How DOES a small comic book publisher get distribution?
With the SPEAKEASY closure, I think a lot of people are asking themselves "What does it take to make it in comic publishing?"
How do you target distributors/retailers? I think some of you are a little confused. I have done this for manufacturing & film production/financing, and it's often more simple than you would imagine. How do you contact these people? Well...I use the phone, email, and sometimes I just show up. "WHAT?!?" you say, "It cannot be so easy!"It is.
The problem I had with answering questions around the small publishing areana is that I didn't understand the question. I didn't know that many haven't tried the most basic techniques. Cold calling works great. I have contacted 10 distributors for a recent publication offer and guess what? I bet you can't guess...but they have NEVER been contacted by any comic book publisher before. Not one of these ten. One is an international distributor. Of course, they could be new to their position and the previous guy had good relations with a publisher. But currently they don't carry comic books and no one had ever called that person. And they are very interested.
Who are these retailers/distributors? That isn't the question you should be asking. I know it sounds easy for me to tell you, but as the old saying goes, if you give someone a fish they will eat for a day, teach them to fish and they eat for a lifetime.The key is to decide WHO your audience is. You need to know that. Sit down in the dark and think about all the stores that you visit that you could imagine would carry your book. Try to be specific and target them.
On another board, I previously mentioned the "CAT & DOG FUNNY BOOK" would be a great idea for a pet chain store. Your book on the "High School Football Team" might work at a sports good chain. If you can't think of your target audience, then you need to rethink your book. Your audience shouldn't just be mom & dad.
Now you've got a list of stores. Of course, these stores don't usually buy directly from people. They buy from distributors, so you need to find out who they are. The best way to do this is to call those stores and ask who they buy from. You then kill a few birds with one stone. You'll learn if the store is in the minority and actually does buy from individual publishers, are they really interested, and if they don't buy from individuals, who do they buy from. Then Google their distributor and call them.It's that easy.
The market for every book is going to be slightly different. But the key is to know who your audience is and specifically go after them. That is what I'm doing, what Nifty Comics did, and many other Indy publishers. This can be in addition to or instead of doing the Diamond thing...your choice really, depending on your particular situation.I hope that helps someone understand. It's so much easier than you imagine.
From an idea, a few years ago I went cold calling to get a digital light made. It was the first ever of this size and output, helping push some revolutionary developments in the industry. We got our prototype and then found a long list of distributors/retailers willing to sell it from cold calling. It was amazing until we discovered that the startup cost was 1.5mil for actual production, the process was extremely expensive still and our investors got scared. Still...comic books don't cost thousands to make one and you aren't reinventing the wheel so the good old salesmanship should work. I hate talking on the phone, but if you grit your teeth and just do it then you'll find yourself where you want to be.
How do you target distributors/retailers? I think some of you are a little confused. I have done this for manufacturing & film production/financing, and it's often more simple than you would imagine. How do you contact these people? Well...I use the phone, email, and sometimes I just show up. "WHAT?!?" you say, "It cannot be so easy!"It is.
The problem I had with answering questions around the small publishing areana is that I didn't understand the question. I didn't know that many haven't tried the most basic techniques. Cold calling works great. I have contacted 10 distributors for a recent publication offer and guess what? I bet you can't guess...but they have NEVER been contacted by any comic book publisher before. Not one of these ten. One is an international distributor. Of course, they could be new to their position and the previous guy had good relations with a publisher. But currently they don't carry comic books and no one had ever called that person. And they are very interested.
Who are these retailers/distributors? That isn't the question you should be asking. I know it sounds easy for me to tell you, but as the old saying goes, if you give someone a fish they will eat for a day, teach them to fish and they eat for a lifetime.The key is to decide WHO your audience is. You need to know that. Sit down in the dark and think about all the stores that you visit that you could imagine would carry your book. Try to be specific and target them.
On another board, I previously mentioned the "CAT & DOG FUNNY BOOK" would be a great idea for a pet chain store. Your book on the "High School Football Team" might work at a sports good chain. If you can't think of your target audience, then you need to rethink your book. Your audience shouldn't just be mom & dad.
Now you've got a list of stores. Of course, these stores don't usually buy directly from people. They buy from distributors, so you need to find out who they are. The best way to do this is to call those stores and ask who they buy from. You then kill a few birds with one stone. You'll learn if the store is in the minority and actually does buy from individual publishers, are they really interested, and if they don't buy from individuals, who do they buy from. Then Google their distributor and call them.It's that easy.
The market for every book is going to be slightly different. But the key is to know who your audience is and specifically go after them. That is what I'm doing, what Nifty Comics did, and many other Indy publishers. This can be in addition to or instead of doing the Diamond thing...your choice really, depending on your particular situation.I hope that helps someone understand. It's so much easier than you imagine.
From an idea, a few years ago I went cold calling to get a digital light made. It was the first ever of this size and output, helping push some revolutionary developments in the industry. We got our prototype and then found a long list of distributors/retailers willing to sell it from cold calling. It was amazing until we discovered that the startup cost was 1.5mil for actual production, the process was extremely expensive still and our investors got scared. Still...comic books don't cost thousands to make one and you aren't reinventing the wheel so the good old salesmanship should work. I hate talking on the phone, but if you grit your teeth and just do it then you'll find yourself where you want to be.
posted by MrTractor @ 10:27 AM
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