Diamond sends letters on barcodes to vendors (except me); On manga-isms and the foreign artist

Via The Beat, Scott King has the official Diamond letter to publishers… which I didn’t receive.  And that makes me feel unloved and inadequate. ;_;

There are several huge implications revealed in this letter.  First, it appears the standard for comics and magazines will be UPC, and UPC only.  (Books will require an ISBN, as before.)  UPC numbers are $750 for a lot of 100, plus a yearly license renewal fee (yes, you don’t own the numbers, not anymore) of $150 minimum, when purchased from GS1, the only “official” source for UPC number assignment.  However, many UPC resellers offer individual numbers for much less (and you actually own the numbers outright in this case, as these numbers were purchased for resale before GS1 changed their policy on such), and Diamond has a list of resellers to help publishers get started.

Second, this policy will indeed begin in January, 2008… and retroactively apply to all products, past, present, and future, which means that publishers with older books without barcodes will need to purchase barcode stickers and label each and every copy.  This isn’t as bad as it sounds, ironically, as few indy comics are re-ordered by Diamond anyway.  However, this applies to bundled comics too, something we’ve been offering for a while.  My recommendation for barcode stickers and EPS file generation: http://www.barcode-us.com/

Three, there are severe penalties for non-compliance, including additional fees plus late or non-delivery of product.  Ouch.

My personal take on this is that, for better or worse, the days of the “hobby” comic publisher may really be coming to an end.  That’s always been the trend, with the rising minimum policies, but we have finally reached a point where the combined costs of producing a single standard comic is more than the gross one can reasonably expect.  A comic which sells around 1200~1500 copies, which is what most new indy publishers aspire to, will most definitely lose money whereas it may have broke even before…. yes, the margins are tight enough that the minimum couple hundred dollars spent on procuring barcodes will make a difference.  And in truth, many comics have problems even meeting Diamond’s sales minimums.

The reality that small publishers must face now is that comics is returning to a periodicals-based business.  That’s always been the case, really, and it has dictated the ordering habits of retailers, which is why it’s so difficult for small pubs with irregular publishing schedules to gain a foothold in the market.  But the pamphlet format has always been attractive for the under-capitalized pubs or individuals, not because the format is optimal, but because it’s low-cost and hence low-risk.  That may no longer be the case for hobby publishers teetering at the cusp of profitability.  For them, they’ll need to consider the alternatives, all of which are difficult, perhaps impossible for some… raise cover prices in a retail environment that’s already very sensitive to such fluctuations, modify publishing strategy and offer product lines which better fit the periodical model, or, for those who can afford it, ditch the pamphlet format altogether for trades.

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Ed is not so enamored with Masquerade, one of our earlier releases. =(

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There’s a thoughtful post at Sporadic Sequential on both Paul Pope’s and Takeshi Miyazawa’s more recent adventures in manga employment, questioning whether usage of “manga-isms” is a prerequisite for foreign artists hoping to publish work in Japan.  The answer is probably yes, except for those who wish to be considered avant garde.

Something those following this story should give more consideration to is that we are foreigners looking in and how that colors our perception, in order to avoid affixing intentions that just aren’t there, or mangling meanings outright.  For example, when a Japanese editor asks for more “manga-isms”, s/he doesn’t necessarily mean to make the comic more “Japanese”, even though for all practical purposes that’s exactly what it entails for a foreign artist.  We define manga as a set of qualities that make Japanese comics (and those inspired by them) different from our own… which is obviously not a function of the word in its native land.  From the perspective of the editor, s/he is simply asking for more “comical” elements, i.e. conventions for the comic to be more mainstream.  It’s not so different from, say, submitting to Marvel in the 90s and being asked to include more angst and teeth-gnashing in your comic.  And if one subscribes to the idea that comics are a visual language, a Japanese publisher wanting more manga-isms is no more hostile to foreign artists, than a Hindi edition of Harry Potter is an affront to the English language.

Thus it’s also worth noting that the two artists are working under contrasting editorial expectations.  Pope’s editors were specifically working with foreign artists to explore new ideas and approaches.  Just looking at the atypical way the comic page was lettered, they were intentionally playing up the “foreign-ness” of the comic (and that may have been why it was ultimately too esoteric to catch on with casual Japanese readers.)  Miyazawa doesn’t have this luxury, if it could be called that.