How To Sell Your Small Press Book
Or: how Mad Cave Studios got us to take a deeper look, and how it paid off.
You Read These With Your Eyes (March 1st, 2023)
A quick feature about selling stories, featuring the week’s newest reads.
After a pretty dry February for launches, March is kicking off with quite a few. Marvel alone has seven “first issues” on the stands this week1, which is truly bonkers. DC has two. The direct market as a whole is delivering 25 in total, with a total of 123 different covers combined (nearly 5 for every book).
I pulled up those numbers because my social media memories have been telling me the start of March is usually a bit heavy, especially in comparison to January and February. The industry seems to hibernate a bit during those months and then starts thawing in March. I didn’t quite have the time to go back and look due to some things that required my attention as the business district’s board chair, but it did get me thinking about a piece I ran and pulled in mid-2021.
I had dug through sales data dating back to 2011 and attempted to look at how many variants per title were coming out, as well as how much money was being generated per title. The result was the shape of something quite discouraging. I think I’m going to polish that off and post it back up this Friday so you can see what I mean. If I have time, I’ll try and pop the 2021 data up there, though that’s the point where solid sales numbers start becoming fuzzy. We’ll see.
Now then. You didn’t come here just to talk numbers and tease upcoming content. Let’s shift it.
ONGOING | Hunt. Kill. Repeat. #1 (Mad Cave Studios)
by Mark London, Francesco Archidiacono, Marc Deering, Lee Loughride & Run Wooton, w/ editorial support by Chris Fernandez
Because this book is off the beaten path a little bit, we’re going to do this bit up top.
THE PITCH | It’s your classic “Zeus being a dick” story with the flavouring of a Kill Bill. Zeus has decided that humanity’s worshipping of tech does not suit him, and he brings the gods down on the world. Some time later, Artemis has disavowed herself from life as a god, and is quite happy sharing a life with a nice young man. They’re expecting a child. Nothing bad at all happens.
WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT THIS? | I did say that there was a lot of new comics out, all of them deserving of some attention. Generally speaking, in this feature, I’ve only talked about some heavy hitters, and there are quite a few out this week. So why this book? What set it apart from a field of 25?
Diligence.
Over the past few years, Mad Cave has grown from another little company that could, into a company on the cusp of… something. In the past year, they’ve hired former Marvel and Aftershock editor Mike Marts to be a part of their company. They’ve purchased the all-ages outlet Papercutz, which currently owns the North American publishing rights to Asterix, among other all ages properties. They’ve gotten book market distribution through Simon & Shuster. And they have started to do some stellar retailer outreach, including sending tactile promo materials of a lot of their books to shops.
We read this first issue when they sent us a PDF before final orders were due. We read it, and liked it enough to grant it a spot on our shelves.2 We responded to the e-mail with positivity, and shortly after, received a call from Chris La Torre, their “Retailer Relations Manager”, who thanked us and engaged with us about their line in general, and the things that they were doing.3
Between their outreach, and our fondness for the direction of the book, we placed a decent order. Nothing overwhelming, because you have to be careful these days, but something that said we’re committed to putting some time into getting this book into people’s hands, because they spent time getting it into ours. This, is an important thing.
Publishers, I know it is hard, and I know it isn’t cheap, but when you’re budgeting out books, try to provide something tactile to stores who seem engaged with the process. This can be as simple as asking your distribution partners about which stores seem to be moving a lot of books, or just taking a trip around the internet and the small corners that are retailer and publisher exclusive, and making note of folks who seem to be putting the effort in. Engage with them. Be personable. It goes a long way.
Outside of all of that, I want to note that this first issue has great production value. A good, thick coverstock with solid interior stock as well - which communicates a sense of quality at the touch - especially when Marvel is routinely cheaping out and offering flimsy product. The book also has 44 pages of content for $4.99 American, which is an investment in and of itself, allowing the concept to breathe a bit longer and connect with more people.
This is a title and a company that is making an effort. They are pushing, and putting their best foot forward. I will always reward that, so long as the story is entertaining, because so much of the outreach today is clinical. And there’s too many stories being told to ride with folks who aren’t bothered to make the effort.
Anyway, if you see this at your local comic shop, give it a look. See if it might be for you. I think my pitch up above gives you the basics, so if that piques your interest, just add it to your stack. And if you do, let me know your thoughts. I always appreciate it, good or bad, because it helps me better recommend books in the future.
Variant Edition presents… The New Releases Show!
On this week’s show, we’re talking a lot about comics, and during the show, there’s a few shenanigans, while we partake in a bit of business to help move a somewhat locally produced comic. I’ll probably be talking more about that soon, because I’ve been having a blast helping out.
Yes, I’m being mysterious. But partly because I should go to bed because it is late enough as I write this and Wednesday looms. I promise to share more about this in the weeks to come. Until then.
Talk with you soon.
-B.
Though one of them is technically the end of a series of one-shots, and not a great place to start.
Which is a big friggen’ deal when you consider the fact that 25 new number ones came out this week alone.
Retailers, if you want a personal touch when it comes to the companies that produce the content you sell, reply and engage with their e-mails. We’re all just screaming into the void, but if you hear a message that resonates with you, take those precious minutes to reach out. It means so much when we get it from customers, and from the feedback I’ve been given, it means a lot to folks who work in all corners of this industry.
My LCS didn't have Hunt. Kill. Repeat. but ordered it for me and the owner remarked that he will have to take a closer look at Mad Cave going forward, for the same reasons you mention above.