There is news in the world of comics distribution and it goes like this… Diamond Comics Distribution has decided that they are going to raise the minimum Purchase Order that they are going to cut from $1500 to $2500. On comics like the ones we make here at LSP, Diamond makes 20% of the retail dollar and out of that they receive and sort and ship the merchandise. Apparently, that is not enough to keep the de facto monopoly in business, so they have decided to change the rules. This is nothing new for Diamond. Once upon a time, I got a hand full of guarantees from Diamond only to have them change their mind a few months later. In my case, it meant that Heroic Tales #9 & #10 never made it to the comic book stores because Diamond decided that material was not worth the financial dollars it took to get them there.
The Diamond decision on a new PO benchmark (like most decisions) will have unintended consequences. The world of the Top 300 Comics will tick along just fine, but the damage comes on the graphic novel side. Looking at the Top 300 Graphic Novels for December and doing a little basic math will tell you that a lot of those books will just lose the chance to go to market. A chunk of the Tokyo Pop books fall below the new bubble. This change will put entire publishing lines and publishing entities at risk. And it will foster a less dynamic marketplace. Think more crossovers and less Scott Pilgrim.
Since this move does not take place in a static environment, the people involed will try to compensate for the change in Diamond policy including…
* Many publishers will have to jack up cover prices to compensate for the new benchmark.
* Many publishers will have to try to go around the Direct Market.
* Many publishers will kill projects and fire freelancers.
* Many freelancers will take these projects to the remaining healthy publishers.
* Many freelancers will distribute electronically.
The 1000 retail stores that carry a vigorous line of graphic novels will have to get books from somewhere. So, will a company like Haven Distributors step up? Can they?
For small publishers like my pal Thom Zahler, it will be a brand new headache. His critically acclaimed book Love and Capes is one of the entertaining new books on the P.O. bubble. I hope his book is not legislated out of retail stores by a stroke of Diamond’s pen.