Image Comics have announced an exclusive bookstore distribution deal with Simon & Schuster, which will begin with all Image paperback and hardback titles releasing in January 2024. The deal is for North American bookstores, with Diamond Book Distributors set to continue releasing those titles in the UK and the International Book Market. It apples to bookstore chains like Barnes & Noble, independent bookstores, libraries, and other, non-comic book shop retailers where physical books are sold (including Amazon.)
Eric Stephenson, publisher of Image Comics, commented, “For the past 20 years we have been able to establish a foothold for our trade paperbacks and graphic novels in the book market thanks in no small part to the support and efforts of Diamond Book Distributors. Over time, our needs and backlist of titles have grown and our increasing footprint in the marketplace has us excited to take this next step with Simon & Schuster to build a more robust infrastructure for our titles there.”
Michael Perlman, Senior Vice President, General Manager of Simon & Schuster Publisher Services, said, “We are delighted to welcome Image Comics to our family of distribution clients. We look forward to partnering with them to help share their graphic novels with readers throughout North America.”
The news comes a couple of months after Image announced they would be changing their comic book store distributor from Diamond to Lunar. Image is now one of several comic book publishers that have become clients of Simon & Schuster, including Viz Media, BOOM! Studios, Mad Cave, Humanoids, Vault, AHOY, AWA, and Rebellion. Diamond Book Distributors currently oversee the release of titles from Dynamite, Valiant, Graphic Mundi, A Wave Blue World, Avatar Press, Magnetic Press, and many more in the US, plus Viz, BOOM!, Kodansha, Fantagraphics and Oni Press in various international markets.
