Publishers, Why Do You Hate Yourselves?

This weeks shipment is a massive one. About double the number of titles shipping as usual. Now the months are usually heavy at the end. In order to not be late, the books must ship sometime during the calendar month, so the end of the month is normally heavier than the rest. This one just happens to be exceptionally heavy. The problem I have with this practice is that, while I can expect it, it really hurts the smaller titles.

Lets look at Marvel. Along with big books like X-Force, Hulk, Fantastic Four, New Avengers, Punisher and Secret Warriors, they are also shipping a bunch of their mid-level titles, like Nova, Incredible Hercules, Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers Initiative. And throw in 2 Dark Reign List one-shots (sure wouldn't want to space those out weekly...) 3 Wolverine books and the kick -off of the next X-Men storyline (X Necrosha). Plus 2 of the 3 Ultimate Comics titles. Then they think that the small titles like Spider-Man Clone Wars, Anti-Venom Models Inc and Marvel Holiday Spectacular will have a chance. Even the most devout Marvelite isn't going to be able to pick up all of their books this week. So what get dropped? Its easy to say people will just pick the books they can't this week during a slower week, but it doesn't work out that way. People will make a decision this week to stop getting certain books. Its going to be those books that they really aren't enjoying. Or that are in a storyline that they don't care about. Where they would normally keep getting it out of habit, Marvel has helped them make the decision to stop getting it. So, how does this help anyone involved? The head of Marvel sales, when confronted with this problem, continuously states that the schedule is set evenly, but some books get behind. Since it happens just about every month, you'd think they could adjust for that.

DC is no better, shipping both Blackest Night and Green Lantern the same week. The main story is going through 3 books. There is really no reason for 2 of them to come out the same week. Plus we are getting Detective, Batman and Superman all the same week. I remember back when I was getting ready to open and DC would schedule Superman, Action, Detective and Batman for separate weeks. 3 in one week is crazy. Space them out over the month, please.

The other thing that frustrates me from all of the publishers is late books. The last issue of Kick Ass was so late that people have given up. I sold 17 less copies of #7 than I did of #6. How can I plan for that? Had the book shipped on a regular schedule, that wouldn't have happened. And to make things more fun, Marvel has manipulated the system so that these books are not technically late, so I don't have the ability to return unsold books. DC, while playing with the same system, still makes late books returnable.

But late books really hurt the small publishers. I realize that they need the money and have to get the books out as soon as they are done, but I really wish that they would have all of the issues of a small series done before starting to ship. And this isn't necessarily just small guys. Image is notorious for late stuff. Bad Dog was at least 6 months late. I have no idea where Four Eyes is, but I doubt anyone that was reading it will care when the next issue comes out.

My only real requirement for telling if a book is good is "Do I want to read the next one?" Unfortunately, out of sight out of mind. I might be loving a book, but if I forget about it, I am less likely to grab the next issue when it comes out. And if it were to come out on a week like this one, it really wouldn't stand a chance. "Do I want to get the next (insert big event tie-in) or get this book that I think I liked but its been so long I really don't remember what is going on in it?" So they kill their own sales and wonder why the market won't support them. And for every small company title that gets abandoned and never finished, the entire industry loses the trust of a customer and store in ordering small company stuff. That is wasted time and money for all involved.

So, please, don't ship all of you books at once. And if you can't hit some sort of schedule, please wait until you have most of the work done before sending it out.

Your readers and buyers will thank you.

Buying Comics

While my main goal is to sell comics, another part of my business is buying comics. And I buy a lot of them. Many are attic finds, or from the basement of a relative. Many are just thinning a collection. Far too many are people looking to cash out of their vast fortune of early Image and late Valiant comics. "But I have 6 copies of Spawn #1?" To which I answer "And if I buy these I will now have 258." But lately I have gotten some very nice collections. And it is reassuring. For all the crap I have taken in, it is nice to finally get some stuff I can put up on the wall. And with the recent expansion, it is also nice to have a place to put these books out for sale.

So, here is a quick lesson on how I buy books. One of my favorite questions I get on the phone is what percentage of book do I pay. Not all books are created equal. In the card (sports and non-sports) there are many card that are just called commons. Nothing exciting and minimal value. Most comics fall into this category. While the price guide my list these at cover price or a little above, that is more a factor of the guide not wanting to show that a comic is ever worth less than cover price. At worst, it will say "Cover price or less". But, sadly, during the overproduction (and poor quality) of books in the early 90's to early 2000s, many books can easily be found in Quarter or Dollar boxes. For these books, I typically pay $20 a longbox and hope I can turn them at a quarter each. While I may profit on them, the goal is more to make them go away. It puts books into peoples hands, but not a real profit maker.

Getting back to the "What percentage of book to I pay?" question, even if you have great books, I don't think you'll like the answer. I am buying books at wholesale and hoping to sell them for a profit. At some time. Maybe tomorrow, maybe next year, maybe in ten years. Asking me to pay you $20 for a book that guides at $40 isn't going to happen. I sell most of my back issues when they are on sale. So buying a book for $20 that I am more likely than not to sell for $20 doesn't make a whole lot of sense. And if it doesn't sell for several years, I am really out. So unless it is a book I know I can sell right away, my offer is going to be less. I just took in a nice collection of Thor, but it may take me 10 years to sell all of those books, so my offer was much less than book value.

This all brings me to a situation that happened this week. I bought a large (19 box) collection of books that ranged from commons (a lot of them) to really really nice books. My problem was this. The commons aren't worth a lot. The really nice books may be too nice in that they are very valuable, but because of that I don't know when or if I will be able to sell them. And all of those concerns were factored into the buying decision.

Now is it all as easy as this. No. Each case is different. but the overriding thing that I have learned is that I am not going to pay too much for books. If the customer takes my offer, great. If not, oh well. Most people that refuse my offer are for books that I didn't want in the first place. If you really want good money for your books, sell them yourself. Put them on eBay or get a table at a flea market. I'm not here to help you get rich off of your books. I am buying them in the hopes of being able to resell them. Given that back issues are a very small part of my business, I am not going to overpay for anything. It just doesn't make sense.

And Away We Go!!!

Dear Brave Followers and people who have stumbled across this,

Since the beginning, my goal was to have a daily blog. How hard could it be, really? Something interesting or exciting had to happen daily. Right?

Well, maybe not. But I am sure that I can put something up here every day. At least more often than my semi-monthly dispersals of info.

So check back every couple days. Hopefully I will have put something up.

Almost Done

The "Mom/Girlfriend Waiting Area"
The big hole
Back of the old side
View from the counter
Much more open now.
From the back towards the front
The small opening in the back, into the new side
From the new side looking into the old side



I just took these Saturday. I will post more when everything is neat and tidy.

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Well, there certainly have been a lot of changes going on in the comic world in the last week. Disney bought Marvel Comics. DC Comics corporate owner, Warner Brothers, decided that they needed to shake things up, make the properties more marketable and in the process their publisher, Paul Levitz left.

What does this all mean for comics? I don't know. And that scares me. I just signed a new 5 year lease for my expanded store. Will anything on comics be the same in 5 years. I don't know. They are the same as they were 3 years ago when I started. But, now? I don't know where they are going.

It has always been comics people in charge. But now its movie people in charge. Will it be for the better? Maybe. Maybe we need to shake things up. A lot of things do seem to comfortable. The end of every storyline always seems to be the beginning of something else rather than giving closure to the story. Maybe that will change.

I would love to see more stories about the story, rather than just continuing a story forever. Read Incredible Hulk 601 and tell me you would have any idea what was going on without reading the last couple of years of books. I love Daredevil dearly, but I don't even know where to tell someone to start reading. A customer came in asking about Superman. How do I help them make headway of that one? While I don't think they need to be dumbed down, making them more accessible would be great. How about some one-shots or two-parters? How about and Avengers book with actual Avengers in it. Or a Justice League with a regular Justice Leaguer?

This is my frustrating part about comics. I love them and I love selling them. But they don't make it easy to bring more people in. Selling trades of older stuff is great, but the new books are getting tough. And here is where the movie people come in.

Iron Man - Movie did great, in comics he was the most hated man in comics. Now, I will give them major props for starting the new book at the same time.
Batman - Movie did great, customers coming in were in the middle of the RIP storyine.
Green Lantern DVD - Not the best of time to try to jump in on Green Lantern.
Wolverine - Lots of interest, but in the middle of the Old Man Logan never-ending saga. Starting the new book at the same time was good, but not great, as there are already too many Wolverine books.
Maybe the movie people will help coordinate accessible comics when there is a movie coming.

But on the other hand, it is fun putting out the Whiteout book, so people see the new movie was a comic first. Same with Surrogates.

The thing that lead me to write this was on a comic retailer site, a comic news reporter was surprised that there was not much discussion about the DC shakeup. There had been a lot of commentary about the Disney/Marvel deal. What I wanted to say was this:

"The Marvel thing was a left hook to the body. Didn't see it coming. It could be good or bad. But even if it was bad, we could roll with it. DC is strong and steady. The DC thing was the right cross to the jaw. Didn't see it coming. It could be good or bad. But even if it was bad, we could roll with it. Except that Marvel is not the partner that DC is (or was). Paul Levitz was always concerned about us, the direct market. Marvel seems to see us as a necessary evil to get their books in the hands of their customers. We no longer have a rudder in DC. If both companies do things that are not in our (comic book stores) best interest, we could be gone. The basic business of comic retailing is the same as it was 3 years ago when I opened. I just signed a new five year lease. It's scary not knowing what things are going to be like in 6 months. Or a year. Or two years. Let alone 5 years. I'm not talking about storylines, I mean actual business. Will both of these parent companies decide to get rid of comics? Will they accidentally make decision (Heroes World) that will have major unexpected consequences on my ability to do business. What if Disney stores become the only outlet for Marvel Comics? And Warner Brothers follows suit? I can think of dozens of bad things. But not many good ones. I think most retailers are just sitting here hoping for the best."

So right now, I will go to the store and do the best job I can to make my business as strong as I can. maybe now would be a good time to get more into the gaming business....

Expansion!!!

Wow, I haven't done this in a while and there is a lot to say.

After getting the news of the rent increase, I started looking around. I missed out on one spot that would have been really good. Too good, so I knew I was too late. Then I kept looking all around the area. Nothing was as cheap as what I am paying now, even with the rent increase. My neighbor was already on the fence about renewing, so with the increase, she decided to move. This lead to an opportunity for me, to take over her space as well.

They broke through the wall today. They are making a 6 foot opening and a 3 foot opening between the 2 stores. This was limited because they had to put a beam up to support the ceiling. But it is just as well, because I need as much wall space as I can get. I don't know exactly what I am putting where on the other side, mostly because I didn't know exactly where the holes were going to be. There is a big difference between what I can fit in 5 feet of space and 6 feet.

Here is a picture of my new hole.

The store is a disaster right now because of having to move things quickly to make space for the hole (right in the middle of my new comic wall.

Here are the rest of the pictures of the work in progress.

I will post more pictures as soon as I can figure out how to format them better

Rent, Leases & Landlords

Lots going on, mind swirling, emotions in full rage and stomach flip-flopping.

My lease is up the end of August. For the last few months, I have been including a note with my rent, asking to talk about renewing my lease. So, it really wasn't a mystery that I wanted to stay. I thought that would be appreciated by my landlord, especially in this economy. I can't imagine that there are that many people looking to open new businesses right now.

So, when I get home Wednesday, there is a package in my mailbox from an attorney. "What did I do?", I wondered. Well, I opened it up to find a cover letter about signing and returning my new lease. As I look it over I see my base rent is going up $1 a sq ft. Not unexpected. But wait. Base rent? I was just paying rent. So I keep reading. They are now adding a "Common Area Maintenance and Taxes Fee" to my rent. And adding this to the increase in my base rent increases my total rent by 50% over what I have been paying. That is quite a hike, in my (and every one of my customers that I have told about this's) opinion.

I understand the concept of Common Area Maintenance fee. But this is not a shopping center. It is three stores in one building. About 4000 sq feet total. There are about 10 parking spaces and a little strip of grass. I don't understand what maintaining this area could be. For the first 2 years, she had someone weedwack the weeds every couple of months. There is usually a large hole in the middle of the parking lot that people have to drive around. The hole has been filled for a bit and they have actually been cutting the grass every other week or so since the spring. But I am not paying thousands of dollars for that. Property taxes are there problem. That is what I am paying rent for. For them to pay the mortgage and taxes on the building. Why make me pay for their property taxes AND also pay more in rent. That's like getting the best of both worlds. "We don't have to pay taxes or maintenance anymore. Lets raise their base rent to so we can make even more profit."

So, after not sleeping all night, I give them a call when I get to the store. Lo and behold, they are on vacation until today. Seriously, you drop a bomb like this on your tenants and then are unavailable? Not cool. If anything could have made me more angry, that was it.

Wednesday night I had emailed some of the big commercial places that had spaces available. I know that most are out of my price range, but you never know. Many have been open for a long time. On the way into the store Thursday, I drove around the area writing down numbers of available properties. I planned on using my typically slow Thursday morning to call around and maybe go see some when my help arrived. There was a specific place I new about. A boring 1500 sq ft rectangle, but not a bad location. In the building next door there was a 3000 sq ft space available. Way more than I could ever afford, but I wrote the number down anyway. "What the heck, it couldn't hurt to call, right?" I called both the numbers and arranged to see both places around 4:00. Luckily, the day was much busier than a normal Thursday. I talked with my customers about the potential move somewhere. Everyone was shocked by the 50% rent increase.

So, I finally sneak out of the store to go see the 2 places. Both are on a main road here. My current place is 1 block off the main road, but on a still busy road and right across from an entrance to a big shopping center. I am peering through the windows at the 3000 sq ft place. Hmmm, lots of windows and doorways. Not good for me. I need lots of walls for comic racks and bookshelves. There is also a big wall with what were changing areas for the dress store that used to be here. It looked like a lot of work to get it ready. And the fact that it is 3 times the space that I have now. I can't afford to triple my rent, and being on the main road, the rent per sq ft would probably be even more than I am paying now, so it is probabaly way out of my price range. The landlord, gary, gets there and we go in. Well, its may not be too many windows because there are a bunch of mirrors I thought were windows. The dressing area could easily come down. Not structural. There are a couple of extra rooms that I don't need, but may be able to do something with. OK, this could work. But how much? While it is more than doubling what I am paying now, it is only $900 more than what I will be paying under my new lease. $900 for better location and 3 times the space. That could work.

I leave and go look at the other place. A 1500 sq ft rectangle. I really don't like the space and the price is way too high for what it is. Only $250 less than the 3000 ft place. So my wife is out and about with the kids. She wants to see the big place. So we go look. I brainstorm some ideas about what I would put where. We both like it, but we are worried about the increased rent. I am comfortable with what I am paying now. More than doubling that is scary. Will I do enough extra business in the new place to cover that increase? I don't know, but at least I was able to sleep.

After talking it over that night and morning, we agree to go for it. The space is too good to pass up. I am completely out of room where I am and I need the extra room. This is far more than I would have looked for, but it is too good to pass up. So, I call Gary and tell him I'll take it. He had mentioned before that he was waiting for a guy to sign a lease on it, but he was still getting his numbers together. He is planning on gutting it and putting $25,000 into it to remodel it. I will take it as is. He said he was giving the guy this weekend to get back to him. He called him Friday and his business was closed for the holiday.

So, I should find out today what is going on. He is telling this guy he needs to sign now because he has another another guy (me) who wants the place. What will this unknown guy do? I don't know. My fate is kind of in his hands. Gary wants to rent the place. Its been open for a while and he could use the income. So I don't think he'll let this guy play him for long. I hope not.

My tummy is all flip-floppy. I am excited about the prospect of taking care of my sudden rent problem quickly. I love the idea of more space. I am doing my best not to think about what I would do in the new space so I won't be too disappointed if the other guy signs. But I am also scared of the new rent amount. Its not like I have that extra amount just laying around at the end of each month. I am also concerned about what all will be required to actually move the store. A bit of a logistical nightmare. It has to be done all at once. Close Saturday at the old place, reopen Tuesday at the new place. Coordinating the phone and all that stuff. So I am excited and scared at the same time. Kind of like when I signed my first lease.

I am 90% sure I am not going to get it, that the other guy will sign and I will have to continue my search. I am a firm believer in fate and what was meant to be will be. If I don't get it, I wasn't meant to. I have been needing more space for the last year, but I was willing to resign at my current place for convenience. I am looking at this whole thing as fate's way of saying I need more space and its time to move. So it may or may not work for this space. Hopefully I will know something in the next few hours. Then I'll be able to eat.