* not comics: this may be of interest to you if you've ever walked into a comics gathering, knowing no one.
* the writer and cartoon-essayist Kate Leth draws upon her vast, varied experiences to explain the unfortunate role that pre-orders play in the current Direct Market system, as the numbers are so small that a guaranteed sale reflected in orders will have more power within the publishing narrative of an individual title than a sale made later on. It's basically one way that publishers act as short-term thinkers and how even gigantic corporations might operate as if they're tiny publishing houses lacking capital. Alerting people as to how the system works can be beneficial; so can scrambling the heck away from the excesses and eddies of that system when you have the power to do so. I encourage a consideration of both strategies.
* Rob Clough on 
