[...] MacGuffin, the “graphic novel bookshop” in Newport News I’m going to visit someday, has more on the economics of alternate covers. I’ve previously linked to more on this subject. Here’s MacGuffin’s policy. We do not carry variant covers unless it’s unavoidable. In the case of Infinite Crisis, it is not a matter of choice. Yet, I know for a fact that it has increased our sales by at least 25% because several customers want to have both covers or simply can’t decide between the two [… but …] in the long run, we would see more money from a customer picking up a new series than getting two covers of the same book. And, quite frankly, a few customers who did not want to shell out for both covers spent quite a while deciding which cover they wanted (and seemed to have a bit of a bitter taste in their mouth from having to choose in the first place). [...]