As rumored, the new Captain Marvel series coming from Marvel next year (if the date on Marvel’s own promo pics is correct) will indeed star Carol Danvers and be written by the marvelous Kelly Sue DeConnick. In her interview with the mothership about the book, DeConnick talked about pre-ordering, selling out and the secret horror of the Direct Market, and it’s something that bears all manner of repeating:
The problem isn’t just that we have to get folks to buy it; it’s that we have to get retailers to order it. The failing of our distribution model is that our customer isn’t really the reader, our customer is whoever places the Diamond order at any store. So if there’s a perception that the book won’t sell, it gets under-ordered and it becomes this self-fulfilling prophecy.
Here’s a thing that happens to every creator on Twitter on one Wednesday or another: an incredibly sweet reader who really wants to support you, writes to tell you that they tried to buy your book at their LCS and it was already sold out! It’s only noon, they say! The shop only opened at 10! Your book must’ve flown off the shelves!
And then the creator, not wanting to hurt anyone’s feelings, says, “Wow! Thanks for your support — better pre-order the next one!” and then they cry into their coffee. Because, friends, selling out by noon on a Wednesday is not good news. Heck, selling out by Thursday is not good news. That means your book was under-ordered — if it was ordered at all. If the consumer wants the product and we can’t get them the product, our system is broken.
I hate the pre-order thing. Hate it, hate it, hate it. Ten years ago, I was complaining about it on the [Warren Ellis Forum] — I’m a shopper. I looooove to shop. I will spend money. But I am not going to buy a pair of shoes that I’m expected to order three months in advance and am not able to try on! And that’s what we’re asking of our readers. It’s the dumbest system. No wonder we have problems! Is there another industry that works like this?
I’m a fan of the DM, albeit a fan who thinks that the system could be better, but I read this and thought, “I wish there was a weekly column somewhere called Kelly Sue Tells It Like It Is where she can just be this right all the time.”
And when Captain Marvel is solicited? Pre-order the hell out’ve that book, why don’t you.
March 19th, 2012 at 9:48 am
I’m not much of a fan of the Diamond ordering system either, but we’re stuck with it. Very few stores will order 100 issues of a series and have 80 issues sit on the shelf. Unless it’s an “event” type book, it won’t be ordered heavily. Most stores in my area are following the “just in time” amount where I’ve seen issues sold out by Wed. mid-afternoon. Many times I’ve had to ask for an issue to be ordered/delivered in a few weeks because the owner under-ordered.
It’s unfortunate but most store owners are barely staying afloat as it is. None of them want to have too much inventory on hand. It does hurt the industry because many people won’t come back to get an issue that has sold out either due to short attention span or frustration.
March 19th, 2012 at 9:58 am
Fortunately, creators / publishers can now push digital if someone absolutely, positively has to have the issue now now now. (Of course, the ability to “sample” the issue is still limited. And the retailer loses out on the sale. I wonder if they’d be able to sell iTunes and Amazon gift cards to help recoup some of that loss… And if the margins would even make that worthwhile.)
March 19th, 2012 at 10:36 am
I probably won’t order it because Kelly Sue has yet to prove herself as a strong writer. Supergirl was dreadful. As a woman, I’m kinda annoyed that she’s Marvel’s ‘top female writer’ she comes across as obnoxious an unapproachable online.
March 19th, 2012 at 11:01 am
“And when Captain Marvel is solicited? Pre-order the hell out’ve that book, why don’t you.”
Wait, DeConnick says she hates pre-ordering and that it’s an example of how the system is dumb and broken. So wouldn’t pre-ordering Captain Marvel be helping to perpetuate a broken system?
March 19th, 2012 at 12:04 pm
Kelly Sue, those of us who have been producing comics have been screaming to anyone who’ll listen about the inanity that is the Direct Market since the late 1990′s. This isn’t anything new or any sort of revelation.
March 19th, 2012 at 1:15 pm
Kelly Sue is absolutely on target here, but it feels like spitting into the wind to complain about it.
March 19th, 2012 at 6:08 pm
SHAZAM!
March 19th, 2012 at 7:18 pm
She is wrong,there is not other alternative.
Is the lesser evil of all the other options.
Utopia does not exist.
March 20th, 2012 at 6:50 am
Her problem with pre-ordering is the exact reason that finally drove me to digital. I was tired of having to guess what I would want in a few months and sometimes getting stuck with multiple issues after I decided I didn’t like a book.
March 20th, 2012 at 9:31 pm
Of course the system is broken. When you consider that books from DC & Marvel have to be either $2.99 or $3.99 something is wrong.That’s a whole dollar difference there, not just 20 or 30 cents more. And what’s with the $3.99 for 20 pages of story ??? That is terrible !!!