Longtime Diamond Comic Distributors executive Bill Schanes (retired) spoke up about the continuation of graphic novel operations in the book channel.

With Diamond Comic Distributors (see “Diamond Halting Distribution of New Product”) and Diamond Book Distributors (see “DBD Confirmed Closed”) both temporally halting all shipments of products to both the comic book specialty retailers and the book channel, for the reasons stated (concern for the health of their employees and non-essential government-mandated closures), I find it more than curious as the traditional book channel publishers and distributors continue to operate as if there is no pandemic happening on a global basis.

So while they appear to be champions of their wholesale accounts, they are putting their employees at risk to exposure of the coronavirus, plus their employees’ families, friends and people they potentially come in contact with...  profits over public safety. Not to mention, it’s only a matter of time until all 50 U.S. states order mandatory shut down for all but essential businesses. 

It also provides an uneven advantage/disadvantage to those retailers who can still open their doors vs. those who aren’t allowed to do so. Plus, the large dot-coms stand to benefit the most, taking sales and profits out of the comic book and book store sectors, which desperately need these sales now, more than ever.

I view the book publishers and book distributors as being irresponsible to the overall public health and safety, and would urge those publishers who sell books through these book distributors and their customers to discontinue until such time as the worst of the pandemic has subsided.

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