IDW Publishing has hired Blake Kobashigawa as Vice President of Sales, the company announced. Kobashigawa spent seven years at DC, including his final two years, ending in 2018, as Manager- Mass, Book Sales & Trade Marketing. In that role he worked with Penguin Random House Publisher Services, also IDW’s distributor to the book channel. He also had over a year as Marketing Manager – Mass Channel.
Kobashigawa’s hiring continues a shift in emphasis for IDW, whose sales efforts were previously led by a former comic retailer, Jud Meyers, who recently left the company after a days-long stint as Publisher (see "IDW Ends Jud Meyers’ Short Tenure as Publisher").
IDW’s move to emphasizing its book format products was also evident in its recent hire of a former Disney Publishing executive as Publisher (see "IDW Hires Disney Publishing Exec as Publisher").
Kobashigawa also has extensive experience in the direct-to-consumer channel. For the last two years he was Head of Industry Operations at MerchBar, the world’s largest direct-to-consumer marketplace for music merchandise, and also spent nearly two years at DC as Marketing Representative – Digital prior to his move to what DC called Mass, but also included specialty retailers such as Barnes & Noble.
Continues Increasing Emphasis on Book Channel
Posted by Milton Griepp on September 10, 2020 @ 4:05 pm CT
MORE COMICS
VIZ, Ize Press, Graphix Dominate the Charts
April 19, 2024
New and evergreen titles from VIZ Media, Ize Press, and Graphix take up almost all the slots in the March Top 20s.
Adult Sales Sag; 'Dog Man' Kicks Kids' Sales Higher
April 19, 2024
Sales of the Adult Top 20 were down compared to March 2023, but a new Dog Man release helped bump sales up on the Kids' chart.
MORE NEWS
Pre-Painted Minis for upcoming 'Dungeons & Dragons' Adventure Anthology
April 19, 2024
WizKids will release a new D&D Icons of the Realms set for the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons adventure anthology.
Dark Horse to Launch Intergenerational Mystery 'Gilt Frame' in August 2024
April 19, 2024
The intergenerational murder mystery, Gilt Frame, will be published by Dark Horse Comics starting in August 2024.