DC's trade program?

[MajorHoy]

That changes literally nothing. It was still mean.

Mean?

It's "mean" because I disagree with someone and tell them to be realistic?

What's the matter . . . they can't handle the truth?!?

Did I say anything mean about the person himself? Did I call them a nasty name or something? Did I insult their intelligence?

[Tony]

DC has a trade policy that is flawed. To be honest I would have bought a lot more books but by the time the trade hits I have moved on. I'll never go back to floppies other than Groo because I want the letters pages. However they still are the number two comic book company so if it works for them me buying less DC will not get them to change the trade program policy.

It does however cost them money even if I was the only one buying less (I am not). When I hear about something cool my enthusiasm rarely lasts a year or more. Too many new things come around to take my interest and money. This is from someone who prefers DC to Marvel.

I think they want to force floppy sales up but you can't tell me how to spend my money. Honestly, I'll be moving in a few months somewhere with no comic shop close by. Individual issues are over priced fractions of story. I have no idea why anyone buys them in this day and age, but I don't hold it against them. It's just not for me.

[MRP]

If you are looking at success, Marvel's trade policy has them at #3 in trade sales in the direct market and about 7th or 8th in the book market for trade sales only. Image seems to have the most successful trade policy-collections out the month after an arc wraps, keep the books in print, and make the first volumes affordable ($9.99 usually) an an incentive for new readers to try out the series. It combines the timeliness of Marvel's releases for readers and the dependability of availability of DC's books (you can look at Brian Hibbs Bookscan analysis in his Tilting at Windmills column if you want to see trade number in the book market outside the direct market (i.e. books sold outside Diamond Distribution). DC has the edge her with their evergreen books (Watchmen, Dark Knight, Year One, etc.) not necessarily their releases of collections of new material from current series.

A delay between hardcover and paperback is the norm in the book industry, so it is not surprising that DC and Marvel do this. However Image seems to do hardcovers (deluxe versions) collecting 2-3 softcover trades worth or material with extras and is doing quite well. So maybe that's something to look into. I do wish DC was more timely with their releases (maybe cutting the lag time in half to 3 months to give retailers a window for sales but the chance to strike while the buzz is still there on collections.

I do think that the customer base for trades and floppies is different with only a small overlap between them. I understand the need for a policy that works for the brick and mortar lcs retailers as they are responsible for a large percentage of the marketshare for publishers who rely on monthly comics for the bulk of their income, but neither DC nor Marvel has a very sound trade policy for success in the larger market outside the direct market, because the parameters of that market are different (And often at odds) with the parameters for success for the lcs market. DC and Marvle continually vie for marketshare in the direct market, striving to be the big fish in that little pond, but there's a whole ocean of possible markets outside that pond that is not serviced well by their current trade policies.

-M

[GlennSimpson]

DC has a trade policy that is flawed. To be honest I would have bought a lot more books but by the time the trade hits I have moved on. I'll never go back to floppies other than Groo because I want the letters pages. However they still are the number two comic book company so if it works for them me buying less DC will not get them to change the trade program policy.

It does however cost them money even if I was the only one buying less (I am not). When I hear about something cool my enthusiasm rarely lasts a year or more. Too many new things come around to take my interest and money. This is from someone who prefers DC to Marvel.

I think they want to force floppy sales up but you can't tell me how to spend my money. Honestly, I'll be moving in a few months somewhere with no comic shop close by. Individual issues are over priced fractions of story. I have no idea why anyone buys them in this day and age, but I don't hold it against them. It's just not for me.

FWIW, while you might not be buying DC because of their trade policy, they actually are #1 when it comes to trade sales. So their policy might not be working for gaining sales from you, but it's gaining them a lot of sales from other kinds of people. In addition to the deal they made with retailers, I imagine they do a lot of business in bookstore where people aren't aware of when the stuff originally came out.

As for why one might buy individual issues, it's because we don't want to have to wait, and we have the money to spend. Especially when one can buy them for like 30% off or more using sites like Discount Comic Book Service.

[PyroSikTh]

That changes literally nothing. It was still mean.

Don't worry about it. I'm used to MajorHoy and his tone. This isn't the first time we've had this exact same disagreement

[MajorHoy]

Don't worry about it. I'm used to MajorHoy and his tone. This isn't the first time we've had this exact same disagreement

Thank you for speaking up . . . no offense is intended.