Valiant Entertainment Announces Valiant Retailer Direct

TimeWillTell · Post by **TimeWillTell** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 3:46 pm

After careful review and discussion, Diamond Comics Distributors and Valiant Entertainment have mutually agreed that Harbinger: The Beginning will be distributed through the Valiant Retailer Direct program only and not through Diamond Comics Distributors.

Valiant Entertainment is launching Valiant Retailer Direct, a new program that will allow Valiant to distribute directly to retailers and fulfill orders for Harbinger: The Beginning.

What can you do to ensure you get your copy? Contact your local comics store and make sure they have received the Valiant Retailer Direct information we have sent them. If not, send your retailer's email address and phone number to us at inquiries@valiantentertainment.com with the subject: Valiant Retailer Direct and we will be sure to send them the appropriate information.

The book will not be in stores on August 29th as originally scheduled but will be in stores 10 days following your retailers' order of the book via Valiant Retailer Direct. Please note that Valiant Retailer Direct is for retailers only and we cannot distribute directly to consumers.

In addition, Harbinger: The Beginning is in stock at Amazon.com and can be ordered at http://www.amazon.com/Harbinger-Beginni ... 0979640903

We appreciate the support from Valiant fans and apologize that circumstances didn't allow for normal distribution channels. We hope you enjoy Harbinger: The Beginning!

-Walter Black, Senior Vice President & Publisher

ckb · Post by **ckb** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 3:57 pm

Walter,

Can you comment on what this means for the large retailers like DCBS, MileHigh, Barnes and Noble, etc? Were they using the Diamond channel? Has VEI reached out to the large retailers (whom have been soliciting the book for months and taking orders) about this distribution change?

Thanks for partially clearing up what is going on. Any additonal light you can shed on the "Why's" of it all would be appreciated.

ManofTheAtom · Post by **ManofTheAtom** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 4:51 pm

Did Diamond refund you the money you spent on that full page ad in Previews? I know those things are extremely expensive.

ckb · Post by **ckb** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:00 pm

And I will pay big $$ for photos of Walter, Jason and Dino scrambling around in a basement at 3am on a Sunday packing boxes....

Brother J · Post by **Brother J** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:00 pm

I don't want to be pessimistic, but anyone remember Future Comics? They tried the direct to retailer thing and it didn't work out too well.

Daniel Jackson · Post by **Daniel Jackson** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:03 pm

Honestly, it was hard enough convincing my LCS to order it for me the first time, I'm pretty sure they won't be willing do it over again.

ManofTheAtom · Post by **ManofTheAtom** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:03 pm

Brother J wrote:I don't want to be pessimistic, but anyone remember Future Comics? They tried the direct to retailer thing and it didn't work out too well.

It did work for them, until Diamond swooped in with promises of increasing their sales.

Future had high sales when they did it without Diamond (though not everyone ordered from them, like Mile High or MailorderComics), but then when they moved to Diamond those people who were buying from them left them and what they sold through Diamond was much less than what they were promised and what they were selling without them.

jedimarley · Post by **jedimarley** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:03 pm

Brother J wrote:I don't want to be pessimistic, but anyone remember Future Comics? They tried the direct to retailer thing and it didn't work out too well.

VIP remembers.

ManofTheAtom · Post by **ManofTheAtom** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:04 pm

Daniel Jackson wrote:Honestly, it was hard enough convincing my LCS to order it for me the first time, I'm pretty sure they won't be willing do it over again.

My post about VIP eating *SQUEE* doesn't look that bad now, does it?

k_c_collectibles · Post by **k_c_collectibles** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:05 pm

jedimarley wrote:
Brother J wrote:I don't want to be pessimistic, but anyone remember Future Comics? They tried the direct to retailer thing and it didn't work out too well.
VIP remembers.

I'm sure they do. Michael Lovitz was the lawyer for Future Comics long before VIP.

Chris

Brother J · Post by **Brother J** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:08 pm

ManofTheAtom wrote:
Brother J wrote:I don't want to be pessimistic, but anyone remember Future Comics? They tried the direct to retailer thing and it didn't work out too well.
It did work for them, until Diamond swooped in with promises of increasing their sales.

Future had high sales when they did it without Diamond (though not everyone ordered from them, like Mile High or MailorderComics), but then when they moved to Diamond those people who were buying from them left them and what they sold through Diamond was much less than what they were promised and what they were selling without them.

Thanks for the correction, I knew that a switch between Diamond and direct sales caused problems for the company, just not the exact details.

Switching course like this in the middle looks bad. It looks like Diamond dumped them at the last minute or something.

Cyberstrike · Post by **Cyberstrike** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:08 pm

I thought it was because Future Comics and Diamond didn't release the
first couple of issues of Metallax and Freemind or a TPB collecting those issues and this through retailers off.

daydreamscomics · Post by **daydreamscomics** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:09 pm

if anyone needs a copy:

viewtopic.php?t=16685

ManofTheAtom · Post by **ManofTheAtom** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:10 pm

Cyberstrike wrote:I thought it was because Future Comics and Diamond didn't release the
first couple of issues of Metallax and Freemind or a TPB collecting those issues and this through retailers off.

There is a Freemind tpb, and it was released after Future switched to Diamond.

greg · Post by **greg** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:11 pm

Given that Walter's announcement is for retailers only...
it looks like there's plenty of time to get your LCS involved
for the future of Valiant products.

To pick up Harbinger: The Beginning in the mean time, here's a site for price comparison.
(This link will do the lookups "live" and display results after a few seconds)
http://www.booksprice.com/comparePrice. ... 0979640903

ManofTheAtom · Post by **ManofTheAtom** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:13 pm

Brother J wrote:
ManofTheAtom wrote:
Brother J wrote:I don't want to be pessimistic, but anyone remember Future Comics? They tried the direct to retailer thing and it didn't work out too well.
It did work for them, until Diamond swooped in with promises of increasing their sales.

Future had high sales when they did it without Diamond (though not everyone ordered from them, like Mile High or MailorderComics), but then when they moved to Diamond those people who were buying from them left them and what they sold through Diamond was much less than what they were promised and what they were selling without them.
Thanks for the correction, I knew that a switch between Diamond and direct sales caused problems for the company, just not the exact details.

Switching course like this in the middle looks bad. It looks like Diamond dumped them at the last minute or something.

http://www.boblayton.com/Archive/Novemb ... torial.htm

daydreamscomics · Post by **daydreamscomics** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:23 pm

Brother J wrote:It looks like Diamond dumped them at the last minute or something.

that's exactly what happened to VEI.

the real question is: why?

my guess: VIP

TimeWillTell · Post by **TimeWillTell** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:43 pm

I would suggest ordering through amazon.com if your LCS doesn't have it in stock.

-TWT

jedimarley · Post by **jedimarley** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:57 pm

TimeWillTell wrote:I would suggest ordering through amazon.com if your LCS doesn't have it in stock.

-TWT

In stock? Or will not stock?

ManofTheAtom · Post by **ManofTheAtom** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:57 pm

TimeWillTell wrote:I would suggest ordering through amazon.com if your LCS doesn't have it in stock.

-TWT

Amazon charges around 25 dollars just for shipping books to Hellxico, it doesn't matter if the book's worth a quarter, so that's not an option for me.

betterthanezra · Post by **betterthanezra** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 6:49 pm

I'm seriously dissapointed in hearing this.

It seems that the book was canceled from Diamond on Friday.

We are hearing about it THREE days later....When this happened IMOP we should have found out so we could answer the call and take other means of ordering it. Printing out the info for our retailer to order it through VEI.

Three days seems like time wasted to me...

-Brian

Daniel Jackson · Post by **Daniel Jackson** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 7:18 pm

betterthanezra wrote:I'm seriously dissapointed in hearing this.

It seems that the book was canceled from Diamond on Friday.

We are hearing about it THREE days later....When this happened IMOP we should have found out so we could answer the call and take other means of ordering it. Printing out the info for our retailer to order it through VEI.

Three days seems like time wasted to me...

-Brian

Yeah, I agree with you, Brian. You would think this site of all places should be hearing this info first. I was really looking forward to getting mine this week after seeing others get their books from Amazon last week. If I would have known about this sooner I could placed an order with them myself and still probably have gotten the book sometime this week.

acc205 · Post by **acc205** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 7:20 pm

Daniel Jackson wrote:
betterthanezra wrote:I'm seriously dissapointed in hearing this.

It seems that the book was canceled from Diamond on Friday.

We are hearing about it THREE days later....When this happened IMOP we should have found out so we could answer the call and take other means of ordering it. Printing out the info for our retailer to order it through VEI.

Three days seems like time wasted to me...

-Brian
Yeah, I agree with you, Brian. You would think this site of all places should be hearing this info first. I was really looking forward to getting mine this week after seeing others get their books from Amazon last week. If I would have known about this sooner I could placed an order with them myself and still probably have gotten the book sometime this week.

We did hear it first I thought, has it been mentioned somewhere else before?

muzzsucker · Post by **muzzsucker** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 7:23 pm

betterthanezra wrote:I'm seriously dissapointed in hearing this.

It seems that the book was canceled from Diamond on Friday.

We are hearing about it THREE days later....When this happened IMOP we should have found out so we could answer the call and take other means of ordering it. Printing out the info for our retailer to order it through VEI.

Three days seems like time wasted to me...

-Brian

I guess diamond doesn't work on the weekend

I'm actually suprised VEI were able to put together another option so quickly. Any other retailer whose book was suddenly switching distribution channels would be much slower.

betterthanezra · Post by **betterthanezra** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 7:24 pm

Daniel Jackson wrote:
betterthanezra wrote:I'm seriously dissapointed in hearing this.

It seems that the book was canceled from Diamond on Friday.

We are hearing about it THREE days later....When this happened IMOP we should have found out so we could answer the call and take other means of ordering it. Printing out the info for our retailer to order it through VEI.

Three days seems like time wasted to me...

-Brian
Yeah, I agree with you, Brian. You would think this site of all places should be hearing this info first.

I DO think that we are hearing about it first......but three days later than we should have....

Thats the problem I'm having with it.

Comic retailers are lazy it's sad but true and this will hamper a great deal of other retailers from taking that extra step in getting the HC in there stores. Again it's a sad reality.

If this is what it takes to put the HC at Borders and Barnes & Nobles I'm all for it. But untill I see that I'm still wondering the real reason for Diamond dropping the HC 5 days before it's release.

-Brian