IDW Publishing and Penguin Random House Publisher Services have announced that Penguin will exclusively distribute IDW’s comics and graphic novels to the direct market, beginning June 1 of next year.
The news follows Marvel’s similar announcement from earlier this year. IDW joins both Marvel and DC in moving away from Diamond Comics Distributors as their single path into comic shops.
“IDW succeeds when the Direct Market succeeds,” said IDW Publisher Nachie Marsham. “No matter how amazing our comics and graphic novels may be, it’s the retailers that are connecting readers with our stories. Because of that, I couldn’t be more excited about our future with Penguin Random House and I have the utmost confidence that every store, no matter the size, will see the benefits of the high levels of care and service that PRHPS brings.”
Retailers who want to continue to use Diamond to order IDW’s books will still have that option, as Diamond is a wholesaler for Penguin in the U.S. and the U.K.
“IDW have been wonderful partners these past five years and it’s been thrilling to see the evolution of its publishing program, and to support the phenomenal growth of their graphic novels into the book trade,” said Jeff Abraham, President of Penguin Random House Publisher Services. “With PRHPS’s expansion in the Direct Market, we see this as a natural extension of that partnership and look forward to putting the expertise of PRH’s supply chain, customer knowledgeability and sales know-how, and solutions-centered customer service to help bring IDW comics and graphic novels to even more fans throughout the world.”
Penguin will begin distributing Marvel’s products to stores in just as a few short weeks, as their deal is effective Oct. 1.