Happy Free Comic Book Day (May 7th)

cena

Read some where thats its comic book day today and that Irish readers can get a free copy of the green lantern in sub city in Galway and some other places in ireland but I don't remember were sorry.

Saruwatari

That would be Free Comic Book Day, it's an annual event most LCS partake in, and it's awesome.

In case anyone's wondering, Forbidden Planet on Crampton Quay will be giving out packs of ten particular comics (including Green Lantern / Flashpoint, Atomic Robo, Misadventures of Adam West, 2000AD, Criminal Macabre / Baltimore, and others), and I imagine once those packs are taken up they'll just let people take whatever singles are left. The guy behind the counter said you'd wanna get in as early as possible if ya want a pack.

They'll also be running a 20% on all graphic novels discount throughout the day.

Clover

Took my son into Forbidden Planet crampton quay this morning and he picked up one of the free comic packs , had four comics in it and a poster.

Green lantern , spider-man , 2000 ad , captain america + thor comics and a captain america poster.

cena

Thats cool. I didnt get into galway today. Wouldn't mind getting one of them free packs. Use too batman in the early 90's

Bistoman

Anyone else think " Free Comic Book Day" was a bit of a let down, Forbidden Planet had very little stock, But the 20% off Graphic novels was nice.
Dublin City Comics had Nothing, They said that they missed the deadline to apply ( Reasonable seeing as they are fairly new)
And Sub-City, The Guy in the shop told Me He didn't know what I was talking about.
Bad show Guys, If You want new customers, and lets face it We all do, You have to get behind this sort of thing.
Please try harder Next Year.

Fysh

Bistoman wrote: »

Anyone else think " Free Comic Book Day" was a bit of a let down, Forbidden Planet had very little stock, But the 20% off Graphic novels was nice.
Dublin City Comics had Nothing, They said that they missed the deadline to apply ( Reasonable seeing as they are fairly new)
And Sub-City, The Guy in the shop told Me He didn't know what I was talking about.
Bad show Guys, If You want new customers, and lets face it We all do, You have to get behind this sort of thing.
Please try harder Next Year.

I've not heard many complaints about specific shops, but I suspect your frustration is misdirected as a result of not really understanding what's going on.

Free Comic Book Day is a fairly recent (as in, less than a decade old) initiative under which retailers have to pay to receive books which are then given away for free, as an incentive for "new" readers. It's an annual event, and while the idea is nice there are several problems with it:

• Publishers charge for the material, so a retailer is already out of pocket at the start of the event
• A lot of publishers make their FCBD offerings tie into existing ongoing stories, which means that potential new readers have to compete with existing customers for limited stocks of the same title. (And in case you're wondering, yes, this does mean that existing comic readers who go hunting for every FCBD are not only missing the point but actively hurting their local shop).
• A once-a-year event may get new readers to pick up some comics, but it won't get them to build that habit of going to the comic shop regularly, which is what retailers need.
• The desirable new readers that FCBD is supposed to target will be kids and teenagers, but for the former there are precious few suitable titles (though this is a generalised Direct Market problem) and for the latter the cover cost does serious damage to their appeal

I have no doubt that comic retailers would like new customers, but the Direct Market setup makes retailers take all the risk with publishers and distributors insulating themselves nicely from any market problems. (Don't believe me? Have a look at these articles discussing the experiences of Direct Market retailers in the UK caught up in the speculator boom in the early '90s and see how much publishers cared about retailers. Then take a look at this article that explains how publishers charge retailers for promotional material. And people wonder why I look forward to the death of the Direct Market model...)

angelinalove

oh I think i miss this day. I am a very great fan of the Marvel comics. I have all the series of Spider man comics. currently i have started the X Man.

Bistoman

Fysh wrote: »

I've not heard many complaints about specific shops, but I suspect your frustration is misdirected as a result of not really understanding what's going on.

Free Comic Book Day is a fairly recent (as in, less than a decade old) initiative under which retailers have to pay to receive books which are then given away for free, as an incentive for "new" readers. It's an annual event, and while the idea is nice there are several problems with it:

• Publishers charge for the material, so a retailer is already out of pocket at the start of the event
• A lot of publishers make their FCBD offerings tie into existing ongoing stories, which means that potential new readers have to compete with existing customers for limited stocks of the same title. (And in case you're wondering, yes, this does mean that existing comic readers who go hunting for every FCBD are not only missing the point but actively hurting their local shop).
• A once-a-year event may get new readers to pick up some comics, but it won't get them to build that habit of going to the comic shop regularly, which is what retailers need.
• The desirable new readers that FCBD is supposed to target will be kids and teenagers, but for the former there are precious few suitable titles (though this is a generalised Direct Market problem) and for the latter the cover cost does serious damage to their appeal

I have no doubt that comic retailers would like new customers, but the Direct Market setup makes retailers take all the risk with publishers and distributors insulating themselves nicely from any market problems. (Don't believe me? Have a look at these articles discussing the experiences of Direct Market retailers in the UK caught up in the speculator boom in the early '90s and see how much publishers cared about retailers. Then take a look at this article that explains how publishers charge retailers for promotional material. And people wonder why I look forward to the death of the Direct Market model...)

I totally agree with all Your points, I haven't read Your Links Yet, I'm a little busy at the moment, But I believe You if You say it costs the comic stores to stock this merchandise. My point is that last Year, Even though it was pissing down with rain, FP and SC ware packed with customers, the Comic packs ware much Bigger, It seemed a much more planed day from the shops. And if it costs them to hold this event, They are still going to make good sales of shelved stock, just By having the shop full. Not everyone will take a comic pack and go home, Most will pick up Something, Pay for something. I'm no expert in marketing, But it seems to Me that a little extra on costs, to create a little profit has to be a good idea.
The Guy in FP told Me that He had to pass a Que of people at the door to get in that morning, So their is a market out there. And if it takes bells and whistles to get more people into the shop, Well thats what We need to do.
Look everyone is struggling to make sales, But when One shop says they know nothing about it, and another has 4 buddy's chatting around the till about football and ignoring customers when they walk in, well they are going to go out of business. and this will be a sad day for every comic book fan.
Check out Midtown Comics, Manhattan. They send out emails, texts,flyers and anything they can do to promote this day, They don't need to do this, the shop is huge, just off Times Square, But they Put in the effort, They make You want to be part of the day, and they have all of the available editions for every one. I'm not saying that Dublin shops should go this far, But make an effort, Give away that box of stuff that is sitting in your store room that You cant sell, Just do something, Anything.

Fysh

It's not as simple as you might think, though.

American comics publishers working in the Direct Market (which is the majority of what Irish comic shops sell) tend not to spend much money on promoting their wares outside of the existing comics marketplace. So adverts for Marvel or DC comics are mostly targeted at places where people already read comics (in the context of the internet for example, it's comparatively rare for me to see ads for US comics on websites that don't already have a comics connection).

This means that not only does the shop have to pay for the Free Comic Book Day giveaways and the promotional materials to go with it, they also have to pay to advertise their Free Comic Book Day event and whatever comics they think have the best chance of picking up an audience.

So right at the start you've got this substantial outlay, at a time when the economy is in the toilet. Potential new customers will pick up freebies, but there's not much there to entice them back next week because spending five euro and getting four comics (one paid for, the rest free) is fine, but going back next week and spending ten euro to get two comics isn't fine.

A crowd of one-off "new customers" who never come back and only just about cover the cost of promoting the event that brought them to the shop is of no use to any retailer. For a retailer to benefit from FCBD they need to be able to either have a massive increase in their daily takings on the day, or a substantial increase in ongoing custom. Anything else and it's pointless for them.

I've been to Midtown Comics in Manhattan. It's an enormous shop, right in the middle of the city, and has a massive established audience of regulars who spend lots of money on standing orders. It's also at the heart of one of the most comics-friendly cities in the entire world. There is no way that you can compare Midtown (or any of the decent NY shops, for that matter) to any comic shop in Ireland because the customer base is probably an order of magnitude or two larger than in Ireland.

The best idea I've seen is Free Comic Book May from A Comic Shop in Florida. Rather than a one-off event, they've made it a series of four events, where it starts with the traditional Free Comic Book Day - but attendees also get a stamp. Come back the next week with the stamp, and you get some other free comics - and another stamp. Come back the third week with the stamp, and get more free comics. And the same again for the fourth week. Each week focuses on different types of comics, to give new customers a good chance to figure out what they might like, and by the end of it you've got people who've been to the comic shop every week for a month and so will have started to form the habit of going regularly.

Bistoman

Fysh wrote: »

It's not as simple as you might think, though.

A crowd of one-off "new customers" who never come back and only just about cover the cost of promoting the event that brought them to the shop is of no use to any retailer. For a retailer to benefit from FCBD they need to be able to either have a massive increase in their daily takings on the day, or a substantial increase in ongoing custom. Anything else and it's pointless for them.

But in this case the Opposite is True, A nephew of mine, Who is a comic collector, was in town that day with some friends, Who are Not comic buyers, Went into SC and walked right out with out buying anything. Went down to FP each got a comics pack, and 5 of the 6 bought something else. Now this proves Your point of the "one day" sales, But 4 of the 6 have gone back to FP on the following Saturday and bought more, And they will be back tomorrow to get more. some effort does pay off. and in the case of SC, none of them will ever walk inside the store again.

Fysh wrote: »

I've been to Midtown Comics in Manhattan. It's an enormous shop, right in the middle of the city, and has a massive established audience of regulars who spend lots of money on standing orders. It's also at the heart of one of the most comics-friendly cities in the entire world. There is no way that you can compare Midtown (or any of the decent NY shops, for that matter) to any comic shop in Ireland because the customer base is probably an order of magnitude or two larger than in Ireland.

Now I wasin't sugesting that everyone has the ability to put in the show Midtown does, Just to point out how the best do it.

Fysh

Bistoman wrote: »

But in this case the Opposite is True, A nephew of mine, Who is a comic collector, was in town that day with some friends, Who are Not comic buyers, Went into SC and walked right out with out buying anything. Went down to FP each got a comics pack, and 5 of the 6 bought something else. Now this proves Your point of the "one day" sales, But 4 of the 6 have gone back to FP on the following Saturday and bought more, And they will be back tomorrow to get more. some effort does pay off. and in the case of SC, none of them will ever walk inside the store again.

I'll be honest, if they're any way seriously interested in comics they probably will, because frankly most comic shops in Ireland aren't really good enough to be able to offer you a proper selection of everything on offer.

It's somewhat disappointing to hear that Sub City didn't get in on Free Comic Book Day but on the other hand there have been signings there fairly often and Sub City did get behind Free Irish Comic Day; not to mention that Rob Curley (owner of Sub City) runs Atomic Diner press and seems to be more small-press friendly (in my own personal and utterly anecdotal experience) than Forbidden Planet.

Even if 5 of the 6 friends of your nephew bought something and 4 of them went back later, without knowing what the figures are for total FCBD visitors vs total FCBD sales, it's impossible to say whether it's worth it for a given shop. At a time when the economy's doing badly, taking a gamble to buy in stock that you can give away for free in the hope of attracting people who'll also then dip into their pockets and spend enough to not only cover the cost of the freebies but also turn you a profit isn't something everyone can afford, and the Direct Market comics biz is inherently conservative.

Put it this way:

Even if FCBD has had an 80% success rate at turning your nephew's friends into at least casual comics readers, it took free giveaways and the presence of an advocate to get them to even try it. FCBD is a once-a-year event. It's little more than a band-aid for the state of comics retail. Retailers won't be able to afford it on a more regular basis, so unless publishers decide to start funding their own promotional efforts and co-ordinating them with retailers (HAHAHAHA, fat chance when these publishers even charge for promotional point-of-sale items) there's very little chance of a sudden growth in audience numbers.

Bistoman

Sadly, I cant disagree