Winds of change?
11/24/2007

Fantagraphics is opening their own retail outlet. It will be in Seattle and they feel that since they have such a strong presence there, it will serve as a location for people to actually peruse and buy the books that they are not likely to find in most comic shops. Makes sense to me. Fantagraphics has an eclectic following but a fairly large one. Having owned comic shops and always carrying the full lines of Fantagraphics, I found that there was a strong base of buyers. They didn?t come in every week, perhaps every 4-8 weeks, but they scooped up everything Fantagraphics and more importantly, items that fit into the Fantagraphics style. They weren't dedicated necessarily to Fantagraphics but to the material...Fantagraphics just happened to publish most of it. The Eros line of Fantagraphics (and the Monster line) were never really considered part of the same mix and had different audiences totally so by Fantagraphics, I mean their main line of product.

But it wasn't the storefront that I found interesting; it was comments made by some of the Fantagraphics folks in discussing their position in the direct market. Here?s a quote by Eric Reynolds discussing the possible impact of Fantagraphics selling directly to consumers.

?According to Diamond's own data, fewer than 40 percent of their accounts stock any given book we publish (and it's just as often fewer than 25%). There are maybe 50 truly great comic book retailers in this country that actively support us, and as much as I remain ever-grateful for their existence and wish we could clone them, they are the exception to the current rules. For most of the new books we publish these days, the direct market accounts for about one-fourth of our initial sales. Over the last five years, our sales have gone up everywhere but the direct market.

Now, some could say that Fantagraphics is a narrow market and so of course, they have a smaller presence with the direct market (comic shops) retailers. However, I think that because Fantagraphics does have such a long history of award winning books, that they are actually able to penetrate the market more than most publishers. Simply put, they publish books and comics that are important for most stores to carry. So, I'd guess that Fantagraphics is at the top of penetration of independent publishers into comic shops. By independent, I refer to non-Marvel, non-DC, non-big license (such as most of the Dark Horse and IDW stuff).

So, that gives a good idea of what its like for the other publishers. Image still has a "name" for itself with some retailers and fans but once they shifted their focus a few years ago to many creator owned series (often in black and white), Image's luster has fallen. Stores now have no problem NOT ordering Image which would have been unheard of during their early days when they were directly competing against Marvel and DC in terms of audiences. Ironically, with the fall of Image from one of the Top 3 players to a smaller marketshare, the quality of their books (in my estimation anyway) has gone up dramatically. But apparently, by taking their current approach, they have eroded what got them into the sales stratosphere in the first place. One of those quality versus quantity situations.

I mentioned last time that there is a dynamic shifting going on and although it will be affecting all the publishers and outlets, it?s still in its infancy and so might not be readily apparent. More and more publishers and creators are finding it is useless to continue to try and break into the comic shops? consciousness. Sure some do and everyone benefits greatly but far too often, books get released with orders that end up losing money on the initial releases. There are lots of reasons for this but it does end up that creators and publishers realize they are playing in a game they can maybe win, but the odds are heavily against them.

Many of them are doing directly to the Internet. New companies are popping up all the time to deal with this growing market (Wowio, DriveThruComics, Direct2Drive) of offering full digital comics and others are providing homes for periodical strips. (The Webcomic List monitors some 7,600 comics daily). Some of them have "big" money and resources behind them and if any one of these models takes off, you can expect the gates to open. Most comic shops wouldn't care as they would be titles that they don't stock anyway but if the exodus starts and continues, it could impact some of those titles that do have a home in some comic shops.

Most stores feel that they can get by with the "main" publishers such as Marvel, DC, and the licensed stuff plus the occasional comic that pops up from independents. But the future isn't just for the "little" guys as I?m sure that even the big publishers are watching the situation and evaluating costs and potential outreach in these growing areas and areas that haven?t even been implemented yet.

I remember at Caliber we had some titles that sold abysmally in comic stores. Now, way back in the mid to late 1990's, the Internet was just beginning to show its promise as a viable way of selling material. I think we had one of the very first storefronts of any publisher. But even back then, we had sales on some comics that proved to be profitable only because of the Internet. Granted, we needed both to get the sales but the Internet made up substantial portion.

Even today, I know of a few titles that have low sales at comic stores but sell fantastically to consumers via the Internet. I'm not talking of 20 or 30 sales but in the 100's, maybe in the 1000's. So, the question is...who are these consumers and why aren't they getting their books at comic shops?

Right now, the Internet is primarily being used as a promotional tool...to get the word out about certain titles but most publishers and creators still want the "hard" copy available and so the Internet is promotion and essentially, fulfillment on those that missed the one month ordering cycle. But with the growth and quality of print on demand titles, the cost of printing will become a detriment to go the traditional route.

Sure it would be ideal to have the books actually in print and sold in comic shops but it seems there is so much material that they don't want...why continue to butt against an unmoving wall?

I don?t blame the retailers...I'm not spieling a line of discourse on what they're doing wrong or what they should be doing. I do think that a lot of them are too narrowly focused but you know what, that's their business and if that's how they choose to do it, then fine. I just don't want to hear the bitching when it falls apart. And I?m not talking about the "good" stores who are reaching out to new audiences all the time...we all recognize that a general statement about comic shops does not include all of them.

I was a retailer for 18 years and a fairly sizable account. We sold 1000's of comics each and every week, at the top of the discount structures. We were one of the big stores but just never went after the national attention because I always felt that national attention didn't mean anything. Of course, that's changed now and a national presence is important. I know what stores are going through. There is never enough in the budget to take chances on everything you want to...?to err on supply against demand can be disastrous...so, I'm not blaming the stores for the most part.

But you know what? The old way ain't working. Sure, there has been a general increase of sales lately but think about it. We have incredibly high profile films such as Spiderman, X-Men, Hulk, Daredevil, Elektra, History of Violence, V for Vendetta, 300, Batman, Superman, etc. propelling what comics can be. We have the unbelievable sales of manga that reach out to previously untapped audiences. There is an awareness that comics haven?t had since they were "hip" in the 1960's?.and yet, this is the best we can hope for...sales have stopped sliding?

I hate to use an old clich' line (aren't all cliches' sort of by definition "old") but I will. There's a storm coming and I think in two, maybe three years, it'?s going to leave a whole new landscape. Most people don't think it's going to happen that quick, but I think it just might.

The question though, isn't when exactly when...it's what. What will be the new look of comics? Any time you have a massive change, there's going to winners and therefore, there is going to be losers. For sure, fans will be the winners. The trick is to figure out how not to be a loser.

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