MacQ

JasonFranks

This is a big deal where I live. Just announced today:

MacQ, a retailer catalogue for Australian comics, featuring the two biggest players in the field, Gestalt Publishing and Black House Comics, as well as many of the smaller players and self publishers. All of the books will be available wholesale to retailers through Blackboox.net, which of course also serves as a front end for readers. 

http://www.blackhousecomics.com/articles/macq---whats-it-all-about.html

This is important for Aussie comics due to various economic factors, most importantly... shipping. As many of you guys who have had been published in some of my Aussie books will no doubt attest, it is prohibitively expensive for locally-printed to ship to North America and Europe. This is a key piece of domestic distribution for a wing of the comics business that is extremely isolated. 

A further note: I already sell more books through Blackboox than I do through amazon and my own website combined, and most of those books have gone to bookstores where they have been sold-on at festivals and events I have not been able to attend. 

A major milestone for my homeboys. 

Any thoughts?

AdamGeen

Sounds great!

DinoCaruso

Is this like the equivalent of a Diamond catalogue for Australian books? Is it international as well?

JasonFranks

Er, yeah, somewhat smaller than previews. I don't think the print catalogues are being shipped overseas or not, but I'm pretty sure the website will fill overseas orders. 

It's expensive even to sell through amazon because of shipping costs, so this kind of an initiative is somethign we desperately need. 

RussellLissau

So,this will get your books over here cheaper? Awesome.

JasonFranks

Actually, I don't think that was the intention, but... I hope so!

JasonFranks

I should add that this was not my initiative--I believe that Baden at Black House and possibly also Wolfgang at Gestalt Comics put it together. I only learned about it today (although I had an idea that something was in the works).

DerekMcCulloch

I think I met Wolfgang at Comicon a couplefew years ago.

JasonFranks

Wolf has been out at Comicon the last three years at least, and he seems to know everyone. Last year (when I was there) the Gestalt booth was a rallying point for most of the Aussies at the show... and there were a ton of us. We had a dinner Sunday night and  think there were 50 or 60 of us there--creators, publishers, and even a few fans who made the long trip. 

I couldn't go this year, but I think the numbers were even greater. We have a real groundswell here and I think that's reflected in the catalogue.

ShawnRichison

It's exciting to hear that people are still working in comics and increasing in numbers after hearing about a number of pros quitting the biz, not making enough, etc.  Hopefully the "new blood" will be able to make a go at it - maybe this is the Oz wave/explosion?

JasonFranks

It feels like a wave down here, but we're having a hard time bootstrapping overseas. The local market is tiny and it's hard to make an impact when the majority of readers are several thousand dollars worth of air travel away.

The internet helps a lot, but... I lived in the States and I know first hand that we don't have the same opportunities to get our work out there.

JasonFranks

Blackboox just published a listing for KAGEMONO: FLOWERS AND SKULLS, the 20101/2011 volume of my well-regarded horror anthology featuring a goodly crew of creators from this here forum (including @SteveHorton, @RusselLissau, @mpMann, and @DinoCaruso).

http://www.blackboox.net/kagemono-flowers-skulls/

Just saying...

DwightWilliams

This is indeed good news. Not sure if Canada has the like in terms of distribution right now, but it might be worth considering.