Catalogs are then printed by the distributor and sent to all the comic shops, who then place orders with the forms included.  Those orders are returned to the distributor, processed, and eventually come back to me.  I am then able to tell my printing company how many copies of that month's issue to produce, which it does.  These copies are then shipped to the distributor, who sorts them amongst all the other comics coming in from all the other publishers that week, and sends them off to the comic shops.  The distributor takes anywhere from 10% to 20% of the cover price for this service while the retailer retains about 40% to 50%.  The rest of the money collected goes back to the publisher through the distributor, which issues payment 30 days after receiving books.  It takes about three and a half months to complete a full revolution of this cycle. 

In the comics industry, this is called the 'direct market', although that term may sound a little misleading. . . 

Originally, comics were distributed through a system not entirely unlike the current one, with the exception being that the retailers who carried comic books were not pleased with the level of service and the availability of titles.  A handful of shops got together and by-passed the distribution system, going straight to the publishers to ask if they might not buy directly (there's the word) from them.  --This would be like a shop coming to me and asking me to deliver without the books passing through the current distribution companies.  Nearly all the publishers thought this was a great idea, as it procured for them more revenue or simply got their books to market when before they had been hampered by lackluster distribution.

The one shop which started this ball rolling became a center of attention as more and more retailers decided to get in on the action.  --Cutting out the middle man meant a big savings, and suddenly it was possible to get all the titles a retailer wanted, where before the decision as to which books were made available, and how many, was left up to the distributor.  --That shop owner eventually got out of retailing altogether.  Warehouse space was rented, workers hired to manage the whole affair, and a catalog and order forms listing all the comics available through this new meathod were put out each month and sent to all the stores.  Thus a new type of distributor and the 'Direct' comics market was born. 

Another aspect which changed as a result of this was that while comics became cheaper, they were suddenly no longer returnable.  This put the weight of sales responsibility on the comic shops rather than the publisher, which in the past had to return money on unsold books, making the job of guessing at how many copies to print a risky business.  --Covers were torn from unsold comics and returned to the publishers for a refund, while the coverless comics were (supposedly) destroyed. 

Things have certainly changed! 

Today, solicitations go out, orders come back, and then comics are produced to eventually make their way into the hands of the readers.  Today's system makes available hundreds of comic book titles, and puts control and great choice into the hands of comic shop proprietors.  At the worse of times, this can be a leaky, poorly managed system, but at the best of times, it is a marvel without which I Box Publishing would probably not be able to exist.