Organized in the wake of the financial implosion of Borders, the Publishers Weekly/PW Comics World panel on Sunday at Comic-Con International brought together a panel of comics publishing professionals to respond to the bankruptcy of the #3 national bookselling outlet in the U.S. Organized by Heidi MacDonald, co-editor PW Comics World and editor-in-chief of the comics news blog, The Beat, the panel, “PW: What Comes After the Graphic Novel,” surveyed graphic novel, manga and children’s comics publishing in a post-Borders marketplace.
Borders represented about 14% of all book purchases in the U.S. and “was central to to the growth of manga sales in the U.S. book market,” according to Rich Johnson, comics sales and marketing consultant for Legendary Comics, Penguin USA and Archaia. Johnson pointed out that Borders had a long history of “bad decisions,” noting that the closing of Borders’s mall stores—which acted as a kind of manga academy for young fans—was a blow to the category. Panelist Terry Nantier, publisher of NBM, and a director of the kids publishing line Papercutz, said the “we’re looking at a landscape of bookstores that will be even more involved in ‘curation’,” making ever-more careful and selective choices about just what books they will stock. Nantier, who publishes a wide variety of kids and teen oriented graphic novels, said there was “tremendous growth in kids graphic novels and our properties have really caught on.”
Portlyn Freeman, co-owner of the California comics shop Brave New World Comics, said that the closing of Borders was an “opportunity for indie retailers.” Pointing to growth in sales of kids comics and the importance of offering non-book merchandise, the high-energy Freeman said the current market shows “you don’t have to be a big box retailer. It represents a return to small stores with specialized services.” She was bullish on non-book merchandise, “that’s smart. T-shirts and other pop culture bits. Yes we sell other things. Comics pay the rent but that’s not all there is and having extra stuff to offer your customers is where it’s at.”
Although she said that it’s a “tough time” these days selling graphic novels to trade book publishers, literary agent Judy Hansen was quick to agree with Freeman, noting that “life after Borders will be a good world.” Hansen, who represents such comics artists as Gene Yang, Scott McCloud, R. Crumb and Bryan Lee O’Malley, was bullish on kids comics which, according to ICv2.com con, continue to show a steady growth in sales. ICv2 reports that the sheer number of kids graphic novels being published has grown more than 60%.
“Indie booksellers can do a better job of selling kids graphic novels,” Hansen said, although she also cited the ability of Scholastic Book Fairs to sell comics. “We need dedicated spaces in stores for children’s comics and for the All-Ages category,” Hansen said, “where do you put something like Gene Yang’s American Born Chinese?” While Portlyn generally agreed, she said, “I sell to the mommies, they make the decisions not the kids. I need support materials as well, things like information on reading levels. But we don’t have to have a special section in the store, we can handsell and get these books into the hands of kids.”
But the question looming over all the discussion was the growing impact of digital delivery and its impact on physical stores and the buying habits of consumers. Jeff Webber, director of digital publishing at IDW, said IDW had a “couple hundred books on the Kindle,” even though that device—black & white with low resolution screens--is not ideal for reading comics. While digital comics still represent only a fraction of sales, the growth of tablets—in particular the iPad and its convenient purchasing system—and digital channels like the PSP will mean more fans turning to digital comics. “People will want print and digital,” said Webber, “as well as related stuff. We, the publishers, have to work with them to make this happen.”
Indeed, digital vendors like Comixology are looking to bring physical retailers into the digital food chain and programs like Diamond Comics Distributors’ new Diamond Digital program, set to launch in September, will allow physical comics stores to sell digital copies on-site by selling consumers a code that will allow them to download their purchased digital comics. Nevertheless, retailers are concerned that digital will just as likely undermine their businesses. But responding to a question from the audience, Freeman noted that even if these programs represent a small revenue stream, they can be useful as a customer service. “We need to do a better job of explaining these digital programs to retailers,” she said, but she emphasized that being able to sell digitally “is an amazing opportunity. As a store owner I need to be open to whatever is next. Some of my customers will want digital. They want to do it [make a digital purchase through a physical store] to show their support for us.”
