Real-Life Decision Making
You're trying to publish your new comic book. As an independent illustrator,
you send copies of your comic book to a distributor and hope they will include
an advertisement for your work in a retailer catalog.
If it's included in the catalog, comic book shops can order copies
of the comic through the distributor, who would then tell you how many copies
they need.
You've had a couple comic books published before, and with the exception
of a few criticisms about your lettering, the distributors and retailers loved
your work.
There should be no problem selling this one. The quality of your artwork
is up to your normal standards and you feel you've done some very creative
and successful work with a new style of lettering. To top it all off, you've
sent your work to one of the big distributors who really liked your last comics
series.
You wait a month after sending the comic book to contact the distributor.
He hasn't called you yet and you're anxious to find out how many
copies of your comic book to order from the printers. The response he gives
you over the phone totally shocks you:
"I'm sorry. I like your artwork, but your lettering is hard to read
and just doesn't look professional. I'm afraid I can't promote
something that amateurish," says the distributor.
You feel wounded and furious. It's obvious the distributor didn't
understand the importance of your lettering style to the whole tone of your
comic book.
Amateurish? You're completely floored and only have a split second
to decide how to respond to this criticism.
Is it a good idea to tell the distributor off? He obviously doesn't
appreciate the complexity of your work and you'll happily find another
distributor who does.
On the other hand, he might promote your work if you contracted a professional
to do the lettering for your comic books or offered to redo it yourself.
What do you do?