I’ve been in comics since 2006 professionally and worked with a bunch of publishers. I can pretty much promise you that’s how it goes. I HONESTLY wish there was a better way, but this is roughly how it works…
Shops will generally order a certain number of comics to put on their shelves regardless of how many people are ordering the comic for their standing orders (assuming they know about it/read the order catalog Diamond puts out), so that’s one set of orders that that particular shop is probably going to carry. Then there are X many customers who buy the book regularly, who have it on their standing order, that adds to the number of books that the shop carries normally. If you’re buying the comic having it on a standing order tells publishers in advance how many units of the comic need to be printed, because the orders for standing orders (and whatever the shop wants to put on the shelves) go in to the distributor 2 months ahead of release. So, the shop is going to put in X many orders they keep on the shelves regularly, and then one or however many the customer wants for each standing order. The shops are going to order pretty much the same numbers for their shop shelves each time (unless, obviously, there’s no interest in the book in that shop), so if those people buying the comic each month off the shelves actually start a standing order, then the shops are going to add another standing order to their list as well as whatever they put on the shelves regularly.
It might not seem like much, but if this happens each time and a heap of different shops, then the numbers go up, rather than plateauing because people who don’t have it on their standing orders are just buying it off the shelves.
Digital sales and re-orders and all those things certainly add up, but digital was worth the investment, we probably would’ve had the RGB digital series Tom and I were pushing for last year and there’d probably be a bigger push on the digital sales, but at the end of the day, the biggest focus is on the monthly comic book. There’s a bit more to it all, but the core chunk above is pretty much it. It’s not a lifelong commitment. If you don’t like a book you just tell your shop to take it off the standing order. Day 1 sales aren’t the be all and end all, you’re right, but they’re pretty high up there and really, it doesn’t take ANY time or effort to set up a standing order if you’re already going into a shop to get it off the shelves. And this way, it guarantees you’ll get it and perhaps even the cover variation you want (assuming there is one).
This? Unless we’re going to see more slime-resistant possessions, like Zinz and Vuul. In which case we’ll need two traps, each set to a different frequency… or we’re going to need better slime. Or to just abandon the slime entirely, if too many creatures turn up who are immune to it’s effects.
Turns out in addition to the Regular, Subscription and RI covers, there will be at least one Retailer Exclusive and two Con Exclusive covers.
The first, the RE is a glow in the dark offered by Heroes’ Haven in Tampa. Art by Ozzy Fernandez and Tony Kordos. It’s $10 and $3 shipping. You can pre-order it now. There’s 1000 copies total and 430 left in stock.
The second will be a little harder. It’s going to at Virginia Comic Con in November 22-23, 2014 at the Richmond International Raceway, 602 E Laburnum Ave, Richmond, VA 23222. The cover is by Matt Slay. The red foil logo edition is limited to 1,000 copies, and the gold foil logo edition is limited to only 250 copies. Those going to the con who buy tickets online get them first. ‘VIP’ can advance order up to five copies of the red foil edition. Mega VIP will receive one of each.
Got the guy at my local comic book store to order this series for me, cannot wait. Defiantly want to try and get the Kevin Eastman variant cover if possible.
