free comic book day

Draco · Post by **Draco** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 1:00 pm

Ok, lets clear up a few things here about free comic book day from a retail POV.

The comics do cost but not normal price.
In the UK when i have participated marvel books were roughly 6p/12c and the high end books were 12-15p/25-30c, which is still a good whack when ordering 10 to 20 titles at 100 copies each to give away. but worth it if you have a clear well thought out plan of attack.

I think prices may have all gone up a bit but am unsure as i am currently in between shops and so unfortunately wont participate ( more on that later).

Some shops wont participate for a number of reasons.

Some because they dont believe in giving away anything for free( more fool you).

Others cannot afford to buy comics even at 25c to give away ( which is a shame but probably a sign of where their future lies).

Some believe the only people who will come through their door that dont normally, will take the free books and leave and i do know of a few cases where this does indeed happen, but there are reasons for that too and all of them point towards lack of support from the retailer in 99% of instances.

Some just dont have a clue how to market themselves in any way whatsoever and cant see much beyond selling a few items of new product to pay the rent and sit on their fat a**es being ignorant ( we all know who they are !!! )

There is im sure the odd instance where there are several retailers all occupying a close area and vying for business which may create all kinds of problems, but if you tackle free comic book day the same way you tackle most other aspects of sharing a close area with other retailers, the rewards may well still be there.

The ones who do participate as they believe in furthering their own growth and general growth of the industry do well from it and heres why.

If you market your store correctly well before the month of may to coincide with free comic book day, you should see most of your regular customer base over the weekend and enjoy and good hit of new potential customers too, who before that day may have walked past and not even looked through the door.
If you get it right and only a small percentage of those new faces come again, over the time it takes to hit the next free comic book day you should have made your money back and then some.

You dont have to just give away the comics you buy made and designed for free comic book day.
You can give away stuff you normally have for 25/50p/50c/$1 or have have crazy one day sale on your cheaper back issues etc.
you can give away grab bags which could contain anything from a cheap overstock/promo/trading cards etc to any number of unwanted items lying around your store too.
Do a discount on a specific TPB that day which you could arrange to have on sale or return from a supplier.

By putting well placed ads ( sometimes free) from sites such as Libraries (where you could have a member of staff do a talk about graphic novels etc) to supermarkets, Colleges, schools( again more talks can be arranged), dentists or a giveaway competition in conjunction with your local paper, cinema or radio station, you should get the desired results.

Libraries and colleges etc all have spaces where you can advertise these for free and you dont even need to wait for free comic book day either.

If after a year or so you see no growth diversify your free comic book day event.

Have a signing that day.
Do a charity auction.
The options are endless and you dont have to use all the good ideas up all in one year.

My business will be participating next year regardless of having a shop or not in all the ways mentioned above.

We do a regular mini mart all of our own where we are the only trader and we get to lay a good chunk of our 100,000 stock out to peruse.
Before we open and after we close we get to work on the stock and some regulars stay to chat and catch up which is great and very cheap to run.

We have tried this over the last six months and found it too be most effective with minimum layout and advertising and are just about to employ all of the tools mentioned above to grow our business once again.

You dont have to wait for free comic book day to create awareness of your store/business.

if you need someone else to tell you what day of the year to do this and how to do it chances are you have already reached as far as you can and if you are happy with that then thats fine, but for me continuous growth is without question the only way to go.

As for VEI not participating in free comic book day i would have thought that was obvious.

Becoming a free comics book day publisher needs to be set up a long time before the actual event.
Im not sure how long but i would imagine it makes sense to start this as soon as the last finishes.
What with the legal side of things taking up their time and resources how would that have achieved this exactly?

I did suggest free comic book day next year as a great way to get awareness of the New Valiant for next year especially if they will be putting out some form of new titles by years end.

Ok

over

Thanks for listening.

cheers

Ian

Chiclo · Post by **Chiclo** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 1:57 pm

Looks like Free Comic Book Day corresponds to a Comic Expo in Lubbock.

I know where I'm going...

Heath · Post by **Heath** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 7:15 am

Draco is quite right from a retail perspective. The books do cost a little bit, but so does advertising and that's what this is. If a retailer looks at it simply like "I'm just buying comics to give away" then they're going to fail. If they look at it is an "event" to be marketed and used (sometimes in conjunction with other events such as a sale, a signing, etc) to promote not only their store but the hobby in general, then they will probably succeed.

It costs money to advertise and spread the word about your business. FCBD is the industry's attempt to help you do that. Smart retailers take advantage of it.

Elveen · Post by **Elveen** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 10:10 am

I will be checking out FCBD for the first time this year.

My LCS is going to have some signings..... not sure who..... but they said someone.

Chiclo · Post by **Chiclo** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 1:42 pm

I was talking with Ed today and my LCS is not participating.

That's ok, there's a comic expo in Lubbock that day and I'll get some free comics there, I'm sure.

damien308 · Post by **damien308** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 11:59 am

have the iron man figures at burger king hit anyones area yet ?

Detroit Mike · Post by **Detroit Mike** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 9:15 pm

Mouse Guard's David Petersen will be at Green Brain, in Dearborn, MI, on FCBD so my girlfriend is actually looking forward to it.

Daniel Jackson · Post by **Daniel Jackson** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 11:44 pm

damien308 wrote:have the iron man figures at burger king hit anyones area yet ?

I think they had them yesterday in my area.

MedicAR · Post by **MedicAR** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 9:07 am

Detroit Mike wrote:Mouse Guard's David Petersen will be at Green Brain, in Dearborn, MI, on FCBD so my girlfriend is actually looking forward to it.

If you can, you should go meet him. He has to be one of the nicest guys in the business!

sanman · Post by **sanman** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 11:29 am

One Baton Rouge LCS that specializes in Goldenage and Bronzeage books runs a ½ price sale in conjunction with participating in FCD .

It’s a win for the seller who is actually making money while supporting the hobby and a win for me as I have always gotten good deals.

Richv1 · Post by **Richv1** » Sat May 03, 2008 2:47 pm

I just got back from hitting all the stores here. I picked up around 50 free comics. FCBD is great.

Richard Vasseur
http://www.jazmaonline.com

betterthanezra · Post by **betterthanezra** » Sat May 03, 2008 3:39 pm

My retailer is offering 50% off all NEW comics for the day and that include the Valiant HC's both Harbinger and X-O manowar ones...

I may have to pick up another set of them at that price.

Anyone else?

-Brian

daydreamscomics · Post by **daydreamscomics** » Sat May 03, 2008 6:17 pm

as a retailer who does participate in FCBD (at least this year, we'll see about next year) here's my perspective:

FCBD, for all intents and purposes, is a decent idea.

What is flawed are the majority of people who participate in it.

- When you have people come in one year, and you don't see them come back into the store until the next year, it's a failure and waste of money.

- When you have your regular customers come in and pick up the same titles/companies that they already read, it's a failure and waste of money.

- When you have people complain about condition/who buy bags and boards for these books/complain because they can't have a copy of EVERY book/*SQUEE* because they are all stamped...well, it's a complete failure on so many levels.

THE POINT of FCBD is to:

1) Try a comic FOR FREE that you otherwise wouldn't spend money on

2) Give people who don't typically read comics an opportunity to see what comics are all about, or introduce children to comics.

If people treated it correctly, I wouldn't have a problem doing it. But when we are dishing out between $200-300 to supply people with items that will create minimal impact on our regular sales down the road, it doesn't seem worth doing.

Granted, there are a very small percentage of people who will walk in the door today and walk in again sometime over the next year and buy something. I'm cool with that.

But overall, most people use FCBD as an excuse to take the kids out and get something for them without having to spend any money. I would think most parents would be willing to spend $5-10 a month to get their kids excited about reading...

Just my 2 cents on what I see going on...

Richv1 · Post by **Richv1** » Sat May 03, 2008 9:01 pm

Well most of the people I saw out today were teens or early twenties. Some kids and older people yes but not the majority. But you are right most of the older ones were regular customers.

dellamorte · Post by **dellamorte** » Sat May 03, 2008 9:01 pm

Crap. I just realized that I miseed free comic book day.

1st Among Equals · Post by **1st Among Equals** » Sat May 03, 2008 9:30 pm

Did everyone get the Iron Man Heroclix?

Elveen · Post by **Elveen** » Sat May 03, 2008 9:42 pm

dellamorte wrote:Crap. I just realized that I miseed free comic book day.

We had my girls b-day today, was not able to get out.

Richv1 · Post by **Richv1** » Sat May 03, 2008 9:59 pm

Yep I got one but I'm giving it to my nephew. He loves action figures.

superman-prime · Post by **superman-prime** » Sun May 04, 2008 12:48 am

Got the iron man, was at a store for 2 hrs today, normally he is slow but, he was way busier and not a lot of regulars, his sales went up alot and he gained 10 subscriptions by the time i left he does it right and takes care of his customers

Squirrel · Post by **Squirrel** » Sun May 04, 2008 4:26 am

I wasn't able to get to FCBD as yesterday was my NKF benefit! If anyone got copies of these, I'll buy off ya please let me know ( 2 COPIES OF EACH PREFERED, ONE FOR ME AND ONE FOR MY SOON TO BE 7 YR OLD SON)....

E.C. COMICS SAMPLER

KIDS LOVE COMICS! COMIC BOOK DINER

VIPER COMICS PRESENTS: KID HOUDINI AND THE SILVER DOLLAR MISFITS

MARVEL ADVENTURES: IRON MAN

TINY TITANS #1

Richv1 · Post by **Richv1** » Sun May 04, 2008 4:28 am

Yep a good dealer does make all the difference in the world.

Richv1 · Post by **Richv1** » Sun May 04, 2008 5:50 am

Oh well. All the shops here participated. They even hold a draw for prizes.

Todd Luck · Post by **Todd Luck** » Sun May 04, 2008 1:28 pm

Interesting. I went to my LCS and my dad went to the one near were I used to live. I noticed two patterns I hadn't seen before.

A) Both retailers put a limit on how many free comics you could get. My dad could only get one at the small shop he went to. I could get 8 from my LCS, which is supposedly a gold sponsor but had a shockingly limited selection when I got there an hour after they opened (guess they went fast).

B) Both retailers put in non-free book day stuff in with the free comic selection and counted them towards their limit of free books. Two out of the eight "free comics" I got I discovered were art teasers books from Marvel, the type that are normally available beside the register for free on any given day at my LSC. My dad's one free comic at his LCS ended up being a a FCBD comic from 2005.

But I understand it's tough out there for retailers so I don't hold it against them. Just hadn't encountered that before.

I will say that in the hour I was there I saw at least 3 families that had never been in a comic shop get handfuls of comics out of the back issues (my LCS had a sale that day with $1 comics going for 10 cent and 60 percent off back issues). And that's what it's all about.

Richv1 · Post by **Richv1** » Sun May 04, 2008 1:38 pm

I know all the comics I got on the FCBD tables were all this years ones. A couple dealers also gave away back issues free but they were kept separate.
Most places had limits of 3 but they didn't mind if you took a few more.

Richard Vasseur
www.jazmaonline.com

sanman · Post by **sanman** » Sun May 04, 2008 2:20 pm

1st Among Equals wrote:Did everyone get the Iron Man Heroclix?

A buddy in New Orleans had to pick one up for me as not every LCS around here is into Heroclix.

What I'm looking for is the WORLDS OF ASPEN #3—did it actually come out?