Comments

No, I haven't been deleting comments I don't agree with. I have been getting a ton of spam comments lately. So just now I changed the setting to only allow registered users to comment. I am sorry if this in any way keeps you from commenting. I am just tired of having to delete spam comments every day.

Cancellations

Every week, I get a list of orders that are cancelled. Many are due to late shipping, some are cancelled by the publishers. Most are backorders I place that do not fill. I am including this weeks because it demonstrates one of my biggest problems with publishers. Now, most of these are Image books. And most of these will probably be resolicited at some time. Maybe. I don’t know. All I know right now is that my orders are cancelled on all of these books.

APR082168 AMERICA JR TP VOL 02 (C: 0-1-2) 9.9900

JUN082241 TELLOS COLOSSAL HC VOL 02 (C: 0-1-2) 39.9900

JUL082174 YOUNGBLOOD BLOODSPORT #2 (RES) 2.9900

JUL082178 YOUNGBLOOD BLOODSPORT #1 DIRECTORS CUT 3.9900

JUL082198 GEMINI #5 (OF 5) 3.5000

AUG082274 M-THEORY #2 (OF 3) 3.5000

SEP082230 AMAZING JOY BUZZARDS GN VOL 02 MONSTER LOVE 19.9900

SEP082266 M-THEORY #3 (OF 3) 3.5000

OCT082288 FIREBREATHER SERIES #5 3.5000

OCT082296 PERHAPANAUTS #7 3.5000

NOV082251 WONDERLOST TP 14.9900

NOV082256 FIREBREATHER SERIES #6 (RES) 2.9900

NOV082264 JACK STAFF #21 (RES) 3.5000

DEC082240 DISPLACED PERSONS GN (RES) (C: 0-1-2) 19.9900

DEC082278 KITE DAY HC 9.9900

JAN092376 GOLLY TP VOL 01 CATCHING HELL (MR) 14.9900

JAN092394 FIREBREATHER SERIES #7 (RES) (NOTE PRICE) 3.5000

JAN092395 GOLLY #6 (MR) 3.5000

FEB092385 SMASH (ONE SHOT) 3.9900

FEB092392 MOBY DICK HC 12.9900

FEB092401 DAWN TP VOL 02 RETURN O/T GODDESS (NEW PTG)14.9900

MAR092409 ARMAGEDDON NOW JADA (ONE SHOT) 3.9900

MAR092426 DAWN TP VOL 03 THREE TIERS 16.9900

MAR092454 LUCHA LIBRE #7 6.9900

MAY090298 ARMAGEDDON NOW THE BEAST #1 (OF 5) 3.9900

MAY090308 LIBERTY MEADOWS SUNDAY STRIPS HC VOL 01 29.9900

MAY090349 GUERILLAS #5 (OF 8) 5.9900

MAY090352 LUCHA LIBRE #8 6.9900

MAY090992 CURSED PIRATE GIRL #3 (OF 3) (C: 0-0-1) 4.9500

JUN090372 ARMAGEDDON NOW THE BEAST #2 (OF 5) 3.9900

JUN090375 BAD DOG #4 (MR) 2.9900

AUG090349 BOMB QUEEN VI #2 (OF 4) (MR) 3.5000

SEP090321 BOMB QUEEN VI #3 (OF 4) (MR) 3.5000

SEP090330 FOUR EYES #4 (RES) 3.5000

OCT090412 BOMB QUEEN VI #4 (OF 4) (MR) 3.5000

DEC090059 STAR WARS DARK TIMES TP VOL 04 BLUE HARVEST 7.9900

Now this very well just someone cleaning out old orders. It is a lot from one publisher at once. I left the order codes in to show how old the orders are. APR09 means it was in the April 2008 Previews catalog.

Now none of these were ordered in huge numbers. But it did take me time to read each solicit, look at my orders for previous issues, sales numbers for previous issues and decide how many to order. So a little bit of wasted time. But the ones that kill me are books like Gemini #5. I have people who bought 1-4. I know one customer who asks every once in a while where the last issue is. Well, I ordered it in June 2008. And we have been waiting since. There are others where I received just issue #1. I sold some and have some left. So, some customers may never find out how the story was to go and I have some books that are pretty worthless. So, when these creators wonder why the orders for their books are so low, its due to the fact that I don’t trust them to finish the series. Now, sadly, I can’t remember who they are. I don’t keep a list of creators who cancel their titles (maybe I should). But it makes me take a cautious look at every small title by people I don’t know. Some are ones I do. Liefeld, Faerber. Some had big buzz. Remember being at the Diamond Summit in Las Vegas in Oct 2008 and Joe Keatinge from Image telling me how much buzz he was getting on Guerillas. Well that’s great, but we only got half of the story. So what good is that buzz now?

So, what is my point with all of this? It’s to say to the creators, when you ask me to purchase issue #1, you are making a deal with me that you are going to finish the series. If it is 1 of 4, I expect you to put out all four issues in a reasonable amount of time. When you ship #1, you are also making a deal with the readers that, if they spend their money on #1, you will also make the rest of the issues available for them to buy if they like #1. Issues 1-5 of Golly shipped, but you are not going to finish it? That’s not fair to them. What recourse do they have? Not to even bother trying the next book that comes out. So, not only are you hurting yourself, but you are hurting your colleagues and people who haven’t even started yet. Yes, I understand that there are unforeseen circumstances. Real life gets in the way. But, once you start down the road of putting out a book, you need to finish it. That’s all I am really asking for here.