FoundryInk Academy Academy / Making money
Making money

Shops and retail

Comics live on real shelves too. FoundryInk has a public directory of indie comic shops anyone can search or add to, and a per-issue switch that lets you offer your work to retailers at a wholesale price. Here's the reader side, the shop-owner side, and the creator side.

Read time about 7 min

1Two different things called shops

It's worth separating these before you go looking. The Indie shops directory is a public, moderated list of real comic shops, brick and mortar or online. Anyone can browse it, and anyone can submit a shop to it. Separately there's a retailer portal, a business tool where a shop registers to receive curated print shipments on a cadence. They are entirely separate systems: registering a shop in the portal does not create a directory listing, and a directory listing cannot be claimed in the portal.

The retailer portal is not open to everyone yet. It's switched on per account, so if you don't see it in your account menu, that's expected rather than broken. Everything else on this page is live for anybody.
Pro note
Directory equals a map of great shops. Portal equals a shop ordering stock. Different jobs, different doors.

2Find a shop (the reader side)

Browse has a Shops section, and the full directory lives on its own page. Search by name, city, or description, and filter by kind: Brick and mortar or Online shop. Press Shops near me and, with your permission, it finds the ones within about forty kilometres and tells you how far each one is. Every listing carries its operating status (open, temporarily closed, or closed) and a get directions link that opens a plain, vendor-neutral map.

The Indie shops directory: Shops near me, a search for Derry, and the All kinds filter.
The Indie shops directory: Shops near me, a search for Derry, and the All kinds filter.See the full screen
Every approved shop also gets its own community room, so you can join the conversation around your local store, not just find its address.
Pro note
Check the operating status before you travel. Shops move, and the directory is only as fresh as the last person who told it.

3List your shop (the shop-owner side)

Run a shop? Use List your shop, from the directory page or the Shops section on Browse. You don't even need an account. Give the shop name and kind (an online shop needs a website; a physical shop needs a city), then optionally a description, full address, state or region, country, postal code, the operating status, and your email so we can reach you. Then Submit for review.

The List your shop form: Shop name, Kind, Website, Description and Address line.
The List your shop form: Shop name, Kind, Website, Description and Address line.See the full screen
The end of the form: Social links, an optional email, and Submit for review.
The end of the form: Social links, an optional email, and Submit for review.See the full screen
Submissions are human-moderated. Yours joins a queue, and a reviewer approves, edits, or declines it with a reason. On approval the shop gets a public page, gets placed on the map, and its community room is created automatically.
Pro note
Write a real description, not a slogan. The person deciding whether to visit is reading it on their phone in the rain.

4Offer your work to retailers (the creator side)

On any issue, open Access and pricing and tick Offer to retailers. As the hint says, this lets shops auto-stock the issue at a wholesale price, and you earn that wholesale amount per copy. Then set the Wholesale price, which must be above zero for the issue to go live to retailers. It's a separate number from what readers pay, and you are the one who sets it.

Offer to retailers ticked in Access and pricing, with a Wholesale price of 6.50 per copy.
Offer to retailers ticked in Access and pricing, with a Wholesale price of 6.50 per copy.See the full screen
An issue is only shippable to shops when three things are true: Offer to retailers is on, a wholesale price is set, and it has a printable spec (a trim size, and a page count of at least four that's a multiple of four). Distribution is off by default, so nothing goes to shops unless you say so.
Pro note
Turning this on costs nothing and readies the book. The shops that will order from it are still being let in a few at a time.

Get on the shelf

Find one, list one, supply one. Links into the app. Saved on this device.

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Quick questions

No. The submit form is open to anyone, though you can leave an email so a reviewer can reach you. Every submission is human-moderated before it appears.

It joins a review queue. A reviewer approves it (which gives it a public page, places it on the map, and creates its community room), edits it, or declines it with a reason.

Brick and mortar, or online. An online shop must give a website; a physical shop must give a city. Each listing also shows an operating status: open, temporarily closed, or closed.

Tick Offer to retailers on an issue and set a wholesale price above zero. Retailers can then stock it, and you earn the wholesale amount per copy. It's off by default on every issue.

It needs all three: Offer to retailers switched on, a wholesale price above zero, and a printable spec (a trim size, and a page count of at least four that is a multiple of four).

It's enabled per account rather than open to everyone, so it only appears in your account menu once it's been turned on for you. The indie shops directory and the wholesale switch above work for everybody regardless.

No. They're separate systems with separate data. If you want to appear in the public directory, submit the shop there too.

On real shelves

A shop found, a shop listed, and a wholesale price set. Now make sure the money side is watertight.

Disputes and refunds →