Dear Clever Packaging Designers,
You are a pain in the ass.
Oh, I know you went to design school, and you really, really want your product to stand out, but frankly, if I can't display it properly without moving around 5 other items your size, you are going to get skipped the next time.
Really, if half of the clever die-cut covers to your books get damaged, then I'd rather you didn't do it.
Really, if you want to give me an oblong sized box where all my other boxes are square, and you think you're being clever? All that's happening is it's getting dumped as quickly as possible, even if I have to sell it for cost.
Paperback publishers? You know those new books that are half an inch taller, and cost 9.99? It means that some of my bookshelves can no longer stock them. Sure...I'll have to take your books, but every dollar I spend on new bookshelves is a dollar I don't spend on books.
Comic publishers? Why do you make me explain to good customers why I can't get them variant covers that were offered at too high of premiums, and sometimes not offered to me at all. The story inside is what counts, if you want to create readers. Not the covers...which only create collectors.
Hey, manga publishers? You know those Omnibus books that collect several books in one? I already bought those books, you know. You're asking me to double down. Did I complain when you regurgitated every manga series from Japan? Well, maybe. But I bought them. And now you want me to buy them again? Maybe Barnes and Nobles will get them, cause they can just return all those worthless early editions.
You know, just quit trying to replace quality content with tricky packaging.
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3 comments:
"You know those new books that are half an inch taller, and cost 9.99?"
I've grown to really hate those.
I don't hate them. I just don't buy them.
The other "clever" move these days seems to be action sequences where you can't follow the action. Like the recent Bond movie. If you can't afford a writer who can script a good fight sequence, or a cameraman who can film it, maybe you should stick to deodorant commercials. Okay, that has nothing to do with books and comics, but it's in the same vein. *mutter*
Maybe this isn't a problem in your retail line, Dunc, but my big bitch (and a lot of other people's) is those damn "clamshell" plastic packages that you need an acetylene torch and a pair of bolt cutters to open. I understand some big retailers including Costco are putting pressure on manufacturers to do away with those or at least modify them.
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