Marvel could publish DC.

[MoonSong]

I think they are in the same position as us.

Now that they got the news, I guess they have to have their lawyers talk to those two entities about terms, etc.

Maybe in the nest few days we might get something more.

This was making the rounds. It is not from a publisher, but a retailer, and he isn't happy.


Now that I think of it, wasn't @FitzTheRuke a shop owner too?

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Now that I think of it, wasn't @FitzTheRuke a shop owner too?

I am indeed. Let me catch up on this thread and see what I think...

(Caught up Edit The original premise is absolute bull. EVS and his comics-gaters spend a lot of time on wishful thinking. The rumour that Marvel will Buy DC or the other way around has been going on since the 70's, every time either company does anything at all. It's almost certainly never going to happen.

Brian Hibbs is a smart, if grumpy, man and he usually knows what he's talking about. He sometimes presents it in an offensive, reactionary way, so he ruffles feathers.

As far as my opinion on what the future holds... DC should have waited a few more weeks. Diamond will start rolling out the held books slowly mid-May with things probably not going back to "normal" until July or August. Hopefully things won't go back to normal exactly - the market has been flooded for awhile and could use with less, better books. I hope they come up with a few compelling things to fit in there as an exciting "welcome back". A new Marvel vs DC may be gimmicky, but it might be just the fun, stupid thing we all need after this terror we've all been through.

Does anyone have any questions for me? I'd be happy to answer anything you're curious about. I've been a retailer for 27 years, so I've been through ups and downs before. (Nothing quite like this, of course.)

 

[MoonSong]

DC claimed Diamond orders were canceled, Diamond says something different

Diamond Talks DC Comics - "All Orders Still In Our System"

Diamond Comic Distributors is answering questions regarding comic book retailers and their orders for various DC Comics titles.

bleedingcool.com

Does anyone have any questions for me? I'd be happy to answer anything you're curious about. I've been a retailer for 27 years, so I've been through ups and downs before. (Nothing quite like this, of course.)

I have a huge doubt. I keep seeing this term thrown around, but I have no idea what it means. What's an FOC?

Also this might be slightly off topic, but how hard was for you to get a Diamond account?

 

[FitzTheRuke]

1) I have a huge doubt. I keep seeing this term thrown around, but I have no idea what it means. What's an FOC?
2) Also this might be slightly off topic, but how hard was for you to get a Diamond account?

1) FOC is Final Order Cut-off. About 4 weeks before stuff from the bigger publishers ship (they've added more publishers over the years - even ones the size of Oni and Zenoscope are on there now, just not the tiny ones) we get a chance to knock our orders up or down.

I've noticed a lot lately that they haven't been honouring a lot of the "upped" orders on hot books - which is weird, because knocking our orders UP is the only way the FOC is worthwhile for the publishers, so you'd think they'd want to do it. (Also, the whole point was supposed to be that the FOC occurs before they set the print-run, so they shouldn't be caught short. I'm not sure what's been going on there.

2) I was in business for a few years before Marvel started a distribution war that led to Diamond's monopoly. When I started, there was a Capital City Distribution warehouse not terribly far from my store, while Diamond's was about a 45 minute drive. So I didn't have a Diamond Account until Marvel went exclusive with Heroes World (which they owned before nearly going bankrupt) and DC chose to go exclusive with Diamond in response. This led to Capital City going under, which then Diamond bought. I can't remember if I'd already gotten myself a Diamond Account (to get DC) or if it all happened so quickly that Diamond bought Capital City that my account just switch with that. This was '95 or '96? Long time ago. Wasn't hard back then, as far as I know. It was harder in the oughts.

If you're interested in it, I doubt it will be all that hard in the near future. They will be desperately looking to replace stores that have gone under, and the publishers (good ones like Image and Boom) will often offer quite a bit of credit on backstock to a new account. Free stuff to get you started. More stores is good for everyone, believe it or not. (The only exception I could think of would be if you open right near another store and start a war that no one wins, but that would be a weird thing to do). Otherwise a store one town over? Good for the whole business. No reason you can't be friends with your neighbouring stores. Most of the ones I know would be happy to help a new guy out. (Within reason, obviously).

 

[Legatus Legionis]

.

 

[MoonSong]

If you're interested in it, I doubt it will be all that hard in the near future. They will be desperately looking to replace stores that have gone under, and the publishers (good ones like Image and Boom) will often offer quite a bit of credit on backstock to a new account. Free stuff to get you started. More stores is good for everyone, believe it or not. (The only exception I could think of would be if you open right near another store and start a war that no one wins, but that would be a weird thing to do). Otherwise a store one town over? Good for the whole business. No reason you can't be friends with your neighbouring stores. Most of the ones I know would be happy to help a new guy out. (Within reason, obviously).

There's only one Diamond store in the whole country as far as I know. I knew of another store in the same city, but I haven't been in that neighborhood in years and I don't know if it is still around and I only saw them selling back issue as collector items. I heard of another store in the same city, but I'm not sure if they are into the new comics business. There's certainly physical room for another one -I live in a huge city that spans across state lines-, it would depend on whether there is enough market and how small am I allowed to go -can you go with say four-five titles a week to get started?- with what I have in mind it would take about five or six dedicated customers in the first months to get things running.

I agree with @FitzTheRuke part of the job is to help expand the industry, make it healthy again.

As part of customer service, I have/had the manager call another store if they have the specific item they are currently out of (don't know if they can get back instock).

Referred customers enjoy that one went the extra step, and most that I knew of will remember that do come back/recommend that store/location.

This especially when it came to back issues.

Tell me about back issues. I just received a box of back issues, from my "local" store. I'm doing my part to help them, specially if it is cheap. Funny how I haven't bought new comics from them since April of 2009, and the last time I was physically there I only bought some old indie comics. I like them a lot because it is one of the only places where I can find older indie comics made by local creators. Is that or hoping the individual authors are still touring the convention circuit with enough back issues at hand.

There are other stores, but they seem to sell a very random assortment of back issue, there is not order nor any guidance to what they sell. I'm not even sure if they sell anything of it at all. It is all very arbitrary. For example, I've been trying to complete the Dan Jurgens run on a certain book, but nobody even knows or is informed enough to do this referral process -I'm starting to consider if it would be easier to settle for the digital version in Comixology with all the risks that it entails-. If you want to collect comics in here you are flying blind and hoping you just happen to find what you are looking for. If I got into this business, I would have to make sure to educate the public, hold coherent back issue catalogs, and provide a lot of guidance, and to help the local scene. Also to spend money on advertising.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

1) There's only one Diamond store in the whole country as far as I know.
2) I live in a huge city that spans across state lines-, it would depend on whether there is enough market and how small am I allowed to go -can you go with say four-five titles a week to get started?
3) with what I have in mind it would take about five or six dedicated customers in the first months to get things running.
4) Tell me about back issues.
5) I would have to make sure to educate the public, hold coherent back issue catalogs, and provide a lot of guidance, and to help the local scene.
6) Also to spend money on advertising.

1) I assume you mean county (if you're talking about Retail Stores with Diamond Accounts). If you mean where the Distributor is, yeah, Diamond consolidated down to a main hub at some point. I'm on the west coast of Canada, and I get my comics from Plattsburg New York. It's a strange way to do it (especially when most of the comics are printed in Quebec - they start in Canada, return to the USA, and then come back to Canada. They're shipped in trucks that cross the Rocky Mountains to get to me. Sometimes in winter the trucks get stuck in snow, and the books arrive, not frozen because they've got no moisture, but very very cold. Where I am it barely ever snows (unlike a lot of Canada, or eastern states), so it's kind of strange to get frozen comics. I digress.

2) It sounds like you have reasonable expectations. That's a good thing - gives you a leg-up on a lot of people who give this a try. There are minimum orders you'll have to meet (I'm not sure what they are ATM, but they're probably a bit bigger than you'd like.) but you can try to keep things as small as possible. (That would be smart). Again, some of the publishers will get you started with credit on their stuff.

3) Juggling pull-files and curating recommended reading lists is an art. You need to understand your customer's taste better than they do. Communication is everything. Get them to tell you what they like, what they don't like, and get a feel for it. Your own taste has to take a back seat. The best way to do that is to learn to love everything, as best you can, for what it is, so that if someone likes it, you can appreciate what they like about it, even if it's not your taste. At the same time, it's important to have good taste, and recommend good stuff. And be honest.

4) I carry one of the biggest back-issue bins in my area. I also have good prices. I don't call a book "near mint" when it's only "fine". I buy back issues from walk-ins at a very honest, very structured system: Comics printed before 1983 and Key issues from after (first appearances and such) I appraise at the price I plan to put on them. I give the seller 1/3 of that. If they want to sell the rest (I don't like to cherry-pick collections and leave people with crap) - I give them 5-25 cents each (usually averages to 10 cents, or $25 a long box) for the rest. I tell them this up front, and I don't "cheat". This actually takes awhile, so people need to drop the collection off and trust that I will call them with my offer in a day or two. All of this is honest and up front. It's the best way to be fair to the seller and to yourself.

5) Yes. I might be a little OCD. Customers always marvel at how organised my store is. I obsessively keep it in order, alphabetical, neumerical, signs, labels, etc. I never understand stores with comics everywhere so no one can find anything. You've got to do the extra work. Owning a store is not sitting around reading comics and chatting with other nerds. (You get to do that, but only when the work is done).

6) I don't know about that. I mean, yeah, get the word out as best you can, at least at first. I stopped spending money on advertising years ago. It never seemed to do anything, and I've seen no difference, but then, I've been there for 27 years. People google "comic store in my area" and they will get my store. That's free. Not much else helps. But you may know more about how advertising works than I do. Just be careful to use it smartly. Everyone will try to sell you advertising that won't work for you. You need to know what will work.

Another note I'll give you is, location is everything. Look for a place that has the right ratio of visibility (and accessibility - parking, transit, etc) with as cheap a lease as you can find. This is not easy, and very important. There's a reason that a lot of comic stores are (let's say) rustic. Just don't be dirty. There's a mom-and-pop charm to a worn-down building, but obviously don't get a dump. I don't know how malls are where you are, but where I am, they are dying and they're very expensive. I would avoid them, in spite of the foot-traffic, unless you know one that's still bustling and low-rent, but I can't imagine that being the case.

EDIT: Oh, and carry Magic Cards and D&D books. They take up very little space for their $.

 

[MoonSong]

1) I assume you mean county (if you're talking about Retail Stores with Diamond Accounts). If you mean where the Distributor is, yeah, Diamond consolidated down to a main hub at some point. I'm on the west coast of Canada, and I get my comics from Plattsburg New York. It's a strange way to do it (especially when most of the comics are printed in Quebec - they start in Canada, return to the USA, and then come back to Canada. They're shipped in trucks that cross the Rocky Mountains to get to me. Sometimes in winter the trucks get stuck in snow, and the books arrive, not frozen because they've got no moisture, but very very cold. Where I am it barely ever snows (unlike a lot of Canada, or eastern states), so it's kind of strange to get frozen comics. I digress.

Nop, I mean country. I'm sure Canada has a few dozen stores already, but here on the other end of North America things aren't as simple. Part of it is the language barrier, part of it is that the part of the country with the biggest chance of English proficiency is close enough to casually go shopping to the US. But essentially there is only three stores big enough to regularly ship across the country. Only one of them actively promotes new comics -and I know for sure they are a Diamond store-. The others, I'm not so sure with the focus on collectibles and pricey back issue, they could be Diamond too, but their business model can be satisfied by buying from -say- Midtown. Too bad quarantine came before I got to set foot on either. (But I'm almost sure that they aren't Diamond, because all other small comic stores focus on pricey back issue and don't get their stock from Diamond)

Muddying the waters is the fact that we have a few local publishers that have taken turns to republish Marvel, DC, Image and Dark Horse. Traditionally it was an old one called Vid that had a good distribution network, it was the one that had the license when Death of Superman and Clone Saga happened, and only lost Marvel by the late 2000's, but sadly lost DC too by the time of New 52. It went broke and was reborn as Kamite and only keeps Dark Horse and a few manga. Currently the DC and Marvel License is held by a publisher called Smash. Most manga is republished by the local branch of Panini. These comics are only 50 to 75% cheaper than new comics and are one or more years behind. You can find Smash comics in Walmart and Newstands though.

2) It sounds like you have reasonable expectations. That's a good thing - gives you a leg-up on a lot of people who give this a try. There are minimum orders you'll have to meet (I'm not sure what they are ATM, but they're probably a bit bigger than you'd like.) but you can try to keep things as small as possible. (That would be smart). Again, some of the publishers will get you started with credit on their stuff.

Hopefully, I think that if I could focus on twenty or so titles per month, and then rely on prepaid pre-sales for the rest. Then have key back issue for conventions. -There are about six to seven major conventions every year in my City-, I could have a healthy business model. These have to be the right numbers or it might not be feasible.

3) Juggling pull-files and curating recommended reading lists is an art. You need to understand your customer's taste better than they do. Communication is everything. Get them to tell you what they like, what they don't like, and get a feel for it. Your own taste has to take a back seat. The best way to do that is to learn to love everything, as best you can, for what it is, so that if someone likes it, you can appreciate what they like about it, even if it's not your taste. At the same time, it's important to have good taste, and recommend good stuff. And be honest.

This is cool advice.

4) I carry one of the biggest back-issue bins in my area. I also have good prices. I don't call a book "near mint" when it's only "fine". I buy back issues from walk-ins at a very honest, very structured system: Comics printed before 1983 and Key issues from after (first appearances and such) I appraise at the price I plan to put on them. I give the seller 1/3 of that. If they want to sell the rest (I don't like to cherry-pick collections and leave people with crap) - I give them 5-25 cents each (usually averages to 10 cents, or $25 a long box) for the rest. I tell them this up front, and I don't "cheat". This actually takes awhile, so people need to drop the collection off and trust that I will call them with my offer in a day or two. All of this is honest and up front. It's the best way to be fair to the seller and to yourself.

On back issue, I think that it isn't as important in here. There's a lot of focus in what is in "now", and from experience back issue is important to help sell the new stuff, but not worth as much by itself. I've seen key issues and and silver age comics priced at $80+ dollars sit for years in shelves pretty much untouched while multiple people shill those amounts to get a full storyline at once.

5) Yes. I might be a little OCD. Customers always marvel at how organised my store is. I obsessively keep it in order, alphabetical, neumerical, signs, labels, etc. I never understand stores with comics everywhere so no one can find anything. You've got to do the extra work. Owning a store is not sitting around reading comics and chatting with other nerds. (You get to do that, but only when the work is done).

I love to sort and organize too. I think it is very important that comics get sorted properly. Perhaps even going so far as to have back issues with a full story together or very close to each other. Also maybe polybag each and all individual comics, it always bothered me that new comics were always sold bare and vulnerable. while old and discounted ones were polybagged and pristine.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

EDIT: Oh, and carry Magic Cards and D&D books. They take up very little space for their $.

Which is probably why you are here

 

[Eyes of Nine]

1) FOC is Final Order Cut-off. About 4 weeks before stuff from the bigger publishers ship (they've added more publishers over the years - even ones the size of Oni and Zenoscope are on there now, just not the tiny ones) we get a chance to knock our orders up or down.

I've noticed a lot lately that they haven't been honouring a lot of the "upped" orders on hot books - which is weird, because knocking our orders UP is the only way the FOC is worthwhile for the publishers, so you'd think they'd want to do it. (Also, the whole point was supposed to be that the FOC occurs before they set the print-run, so they shouldn't be caught short. I'm not sure what's been going on there.

2) I was in business for a few years before Marvel started a distribution war that led to Diamond's monopoly. When I started, there was a Capital City Distribution warehouse not terribly far from my store, while Diamond's was about a 45 minute drive. So I didn't have a Diamond Account until Marvel went exclusive with Heroes World (which they owned before nearly going bankrupt) and DC chose to go exclusive with Diamond in response. This led to Capital City going under, which then Diamond bought. I can't remember if I'd already gotten myself a Diamond Account (to get DC) or if it all happened so quickly that Diamond bought Capital City that my account just switch with that. This was '95 or '96? Long time ago. Wasn't hard back then, as far as I know. It was harder in the oughts.

If you're interested in it, I doubt it will be all that hard in the near future. They will be desperately looking to replace stores that have gone under, and the publishers (good ones like Image and Boom) will often offer quite a bit of credit on backstock to a new account. Free stuff to get you started. More stores is good for everyone, believe it or not. (The only exception I could think of would be if you open right near another store and start a war that no one wins, but that would be a weird thing to do). Otherwise a store one town over? Good for the whole business. No reason you can't be friends with your neighbouring stores. Most of the ones I know would be happy to help a new guy out. (Within reason, obviously).

I started in retail in 1989 or so. Worked in, managed, and then owned my own comic/game store until July 31 2006, when I got out. I have memories of going to the Capital City warehouse in Cerritos CA to pick up my books from them. Then came Heroes World debacle and all that came after.

I do like the idea of Diamond monopoly being broken; but I don't think going with Midtown and DCBS is the right approach simply due to their "Discount off MSRP" marketing model. I would have rather they went with Lone Star as they have always been pretty standup.