Yesterday we told you about how Image was no longer going to be reprinting select comics, such as “Saga” #7, with the hopes that this would boost sales of the series and encourage retailers to take the chances that they do on comics from DC or Marvel with their own. Given the popularity of things like “Saga,” “Chew” or “Fatale,” the decision made sense. However, the decision was not met with enthusiasm. Many retailers weren’t too happy with the decision, commenting on the delays between issues of “Saga” as more of a detriment to their ability to sell the series.
To that end, Eric Stephenson wrote an open letter from Image to the Direct Market regarding their decision and changes in policy. This e-mail was sent directly to us (as I’m sure it was to many sites and retailers alike), and we now present it to you in its entirety:
An Open Letter from Image Comics to the Direct Market Regarding Saga #7
Believe it or not, we listen to you.
Just as you use the information provided to you by your customers to place orders for our comics, we use the information we get from you to set our print runs. Like you, we modify the numbers a little bit. We always assume there will be reorders and we make sure to overprint. Most of the time, our final number provides us with just enough inventory to satisfy demand, but more and more frequently, we’ve been selling out.
When we sell out — and more importantly, when you sell out — we know we’re all losing both time and money. It typically takes three weeks to a month to get a second printing to market, and that’s three weeks to a month we all could have been selling more books. That’s frustrating.
It’s doubly frustrating when a book like Saga, a bonafide hit by the creator of Y: The Last Man, Runaways and Pride of Baghdad, Brian K. Vaughan, and his insanely talented collaborator Fiona Staples, continues to sell out even as it gets deeper into its run. We did five printings of issue one, three printings of issue two, and there were second printings of issues three to six. We are, as I type this, preparing to go back to press on the first trade paperback collection.
And like the previous six issues, Saga #7 sold out, and given that orders hadn’t skyrocketed upwards from issue six at FOC, we decided that it was probably time to bring the second printings to a halt. Using the information we had at our disposal — your orders — we figured the generous overprint we did for this issue would satisfy demand.
By “we,” incidentally, I mean “me.”
It was a rash decision made somewhat in haste and a little bit out of frustration, and I think it was that sense of frustration that bled into the retail newsletter our PR & Marketing Director Jennifer de Guzman sent out earlier this week. For those of you who found the tone of that newsletter condescending or abrasive — you have my apologies. In communicating my frustrations to Jen, that inadvertently got passed down to you, and that should’t have been the case. We also should have given you more of a heads up on how we were handling this, so that you weren’t completely blindsided by a sudden change in policy and again, that’s on me.
We can’t go back in time and fix the past, though, so instead, we’re going to move forward.
Like I said up top: We listen to you.
So we’re going to reprint Saga #7, and we’re going to offer that reprint to you at a massive discount.
For the second printing of Saga #7, every account ordering 25 copies or more by its FOC date, will get them at an 80% discount, making your cost per copy right around 60¢. And for anyone ordering fewer than 25, we will be extending Image’s maximum discount to you, regardless of your usual discount.
The order code for the second printing of Saga #7 is NOV128073. FOC will be 12/24, and the in-store date will be 1/16.
Continued belowWe did a pretty hefty overprint on Saga #8, too, but looking at current reorder activity, I’m guessing we won’t hold onto that stock very long. More news on that as it develops, but if we have to reprint that issue, too, we will.
In the mean time, though, we simply cannot reprint every single issue of this series on an indefinite basis, so with the FOC for Saga #9 in the not-too-distant future, I’m going to ask you to help us out and make sure to double-check your orders on that issue when the time comes. I have an advantage here in that I get to see this stuff before you, but I promise you — this series is only going to get better from here. Brian and Fiona have some amazing things planned, and you are not going to be disappointed if you continue to support this series.
Thanks, and again — my apologies for the way my frustration on this issue was communicated. We won’t leave you out of the loop on decisions like this in the future, and in fact — make sure to check out next weekly newsletter for full details on our reprint policy going forward.
-e.s.
Eric Stephenson
Publisher, Image Comics, Inc.
SAGA #7 Second Printing
Diamond Code: NOV128073
Final Order Cut-off: December 24, 2012
In stores: January 16, 2013
SAGA #8
Diamond Code: OCT120541
In stores: December 10, 2012
SAGA #9
Diamond Code: NOV120578
Final Order Cut-Off: December 24, 2012
In stores: January 16, 2013
SAGA #1 – Image Firsts Edition
Diamond Code: OCT128195
SAGA Volume One
(Collects #1 – 6)
Diamond Code: AUG120491
ISBN: 978-1-60706-601-9
