Highway 62

…minus ten percent

Declan MacManus, ladies and gentlemen. Give him a big hand.

And I thought I was loopy when I was posting earlier this week. I’m past loopy to sober and back to loopy again.

As I suspected, the discussion fired off by the ComicsPro position paper on convention-pre-sales is not over. Nor is it prompting any kind of a change in people’s minds, really. There’s a lot of talk, but it’s cross-talk. The pro and con sides have their minds made up (‘cept for those folks who seem to only be mildly for or against it, oh yeah, and everyone else who hasn’t said anything about it, which isn’t me, since I’m still babbling.) There’s a lot of passion and bluster, and thorough proof that the plural of anecdote is bitchfest.

For the record, since I apparently didn’t make it clear in my last missive (unsurprising, since my writing tends towards the opaque side of clarity), I will not be selling copies of STRANGEWAYS: MURDER MOON at Wonder-Con ahead of the Direct Market ship date of March 26th. Should I have copies, they will be given for promotion to reviewers and contributors (at least I think Steve is going to be there.) If local (or non-local) retailers want to buy copies at cost and I have a supply to meet their demand that is their business. I will be there to sign those books, should customers for them be found. I will have paid the cost to appear there, as will they. Perhaps both of us can benefit from that. As said before, Rory Root from Comic Relief in Berkeley has made such an offer, for which I am thankful.

Hell, in my position, I’m thankful for any customers.

But I won’t put myself in competition with pre-paid orders, particularly from local retailers. After the street date, I’ll happily sell copies at whatever price I choose (and continue to pass out preview copies should it make sense.)

It’s a conflict between a fast sale (or two, or ten) and whatever retailer goodwill I can generate as a result of playing by the ground rules. As I said last time, I’m not in a position to pick and choose friends and supporters. If my selling some copies of STRANGEWAYS over a three-day show is that much of a threat to my long-term presence in my book’s primary market, then I’d be short-sighted to do so. I’m not interested in selling a pamphlet comic with a low-duration shelf life. I was already convinced of that when I started this whole process back in 2003. The Speakeasy diversion and dalliance in the monthly form was me adapting to an opportunity that presented itself; an opportunity cost that was, well, high.

Again, the reality of STRANGEWAYS is that it will be ordered by a handful of stores. I don’t need to muddy up those waters with pre-sales. If a store is going to take a chance on my book, then I should give them a fair chance to sell it.

This does not make it my place to criticize or chide others who choose to pre-sell on convention floors. Eric Reynolds makes his case, and it’s a persuasive one. I am not going to tell him that he’s wrong in his choice. I bought a copy of I SHALL DESTROY ALL THE CIVILIZED PLANETS from a show before it was available in the DM. And then I gave that to a friend for his birthday and I replaced it with a DM-purchased copy.

But then I also believe that we’re not looking at a zero-sum system where a convention pre-sale means that a retailer is going to be left holding the bag on a pre-ordered book forever. For that to be true, then you’d have to prove that only people who go to conventions go to comic shops, and that is simply not true. If it is true, then we’re looking at a terrifyingly small comics market and have far bigger problems to figure out than convention pre-sales.

Long week, folks. I'm goin' to bed.