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Now some people will read that title and think that I'm going to go on a rant about low sales in the comic industry. Well I'm not. That's been done, and I don't completely agree with some of stuff I've read.

No, what this article is about is sales through distributors and the many pitfalls involved with using them to push your comics into the retail market.

The problem that many small publishers will find is that despite producing a quality product many large distributors are afraid to risk space in their catalogs on books that may not sell as well as bigger name titles.

Distributors will often dismiss the rejection of independent product as elimination through quality of art, story or printing. Although these reasons may be valid at times many publishers find themselves puzzled when they compare the quality of their books to the quality of bigger name companies.

Many books that are rejected meet or exceed the quality of big name competition, but are dismissed with the excuse that they are sub standard in some way. This leaves publishers confused and frustrated.

Many publishers of small press books find themselves offended that a distributor has told them that their books are not of a good enough quality to sell to stores when they clearly meet standards of books already being carried in stores.

The problem here arises from distributors becoming so large and powerful that they can use their power to act as a judge and editor over smaller publishers, instead of the sales role that they are supposed to serve.

In the current climate it is up to a small publisher to get out and sell the heck out of their books or hire the appropriate staff to do it for them. Any publisher should be glad and willing to do that if they believe they make a quality product, but the outdated views of many distributors still presents a huge difficulty.

I think a large part of the problem comes from larger distributors forgetting that they are not a judge and jury of smaller presses, but they are supposed to be a sales agent, working to sell and push all the books in their catalog.

With large comics companies becoming so well known the household name books don't need any push. Their well known status creates a situation where they sell themselves, and distributors mistakenly take the approach that they can sit back and let sales come in, passing time over-scrutinizing the products from lesser known publishers.

I say that this is a mistaken

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