§ Kevin Melrose catches that Apples iPad bookstore will include Comics & Graphic Novels as it’s own category
Citing findings by the Busted Loop mobile media research firm, the website states that Apple’s iBookstore will designate about 20 main categories, including “Fiction & Literature,” “Reference” and “Cookbooks.” Below those will be more than 150 sub-categories; “Manga” will fall under the comics section.
Frankly, it’d be pretty ludicrous if Apple didn’t do this. A graphic novel is as distinct as a cookbook these days.
§ Meanwhile back at the ranch, Todd Allen does some cocktail napkin doodling and figures out that Diamond could have a huge problem on its hands even with all those canceled orders:
For that $100 omnibus, here’s where Diamond stands:
Payment from the store (incoming money): $9
Payment due the publisher (outgoing money): $40
Money Diamond has to come up with to pay the publisher: $31
For that $50 archive, here’s where Diamond stands:
Payment from the store (incoming money): $9
Payment due the publisher (outgoing money): $20
Money Diamond has to come up with to pay the publisher: $11
Although the B&N pricing problem was quickly caught, it seems they shipped more actual books, which definitely sold at a loss. Aren’t you feeling a little guilty now for being such a bargain hunter?
“Although the B&N pricing problem was quickly caught, it seems they shipped more actual books”
It’s hard to tell who is shipping more books, as Amazon yesterday continued to ship orders that had been placed during the madness.
His math is based on faulty assumptions.
Diamond didn’t sell these books at $14.99. They were invoiced at cover price months (years) ago.
Accounts are billed when the book ships, and accounts have 30-90 days to pay the bill. When books are returned, credit, not cash, is applied to future purchases.
The loss on price is borne by the store.
Here’s Diamond’s problem in making amends: They cannot offer special discounts or favorable terms to a few accounts, as this is considered racketeering and activates anti-trust investigations. They could possibly credit the accounts the money lost, but that’s a big hit to Diamond’s bottom line.
It is also possible that accounts will be much more conservative ordering luxury titles (anything costing $50 or more), keeping inventories low to avoid risk, which will also affect Diamond and publishers. If the initial order is only 500 copies instead of 2,000, that will cause a publisher to rethink the viability of a new title.
Captain Britain Omnibus is due to ship today from B&N…we’ll see.
But as long as Amazon and other online vendors have their “Terms and Conditions” boilerplate in place, they don’t have to fill orders based on mistaken pricing. The only reason Amazon filled orders, it appears, was the negative publicity that would have resulted from canceling them all.
SRS
“Diamond didn’t sell these books at $14.99. They were invoiced at cover price months (years) ago.”
Torsten:
It is unlikely that a significant portion of the books sold were invoiced years ago. Diamond does not order up front for the life of the product. That would unnecessarily tie up a lot of money, as well as warehouse space. They order for a fairly short term and place frequent reorders (for example, we’ve already seen several Amazon reorders this year on Panel One: Comic Book Scripts By Top Writers).
The fact that Apple will have a graphic novel section in the bookstore is bad news to those companies who were planning on creating their own iPad app to buy comics from. As Apple has often blocked iPhone apps that were competing against one of it’s own core products.
Nat… sorry if I was a bit unclear. I was referring to Diamond invoicing stores which ordered the books.
As for Diamond’s warehouse space, do they not serve as the only warehouse for the publishers which they distribute? Or does About warehouse the books somewhere else, and then ship to Diamond when necessary?
(And that Panel One book is fantastic! Any chance of a hardcover omnibus collecting the two trades? Or a “Panel Three”?)
Hey… what format will the Apple Graphics use?
Torsten: Sorry, I had a bit of a typing-while-handling-other-things error; I meant to say that “AMAZON does not order up front for the life of the product. That would unnecessarily tie up a lot of money, as well as warehouse space.” It’s Amazon that’s reordering Panel One frequently from Diamond… and then Diamond reorders from me. Neither keeps long-term quantities on hand.
Diamond is not our primary warehouse, something which is not true for some of the larger publishers.
Thanks for the kind word on the panel books. There are no plans afoot for a hardcover omnibus. As for another volume… (whistles quietly to himself.)