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Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 9:40 am Post subject: "Funny books don't sell."
Apparently DC has decided to stay clear of amusing comic books since Kyle Baker's clever and hilarious Plastic Man didn't sell.
So people who go to the LCS, where funny stuff isn't sold, don't go there looking for funny stuff. Intriguing.
Q1. You're a business. You've got a product, bought and paid for, which doesn't seem to interest your familiar customer. Do you a) find a customer interested in it, or b) flush the thing?
Q2. Your industry is contracting desperately. You have a new product with the potential to break out of the ghetto you've painted yourself into and sell to a whole new clientele. Do you a) offer it exclusively to your existing, shrinking clientele and, if they don't like it, throw away your investment on the product, or b) go next door and sell it to someone who wants it?
Q3. Do you want to a) depend on the amateur, few-and-far-between, offputting and unmarketed LCS network for as long as it can stumble on, and then go broke, or b) have a future?
Q4. You've discovered a fantastic new kind of confectionery. Do you sell it in a) a sweet shop, or b) a diet shop?
I could go on for as long as this winds me up, but that would be quite a while.
It's not that far outside the box. Stop thinking, "It's a comic, it has to go to a comic shop" and start thinking, "You can read it. Let's sell it to people who read".
IMP. _________________ RIVER: skin on the outside. First chapter FREE from www.ianmpalmer.com
Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 10:56 am Post subject: Re: "Funny books don't sell."
I didn't pick it up because I have never really been interested in Plastic Man and I find most humor books to be lacking but I do agree with thinking outside the box as far as selling strategies.
Recent funny comics tend to be galumping and unfunny. Kyle Baker, however, is the funniest man in comics and could lead the crossover into bookshops and proper readers. If anyone bothered.
IMP. _________________ RIVER: skin on the outside. First chapter FREE from www.ianmpalmer.com
Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 5:40 pm Post subject: Re: "Funny books don't sell."
I have never read any of his stuff. What would be the best stuff? But yeah .. recent ones do end up being rather unfunny. The best funny book I have read in a while is The Goon, which is irreverant and funny but still action packed.
i have seen a few comics in Books a million and Barns&Noble and even in waldens not sure if all listed are national and/ or international granted most where Trade paperbacks but their have been a few They just don't tend to be good sellers in the book stores. To be honest none of the local book stores in my area have a good selection of art books period. The simple fact if you spend money to sell a product to a sample group that might buy the product and it fails to meet goals you have no reason to believe it will sell anywhere else. It's a gamble and most people tend to play it safe instead of pitching to a new group.
You do have a reason to believe it if you've deliberately chosen the smallest and most specialised sample possible. Garfield sells, but not in comic shops.
Ghost, my favourite Kyle book is Why I Hate Saturn, which is adult without being coarse and sweet as well as funny. It's funny in a well-written-sitcom way, though. Plastic Man is laugh-out-loud outrageously funny, although in the later issues it's mocking superhero comics, which you'd need to know a bit about. First couple of dozen issues, though, as far as I recall, would work for anyone.
IMP. _________________ RIVER: skin on the outside. First chapter FREE from www.ianmpalmer.com
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