On the Wednesday morning following NCBD, IDW shared a letter with retailers assuring them that a “comprehensive relief package” is on its way from Diamond, per Newsarama. Given how quickly the situation has escalated Stateside over the past week or so, there’s no concrete plan as of yet, but the publisher hopes this news will ease fears as COVID-19 forces the public into their homes and out of comic shops.
In the letter from Company President/Publisher/Chief Creative Officer Chris Ryall, he commends pushes from Image to help the direct market, announces the development of the publisher’s own support strategies and those of Diamond. Ryall says these will be ready “as soon as possible.”
The Beat reached out for IDW for further details on its relief plan with Diamond. This piece will be updated with any comments.
Ryall’s letter is available to read below.
Hi everyone,
First and foremost, I’d like to say what’s on all of our minds here at IDW: we hope that you, our friends in the retail community, are healthy and safe, and continue to be so in the coming weeks and months.
We know that this is an unprecedented situation and that right now you don’t need platitudes, you need action. We all do. IDW is working hard to deliver a concrete plan as soon as possible, but I wanted to update you on where we’re at today.
While this crisis develops, we’ve been paying close attention to retailers — from direct outreach, to reading the forums, to following the conversation on social media. We are getting a clear sense of the many challenges that you’re facing and want to help the Direct Market however we can.
As we saw yesterday, Image Comics communicated some great strategies that can be used as a roadmap for publishers. We agree that they are moving the conversation in the right direction, and our hope is to provide retailers with support very nearly identical in scope and intent.
Along with developing our own initiatives, we’ve been in close contact with Diamond as they work on a comprehensive relief package, which will be announced as soon as possible. We believe that a solid unified strategy, put forward at the distributor level with input from retailers and the cooperation of publishers, is the best course of action. In so many ways, we are all in this together.
But in the meantime, IDW is committed to lending dedicated support to retailers through social media initiatives, email messaging to subscribers, and additional means of customer outreach.
We pledge to do our part in supporting this industry that we love and the people who make it happen. Our phone lines are open and you can reach us all via email. We’re here to listen and help. And please feel free to contact us directly with questions and we’ll do our best to get you answers.
Let’s do the best we can, together.
–Chris Ryall
