Comments on: PR: What Not to Do: Promotional Giveaways

By: mikepenny

mikepenny — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 23:11:11 +0000

Here is a link to preview pages for PURITY..

http://www.dakuwaka.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=185

THe site was to be updated to highlight Purity & the promotion but unfortunately got delayed.
The site should reflect the promo in a few days.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 18:49:30 +0000

Sometimes the title of this recurring feature doesn’t quite fit, I agree. That’s what happens when you start something as a joke.

Your and Chris’ points about gambling big are well-taken. I fear for small companies, though, who don’t realize that in many cases, they will never get another shot if they make a poor first impression.

By: M. High

M. High — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 18:34:12 +0000

Oh, I think you protest a bit much. Not really a “stupid publisher trick”, but more of just a misstep, really. I think most of us can readily agree that a 10/10 promotion for an unknown from an unknown is overly ambitious in today’s market (it would have been perfectly acceptable about 10 years ago, though). 90% of the retailers out there are trying to make the decision between ordering 0 and 1 copies, and most of the few hundred indy-friendly retailers are probably trying to decide between ordering 1 copy or 2/3 copies. So, perhaps a 5/5 promo would be more realistic.

Hm, then again, the more I think about it, why *not* try and be ambitious right out of the gate? If the promotion fails, then the company doesn’t really lose anything. But what if it works? I can’t think of any other small-sized company that has tried such a high buy-in promo recently, so there’s no track record on this sort of thing. Today’s comic book marketplace is a harsh, harsh place for small press comic book issues, perhaps harder for a new publisher to break in today than at any time in the past 20 years. I see very little downside from this sort of offer from the publisher’s perspective, but a huge potential upside. I don’t give it much of a chance to succeed, but if it does, they’ll be in great shape.

But really, only time will tell. We’ll know in about two or three months whether or not this promotion worked. Just keep an eye on the Diamond top-300 chart.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 23:05:02 +0000

I generally advise publishers to treat their business as a business instead of a gamble; the way you’re talking about it, it sounds to me like there’s too much guessing involved. Sure, 10 is better than 5, but 5 is better than 0. As a retailer, are you going to take advantage of this offer? How many others will?

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 18:54:47 +0000

Johanna- Actually, from a publisher’s perspective, I think 10/10 is bang on for a single issue. Seriously. It’s saying “We’re prepared to support the hell out of you for selling our book, but we wanna know you’re serious about it.” It’s a much higher stakes gamble than a 5/5, but it might pay off for them too. As a retailer I seriously applaud any publisher willing to put their money where their mouths are. I think, particularly because it’s a complete unknown in b&w, they’ve got nothing to lose by setting the incentive at that level. An extra 2-3 copies each from 100 retailers isn’t gonna make much of a difference to their bottom line, but an extra 7-8 for those same retailers will. It also gives retailers a MUCH greater incentive to get behind the book — they’ve got 20 of them on the shelf!

That said, they did completely fuck it up by not having a sample of the book (or a mention…) on their website.

I’d rather have 10 ambitious failures than another mediocre (and relative) success.

By: Lisa Lopacinski

Lisa Lopacinski — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 18:31:47 +0000

I agree. The 10/10 is too high for an unknown book from an unknown publisher and a mature audience book done in black & white, at least for one single store. For multiple location stores it’s probably not bad though, if they can divide those 20 copies over several locations.