Stephenson makes a very legitimate argument that retailers need to be willing to support books that have a reasonable expectation of being solid sellers. I own a small store in a college town, and I can usually expect interest in a new series to be light, no matter how much I promote it or recommend it. People are picky with their dollars, and you have to give them a reason to try new things that may or may not be worth their $3.99. I’ve recently started doing regular 1/2 off sales on #1 issues, and I have seen a noticeable rise in the subscription numbers of those books. I have taken risk and I am now seeing the reward.

On the flip side, the publishers need to be willing to cut us a little more slack. DC does a great job with its return policy, allowing you to pretty much return any book that you order at some point. I think DC is being exceedingly generous with that policy, and I think retailers would get excited about even a percentage return policy – some sort of flat rate, 20%. A return policy from ALL publishers would show that they are willing to share more of the risk with us. It gives us the leverage to order a few extra copies of Saga #1 or Avengers vs. X-Men #0 (which I thought I over ordered, and just had to order 2nd printings of).

The direct market, specialty store market is the best way for people to discover comics, a place where the medium is loved. For that to survive, retailers are going to need to show a little more solidarity than is shown by some publishers who often seem more interested in selling you extra services than they do their books. For the market to survive, for the medium to survive with the same vitality and creativity it now possesses, publishers and retailers are in this together.

Thank You for this post. Just found it on google and i have to say that i;m really really surprised Thanks again and cheers dude!