"I'll definitely pick it up if I see a copy."

“I’ll definitely pick it up if I see a copy.”

These words are like a knife to the gut for indie comic creators. When we’re trying to promote our books online, desperately trying to convince people to pre-order them, we so often get this in reply, and it just kills us. Why? Because you won’t see it. Ever. Not if you don’t pre-order it. Because that’s just the way the comic industry works. No retailers buy in indie books in the hopes that someone will wander in off the street and pick them up. They just don’t. They order in what they KNOW they can sell, and usually that doesn’t go much beyond filling people’s pull lists and order a few extra of Marvel and DCs top selling books to cater for what little walk in trade they get.

If you see an indie creator’s book online that you want, order the book - preferably online, direct from the publisher, but if not then get down to your local comic store and order it through them (and, no, Hypergirl isn’t being distributed by Diamond, but there’s nothing to stop retailers getting in touch with Markosia or David or myself and ordering the book directly).

And once you’ve ordered the book - tell people about it! Tweet about it! Post on your tumblr about it! Post it on your Facebook! Because indie books live and die by word of mouth. YOU create the buzz.

If you want to support indie books and indie creators, don’t rely on picking up their books if you see them…because that’s sadly not the way things work. get proactive, order the books and tell the world!

While I have made sure Arthur and Posy and Town Mouse are in stock in Orbital comics in London and I plan on contacting some other shops to try to get them to stock stuff, I do always get a bit disheartened when someone says to me ‘Oh I’ll pick it up at a show’. As a student, I’m at a stage where I have progressively less time and more importantly *money* to have tables at conventions, and even then there’s a fairly high chance you won’t be at the show and even if you are, I’ve had people completely miss my table (partly my fault, I’m hardly the best salesman on the planet thanks to crippling social anxieties in that situation). So chances are it’ll be months or even a year until we’re both at the same convention again. I do have an online shop where you can buy my comics or prints, and it’d be a big favour if you DID do that. And hey, it means you’ll get your comics, as I always make sure I post stuff out as soon as physically possible.

So yeah, basically, what Ian said. Yes you can sometimes get your indie comics physically in person, but it’s bloody hard and it’s much more convenient for both parties if you order from the creator/their publisher directly.