Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 19:31:09 -0400 From: [g--l--n] at [bgnet.bgsu.edu] (Metroplex) Subject: FTP 551 ADMINISTRIVIA: Just a couple of things before we get to FTP. First, as promised here are the missing issues so your collection is now complete. Well, almost. I don't have FTP 557 yet so I'll have to mail it out next week. Also, I've been getting a lot of error messages so if you're not getting FTP every week please let me know so I can fix the problem. The list of recipients has grown so large that I've had to divide it into thirds just so our meager system here at Bowling Green (don't corn-fuse us with Kentucky) State University can handle it so I'm not sure if everyone is getting the issues they're supposed to. ==== FIT TO PRINT by catherine yronwode for the week of December 25, 1995 THIS IS FIT TO PRINT NUMBER 551: I spoke too soon. No sooner had my little piece on the Canadian distributor Multi-Book (FtP #548) seen print, than the cosmic axis shifted again. In describing how Multi-Book would be getting out of comics distribution, i had written, "I've got to hand it to them, though - they will be honouring the pre-orders they have already placed, and they aren't short changing any publishers owed money." Well, as one who works for a publisher suddenly left holding the bag on pre-ordered copies which Multi-Book unilaterally decided not to accept, i take back all the praise i offered. This abrupt reversal of Multi-Books' previously announced policy caught a lot of folks short, especially since the company sent out a notice on November 23rd in which they claimed "Diamond Distribution has graciously agreed to distribute all outstanding product for us. As of November 27th, 1995, please ship all outstanding product to Diamond as per your contractual agreement with them. We will not accept delivery of any product that arrives after December 1st. For those of you who ship from Ronald's/Quebecor, our final pick-up will be December 1st." Imagine my surprise when a quick call to Diamond to confirm this arrangement turned up the news that Diamond was not accepting Multi-Book orders at all. "We are in negotiation," said a Diamond service rep. "We will not pick up or distribute any books they have ordered until negotiations are complete." Further conversation with the Diamond rep resulted in a surprising bit of news - Diamond had not been consulted about the Multi-Book policy memo and in fact first saw it when they asked a publisher (who had called to confirm, as i had) to fax them a copy! Meanwhile, at Quebecor, where the first of the December dated books had already been printed and preparations were underway for shipping, a rep from the shipping department informed me that all the publishers she had talked to had decided to put their December 1st Multi-Book copies into storage rather than send them on to Multi-Book. If negotiations with Diamond fell through, the publishers risked losing these Canadian sales entirely, but they evidently found that preferable to shipping books on the last acceptable day to a distributor they now believed was going back on its word and might not pay at all. My employer, Claypool Comics, went along with the consensus. Our Multi-Book orders for Elvira #31, already printed, would be held. As the fateful shipping day approached and no word arrived from Diamond or Multi-Book about their negotiations, a sad collective sigh could be heard in the aethyr. Multi-Book's orders were never big enough to make or break a publisher's bankroll, but still, they did represent half the Canadian sales on every American comic book. And they were not going to be distributed. The last word from Diamond, as the trucks rolled into the early winter dusk on December 1st, without the Multi-Book orders on board, was, "We can always pick them up as re-orders if we reach an agreement soon." What does this mean to Canadian fans? Since Ronald's/Quebecor is a major comic book printer, it means that many early-December titles will only arrive in Canadian stores serviced by Styx. The next ship-date for Quebecor is December 7th; if Diamond and Multi-Book have not worked out an arrangement by then, those books will also fail to be distributed. But that's the tip of the iceberg. By now word of this fiasco has circulated and every printer and publisher knows that the Multi-Book memo was not reflective of the facts and that Diamond has not bound itself to honour deliveries of product ordered by Multi-Book. Orphaned books are going to pile up pallets at printers all over the U.S. and Canada. If Diamond or Styx don't pick them up soon, Canadian retailers will be caught short of product during the holiday season and Canadian fans will not be able to buy the titles they want unless they find Styx-serviced stores or are persistent enough to contact the publishers and order single copies directly. The books are out there; Canadian fans are just going to have to try harder to find them. Good luck and happy holidays. ==== Fit to Print appears in print each week in Comics Buyers Guide and is available via e-mail. Tell your friends! To subscribe to Fit to Print via e-mail send a request with the words "Subscribe FtP" in the subject header and your address in the body of the message to [g--l--n] at [bgnet.bgsu.edu.] You will be added to the list and receive the next available issue. Back issues are available. FTP to nspace.cts.com and look in the Comics/About Comics/Comics News/Fit to Print directory. FtP is also available on the World Wide Web at http://www.scar.utoronto.ca/~91mithra AND http://www2.csn.net/~searls. Responses are welcome and should be directed to [g--l--n] at [bgnet.bgsu.edu.] Fit to Print is Copyright Cathrine Yronwode. All rights reserved.