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Post by G on May 3, 2010 12:58:05 GMT -5
I think when it comes to FCBD, the dealers need to weigh the pros and the cons and see if it will work for them. Of course the customers see the word FREE.....but the dealers do not. They don't like to be in the business of buying and then giving away from nothing....who would? I guess they have to weigh if it is a good option for them or not. Its a PR event for them in hopes it will bring in a few more customers. I see a lot of dealers turned off by this and I can't blame them one bit, but conversely, I see dealers like Zenos do it every year and its worthwhile for someone like me to go there and get as many books as he has available (1 copy each). I think for him, its worthwhile. He's making the most of it. But if he thought it wasn't worth it, I'm sure he would stop. If he does, I understand. But if he doesn't, I'll be back next year to do it again!
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Post by defiant1 on May 4, 2010 11:17:12 GMT -5
Bob doesn't hold on to his books for a long time. One thing he like many other retailers do is order much tighter. This means they get the subscribers books, and then depending on the title, 1-10 extra copies. when a store is spending 3-$5000 a week ordering product, you do not consider laying it on a table and giving it away. Additionally, I think without the FCBD logo on the cover it may cause confusion when people are checking out. What Bob does is every 3 monthes he will donate the books to the military or CHKD. that way he can write them off as a loss or charitable donation to help his taxs at the end of the year. One of the problems with a single distributor is that there is no incentive for them to pad their inventory to cover shortages or follow-up demand. They save money by printing to order, but there is no one agressively trying to go out and reach new customers or new markets. When Capital City existed, they had to look over their shoulder to make sure they had enough of everything, or there was the risk of losing their retail accounts to a competitor. With Capital City doing the same, order numbers were higher and publishers were making more money. The subdistributors also created a whole different marketing layer for the product. Convention dealers were weekend warriors marketing new comics to their neighbors kids and anyone that showed the slightest curiosity about comics. The comics industry collapse is not soley to do with the 90's speculation. It has a lot to do with the collapse of the distribution network down to one company... that being Diamond. Diamond makes it so tough for retailers to turn a profit that comic shops have no incentive to advertise or promote comics to new customers. Ordering excess stock is ahuge risk for them. The industry needs to create a moderate pad of profit without raising prices. It's easier for everyone just to take and order and supply the books without taking those life and death risks for your company. The problem is that the only way to get that pad of profit is through volume. Print runs are so low these days that sales barely meet the cost to pay the artists and print the books. df1
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Post by cyberstrike on May 9, 2010 13:30:43 GMT -5
Also that Diamond can and has put small indy companies out of business (Claypool Comics is a prime example of this) because a comic has to get about 5000 copies before Diamond will release it or allow it in the Previews catalog. When it falls below that number they will no longer carry the companies' books. Which is what happened to Claypool Comics.
Then it can also get to very expensive to get page ads (running as high $5,000 for full page ad) in Previews.
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