My comic shop seems to be changing to a graphic novel shop

[Doc Beechler (mod-MD)]

https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1800947514?profile=original

 

Take a look at the above promotion my comic shop sent me this week.  I think the increase in single issue prices (even with the reductions from DC and Marvel last week) has hit the shops hard.  My shop seems to be moving more and more toward becoming a graphic novel shop, with which I really don't have a problem.  What do you think? 

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Interesting. It seems to be a mix of two impulses:

1) a desire to *commit* people to buying the trades they're "waiting for." (And also, to make sure they buy them in-house, rather than from Amazon or DCBS.)

and

2) a desire to get some data on how many of specific trade series to order. These aren't necessarily numbers that can be derived by numbers of subs to the regular comic, since the trade audience is largely people who *haven't* bought the single issues.

I don't know if their intention is to get people to shift from singles to trades, but the incentive program might have that affect for some customers.It's an interesting tactic. Do you plan on taking advantage of it? Keep us posted on how it works!

I think a subscription for GNs is a little problematic, timing-wise. GN customers aren't necessarily weekly customers. How long will they have to buy the books, when they might only come in once a month (or less)?

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Coincidently, my LCS is beginning a five-week progressive liquidation of backissues (presumably to make room for more bookshelves) this week. Week 1 (this week) select stock will be discounted 50%; Week 2, 60%; Week 3, 70%; Week 4 80%; Week 5, 90%. Yikes! After that, anything left will be donated to the Dallas Public Library. (Travis, if you're reading this, take note!) I think it's the way of the future. I'm often reluctant, after tradewating a particular series, to pluncj down 20 bucks or more for a story I'm not sure I'll like. I'll sometimes buy the first issue as a "sampler" to decide, but at 4 bucks a pop that's getting to be a luxury I can ill afford and may soon change.

[ClarkKent_DC]

I'm a dinosaur; I go to comics shops to buy comic books, not trades. I started buying comics when I had to walk five miles to the nearest shop -- really! (Uphill! Both ways! I didn't have a car, and it was still easier and faster to walk there than take the transit bus, risking life, limb, and menacing dogs on the way!

Part of the fun of going to comics shops for me is finding those back issues I don't have, or finding cheap back issues that might pique my interest enough to seek the rest of the story arc, if not a lengthy run on a title. Buying trades -- getting the whole story at once in one book -- feels like cheating.

That said, more of the comics shops I frequent are turning into graphic novel shops. One store I used to go to had a pretty extensive 50-cent bin right up front, and I would estimate the mix of books on the shelves was 70 percent comics vs. 30 percent trades. I'd say it's now 20 percent comics and 80 percent trades, and that 50-cent bin disappeared one day. I asked the clerk what happened and he told me they shipped them all off to a store in Texas. ("The Internet is a wonderful thing," he said.)

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

My LCS -- or the shop near where I worked -- did one of those progressive back issue sales a few years ago. I got some great deals there -- and there were definitely some books I bought at 80% that I wouldn't have bout at 50%.

[Doc Beechler (mod-MD)]

I think we're rapidly heading into a market where readers try out series digitally and buy the trades if they like what they see. I had dropped a bunch of series when they hit $ 3.99 and I'm not going back. Of course, I'm also the guy who would rather give issues away than go back to bagging and boxing.

[Mark Sullivan (Vertiginous Mod)]

My LCS was way ahead of the curve on this. They've been offering a 20% discount on both comics and trades to subscribers (same five title requirement) for years. When I stopped buying monthly issues they kept giving me the discount on trades, without a strict title commitment. I did give them advance lists of what I wanted. It's still not a good enough discount to compete with the online stores, but the final deal breaker for me was their inconsistency in getting the trades I wanted on time. My recent unemployment made it easy to end the subscriber relationship. They're nice guys, though; they've offered to get trades for me occasionally if I just give them some notice.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

ClarkKent_DC said:

I started buying comics when I had to walk five miles to the nearest shop -- really! Uphill! Both ways!

In the snow?

[Doc Beechler (mod-MD)]

My initial list: Chew, Unwritten, Amazing Spider-Man, Secret Six, Walking Dead, Tiny Titans, 20th Century Boys, and BPRD.

The single issues I buy now all leave my house...if I can't shelve it, it goes.

[ClarkKent_DC]

Jeff of Earth-J said:

ClarkKent_DC said:

I started buying comics when I had to walk five miles to the nearest shop -- really! Uphill! Both ways!

In the snow?

Of course, in the snow! (I tell you, those six years I spent in Florida -- immediately after two years in Upstate New York, when the first snowfall came in October and it didn't melt away until May -- were the happiest years of my life.)

[Travis Herrick (Modular Mod)]

I think it is a nifty idea myself. My LCS already discounts all of their trades by 10-15% automatically, but I like this version of a GN sub. I really like the idea behind the $1 comics being returnable to the store to go towards buying the related trade.

Jeff: Thanks for the info. I never go to Titan, but with a sale like this I might have to make my way out there.

Clark: To an extent I feel the same way you do, but I do get tired of having 50 unfinished storylines, and being able to read a complete story is a lot more fun than spending years trying to get a missing issue. Not everything gets the trade treatment, so a lot of dealers at shows around here collect storylines which is awesome. I hate finding a mini I wanted to read and getting all but one issue. It is so defeating. Like I told my L:CS one time,"You should change your name to 'Every Other Issue Comics'."