The direct market is the dominant distribution and retail network for North American comic books. It consists of one dominant distributor and the majority of comics specialty stores, as well as other retailers of comic books and related merchandise. The name is no longer a fully accurate description of the model by which it operates, but derives from its original implementation: retailers bypassing existing distributors to make "direct" purchases from publishers. The defining characteristic of the direct market is non-returnability: unlike bookstore and newsstand distribution, direct-market distribution prohibits distributors and retailers from returning their unsold merchandise for refunds.
Read more about Direct Market: Comic Book Specialty Shops, Impact, Direct Market Distributors
Famous quotes containing the words direct and/or market:
“He had robbed the body of its taint, the world’s taunts of their sting; he had shown her the holiness of direct desire.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)
“The market came with the dawn of civilization and it is not an invention of capitalism.... If it leads to improving the well-being of the people there is no contradiction with socialism.”
—Mikhail Gorbachev (b. 1931)