Had a chat with my LCS owner that flipped my view on variant covers

I used to think variant covers were just cash grabs for collectors. But my local shop owner Dave told me last Saturday that for some indie books, the variant is the only way they stay afloat until the orders come in. He showed me a spreadsheet where one small press comic sold 200 regular copies and 50 variants kept the whole print run in the green. It hit different seeing the actual numbers and how it helps smaller creators get their stories out. Has anyone else changed their mind about variants after talking to a shop owner?

3 comments

3 Comments

craig.mila4d agoMost Upvoted

Well, I'll admit I was pretty cynical about variant covers myself for a long time. I always figured it was just a way to squeeze more money out of people who already buy the same book. But hearing how it can actually keep a small press afloat makes a lot of sense. If a couple dozen variant sales mean a whole line of books can keep going, that changes the calculation for me. I'm still not a fan of the billion variants on big two books, but I can see the difference for the little guys.

olivia3984d ago

and honestly this is one of those things where it just mirrors how stuff works everywhere these days. like you go to a grocery store and the same cereal has like 12 different boxes with different cartoons on them, but nobody gets mad at that because it's just marketing. but with comics it's like we're supposed to pretend it's some sacred art form that shouldn't be commercialized. the truth is that little guys need every edge they can get, and if selling a few special covers means they can pay their artist for the next issue, i'm all for it. it's the same logic as those patreon tiers with exclusive stickers or whatever, just scaled down.

young.kim4d ago

Feels like the same logic behind farmers markets keeping local growers afloat.