We are waiting to see the response to the book to make a decision on whether to go back to press on it (with some revisions and updating), since print-on-demand is a high cost per copy.

Unfortunately, we will not be able to attend SPX this year (for the first time since its beginnings!) because of a conflicting family event, so we won’t have an opportunity to have the Companion for sale there. However, we do have a brand new issue of Supernatural Law (”Wolff & Byrd: The Movie”) out in comics shops, and a copy is winging its way to you at this very moment!

Best,

Jackie Estrada
Exhibit A Press

[...] Alternative Distribution By making it less convenient (or impossible) for me to get publications through my preferred vendor, publishers gamble that I’ll seek them out elsewhere instead of shrugging and buying something else through the comic store. That’s a bet many of them are willing to — or have to — take. In most of these cases, the direct market doesn’t matter, because other venues provide a much bigger potential audience (or a bigger profit). The direct market, taken as a whole, doesn’t support these kinds of publications in many cases anyway. [...]

Kyle, the impression I’ve gotten through my conversations with the author of Amelia Rules is that he’s trying to do a true all-ages comic, not just one for kids. When we’ve talked about the book, whether good or bad, he’s never said “oh, it’s not for you.” Should I not buy it if I enjoy it, regardless of who the target audience may be?

I’m sorry that you’re still apparently troubled by a review I did of an issue of your canceled series two and a half years ago. (I’ve linked it for full context.) Would you like to see some links to the many times I’ve promoted “kids’ comics”?

Our publication of Amelia Rules! 18 on http://www.ameliarules.com is a little unique in that it has to do with the sacrifices children make when a parent must go to war. It’s a topic that hasn’t often been covered in recent fiction.

Our hope is that kids, parents and educators will benefit from reading this online edition and in some cases seek out the print version for themselves, for friends and for use in classrooms.

We hope that the online version and the preview pages that were featured online in New York magazine this past month will aid comic shops in reaching readers with the comic book version that arrives in stores over the next couple of weeks. It’s a story we would like to make available to the general public, and comic shops will have an exclusive distribution window with the print edition of the comic.

[...] Johanna Draper Carlson looks at three examples of comics created for audiences outside the Direct Market. [...]

Great reminder on the market pressures facing small publishers, too. I think in both the AR and SL cases, they did exactly the right things for their product… but I’m left pondering what it means for me as a long-time direct market customer.