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What It Is Is A Very Strong Seller
posted July 1, 2008
I didn't catch this until this morning because of an e-mail snafu, but
Drawn and Quarterly has good news to report about their publication of
Lynda Barry's What It Is. The legendary alt-cartoonist's work on the creative process has become the fastest selling book in that company's long history, says D&Q representative Peggy Burns. It shipped two printing in its first month, and a third printing of 10,000 took the total to 25,000 copies in print thus far. Burns also notes that each stop on Barry's tour has been attended by 100-400 people, which is pretty great for an author's tour right now of any kind, and comics maybe doubly so. You can see Barry at
Comic-Con International 23 days from now or at this year's
Small Press Expo, or in tour stops from now through November in places like St. Louis, San Francisco, Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Washington DC, Los Angeles and Portland.
What's worth noting about this first rush of success with
What It Is is that until D&Q expressed an interest, Barry was without a publisher. I hope that other companies keep in mind D&Q's success with the massive color hardcover when considering whether to reach out to any other cartoonists out there that may be looking for this kind of publishing relationship.