Comments on: Manga Review Copy Cutbacks

By: Aurora Manga on Discount Sale; Thoughts on the Company » Comics Worth Reading

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:57:23 +0000

[...] that uncommunicated change in plans, this deep-discount clearance sale, and the fact that they stopped sending review copies due to cutbacks… well, obviously, there’s some financial concern [...]

By: Hazel

Hazel — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 10:19:39 +0000

Publishers give various reasons to not send me books. I don’t get 150,000 views a month O_O, it’s too expensive to post, they are a small company… one publisher said they would send me electronic version of the books. I thought this was a brilliant idea to save on postage costs for their marketing, then I got another email saying they couldn’t send the electronic version *sigh*.

By: Oliver

Oliver — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 06:12:12 +0000

Well, yeah it does sound they’ve got no staff left, what with the several announcements of layoffs, but Johanna said she was on the CC list of 15 other reviewers, which seems like a small number to me and Tpop would more likely have many more reviewers than that.

Anyways, like what was stated earlier, without reviews, people would just buy well-known manga, and leave some well-deserving titles in the dust. Are companies willing to stand behind their titles and support them 100% these days, or are they just expecting sales to rise out of nowhere?

By: Bonita

Bonita — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 05:19:44 +0000

I’m going to bet it’s Tokyopop. It seems to me like they barely have any staff left.

By: Oliver

Oliver — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 04:23:03 +0000

That’s quite interesting to note that a company is pulling review copies from you. You’re so right how the last place to pull money from is marketing. Marketing is basically all that can be done to sell more books. Rather than being careful with regulating the number of licenses(every company has too many), they choose to cut money in the worst area possible.

I’m gonna guess the company in question is CMX, ’cause a lot of people have discussed they can’t find their books in stores either. If I’m wrong, well I’ll find out anyways because I’ll notice what books you’re NOT reviewing in the next few months ;)

If you couldn’t tell from this message, I’m sooooo curious to know which company is in peril. I don’t wish this on any company, but I just gots to know.

By: vic20

vic20 — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 01:13:26 +0000

Hmmm – shortsighted at best: I’m sure I’m not alone in using your leads for my own buying for a book chain. Publishers ignore the net at their peril!

Keep up the good stuff -

By: MangaBlog » Blog Archive » Boxing Day news and notes

MangaBlog » Blog Archive » Boxing Day news and notes — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:48:44 +0000

[...] In what may be an ominous sign, Johanna Draper Carlson reports that one publisher is cutting back on review copies. [...]

By: Strip News (12/26/08) — ArtPatient.com

Strip News (12/26/08) — ArtPatient.com — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 14:07:26 +0000

[...] At some point you may decide to go pro and then you’ll find yourself considering getting an agent. I’m sure you’d like to see Gaiman’s advice… Actually, he defers to the advice of someone he knows will know, but now you know. That’s all about writing agents but I’m sure the advice will still be useful. I’m sure you’d also like to know about graphic novel agents for artists, just to round out your knowledge. (This is part four, so be sure to look over the first three parts too.) I also found a fan who would like to get digital comics from a digital store, not just from Marvel or DC. (That would be cool, wouldn’t it? A website set up like an actual comic shop where you could browse the first few pages of comics from various publishers.) The Beat analyzed this a little further, but the same fan created a breakdown about the dollar enjoyment value one gets out of comics. One last thing about business; even reviewers are feeling the economic crunch. [...]