geri_chan | A bit more on Tokyopop after all...

I went down to the comic book shop today to pick up Eensy Weensy Monster 2 (as mentioned in my last post), but it was sold out. (I don't think it's really a bestseller; the shop had probably only ordered a few copies of it to begin with.) I mentioned the news about Tokyopop, which the owner hadn't heard about yet, and he was completely floored. He knew about the trouble with Borders, but had also heard that TP had recently entered into a distribution deal with Diamond (the comic book distributor) precisely because of that. (He didn't say, but I assume that means that the publisher gets paid upfront with Diamond.)

I think things like that are partly why people are kind of surprised about the Tokyopop shutdown: everyone knew they were having financial difficulties, but they seemed to be carrying on business as usual and making plans to keep the company going, like the distribution deal and the new website. With Go! Comi and Aurora/Deux there were definite warning signs, with long periods of inactivity with no new releases or announced licenses, and in the case of Aurora/Deux, they were selling off old stock at rock-bottom prices. TP was continuing to announce and ship titles on schedule, so people like me and the comic shop owner thought they were still hanging in there, at least for the moment.

He's going to try to order more copies of Eensy Weensy Monster, but who knows if TP is going to bother with backorders while they're preparing to close down? OTOH, they might want to sell off as much of their remaining stock as they can. I'm sure I can find the book elsewhere if necessary, but that made me wonder what will happen to all TP's unsold books after they shut down.