Hey folks! I hope everyone is doing well this fine day.
Today’s Under the Net I will be focusing on comic book distribution as it
stands now, who are the players and how you may contact them as well by giving
their links. I have dealt with all these comic distributors at one point or
another, even if it has been a simple email trying to get some information or
submitting a book or two as well.
So please take notes, as I believe this will also help the
aspiring comic book creators out there know who the players in the comic book
industry.
My opinions on each individual distributor is just that my
opinion and not the opinions of this website.
Many will remember the comic book Distributor wars of the
1990’s that ultimately left Diamond comics as the only big house comic book
distributor in the United
States .
This was a grueling time in comics, which ultimately led to the
destruction of the industry in many ways, but that is a topic for another day.
Lets begin.
Diamond Comics
Diamond is the biggest name in the game, the lead comic book
distributor in the United
States , and they hold favor to most of the
comic shops throughout the country. Diamond carries the big two and most of the
larger more independent publishers as well.
Smaller independents with their own comic titles can submit
their titles to Diamond for review, and their title will be reviewed by a panel
of five people, if rejected they then send the title to a panel of comic
retailers, supposedly six to review the rejected title to come up with their
own decision to bring the title back in front of the five members of Diamond’s
review team, to see if the title has merit to be optioned by the big company. If
picked up, you are expected to hit a benchmark of $2500 per title, and are
forced into getting advertising in their sales catalog called PREVIEWS
Now for the most part most titles will be rejected, and you
as the creator will be given a rejection letter, which is pretty standard with
a few options telling you why it was rejected. They will check off things like
art, pacing, lettering doesn’t match industry standards, and a slew of other
issues. Even though the rejection part is pretty standard you at least are
given a letter, and some insight into what maybe wrong or why they don’t like
the book. You may get bummed out but at least they responded to you, gave you
some sort of critique of your book and it will make you work harder.
Diamondcomics.com
Liber Comic Distro
They pretty much opened up little over a year ago. They have
a slew of titles, that you can order from their site and they supposedly offer
print on demand services. Yet this nut is pretty hard to crack. They supposedly
accept independent titles, but they have a review process pretty much like
Diamond does, and they tell you their review process is very rigorous which I
believe is a good thing to have some standards and try to select the crème of
the crop within the independent area. However, I do have one pet peeve that
bothers me tremendously, is that they don’t respond to questions at all. If you
use their submission process on their site, to give them your name, email and
files to your comic book I would expect some sort of response from the review
board, even if it is a form letter regretting that they can’t carry said title.
I know I have submitted titles to this distribution channel twice on their main
site, and once directly to the owner and I never once have gotten any kind of
response saying yes or no they would carry any particular title. I know I am
not the only person with this issue, seeing how plenty of people on their
facebook pages have told them they submitted material to be given the owners
email to submit, and a few others I have spoken with have told me they have
gotten zero responses when they have submitted material. Quite personally I
expected a letter of acceptance or rejection, not utter silence and that there
makes their service poor in my mind. If they aren’t taking submissions or have
another process I would have expected this to be listed. How can you respect a
service if they don’t respect you as an individual since they can’t be assed to
get back to you? It almost feels like an old boys club of friends that stroke
each others egos. I could be wrong, but that is how they come off to me
personally and it is a shame because I believed having an independent service
similar to Diamond was a good thing, to help independent creators strive to
make better books. Yet when one doesn’t get a response from said service, they
ignore your messages it leads one to wonder how they got this far? If they can
respond to submissions better in the future, maybe this service will become
stellar and can properly compete with the likes of Diamond in this ever
changing marketplace.
Indy Planet
Their sister site is a print on demand comic
printer/publisher that produces comics for customers, but they also pose as a
comic distributor as well. People can order their titles online, and they can
get their books mailed out to them. There are plenty of titles on that site to
order from. If you email the site, you will eventually get a response from one
of their staff members, and they have a very extensive FAQ section to answer
plenty of your questions. The print quality for their digital service is pretty
good as well. I’ve been told the owner sometimes can come off a bit
standoffish, but for the most part they are good hard working people, that love
the medium and you got to respect that greatly as they fight to preserve the
independent comic market.
How it works with them is you need to set up an account over
on their Kablam site, click a few buttons that will allow them to sell your
books over on their sister sites and eventually they distribute your book for
you. I do believe these days you have to pay for a single copy to be
distributed so you know what your book will look like, but it is a small one
time fee for the one book. When someone
orders your book on their site, they deduct the printing cost, and other
handling fees and you get your percentage afterwards. They’ve been around for a
number of years, and are highly trusted by many people within the industry.
Comixpress
The original comic on demand site, which houses their own
comic book distribution channel. Much like Kablam/Indyplanet where you place
your comics into their queue and you press a series of buttons to get your
inventory placed into their network. It operates the same sale wise and your
comic is ready to go on their site. Comixpress, right now houses Dave Sims
Cerebus and Glamorpuss titles. Plus their printing and quality isn’t too bad
either. They are pretty much trusted by the industry at large, and when you
email them a question they eventually get back to you. Sometimes the wait can
be a little long, but eventually somewhere along the line they do respond back
to a question. Yet these are hardworking people as well that have a love for
the medium too.
Comic Flea Market
Now the name of this distributor is odd, very odd. However
they do carry right now all of Blue Waters line of comics. This is the
exclusive distributor of Blue Water, but other publishers can use them as well.
If you email this distributor information about carrying your title they will
respond to you promptly and give you the terms of their service. To be carried
by this distributor you have to pay a listing fee of $25 dollars for each
title.
They will put your title up onto their online store, and
they also do the printing for your title. So once you get carried by this
distributor they will handle everything for you, and pay out your revenue once
printing and handling is completed. They pretty much operate similarly like Indy
Planet and Comixpress but are pretty much the new when it comes to this.
Red Beryl Comics Distribution
The new kid on the block, they run their service online and
they are gathering independent titles to carry. All you have to do is call or
email their owner Don Flores to set up an appointment to talk to him about carrying
your titles, and he does go out of his way to talk with you. He maybe slow due
to running so many factions of his business, but they eventually always get in
touch with you. They answer all your questions and order stock to carry once
you agree to the set terms they have. The service is very new, and they are
working out the kinks but so far they are on the right track. They have a lot
of people looking at their site, and they are growing everyday promoting their
services.
Okay come back next week for part two about comic book
distribution, and the sites you can go to get your titles distributed to the
market.
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.
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