Ed Sherman of Rising Sun Creations in San Diego, CA says research at his store suggests that passing on miniseries and sticking to collected trade paperbacks will improve the bottom line:

 

Am I the only comic retailer who thinks miniseries are bad for business?  Starting with the November Previews, I will no longer be ordering any new miniseries from any publisher!  I am informing my customers to special order miniseries if they really want them, but I don't think many will.  They are smart enough to wait for the trade.  That is what the majority of my customers do anyway.

 

I am sick and tired of unsold copies of miniseries clogging my back issue boxes and wasting my cash.  Here is the breakdown of miniseries offered by the 'big four' comic publishers in January:

 

-- Marvel:  27 miniseries
-- DC:  14 miniseries
-- Dark Horse:  12 miniseries
-- Image:  5 miniseries

 

That is 58 titles that I am supposed to order with little or no sales history! That is not counting the new on-going series and one-shots.  And that is just from those four publishers.  Heck, sometimes these publishers expect you to order two issues of a miniseries in the same month.  I simply do not have the shelf space or the money to continue to support this madness!

 

The publishers are using the direct market retailers to subsidize their booming trade paperback business.  Don't get me wrong; I love trades.  Dollar wise, we sell as much in trades as we do floppies.  The trade paperback and the graphic novel are the future of the comics industry, but I think that it is time for direct market retailers to take a stand and demand change.  I think that publishers should make all issues of all miniseries returnable.  If they do not, I am calling for an industry-wide boycott of miniseries.  I am starting my boycott in January!

 

I have done careful sales research at my store and have come to these conclusions:

 

  • I am losing money across the board on almost all miniseries.
  • Miniseries take up far too much valuable shelf space that could be dedicated to better selling comics or trades.
  • Miniseries contribute the least to my total sales, but contribute the most to my unsold back issue stock.
  • I am going to use the money that I no longer spend on miniseries and spend it into other merchandise that performs better.

Some of you may think that I am crazy, and some of you may follow my example, but one thing is for certain, my bottom line is going to improve!

 

The opinions expressed in this Talk Back article are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.