Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: Comics, HRL

Oblivion Song Gives Added Discount to All Retailers

Published Thu, 11 Jan 2018 11:00:16 -0600

Oblivion Song is the new comic book by The Walking Dead's Robert Kirkman with art from Lorenzo De Felici and Annalisa Leoni, published by Image/Skybound in the first week of March. Here's the solicit.

OBLIVION SONG BY KIRKMAN & DE FELICI #1
(W) Robert Kirkman (A) Annalisa Leoni (A/CA) Lorenzo De Felici
A decade ago, 300,000 citizens of Philadelphia were suddenly lost in Oblivion. The government made every attempt to recover them, but after many years, they gave up. Nathan Cole…won't. He makes daily trips, risking his life to try and rescue those still living in the apocalyptic hellscape of Oblivion. But maybe…Nathan is looking for something else? Why can't he resist the siren call of the Oblivion Song?In Shops: Mar 07, 2018
SRP: $3.99

Launch issues can be promoted in all manner of ways to retailers. Variant covers, tiered covers, tiered discounts, all encouraging them to buy more. But Oblivion Song has a more civilised way. Rather than encouraging retailers to order more and more to get a big discount, Oblivion Song gives retailers a big discount, no matter how many they order.

What that means is that the retailer will make more money with each sale of Oblivion Song than with, say, each sale of Amazing Spider-Man or Teen Titans, even though the consumer will pay the same price. So what might this mean?

Some stores won't notice or care and may be surprised to find a little extra cash in their bank balance at the end of the month. And feel happier as a result.

Some will order more and push the book more as a result. Give it a stronger presence in store. Hand-sell issues. Talk it up — it is, after all, a first issue from the writer of The Walking Dead.

Some will pass the discount for the first issue onto readers. It may be a small discount on the overall price, but it has a greater impact on the retailer's markup and profitability.

Either way, when to comes to Oblivion Song, it should be the retailers who are singing.