Having said that: my sense is that Previews readership is way down from what it once was, and simply listing in Previews itself does not generate that many sales. Yes, I am dependent on getting word out via publicity means, but there are two advantages to being POD rather than traditional-print-and-Diamond on that. One is up front: in the traditional form, you really have to publicize the book twice, once at ordering time (to let the retailers and preorders know) and once at time of release (to get the non-preordering customers into the shops to soak up the copies retailers ordered.) I’ve never been the best at publicity, and it’s hard enough getting one bite at the apple, let alone two. Via POD, I could wait until the book is immediately available from Amazon… and in this case, I waited a few weeks until we were able to set it up on Amazon’s UK branch as well. I don’t need to build up customer desire that will last a few months until the book is out; the customer can have it in their hands tomorrow (if they want to pay for rush shipping.)

The other is longer term. I can publicize this whenever I want, and the book will be available. In contrast, let me point to The Weasel Patrol, a fine book I published in 2009. Sales weren’t great, and Diamond chose to stop stocking it… which means that Amazon could no longer stock it. If an opportunity were to pop up to publicize that book, it wouldn’t do any good, because people couldn’t get it, despite me having copies eating up warehouse costs every month. But two weeks ago, the book came back as a Print On Demand item. At any time that I can make someone aware of the book, it’s available.

It also lets me do books where you aren’t the target market. For example, I now have out Bridge Mix, a book of Charles M. Schulz’s cartoons about the card game bridge. Even if you’re a Schulz fan, you don’t want this book, you want It’s Only A Game, which has all of these cartoons and many more from the same source. This book is not for the Diamond audience… but it is slated for review in Bridge World magazine, it should go well with those folks.

But Jim, if you want to make sure that you know about what we have coming up – head over to http://www.aboutcomics.com/contact.html and sign up to be on our press release mailing list. This week alone you would’ve heard about Roadways, about our first audiobook release, about our new short comic from the creator of the Men In Black, and about lifestyle changes planned by one of our characters.

Jim, great to hear that Jazz Age is also available. I’ll have to see how those match up with what I already have. As for your later question, you sign up for the About Comics mailing list on their web page — that’s one option for staying informed.

the one question that I would have for this new plan is how the word gets out to folks who don’t regularly buy from a comic shop anymore. Obviously blogs like this help, but I order from a comic shop and two online services – and if I don’t pre-order it from Previews, it’s not going to be there for me. Not too many shops seem to be in a position to order things just to take a chance anymore. I seem to be seeing a lot of only ordering what’s already pre-sold by subs and standing orders.

I like Nat’s stuff – I’ve bought most of what he’s put out and want him to succeed. I am his potential audience and willing customer – how is he going to let ME know that he has product available that I’d want to purchase?

Thanks for the attention to this project.

Let me allay your gripes. While we’re avoiding Diamond, we will be offering this book and most of our other black-and-white Print On Demand books to retailers soon at a reasonable discount, just not through Diamond (retailers that aren’t on the CBIA should email me at questions@aboutcomics.com). While there are not used copies yet, Print On Demand books are no more immune that other books to being used (while we hope that everyone who buys this book will cherish it forever, perhaps some will eventually die and their estates will be unaware of the magic within!)

And while Amazon lists the book at cover price, there actually is a discount available – as with most under-$10 books, this is part of Amazon’s 4-for-3 deal. Order four eligible books, and the cheapest one is free. Find four $9.99 books, and that’s a 25% discount. (To help get you there, I can recommend The Weasel Patrol, funny funny stuff from Ken Macklin and Lela Dowling, previously offered through Diamond but now being kept in print as another of About Comics’s Print-On-Demand offerings.)