I’ve said it before, as have others on this site: it’s not Diamond’s job to *market* your book. It’s their job to distribute your book. If orders are low, it’s not Diamond’s fault; it’s your fault. It’s because retailers didn’t know who the hell you were because you didn’t properly introduce yourself to them, the ones who are placing the orders.

To Ken, great article. You clearly have a better understanding of small press marketing than many folks out there. Good luck on the book, as it looks great.

As for my other ranting, that was really directed at everyone who expects Diamond to be the one-and-only avenue for moving a book. They are not the evil empire just a business.

It’s great to see someone taking a lead in some pragmatic thinking for publishing and marketing. Keep it up.

My point being, you have to do both. Just building demand isn’t enough. You have to let retailers know about it. That you’re out there doing it. In the pre-order game, it’s all about the perception of rising demand. Not just the pre-orders itself. If that makes sense.

Thanks,
ken

News releases do suck but only if you dont know how to do them. Furthermore, if you dont have a relationship with the person at the newspaper, website or magazine whom you are targeting, they arent going to look at it. Email blasts from an unfamiliar name are just spam.

Finally, broaden your freakin horizons! There are some really cool shops out there but there are also a bunch who are not run like a business. Set up your own site(keep the FLASH apps off of the front page) and sell your stuff that way. Or, you can keep doing the same ol, same ol and complain that you cant get a spot in Previews.

YOU market your book. You have to invest just as much energy in marketing your book as you did in creating it. If you dont have a background in marketing, you had better get to work. And stop following the traditional comic book marketing model. Look at other retail segments to figure out new ways to promote what you do.

And for god’s sake figure out who your audience is. If you dont know who the book is for, you wont know where to target your marketing efforts.

Also, stop trying to compete with DC and Marvel because they arent the competition. EVERYTHING else is. THe Combo Meal at McDonalds, that stupid robo cleaner, and Shoes….you are now competing with everything else.

And(there are probably more of these) Stop thinking about creating a collectible item. You all seem to have that buried in your subconcious everytime you go to print. Create and market a story that people will want to read.

And, use the web. It is the most effective marketing tool you could ever have.

As for that issue about Diamond Distribution? What most of you dont seem to register is the comic industry has been run forever, by people who are fans and not business people. It’s not entirely wrong but it is a problem as not enough of you are really business people. Those distributors who collapsed in the past, leading to the point where Diamond was the Last Man Standing, those distributors were run by fans…not good.

If you dont think it’s fair then create a distribution system. Do your homework and create a delivery system. It’s good to have passion for what you do but dont become blinded by that. In the end it’s about moving a book from one point to the other.

Ken is basically right. No one cares about your book-unless you promote it and talk endlessly about it and market it in as many places as you can. YOU sell your book no one else does.

As others have said, I think comic books are as strong as ever today, but the comic book industry, as a whole, has been suffering, a lot. I think it’s easy to look past Diamond in what they do, because they are involved in promoting/creating so much of the comic book world. But that is only one part of it all. Ultimately, I think what one has to look at is a very complex equation of economics and future gain, which is not easily identifyable.

I hope I’m wrong, but through the years the trend has been more negative than positive effects from Diamond and their practices.

Everyone is fair game for honest criticism, but seriously…that’s ludicrous.

Running a comic news site (Indy Comic News), I deal with some new and established publishers who just send me their PRs- and that is it! This in light of the site having a bunch of ways to promote themselves, and myself informing creators and publishers they can contact me in regards to marketing their titles and themselves through the site.

Granted, Indy Comic News isn’t a Comic Book Resources or Newsrama BUT in today’s market, creators and publishers need to utilize every marketing opportunity that you can- especially when it is free.

I think both creators and publishers are going to have to realize very soon that the way people interact with and view marketing is changing at a rapid pace. They either need to put in the time and effort to stay in the game or they will find themselves on the sidelines wondering what the f*#k happened.

Wesley

I meant to say that it falls on you ultimately to promote your book. If your publisher and/or marketing folks help (and the Ape guys did help a lot) that great. But it’s gravy. It is still your fundamental responsibility. That should be your working M.O. A lot of folks don’t get that.

Oh, I would be doing my job as a marketer if I didn’t post a preview of SHR. Here you go:

http://www.apeprinting.com/apereader/SHR_01_READER/index.html

Tell your retailer you want to see more.
ken

I wouldn’t go so far as to say publishers don’t care about the book, but it’s true that responsibility for PR falls first (and many times ONLY) on the shoulders of a creator.
Nothing outs an newbie or the naive faster than whinging that their publisher isn’t promoting the book, then refusing to do it themselves because “it’s the publisher’s job.”

Of the publishers I’ve been with on creator-owned books, NBM was the one on the ball. The rest, I had to work my ass off.

1. I dislike Diamond for most eveyrthing they’ve done to destroy the comic book market.

2. though it may help creators to pre-order, that’s not how I do it.

Around the days before the internet as we know it today and everyone had a computer, ‘94 or so, I recall many of the small time publishers used to distribute their books through mail order, if a shop did not have it. You would simply call some phone number they provided and usually they had some sort of ’staff’ who could get some books to you. This may have been the best way, b/c the money goes straight to the creators, rather than through a distribution process.

Possibly, this may be the best in the future so that the greedy, messed up Dianmond isn’t seen as the only hope for an indy book to survive.

Y’know, Ken, I was one of those guys who didn’t care about your book, but now I will seek it out.

~

Coat

SHR is on The Beat!!! Made my day.
ken