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August 31, 2006


More Reaction to Tokyopop’s Exclusives

As is usual with these kinds of stories, reaction throughout comics continues regarding American manga giant Tokyopop announcing that it will take some titles off of the retail market and sell them exclusively through their revitalized web site.

image* an article by Chris Butcher we noted yesterday as an important initial response has since then fostered a small but very contentious comments section. One notion that arises from those comments is that this move may be solely about the lack of response for certain titles in bookstores as opposed to comics shops, and that the Direct Market retailer is merely a casualty of a war for shelf space in those stores.

* as they tend do with such issues, the comics business news and analysis site ICv2.com is publishing retailer reaction as discrete articles: West Virginia's Robert Brown and Sydney, Australia's J. Carmody weigh in.

* three of you were nice enough to e-mail this piece by Bill Flanagan at Sensei's Ramblings, which is probably as eloquent a piece sympathetic to Tokyopop's position as you're likely to read.

* this note I'm inserting after the rest was written: Dirk Deppey engages the issue as his lead piece of analysis this morning and seems slightly sympathetic to Tokyopop's position as elaborated on by Flanagan. If I'm getting him right, he thinks that the decision by the majority of the Direct Market to have little or nothing to do with manga constitutes a further vote of no confidence in the material that like it or not, may cost the good stores in certain cases; but he further believes in a much more real-politik style motive behind the initiative than what Tokyopop claims. He also calls Tokyopop's Stuart Levy names, which is entertaining.

* helpfully, Johanna Draper Carlson surveys on-line pundits: Dorian Wright seems to suggest that DM retailer reaction may be more pull-the-plug than negotiate-individual-disappointments; Lyle Masaki notes that a key to periodical comics like manga series is to make them easier not harder to find; John Jakala calls into question the functionality of Tokyopop's plan.

* although on the surface it's completely unrelated, I think it's worth noting here the Cartoon Books press release that they've blown through initial Direct Market orders of 20,000 on a seventh printing of the one-volume edition of Bone. That's an example of a company recognizing comic shop retail as a distinct market and explicitly pursuing it rather than letting it wither and die as a casualty of trying to get on bookstore shelves.

* also unrelated is this note from retailer Brian Hibbs about his store's investment in Lost Girls; I think that speaks to the point of someone partnering with the Direct Market even though other, more direct sales channels -- in this case, hand to hand sales by Top Shelf at conventions -- were pursued as well. As I mentioned yesterday, the exclusivity element of this Tokyopop endeavor specfically confuses me.

* me, I'd like to wait for Chris Butcher to make his full case before I decide to weigh in or not, although you may be able to guess some of what I'm thinking from the above.
 
posted 1:35 am PST | Permalink
 

 
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