News: Rantz On CBT Limited Edition Availability

A couple more people have reported receiving delay notices from Amazon for pre-ordered copies of the Comic Book Tattoo limited edition and one person let us know that Chapters.indigo.ca canceled his order outright. So, this following letter from Rantz Hoseley explaining the strategy they took and addressing the current situation with the limited editions appeared in our mailbox at a good time. Many thanks to him for sharing these details with everyone at a time when many are still stressing about tracking down a limited edition to call their own…

Because we wanted to make sure that people who pre-ordered the Limited Edition of Comic Book Tattoo did indeed GET their copies, and because Tori, her managers and myself were VERY concerned about the exact thing that seems to be happening… people ordering and not being able to GET the book after they were told they had it, we limited allocation to each outlet/venue. The Tori Store had 200 copies. Amazon originally had 300 copies. The rest were allocated for ‘the direct market’ (i.e. comic stores, and bookstores) A month after getting our initial orders from the direct market, less than 300 had been ordered. The Tori Store and Amazon had both sold through their allocations, and Amazon asked if there was any way to get more. At that time, we released (I believe) 75-100 copies to Amazon, leaving a buffer of 100 copies to the Direct Market for people who ordered later.

It APPEARS that there were some retailers (who will remain nameless) that kept selling when they had gone PAST their allocations, or they pre-sold the book without immediately securing a copy in the Direct Market allocation. One store, for example, ordered a TON (if speaking in literal terms, more like 2 tons… the book is damn heavy) of the Softcover edition, but pre-ordered NONE of the HC or the ltd HC. Customers from said store have been receiving emails and notifications stating that (for all intents and purposes) ‘it’s the publisher’s fault’, and frankly that’s a load, and it’s very upsetting to hear.

I am sorry and saddened to hear that fans who had pre-ordered the Ltd. Edition are getting yanked around this way, especially when we spent 2 months hammering on this very issue to make sure this did NOT happen to anyone. All I can tell you now, is check your local independent bookstore or comic shop. There are some copies that keep showing up in the retail channel! You can find (and call ahead… save yourself some gas!) your local/area comic shop with the Comic Shop Locator Service or by calling 1-888-COMIC BOOK (1-888-266-4226).

…and thank you to EVERYONE for the overwhelming response. It really has been a project of love, and we’re glad that the audience has been so receptive to it!

Rantz A. Hoseley
BauWauHaus Productions
www.rantzhoseley.com