Retailer X says: “I don´t like what BOOM did, mostly because they…” then gives you some reasons so you can see it´s not just one thing, but a whole lot of things BOOM did or did not do. His conclusion? “BOOM is subscribers only.”

Customer Y says: “I don´t like the attitude of Retailer X, mostly because he…” then gives you reasons so you can see that he is not just the Simpsons Comic Book Guy. His conclusion? “I will shop elsewhere.”

So can you tell me how what customer Y does is different from what retailer X does? No reason to go all high and mighty for any of ´em. “What you are doing is wrong, so I am going to do just the same thing.” Makes no sense to me. Doesn´t validate the retailer´s decision either.

You would be farther ahead to go in and discuss this with the owner (not yell at), telling him why you think this is a bad idea. Maybe you could change his mind.

I made my mind up when I read this.

“Boom has become SUBSCRIPTION ONLY!”

I like Boom’s books. I liked Talent and Potter’s Field and I enjoyed Northwind, which I read online and have been planning to pick up in the store.

But I don’t like subscribing to books. I like quietly walking in every Wednesday and picking up what I like, and leaving.

There are plenty of comic stores in 818 (that’s the valley for you non-LA folks). I’m sure I’ll be able to walk into one that carries what I like without me having to pre-order it.

Please understand, it’s not your opinion about whether Boom is wrong or right. It’s your attitude. “It’s not vindictive, it’s just.” Justice? Vengeance? You sound like Batman.

I’d prefer not to shop at store that punishes a publisher at the customer’s expense.

So let’s see…you are saving money on the books you won’t order from Boom…but losing at least one customer that buys 4-5 books from you a week. You do the math and tell me if you came out ahead.

but it seems to be the wave of the future.

While the online version was enough to get me intrigued, I still prefer actually holding a comic in my hands. On the other hand, without the issue online, I doubt I would have ever heard of North Wind or sought it out. Now I’ll order the rest of the issues. Seems like it worked just like it was supposed to.

Many retailers who support BOOM are going to withdraw their support over this (and considering BOOM’s lateness problems, many retailer have been amazingly patient with this company), which will damage BOOM’s market position.

Some bad decisions have been made on BOOM’s part. Many tempers have flared up. Retailers are wanting to talk, but BOOM has closed their doors and aren’t listening evidentially.

Overall, it is a sad and lamentable situation. it would have easily been avoided if both retailers and BOOM had discussed things at ordering time. Instead, this came as a not too pleasant surprise.

Thanks for reading my long blah blah blah.

-Gary

What we dont want to do is pay for something that is available to our customers for Free. That is the point. We asked Boom to provide return ability on this issue, and adjust ability on the other issues we have ordered. We never even got a “sorry, but no”. We got IGNORED.

Boom heard our complaints about this matter as soon as the original announcement was published. What was their response? They made a Shelf Talker for us, which said “Read this book online for free by going to Myspace”. They are INSULTING our intelligence and our years of hard work building up our businesses.

They claim they have Overshipped the title, but most of us have not received these overships. They claim that stores are supporting this effort, but that is UNTRUE, except for one store that is located within 3 miles from the company’s offices (what a coincidence). They claim that it’s sold out, but if you wanted to make this point, you would not print too much extra, so that you COULD say that it sold out. It’s blatant Marketing to create Something out of Nothing.

I have been trying to support this company (as well as other indies) for a while. With this move, Oni and Archaia just got more of my business, and Boom has become SUBSCRIPTION ONLY!

Retailers are sometimes thought of as archaic and conservative. Not all of us are. Many support the new and exciting trends in the marketplace. But the only way we get to vote is with our Money. That is what I am doing for Boom. Let’s see if they win in the long run. It’s not vindictive, it’s just.

Then after the orders were taken, he printed the entire comic in Previews the month it’s coming out. Retailers went ballistic. Great for the readers, bad for the dealers.

However, based on the reaction of retailers – let’s face it, a pretty conservative group – they would have a) tried to put a stop to this and/or b) ordered less copies of Northwind (either because they believed online readers wouldn’t buy the book, or just to punish Boom!).

I think Robert makes a good, constructive section about the writer linking to his TV Guide blog. But I imagine that might not be within the writer’s control, or Boom!’s for that matter.

Randy seems to have a forward thinking attitude about this as well. If it’s the same Randy Lander who wrote such great reviews, I wish him the best of luck as a store owner.

He makes a good point that not only would a smaller company like Boom! try something innovative and risky – they pretty much NEED to in today’s market.

That point was reinforced for me by the retailer that said they only order one shelf copy for an indy, but would re-order if a customer asks. That makes no sense to me. Let’s say I walk in as a customer and the book isn’t there. If I’ve never heard of it, how do I know to ask for it? And if I’ve come in looking for it, and you don’t have it – I’m not going to ask you to order it for me – I’m going to go to another store.

Of course, the irony of all this is that this “controversy” probably caused more people to buy the book. I for one wasn’t aware of it until all this back and forth.

I notice Previews always has a note which tells you if a product is already available somewhere else so retailers can know if a reader can already buy it at Barnes & Nobel. I just think that there needs to be a cooperative relationship between publishers and retailers. While I know many retailers don’t order Boom products, they shouldn’t punish the ones that do support them by withholding information that may mean unsold product and bitter feelings.

Also, I love the follow up “story” about how they’ve sold out at the distributor. They
ll spin it as this being a success of being on Myspace when there’s no evidence of that from retailers at all. There aren’t hordes of, or even a couple NEW people coming into shops saying they want to buy a copy because they read it on Myspace. This is a lame PR move, that worked.