Exclusive Interview with New Comic Distributor
Below is an interview with Don Flores about his new distribution
channel for Indie creators, and he shares with us his experience and the
clientele he wishes to reach.
Enjoy!
Jake Estrada: Don,
can you give a little bit info about yourself? What experience do you have, how
long have you been in comics, how many comic shops do you have and such?
Don Flores: I have been in the comic business since 2001. I have one brick and mortar comic shop, Curious Goods and Comics; and a warehouse that houses over 300,000 comics that’s been growing, and I don’t see it stopping. We also have an online comic shop at www.comiccollectorlive.com, where we have been established since 2007. We are the #1 top-rated seller among 100 other online retailers networked through that site. Our webstore address is www.curiousgoodsandcomics.com.
Don Flores: I have been in the comic business since 2001. I have one brick and mortar comic shop, Curious Goods and Comics; and a warehouse that houses over 300,000 comics that’s been growing, and I don’t see it stopping. We also have an online comic shop at www.comiccollectorlive.com, where we have been established since 2007. We are the #1 top-rated seller among 100 other online retailers networked through that site. Our webstore address is www.curiousgoodsandcomics.com.
Through there, we offer over 100,000 issues and over 36,000
different titles, and our catalog grows weekly. Now that we have opened Red
Beryl Comic Distribution through that same channel, we’ve been able to take
advantage of the already established traffic, and we’re able to help direct
those same customers that shop with us through Curious Goods and Comics to
support and shop Red Beryl Comic Distribution, www.rbcdist.com . We offer a unique shopping
experience that differs from any other distribution company.
Jake: How are you different than Diamond Comics?
Don: We are different because our desire is to change the industry for the better than the already established system. We are in a better financial stance than they are, and the relationship between the publisher and the distribution provides a better, more solid foundation. We’ve been able to eliminate a lot of the risk and overhead that’s between the publisher and the traditional distribution that Diamond offers, which will present a more profitable, more workable relationship between us here at Red Beryl Comic Distribution and the publishers networked with us.
Jake: How are you different than Diamond Comics?
Don: We are different because our desire is to change the industry for the better than the already established system. We are in a better financial stance than they are, and the relationship between the publisher and the distribution provides a better, more solid foundation. We’ve been able to eliminate a lot of the risk and overhead that’s between the publisher and the traditional distribution that Diamond offers, which will present a more profitable, more workable relationship between us here at Red Beryl Comic Distribution and the publishers networked with us.
With us participating in traditional distribution, supporting
the publishers upfront, by housing product in our warehouse, and with the
business model that we developed the “virtual product housing” or “virtual
warehousing” we’ve been able to lower risk and overhead costs for both us as a distribution
company and the publisher as a publisher. With this model, we’ve been able to
create and maintain a permanent place in the comic industry.
Jake: What is your goal in starting up your own distribution system?
Don: Initially, it was to give publishers and retailers a new channel of distribution. Through our experience as a retailer since 2001, we’ve experienced so many negative and costly aspects for retailers and publishers from the services that Diamond Comics has to offer, and we felt that this is something that needs to happen and needs to be done. It needs to be something better for all of us in this industry. I think that the business model we’ve developed and implemented and what we have to offer will be the best opportunity for all of us in this industry, from a supply and demand infrastructure and profit potential for retailers and publishers together.
Jake: Last year, we saw the demise of Haven Comics Distribution, and we know some people say that print comics are dying and that digital is the way to go. What do you say about this?
Don: The situation with Haven was this: The owner was really great at supporting the publisher by having enough finances to purchase well from the publishers, but what the owner was lacking was better skill at marketing and solidifying relationships with retailers to aid him in supporting those publishers. Essentially, what was happening was he created a great warehouse and catalog, but he was not successful at creating customers to go and see that catalog and warehouse. He wasn’t able to be profitable as a distributor, and the cost of what he was trying to do was too high; as a result, he couldn’t maintain his presence as a distributor.
Jake: What is your goal in starting up your own distribution system?
Don: Initially, it was to give publishers and retailers a new channel of distribution. Through our experience as a retailer since 2001, we’ve experienced so many negative and costly aspects for retailers and publishers from the services that Diamond Comics has to offer, and we felt that this is something that needs to happen and needs to be done. It needs to be something better for all of us in this industry. I think that the business model we’ve developed and implemented and what we have to offer will be the best opportunity for all of us in this industry, from a supply and demand infrastructure and profit potential for retailers and publishers together.
Jake: Last year, we saw the demise of Haven Comics Distribution, and we know some people say that print comics are dying and that digital is the way to go. What do you say about this?
Don: The situation with Haven was this: The owner was really great at supporting the publisher by having enough finances to purchase well from the publishers, but what the owner was lacking was better skill at marketing and solidifying relationships with retailers to aid him in supporting those publishers. Essentially, what was happening was he created a great warehouse and catalog, but he was not successful at creating customers to go and see that catalog and warehouse. He wasn’t able to be profitable as a distributor, and the cost of what he was trying to do was too high; as a result, he couldn’t maintain his presence as a distributor.
What we’ve done with Red Beryl Comic Distribution is we’ve
eliminated that, and we have solidified our placement as a distribution
company. We will not only grow our catalog and warehouse, but we will also grow
our retailer network to support the catalog and warehouse and, of course, all
the marketing that needs to be in place to insure that we have a strong online
presence as a distribution company, as a product source for retailers, and a
true safe haven for publishers. On the digital aspect, there is a new breed of
consumer. This breed will prefer the digital over the in-print comic. Time advances
and things change.
Even though there is this breed of consumer that would
prefer the digital over in print, there is still the original consumer that
prefers the in-print over digital. Because of this, we have to start to offer
our services with in-print comics. We hope to be able to offer in the future a
digital service or a digital re-direct service to help those publishers that
offer their comics in a digital format. I think the two formats, in-print and
digital, both help the comics industry.
Jake: Do you just
accept anyone, or do you have a review process in place?
Don: We can help anyone who has a finished
project and anyone who has projects in print. There are no minimums for our
services to be offered, and there’s no mandatory exclusiveness with us.
Publishers can keep representing themselves in the open market at the same time
while they have product placement with us as a distribution company. The review
process is simple.
If you have finished projects, we’ll talk with you and see
how our services can help you. It doesn’t matter if you have just one project
or a vast catalog of projects. If you have just one book, we’ll help you get it
out there; if you have a catalog, we’ll also help you get it out there. We try
to help all publishers equally, regardless of how many books they have.
Jake: Where would a person submit a book for distribution, and what is your contact info?
Don: Any publisher with finished projects can do what we call an open submission. All they need to do is send me a copy(s) of their book with contact information so that we can follow up with them and help them initially by purchasing some of their finished projects, placing them in our retail outlets, discussing with them any opportunities they have with us in our distribution web store, and help them market their projects. Submissions can be made here: Red Beryl Comics Distribution,3712 4th Street , Bay
City , Texas 77414
Jake: Where would a person submit a book for distribution, and what is your contact info?
Don: Any publisher with finished projects can do what we call an open submission. All they need to do is send me a copy(s) of their book with contact information so that we can follow up with them and help them initially by purchasing some of their finished projects, placing them in our retail outlets, discussing with them any opportunities they have with us in our distribution web store, and help them market their projects. Submissions can be made here: Red Beryl Comics Distribution,
Thanks for the information, and that wraps it up folks.
Jake Estrada
Email me at estradajake@yahoo.com for website suggestions.
Thanks.
Jake Estrada is a published author who holds degrees in
Multimedia Design and Criminal Justice. He is a father to three wonderful
children and married to his beautiful wife, Beth. You can find his comics at http://graphicly.com/estrada-media
and other fine online stores.
My experience shows that it's not an issue of providing great services to retailers but getting them to buy something other than their bread and butter which is DC and Marvel becauae its what readers want I've also had retailers tell me that they won't buy my book unless it's through Diamond no matter how badly they are treated there simply because they don't want to fill out a credit app or another order form.
ReplyDeleteReaders and retailers (for the most part) don't care about anything other than the big two. Believe me when I say that I would love for them to succeed but a rabbit still has to reach for the carrot that's being dangled in front of him.
It's as simple as that.
Yeah I would say it is pretty hard to break past the Diamond nut, and to break the perceptions of most people consumers when they buy comic books that aren't from the big two. I know I remember those days when I ran a comic shop, ordered tons of Indies from both from Diamond and even Haven and most of the most purchased comics were from either Marvel and DC. You have to look at those two sort of like how one would view hollywood, then there is bollywood and other indie films. I do think most shops that only have one account are whack, considering most other businesses have all sorts of accounts with all kind of vendors. However, it is a reality.
ReplyDelete