Daniel McAbee of The Tangled Web in Spartanburg, South Carolina joins the discussion of Marvel Previews (see 'Marvel Adds Previews Supplement') with his view of the costs and benefits of carrying Previews:

 

I have been trying more and more to think 'outside the box' in how I choose to run my business and I wanted to offer up a viewpoint on the Previews catalog debacle.

 

What is the REAL cost of Previews?  It certainly isn't the cover price or the cost line on my weekly invoice.  The REAL cost of Previews is in how much merchandise is ordered JUST because of the catalog.  How many sales does Previews exclusively generate for each store?  I believe that it varies, dependent on how well it is marketed to the consumer.  It is, after all, just another catalog.

 

We have never given away Previews to our customers because it wasn't cost effective when compared to the number of orders we received back from them.  When the last Previews price increase occurred (only 6 months ago), we started looking a little harder at exactly what these catalogs cost us.  We are saddled with the extra freight cost PLUS the new added cost of the order forms and we still have to spend valuable time stuffing the order forms into the catalogs while pulling subscription books.  We also provide premier shelf space for the selling of the catalog.  The cost of carrying Previews is most certainly more than it's stated cost.

 

I believe that Diamond has managed to totally turn the tables for this catalog.  Diamond charges publishers to advertise items in Previews and charges retailers for a product that is designed to increase sales.  That is not unlike The Tangled Web convincing our local paper to pay us so that they can run our advertisements!  How broken is that!   I would LOVE to have a product that I could get paid to produce, get paid again when I sell it, and then have the added bonus of seeing my business increase because of the free labor of the people who merchandise and sell my product for me.  What a coup!!!  I guess I can't blame them since it seems that it has been working for them for so long.

 

Because of this unusual logic, we started treating Previews EXACTLY the same way that we treat every other comic on our shelves.  We currently order exactly one more copy than we sell each month and we will continue to order the same amount until our sell-through changes.  We will then adjust our orders the same way we do with every other title we carry.  When Previews ceases to make us money, we will not carry it at all. 

 

Diamond does not exist in a vacuum.  When enough retailers speak out on this issue by not ordering Previews, Diamond's associated costs will go up and sooner or later they will have to make some changes.  Maybe then Previews will go back to being a retailers ordering tool, as it was originally designed to be.

 

That is my 2 cents worth.