Industry Buzz #3: Flawed Diamond?

There was some interesting buzz last month about Diamond Comic Distributor’s policy of canceling orders for comic books that don’t reach certain thresholds, a move which, long story short, primarily affects small press titles selling under 1,500 copies/issue, and it’s led to the inevitable speculation about the eventual demise of independent publishers. The fact that Diamond pretty much owns the North American Direct Market means they have an inordinate amount of control over what makes it to retailers’ shelves and, ultimately, into readers’ hands.

This month, Industry Buzz takes a closer look at Diamond and the direct market, and asks: is it time for a change?

As is our way, we turned to our crack panel of experts for some answers, and were surprised this month when we had to cast a wider net than usual in order to find people willing and able to speak on the record about Diamond. And, oh, what some of them had to say! In fact, one of our regulars, Richmond Comix proprietor, Frank Miller, was so inspired, he ended up writing a column’s worth of a response that we’re running separately as our first installment of Living the Dream? A View From the Trenches, which we hope will become a regular look at comics from the retailer’s perspective.

Our distinguished panel of contributors this month:

* Ronée Garcia Bourgeois – National VP / PR, Friends Of Lulu
* Louis Bright-Raven – Founder, Constellation Studios
* Joshua Hale Fialkov – Writer, Elk’s Run
* Joe Field – Proprietor, Flying Colors Comics & Other Cool Stuff, Concord, CA
* Debbie Huey – Creator/Writer/Artist, Bumperboy
* Mike S. Miller – Executive Director, Alias Enterprises
* Jason Richards – Proprietor, Riot! Comics and Culture, Camp Hill, PA
* Jason Rodriguez – Editor, Hoarse & Buggy
* Jim Salicrup – Editor, Papercutz
* Dan Vado – President and Publisher, Slave Labor Graphics

Read the entire column here.

Written by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is the Chief Content Officer for LibraryPass, and former publisher & marketing director for Writer’s Digest. Previously, he was also project lead for the Panorama Project; director, content strategy & audience development for Library Journal & School Library Journal; and founding director of programming & business development for the original Digital Book World.