Smart Moves at Boom!
- Posted by Johanna on July 16, 2009 at 8:22 am
- Category: Graphic Novel News
Boom! Studios has made a number of important business-oriented announcements lately. I’m excited to see them because I think they demonstrate how this publisher is planning to be around for the long haul.
They’ve named a new Sales Director, Jenny Christopher, a former Diamond Purchasing Brand Manager. This position allows Chip Mosher to concentrate on Marketing while Jenny focuses on mass market and newsstand distribution. (That Boom! HAS mass market and newsstand distribution relationships is a key indicator of what sets them apart. They have an important licensing partner in Disney, and they’re making sure that those comics aren’t only seen in the direct market.)
They’ve also announced two new mass market distributors: Simon & Schuster in the U.S. and HarperCollinsCanada in Canada. These are established, professional companies with large networks. From the press release:
Simon & Schuster will handle sales, distribution and fulfillment for all new and backlist titles to trade and specialty accounts in the United States. The agreement is effective immediately. “BOOM! Studios has a unique line of graphic novels of wide- ranging appeal,” said Michael Selleck, Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing for Simon & Schuster. “They are an excellent fit with our existing list, and we look forward to helping them expand their presence in traditional bookselling and specialty outlets.”
This is purely my speculation, but at a time when Diamond Comic/Book Distributors is looking for reasons to cut product and reduce the services they offer, it makes sense to me that a growing publisher would look for other alternatives to reach a larger audience, especially when their books are more aimed at the mass market (action/adventure, licensed properties) than the traditional comic shop customer.
July 16, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Someone has to say it: Thid is great news! It’ll free Chip up to proofread his press releases before he sends them out.
Sorry. Back to the serious news.
July 16, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Augie — your kylling me.
C.
July 16, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Not only that, but I appreciate the irony of having a typo in a comment making fun of someone else’s typos/errors. Typing on an iPhone is tough, sometimes.
Chip – everything looks good! Let the editor take care of it. That works wonders for Bendis, after all.
July 17, 2009 at 8:21 am
[...] Johanna Draper Carlson looks at what she calls “a number of important business-oriented announcements” from Boom! Studios. [...]
July 17, 2009 at 10:46 am
“They’ve also announced two new mass market distributors: Simon & Schuster in the U.S. and HarperCollinsCanada in Canada…”
One of the things I find interesting about these bits of news is that BOOM has gone with different companies for U.S. and Canadian distribution. Obviously, Simon & Schuster has the ability to do Canadian distribution, and HarperCollins has the ability do U.S. distribution. Certainly many comics publishers who strike a deal for North American book distribution seem to do so by just assigning one partner for the U.S. and Canada.
That BOOM! has selected separate partners for these two territories implies a level of interest and involvement in their distribution that perhaps you don’t necessarily see with every other publisher.
July 17, 2009 at 11:50 am
Oh, that’s an interesting observation. I hadn’t thought about it that way before.