Basically, you send them a selection of your books and YOU pay for them. YOU pay postage etc. And the store will decide how much they sell them for and if -if- they sell they'll ask for more same deal but THEY decide how much money you get from the sales (if they admit to any)? It's called exploitation.
The shop hopes that you aredesperate enough to take the deal and believe "these are nice guys" and that iot could all lead to regular orders. Basically, as the creator/publisher you do all the work, spend all the money in the hope people will buy and the store will order more. It is an exploitation of the creator/publisher who may be under severe financial stress. It's crooked. It's a dirty, filthy scam.
I have had this same offer at least seven times over two years. Refused every time. But I know people who have taken the deal.
'Fred' took the deal and after a year had spent -on buying copies and postage- $500. How much had he earnt from the sales? in total $25. At a comics event 'Fred' chatted to another small publisher and found out that he had also taken the deal offered by two stores. He would not state the exact amount he had spent on getting the books amndsending them to the stores just "a few hundred". He was still waiting to get any money back with the stores offering to sort out what was going on (they were ripping him off) but, you know, they'll still put new books up on the shelves but HE hadn't sentthem anything in a while.
This is called avoiding the situation and guilt tripping the publisher because, like, you know, the store was giving up valuable shelf space and do their best for you and you weren't doing your part. I caught on to that trick when I published Previews Comic in the 1980s and, yes, I got ripped off.
Now 'Fred' and his pal were joined by two other small publishers and one pointed out that they seemed to be "having an intense discussion". So they explained and one of the new comers looked at the otherand both nodded their heads. "It's a scam, bro!" one said. The other said that he had been offered the same deal but someone stopped him and explained that "it was one of the oldest comic store scams going".
Think about it -you take the deal. No contract just details in an email that are quite vague. The store is making no promises so there is no way you can sue or do anything about being ripped off. YOU agreed to it and that right there is why you never hear about this scam. No onewants to become a figure of fun by admitting they were dumb or got conned.
'Fred' and his pal then went about their business and were still chatting (tables next to one another) when one of the men from earlier went up to them and told them that if they had any doubts about the comic shop deal there was someone nearby who could confirm it. He called out "Jimmy" and a rather large, bearded man left a group talking further along the hall and joined him.
Jimmy it appears was a former comic store owner but had retired to go into "speculation" (I presume comics) and hewas asked about the "deal". He confirmed everything and added that for a store owner a free batch of comics were a "win-win" situation. Even if the books sold for just a dollar it was 100% profit. Jimmy told them that this had been going on since at least the 1980s and he knew one store where the owner had been "working the deal" for 15 years. After this Jimmy left. Personally I would have liked to ask him how it felt ripping off creators...but that seems to just be me.
As it happens 'Fred' (who, for reasons I've already pointed out, did not want his name given) says he knows that he will never get any of the money back. Even if he sold all his comics at an event he doubted he would make the cash back (leading me to suspect that 'Fred' put out far more than $500). Only his friend knows how much the deal cost him. When you think of the number of small publishers who would jump at a "fair deal" to get their books into stores where, if you asked them whether they could stock your books they tell you to **** off.
We could be talking about a scam that has taken thousands of dollars from desperate small publishers over a year -since the 1980s....who knows. Making money "not on the books" so not paying taxes.
If a store offers this type of deal and it is legit then they can put it into writing and sign it. And YOU, the publisher, tell them there is no "we decide how much to charge and what we might give you back". Your cover price is it and....well, you are not going to make any money back. YOU pay for the books and the postage to get them delivered to you and then you pay to send them on. Books =lost $s
Postage = lost $s you cannot win in any way with this deal because ypou are receiving no money. The store sells your books and makes $200. The store decides you can have $20 back -you agreed to those terms.
Look at it this way: you send a book to CBO for review. Several thousand are going to see that review around the world. NO guarantees of sales -no reviewer can guarantee that- but people see and read about your book and you can build on that -some publishers include the CBO review so potential customers can check their books out (Cinebook the 9th Art does this). OR....you spend a lot of money sending books to a store where a few people might see them.
I do not like people who cheat or exploit creators. I do not like the little scum who say "Well they're the bosses". In publishing, even before comics, the writer/artist was likely to get cheated or exploited at some point. There were so many crooked angles in comics from the publisher, editor, distributor and even shops were the final product should have been sold.
In 2020 this is still going on. Whether you are a small presser. Indie comic publisher, artist/writer or whether you are all of those there are people who think that you are fit for exploiting. Of course, if a group of peoplecame forward to expose these scams, cons or exploitations things can be done about them.
Do you know WHY this still continues? Because npo one wants to speak out. Monopoly in comic distribution (in countries where monopolies are illegal) -whatever: I hear from 'Fred' or 'Chas' or any number of people in a year. They know private conversations with me stay private and that ties my hands but if it didn't I still could do nothing. The victims have to speak out.
They will not.
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