I really doubt that a lot of buyers are influenced by the title of a book - much more significant is the solicitation copy that DC puts next to zero effort in composing - and that's been an issue no matter what the nature of the collection


I agree, and I've argued for years (I used to argue about it when I was there) that DC's solicitation copy could be more useful. But I think part of the reason it has become what it is for retailers (for whom it is primarily intended) is because even DC's section alone in Previews is an unwieldy beast, and in some cases, retailers don't have the time and don't really need the sort of detailed information that you want to see, particularly not with books -- real books, not periodicals -- that aren't intended to come and go within a window of two or three weeks, and can very easily be reordered.

I'd be surprised if mass market book buyers are even looking past the title (and they certainly don't need to know who Al Plastino is).

And anyway, it's not that the title is all-important, that wasn't the point -- it's that with a "themed" collection you instantly get a better sense of what the book is about, in every instance from solicitation to shelf, and you have better bait for the hook.

When all is said and done, though, DC still doesn't seem interested in going off in that direction (and as I've said, there are all sorts of other practical reasons to avoid doing so).

I have a vague feeling that if this tangent isn't wrapped up soon, a moderator will step in, so I'll say this: I think the audience for most of these books falls somewhere between the people who don't regularly read comics (the bookstore browsers, at the extreme edge of the range) and the people who are so completely immersed in the minutae of this stuff that they devise their own imaginary trade paperback collections. With Archives, it probably tilts toward the latter -- but with trade paperbacks, more toward the fore, toward the audience that is curious, rather than consumed.

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Last Edited By: Fin Fang Foom Aug 11 09 2:59 PM. Edited 1 times.