Image Comics and Rejection
I just heard yesterday from Image Comics. And the quick answer is that they rejected the road to god knows... as something that they’d want to publish.
First, some background. Image Comics is a pretty nifty company doing some interesting work (notably bringing Flight to the Direct Market and solidly backing it). I chose Image Comics as my first choice for submissions for two reasons, neither one of them having to do with content. That may sound odd, but bear with me!
The first reason is fairly simple: being published by Image ensured that retailers got the best possible discount on my book as their terms with Diamond Distribution allow. This is far more critical then most realize due to a variety of factors (much of which I’ll be exploring later on). But simply put: Direct Market retailers (i.e.: comic book shops) buy their stuff at various discount levels. These discounts are set by Diamond for smaller publishers (based in a large part on the discount that the publishers give Diamond) but the four brokered publishers (Marvel, DC, Image and Dark Horse) set their own discount structures based on their contractual arrangements with Diamond. These various discount levels directly effect retailer profitability.
In a nutshell: if a retailer orders Book A at a 55% discount (off cover price) and Book B at a 40% discount, there’s a 15% difference in that retailer’s profit expectation. Now this is somewhat simplistic, since it doesn’t necessarily mean that the two titles sell at the same rate. If Book A is a dog, retailers can easily lose money regardless of what their discount is. By the same token, if Book B is hot, retailers can still earn money despite the lower discount. But in a nuts and bolts world, every retailer will take a look at margin first. And Book A gives that retailer a much better margin to work with then Book B.
On top of it, non-brokered publishers suffer an additional 3% reorder penalty. So (continuing the example above), if the retailer did sell out of Book B and went to reorder it, that 40% discount would actually drop 3% - to a discount of 37%.
Now, think about that. 37% vs. 55%. A full 18% difference in margin. Black and white, isn’t it?
It was this very difference that led me to go to Image first. Now, I could have also tried Dark Horse as my first bet, since both Image and Dark Horse are brokered companies and offer basically the same discount plateaus for retailers. Close enough for my purposes, at any rate. Why I chose Image brings us to the second reason: the Xeric Foundation.
For those of you who don’t know, the Xeric Foundation is a grant for self-publishers designed to aid those who are publishing on their own. In the face of it, this would imply that going with Image would eliminate me from grant eligibility. But while Image is a company, you are still technically self-publishing when you publish with them. How so? Well, what Image does is front the expenses for you and take a fee out of your bottom line for this service (very quickly: my understanding is that the fee is approximately $2500.00 US plus an additional percentage for publishing graphic novels instead of “monthlies”). But aside from this, if you publish with Image you are self-publishing. Which means that I would still have a shot at the Xeric Foundation’s grant (my eventual grant proposal can be found here).
Obviously, Image’s decision to turn down my bookie also shoots down my shot at the Xeric grant – unless, of course, I self-publish. The catch with this option is simple: being Canadian, if I self-publish I will automatically disqualify myself for grant eligibility with both the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council. Image would have still allowed me a shot at these, but if I truly self-publish on my own I’m eliminated. I need a publisher to be eligible for these grants. So I can shoot for the Xeric but lose out on the OAC and the CC grants, or go the other way (i.e.: find another publisher) but lose any chance for the Xeric. Oy…
So, that’s where I find myself this morning. Aside from any emotional “thing” about being rejected (no one likes being told no!), I’m disappointed (words don’t express it!) about these turn of events. They weren’t unexpected, but that doesn’t mitigate ‘em from being damn disappointing.
Emotionally, it is somewhat tough. Especially because you do go through some self-doubt about the quality of the submission and the quality of the artwork even before you get an answer. In the cold light of day, I know that I probably should have fixed up a few things. The problem was I didn’t notice these “things” at the time – only looking back over the past month or so did I say to myself, “I should have tightened that up. Or redrawn that.” Or simply said, “this page is weak. I can do better so let’s do it again.”
The big problem with this approach is that it’s hindsight (as in being 20/20, blah, blah, blah) and it wouldn’t help beside – the submission was already in Image’s hands. And there is always a danger of too much analyzing. Or to quote someone (no idea who!), you can simply get “paralysis by analysis.” In other words, if you micro manage ever little thing you’ll get no productivity. And productivity is the key – or rather, good work and productivity. You gotta get the pages in.
Lastly: while it is frustrating to be told “no” at the best of times, we learn by doing. No matter what, you pick yourself up off the floor and you keep on going. No point in curling up in a ball and crying about it. Fix the things that can be fixed and live with the rest of it. Or to quote a famous Captain, “The word is no. I am therefore going anyway.”
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Von Allan
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