Brian Hibbs Article Throws Spotlight on Stores’ Use of Multiple Distributors

I'm kind of surprised by the reaction of some to this article by Brian Hibbs on using the distributor Baker & Taylor for publishers that to the prominent Bay Area retailer feel like classic Direct Market publishers. Hibbs admits he isn't much of an early adopter, and I know of excellent stores that have been ordering from a variety of sources for a while now, including Baker & Taylor, IPG, and directly from publishers themselves. Also, you have to resist the impulse of putting this into a simple B&T Vs. Diamond set-up; I don't think that reflects the ordering impulse at all, and as Rick Veitch reminds us, the relationships between companies are complicated.

That piece is definitely worth noting, though. When people are speaking openly of book distributors beating Diamond to market by several weeks, that's interesting to hear, and has obvious ramifications. Ditto the more general notion that a book-driven comics market is going to behave in ways much, much different than a periodicals-led one, as well as Hibbs' assertion that exclusivity paid an historical role in the rise of the GN format because it forced DM distributors to carry books that sold well over time in a more thorough, consisten fashion.
 
posted 10:30 pm PST | Permalink
 

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