News Off Topic: Will Books Continue To Be Published During Corona Virus?

[JD]

I hope it's OK that I'm posting this here, it isn't specifically about Trek Lit, but it is book related and this is where most of the book people here post the most.
I just read over in the general SFF section that apparently a some the companies that print comics are shutting down due to the Corona virus outbreak, which means there will be no new comics coming out, at least in physical form, until this whole thing is resolved.
Is there a chance of the same thing happening with other kinds of books?

 

[Christopher]

Is there a chance of the same thing happening with other kinds of books?

I would guess that in the case of print comics it's probably because the industry is so dependent on specialty comics shops. I don't think that would apply to print books. I gather that nonessential Amazon shipments are being delayed, but e-books are an increasingly large part of the market.

And I've been assured that Simon & Schuster is still going about its business. We're lucky because so much of what we do is already done from home, or easily can be. Contracts, manuscripts, covers, even payments (often), they're all delivered digitally. Plus, people stuck at home all day are probably going to need a lot more reading material.

 

[JD]

That was kind of what I thought, but I wasn't sure since with the comics it was due to the printers shutting down, not anything to do with the comics themselves.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Essentially, running presses and bindery equipment has been largely a solitary task for over a century, from the day "clamshell" platen presses supplanted the "Devil's Tail" style, and self-feeding cylinder and rotary presses supplanted machines like the Prouty "Grasshopper."

 

[Christopher]

From what I read, it's not that the printers have shut down, it's that Diamond, the main distributor of comics, has asked the printers to stop sending it new comics, which apparently is motivated by the economic slowdown.

https://comicbook.com/comics/2020/0...-shipments-new-comics-coronavirus-marvel-dc-/

 

[Daddy Todd]

Huh. It will be interesting to see if the publishers continue to publish new comics, with Comixology as, essentially, their sole marketing channel.

I stopped buying hardcopy comics at the beginning of the year -- I just don't have room for more. Interested to see what happens now.

 

[tgiokdi]

https://www.diamondcomics.com/Home/1/1/3/597?articleID=241552 they mention that 35% of their volume is currently shipped to locations that are either currently under "no travel unless essential" orders or are about to be under those orders.

 

[DEWLine]

And with that large a percentage of their market thus affected...
OUCH.

I just bought my most recent batch on Saturday, two days before the "no non-essential businesses" order came down in Ontario. (Had to pass through the store's host mall to get from a grocery to the bus stop to get home.)

 

[JD]

From what I read, it's not that the printers have shut down, it's that Diamond, the main distributor of comics, has asked the printers to stop sending it new comics, which apparently is motivated by the economic slowdown.

https://comicbook.com/comics/2020/0...-shipments-new-comics-coronavirus-marvel-dc-/

Oh, OK, I had thought it was that the printers had shut down on their own, I didn't realize it was at Diamond's request.
How is it that Diamond can control so much of the comics market without running into monopoly laws? Is it because they just ship the comics, and don't actually make them?

 

[Brendan Moody]

The Department of Justice looked into Diamond for possible antitrust (monopoly) violations in the late 1990s, and concluded that because they had a monopoly only on comics rather than on all books or all periodicals, no legal action was necessary.

 

[The Wormhole]

I gather that nonessential Amazon shipments are being delayed,

That's what they say on the news, but I just got a shipping confirmation on a new Doctor Who novel due out next week.

 

[Brendan Moody]

Amazon just rolled out these delivery delays on Sunday (as opposed to the changes in their warehouse shipments, which happened last week), so older orders probably wouldn’t be affected. A book I preordered months ago was delivered with release-date delivery today, but if I ordered another copy today it wouldn’t be delivered until Saturday, and lots of items are showing delivery estimates a month out.

 

[Mysterion]

A couple of book orders I've made in the last day or so are showing a delivery date in late April right now.

Also, FWIW, I've noticed the release dates for some Star Wars-related books have been moved back three or so weeks. Is this related to the current situation? Couldn't tell you, but happened to enough titles to be noticeable.

 

[tgiokdi]

and I was just notified that my city/county will be locked down after 11pm tomorrow so I'll be grabbing my final comic book pickup for the foreseeable future.

Man this really stings. Comixology is saying they're going to have digital books still, but honestly I'm not buying these books for the stories, I'm doing it for the collection and to hang out and talk to the comic shop guys.

 

[David cgc]

I've also been seeing stuff that I've ordered from Amazon that were initially said to be taking days or weeks longer than usual deliver much sooner, so part of their more conservative delivery estimates are probably just to give them breathing room. My delivery-tracking app just pinged me that a package went from "Arriving tomorrow—ship date unknown" to "out for delivery,"

 

[Masiral]

Also, FWIW, I've noticed the release dates for some Star Wars-related books have been moved back three or so weeks. Is this related to the current situation? Couldn't tell you, but happened to enough titles to be noticeable.

I think that predated the current situation.

 

[KRAD]

How is it that Diamond can control so much of the comics market without running into monopoly laws? Is it because they just ship the comics, and don't actually make them?

It's all Marvel's fault.

Well, kind of.

See, there used to be a ton of comics distributors. There were two big ones -- Diamond and Capital City -- and a whole mess of smaller ones.

Then one year in the 1990s, Marvel decided to buy one of those smaller ones, Heroes World, and make it their exclusive distributor.

This was a disaster of epic proportions, as 1) Heroes World didn't have the infrastructure to suddenly become the only worldwide distributor of the largest comics company on the planet and 2) all the other distributors were suddenly denied their biggest customer.

In response, DC went exclusive with Diamond, thus costing all those other distributors their second biggest customer. Cap City and all the smaller distributors went out of business. Then Heroes World failed like a big, giant failing thing and was discontinued, and Diamond was literally the only distributor left standing.

That may be part of why they haven't been hit with any kind of monopoly penalty, because it really wasn't their doing, as such, they were just the only ones left after Marvel fucked up.

 

[tgiokdi]

Barnes & Noble will no longer be accepting magazines or news papers, per LocusMag https://locusmag.com/2020/03/newsstand-disruptions/

I note they mention they have curbside pickup, which is awesome to see.

 

[DEWLine]

Damn. Now that's scary.

 

[tomswift2002]

I would guess that in the case of print comics it's probably because the industry is so dependent on specialty comics shops. I don't think that would apply to print books. I gather that nonessential Amazon shipments are being delayed, but e-books are an increasingly large part of the market.

And I've been assured that Simon & Schuster is still going about its business. We're lucky because so much of what we do is already done from home, or easily can be. Contracts, manuscripts, covers, even payments (often), they're all delivered digitally. Plus, people stuck at home all day are probably going to need a lot more reading material.

Here in Canada, Chapters-Indigo, which is the largest bookstore chain in terms of both the internet and brick-and-mortar, has currently closed all its physical stores until March 27 (and in Ontario & Quebec), all non-essential businesses are under government orders to be closed till at least Easter. And who knows how much longer Canada Post and the other delivery companies will continue delivery. So up here, physical book releases might get delayed, since when you look at the list of “essential business”’s in Ontario, book sellers are not classified as an “essential business”. And just to clarify, about 40% of all-of-Canada’s population lives in Ontario. And from what I’ve seen of Quebec’s orders, book stores are also non-essential there, so adding in Quebec, you are looking at about 61% of Canada’s population not having a physical book store, like Chapters or Coles, for the next couple of weeks or longer, depending on how long these restrictions are in place.

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ford-say...mid-covid-19-pandemic-is-adjustable-1.4865528