Right now, we’re in a quiet time before big changes come, many are saying!
The recent bankruptcy declaration by Diamond Distributors continues to make “front line” people in the comics industry at the very least—nervous!
Yes, they can continue to do things the way they have previously been doing them, but for how much longer? I like to say that comics are a habit, that we buy, read, and support this industry many of us love on a regular basis, be it weekly, monthly, or at some other time that works best for us.
When something comes along that disrupts that pattern, like store owners and creators, we don’t like uncertainty! We want things to sort themselves out!
Granted, there has been something interesting discussions on the Internet about how this whole business will end up functioning in the months ahead. Diamond doesn’t have long to find a buyer for their various levels of functions, from the monthly PREVIEWS magazine to the yearly Free Comic Book Day event on the first Saturday in May, there are things to figure out!
One thing some of my friends worry about is, will “Diamond” continue to exist? We’ve dealt with that organization for years, decades even! They had a strong grip on how the comics industry functioned for a long, long time. It’s only natural that anything that impacts a monopoly will be seismic in nature!
For now, most local comics shops continue to place their orders mostly along the lines of the ways they have previously. Many don’t realize that stores have to place their orders like two months ahead of the time the books actually arrive to be sold. So, the orders being placed right now in February will be on the stands in April.
You literally HAVE to think ahead to be successful in this business! For now, and we don’t know just how long, things continue as they have been.
Anyone with a working crystal ball, please step forward and tell us what the next few months will be like!
I’m not very good at predicting the future—in fact, I’m nearly almost always off the mark when I try to forecast even a few weeks ahead. But like nearly all the fans, I do have some things I would like to see happen.
Streamline delivery and reduce loss. If there is one thing that aggravates both those of us in front of the counter and those of us behind it, it is when the books arrive in a condition that can’t be sold! ARRRRGH! I’ve literally seen boxes of comics that looked like they had been trampled on by people running a foot race! And I’m not a big condition guy—I often only care if it is in a state that I can actually read and understand the issue!
So many local comics shop owners I know just don’t understand how so much of the product they order has arrived in poor condition! It doesn’t really matter WHEN this failure to deliver a sellable product takes place—it just crushes a store’s ability to give their customers what they want, which is a good comic book in great condition!
Then, too, there has to be a way to speed up the replacement process. Store owners have often waited weeks, if not months, to get books in even decent condition to sell! This is honestly ridiculous, and the industry needs to do a much better job of making the process work!
Increase outreach to new and/or previous fans. Most of us are very happy just to maintain the comic book habit, but we can’t rest on our laurels. We need the industry to grow, for more fans to come to local shops on a regular basis so everyone can make money or get what they want!
Free Comic Book Day is one of the best things that has come from Diamond in recent years. People often stand in line at a store’s doors in order to get their free books, and many of those people will look over the other product being sold and actually buy something! For the best stores, that can translate into new customers who increase sales and help stores offer more product in the weeks and months ahead.
I always grieve that the Halloween version of Free Comic Book Day hasn’t been as successful as the event it was spun off. I mean, it makes such sense for stores to invite kids and others to come to their places of business in costume and pick up some free reading while checking out what else they could access there. It should be a no-brainer, but it hasn’t caught on! Are two events in one year just too much? I don’t think so! I think we just need to keep reworking Halloween ComicFest until it sparkles!
Get local shops back to being hubs of fan activity. I remember when, not that long ago, many of us fans used to meet our fan friends at our favorite shop(s) so we could pick up our “stashes”, then go to a local restaurant or gathering place so we could plunk ourselves down to read our new comics!
These days, I’m lucky if I even GET to my local shop! Life is so much busier, but we need to make local stores the fun places to meet they used to be! I’ve made so many new friends just talking with other customers in local comics shops! Frankly, I can never have enough good fan friends!
The best stores I’ve ever been to have been those who know what their customers want, then give that to them–and more! I’ve often talked about my current LCS owner, who knew that I would want this $200 Batman: The Animated Series statue. And was she right! I had to have it!
Many shops have been adding other related products and activities. Again, my local shop, Krum’s World in Winter Garden, Florida, now schedules Magic and related tournaments so fans can come and enjoy that activity there on a regular basis. They also have miniature car races several times a month, so there again is another fandom frequenting their store!
We need even more of that! If you can make something new and different happen that will bring more paying customers in their doors, hey, I hope you can make it happen!
There has to be more we can do to appeal to other fans and broaden our appeal to members in the local community! The best LCS’s will make that happen, I believe!
What do you think? What else should we in the industry be doing until the Diamond story resolves itself? What are other shops doing that other fans should know about? Does anyone also have any educated guesses on how things will look in June of this year? Or what you would like to see happen? Feel free to share your opinions below!
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