One of the things that causes us comics media to roll our eyes the most is the never ending press releases about comics titles selling out. It seems that many of the comic book publishers are constantly selling out their titles, which of course is a great PR message, but when we see the sales numbers declining across the most of the entire comics industry (with a few exceptions) month after month, it becomes fishy.

Image Comics is no stranger to this tactic, with many of it’s titles (especially recently) selling out at the distributor level. We’ve heard lots of criticism about this in and around the industry and today Image Comics publisher Eric Stephenson spoke out on the topic, and it’s not what you’d think.

In a blog post on his personal blog, Stephenson made the following comments about selling out:

Selling out – it’s great PR, but ultimately, it’s not exactly great business. It creates a roadblock between between readers and the material they want to read, and between retailers and the books they want to sell. In short, it does more harm than good.

Addressing retailer complaints about selling out Saga #1:

A couple retailers have made what I consider to be a fair comment: We should have known a new series by Brian K. Vaughan would do well and could have printed way more than we did. But using that exact same logic, here’s the thing: They also could have ordered more.

Shedding light on Image’s publishing strategy:

There’s not a single title we currently publish that is part of some event-oriented marketing scheme. We are not out to create short-term spikes. We lived through that war, and we’ve learnt our lessons well. That’s why we’re committed to publishing the absolute best comics we can, with an eye not just to selling them month-to-month, but over the long haul – as trades and hardcovers that grow sales and keep readers coming back for more. Bottom line: We all lose when we sell out. Sure, it gets Image some nice PR, and there’s a lucrative secondary market for sold out books with high demand, but that stuff is fleeting. We’ve all got the same goal – and that is to get books in the hands of readers. So let’s do more of that.

For those interested in the behind the scenes/business side of the comics industry, this is a must read as Stephenson shares details of ordering strategies and what the challenge is in terms of being a publisher and meeting demand. If you’ve ever gone to the comic shop and was disappointed because they didn’t have a book you wanted, this could be part of the reason why. It’s no shock that it’s a tough market out there these days, but it’s clear that somewhere along the lines, the system is broke, be it at the publisher level and/or the distributor level and/or the retailer level. It’s refreshing to see behind the curtain though to see how these things work and you can’t help but wonder if the other publishers (Marvel and DC) are having the same frustrations.

Think about it. If Image is having a hard time meeting demand, that’s because the retailers and Diamond aren’t accurately communicating to them what that demand is. Every time someone goes to a store and the store doesn’t have the book they came looking for, there’s a better than good chance that that store lost a potential, long term customer. Especially if they’re a Brian K. Vaughan fan. They’re in it for the long haul. Imagine if everyone who went to the comic shop could get what they wanted. Would it be such a rough marketplace then?