Distributor refusing Comic Book orders

[arvtoon]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Maryland. Last September a comic book distributor agreed via e-mail to solicit my independent, self-published comic book in their printed catalog for national retail distribution.

Upon their agreement to carry my book, I prepared, created and submitted art for a half page, $100 "Spotlight Ad". I was told my art was fine and everything was in place for the ad, and that the catalog should be released in late Oct.

Then I did not hear back from the distributor for several weeks. I sent several inquiries as to rather I'd be receiving a contract concerning the solicitation of my book, or an invoice for the ad space I'd purchased.

When I finally heard back from the company there had been a restructuring of their business, the catalog was now to be online only and I was told it would be out in late Nov.

The catalog was finally posted in late December, with my ad in it, but it was a previous version of the art with the wrong list price (though I had provided corrected art months earlier), the company also decided to take the art from a quarter page ad I'd initially prepared before deciding to purchase the larger half page ad, and enlarge it to a full page filler ad next to my Spotlight (half page ad). Had I known they were going to enlarge my art and use it, I'd have prepared better art. The full page looked tacky- damaging to the rep of a budding publisher, and they never had my permission to run it.

When I pointed out these issues to the distributor I was angrily accused of looking a gift horse in the mouth and they have now decided not to fill any orders they receive for my book, even though they have already had the ad posted since Dec.

The only written confirmations I have are the distributors e-mails agreeing to carry the book. I have no contract, and have yet to be invoiced for the ad, though I've offered repeatedly to pay.

Considering they're not filling orders could be damaging to my and my company's reputation and potential revenue, and that they essentially altered and ran the quarter page ad without my permission, do I have any legal recourse here at all?

I apologize for the lengthy explanation, but it's a tricky situation. Please advise.

 

[Hot Topic]

Without a contract in hand that includes every detail and has both parties signatures, it's going to be difficult to prove your case.

If your art was fine, why was it corrected?

You haven't been charged for the ad. Without seeing what was published, it would be hard to judge how or if you had been damaged.

 

[arvtoon]

The distributor suggested I drop my cover price from $4.50 to $4.00 to be more competitively priced, I did so and sent them revised ad art with the lower price. When the ad was first posted it still had the $4.50 price, though they had already received the art with the corrected price from me.

The ad is still currently posted in their online catalog (havendistro.com- online catalog, pp. 92-93), though they replaced it with the corrected art after I pointed out the error, which is when they got angry with me for being "picky" about the ad I thought I'd be paying for, instead of grateful for the free full-page ad (which I was never told about, and didn't particularly want).

The only reason I've yet to be billed for the ad is the restructuring of their company and a previous partner who has since dropped out and was apparently responsible for that ad revenue and collecting it. The catalog itself changed name and format between the time I agreed to purchase the ad space, and the time it was "published" online.

The damage comes when retailers see the ad in their catalog, go to place an order for the book, and are told the distributor is no longer carrying the book. This reflects badly on me and my company, as if I am unable to fill the orders, when it's actually the distributor who simply won't process the orders.

I really only want the distributor to forward any orders they may receive to me, so I may fill them myself, but I feel only legal recourse (if there is any) would convince them to do so at this point., but I only have e-mails from two of the distributor's employees agreeing to carry the books, and as stated, no official contract. Are those e-mails binding in any way? Is there some sort of misrepresentation going on here, of their company and/or my ad? Please advise.