Well, Tokyopop was all over the web today (and, unlike Koge-Donbo, had its name spelled correctly each time).
The ICv2 interview with publisher Mike Kiley about online exclusives drew dismayed reactions from a number of bloggers, especially Dragon Head fans like David Welsh. Christopher Butcher was also not amused, and the title of Dave Lartigue’s blog post sums up his reaction: “Tokyopop to Dave: Please Stop Buying Our Comics.” Dave has already composed and sent a letter of protest, in which he observes that although he likes Dragon Head, he won’t order it online.
As much as I like the book, and I like it very much, at the end of the day it’s just a funnybook, and now that you’ve made it more of a hassle to order it, I won’t do so. I can live without it.
And this makes him hesitate to get involved with any more Tokyopop titles for fear that they too will become “online exclusives.”
John Jakala explains the price issue:
I can generally find manga for cheaper than cover price, but Tokyopop is charging full cover price for their “online exclusives” (with a note that these books are “Not Eligible For Additional Discounts” if you click the “Buy Now” link). And the shipping charges (the cheapest option is economy at $3 for the first item + $1 each additional item) are off-putting for someone who’s used to getting free shipping from other online sites.
At Sensei’s Ramblings, William Flanagan gives a much better explanation than Kiley of why this is happening, and as a bonus he tells us why the books aren’t likely to be discounted:
A 3rd-party retail outlet can put on any discount it wants as long as they pay the agreed-upon wholesale price to the distributor, but unless the publisher has worked a retail discount for itself into the original contract with the mangaka, the publisher is contractually bound to sell the book to the public at the cover price.
Oh. I suggest they start negotiating, because as Flanagan and Simon Jones both point out, by cutting out the middleman Tokyopop gets to keep the full cover price of each book it sells, as opposed to about $4 (Simon’s number) if it had to be split with Diamond and a comics store. If they cut the price to $7 or $8 the fans would be happy and Tokyopop would still come out ahead. At the very least, they should be looking at free shipping, before they scare everyone away.
Thanks for linking. ^_^
Just to clarify, the percentages I give are estimates. But Diamond offers Tokyopop books at the E discount, which is 50% or standard, so it’s likely Tokyopop’s distributor discount is closer to the 65% range, for a profit of $3.50 on every $10.
There might be another reason why Tokyopop is not lowering the MSRP on these books… it may create an impression that these books are inferior in quality. At the same time, they can’t charge less than their MSRP… it is likely illegal in most places to do so.