from selling maybe 50-100 copies a year of a popular mini-comic in the Domino store (which is direct to customers, not stores) to selling maybe 200-300 copies a year through stores of the same mini. I think currently we are in the 200+ range on a few titles, and everything else plugged into the wholesale side hovers around 50. I'm limited by my budget and the space I have to work with, but I have a list of 40 stores now that have ordered at least once from the service, and maybe a dozen of those are regular customers. Not great, but a good start. One thing I notice, as long as you keep something going, more stores/customers build up.Stores who understand tgis stuff but arent highly online disciver you eventually if youre there abd consistent, rather than you finding them. I think people should do regional distros, there's all kinds of pockets of this stuff that aren't on the internet at all that stores (myself included) would want to be able to scoop up a whole offering of through one source...OR, artists should just start printing larger runs, because a distro needs to pay a little bit less than 50% to the artist if it's gonna sell back to stores at 50%...so larger runs from artists mean their cost per unit goes down and a distro can buy in larger bulk. I think the recent Fanche/Burlingame mini WWREC I've sold 60 copies of throughs stores in a couple months, but now I'm out. How would one go about starting up something like this? I would love to spearhead a like Northeast Regional Comic Distro or somesuch effort. |
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Post by dominocorp on Mar 12, 2024 23:05:41 GMT
I think starting with a couple artists you think are interesting that don't seem to fit into other people's efforts, and starting really really small, and then gradually building up is the way to go. If it's wholesale to stores, and you set up a website that has your work, Mike, in an easy way for stores to buy it wholesale (maybe you already do this) without having to email you to discuss it, then plugging in one or two people alongside your own work means that stores who love your work will go 'sure, ill try out 5 copies this as well, why not?'
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GHO
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Post by GHO on Mar 13, 2024 4:57:27 GMT
Are there any distros other than your own that cater to our kind of work. I'd very much like a distro in Canada or someone who knows shops in middle america. i assume a central point in europe would be easier to spread around there as well. i'm not sure how it goes but i assume mailing within continental europe is cheaper than mailing to a handful of european counteries from america. personally, i'd much prefer to deal with someone who knows what's up in their area and will spread to shops that i don't know, instead of focusing on shipping stuff myself. i also agree about producing in higher quantity. |
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Weaverwerx
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Post by Weaverwerx on Mar 13, 2024 10:31:46 GMT
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Post by dominocorp on Mar 13, 2024 15:19:25 GMT
Are there any distros other than your own that cater to our kind of work. I'd very much like a distro in Canada or someone who knows shops in middle america. i assume a central point in europe would be easier to spread around there as well. i'm not sure how it goes but i assume mailing within continental europe is cheaper than mailing to a handful of european counteries from america. personally, i'd much prefer to deal with someone who knows what's up in their area and will spread to shops that i don't know, instead of focusing on shipping stuff myself. i also agree about producing in higher quantity. Well there's Spit and a Half but I dont know how much John is doing the sales to stores these days, but I'm sure his list of stores is way way higher than mine. I was inspired by what Dylan w/ Sparkplug was doing in the late 00s, he was publishing new material through Sparkplug but got way more into buying peoples minis and he was selling those minis to stores, there was an entire catalog you could order from as a store buyer. But of course that's no more. There's Gabriele Di Fazio's Just Indie Comics in Italy, I don't think they distro to European shops, but they do place wholesale orders and have a website that's like a storefront so Euro readers can buy stuff without paying crazy shipping. And he pays 100% of shipping when he orders from you. I do think there's some confusion around the word 'distro.' Maybe it's just a personal thing, but I see distribution as selling in bulk to stores. Everything else is just a 'store' even if it's mailed out. But I guess for some people, mail order counts as a form of distirbution. There's Lunar. I always think about maybe trying to see if I could submit a new Domino thing, like Comic Aht or Jaywalk, through Lunar. It'd be nice if you could get a guarenteed 100 extra orders from a service like that. But I can't imagine those numbers are there. I'd like to see someone with a big audience and knowledge try something like this out. Kayfabe could set up a page for retailers where they have Ruggs minis and maybe some Fiffe stuff and then some uknown mini comic artists they believe in. That'd be interesting and probably succesful, as comic shop people listen to their show, and would be interested in the work when they saw it on the shelves. That's, of course, extra work that I doubt they'd want to take on (which makes sense) but starting it off small is something SOMEONE with a big audience could do, and it'd have a real good effect on everyone involved (readers, artists, etc). |
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Post by mikesheawright on Mar 13, 2024 20:42:18 GMT
so wait i guess i'm confused about what the difference is between a regional distro and something like Domino, is the distro just more regional/localized?
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Post by dominocorp on Mar 13, 2024 23:49:47 GMT
yeah i mean a regional distro is something that'd just be like if I just focused on the circle of people within NYC/Philly from the last Smoke Signals focus.
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Post by anandpagalkutta on Mar 14, 2024 8:55:34 GMT
Is there any benefit to having an ISBN code when you're self publishing?
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Post by awfulquiet on Mar 14, 2024 23:29:49 GMT
Is there any benefit to having an ISBN code when you're self publishing? Some shops require it for them to stock your book. Most don't. I've never encountered a comic shop that does. Mostly just "regular" bookstores. |
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Post by dominocorp on Mar 15, 2024 1:05:58 GMT
iirc it's impossible to be a small publisher looking for ingram distribution and not have your catalog of books have ISBN's. But if you're a solo operation and not trying to get accepted by Ingram or whatever, ISBN's aren't that important.
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Post by ro_diamant on Mar 15, 2024 7:14:10 GMT
Is there any benefit to having an ISBN code when you're self publishing?
If you'd like your comic in the public library, many require ISBNs. Since many zines and mini comics don't have ISBNs or a cataloguing copy from national bibliographic agencies (like OCLC), it's more difficult for librarians to include them.
But, there's a surprising amount of zines without ISBNs etc. on WorldCat now: search.worldcat.org/  I think this has changed a lot in the last few years. |
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Post by ro_diamant on Mar 15, 2024 18:28:57 GMT
Is there any benefit to having an ISBN code when you're self publishing?
If you'd like your comic in the public library, many require ISBNs. Since many zines and mini comics don't have ISBNs or a cataloguing copy from national bibliographic agencies (like OCLC), it's more difficult for librarians to include them.
But, there's a surprising amount of zines without ISBNs etc. on WorldCat now: search.worldcat.org/ I think this has changed a lot in the last few years. I just remembered, and I’m not sure how it works in other places, but Canada has the Public Lending Right program, where creators can get payment for free public use of their works in libraries, but I think you need an ISBN for that! publiclendingright.ca/eligibilityCountries that do this: plrinternational.com/established |
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I think this has changed a lot in the last few years.