Your books in a local store

[Rich Leazer]

Has anyone tried this? Any success?

The local comic store owner near me says he will put Ronin books on the shelf if I supply them. He will keep track of sales, naturally.

Which brings to mind, has anyone put barcodes (UPC) on the their covers. It makes it easier for store owners to enter them into their POS system.

Would you want me to put your book on his shelves to see how they sell in this small market? Let me know.

There is also a larger store near where I work, about 50 miles away from this local store and although I haven't asked them about shelf space, I think they might be agreeable to letting us put Ronin books on their shelves.

At this stage though, I think until we can show that Ronin books will sell of the shelf, the writer or creative team would have to supply the books.

If anyone has any interest, just let me know.

[J. Andrew Clark]

I'm totally interested in this. I've got copies of Scar Tissue #1 that I can send your way, both in color as well as B&W. Let me know how many of each your LCS would be willing to carry. Thanks!

[Ryan W!]

I haven't tried this myself, but I know a few people that have talked their LCS's into putting their comics on the shelves. It all depends on how well you know them, or how well you can sell the book.

If you're on good terms with them, it's practically an automatic in, just have a product. Otherwise, you'll need to sell them on it, but if it's a fully-made book of any quality, they'll probably put a few issues up.

UPC codes are really only necessary if you get them distributed widely (that's what I think, anyway, not 100% on that).

[John Coons]

The owner of the comic shop in Portland (ME) told me to bring in some issues once I'm published and he might stock some. He likes to sell stuff "by his customers."

Now all I have to do is get published (but that will happen soon).

[J. Andrew Clark]

Hey BlueNote, would you be willing to take some of my books to him?

In fact, how about every Ronin member go to their local shop and ask if they will stock Ronin books for one another? If everyone does it, that's a few more than if we each have to go on our own. Strength in numbers and all that.

[Rich Leazer]

Genius J,

I'm due to stop in there on Tuesday. I will ask him about numbers and let you know.

[Sean_McDevitt]

I have two shops here in my neck of the woods. Lucky me!

One owner is a prick and wouldn't dream of having books like that in his store. The pro artist Jacen Burrows (Avatar stuff) lives in Champaign and he wouldn't have Jacen come in and sign books. Just plain stupid.

On the other hand, the other store manager is all for having my books on the shelf once they get published. He digs having comics by customers in the store and has stocked other ashcans and what-not from various local creators.

[John Coons]

Hey BlueNote, would you be willing to take some of my books to him?

In fact, how about every Ronin member go to their local shop and ask if they will stock Ronin books for one another? If everyone does it, that's a few more than if we each have to go on our own. Strength in numbers and all that.

I'm due to go in today, I'll ask.

[Rich Leazer]

UPC codes are really only necessary if you get them distributed widely (that's what I think, anyway, not 100% on that).

That may be the case, but I figure just about every store has a POS system and the easier you make it for them to track your book in their system the easier it will be for them to say yes.

If all they have to do is enter a number and pull a report off the PC to let you know how many sold, it may make their job easier to allow Ronin books on the shelf. As opposed to keeping track by hand, having other store workers remember to keep track, etc.

Just a thought.

[Tom Schloendorn]

The place I go to has 3 locations and I plan on asking the next time I get in there.

[Thomas Mauer]

The UPC code could also be on the back cover, like Image does.

My local store won't carry Ronin books unless they're translated. There's almost no market for comics in English in this city. Go figure, what with being in Germany.

[Jason Snyder]

Living in Texas, the largest comic chain is Lone Star Comics (eight stores in the D/FW area), and I worked for them for five years, so I'm pretty tight with the owners there. I was planning on asking them to carry my book when I finally got published, but if anyone is interested, let me know, and I can see if they want to put other Ronin books on their shelves.

[J. Andrew Clark]

I spoke with Greg Thompson of Lone Star and he said that it's pretty much impossible to get them to carry a book if it's not available through Diamond. :mad:

[nathan patton]

Living in Texas, the largest comic chain is Lone Star Comics (eight stores in the D/FW area), and I worked for them for five years, so I'm pretty tight with the owners there. I was planning on asking them to carry my book when I finally got published, but if anyone is interested, let me know, and I can see if they want to put other Ronin books on their shelves.
That would rock. I love that store. I've never been there but they have HUGE online prescence.

[Jason Snyder]

I spoke with Greg Thompson of Lone Star and he said that it's pretty much impossible to get them to carry a book if it's not available through Diamond. :mad:


That's weird. They carried books from local talents for awhile, but it's possible that things have changed since I worked there. Personally, I didn't see the big deal. At least the way I was going to possibly have them carry mine was just to have them offer shelf space. It's not like they would have to financially put up anything. But I'll talk to Greg or at least the manager of the location I go to and see if there's any type of arrangement that can be made.

[justJeffery]

My LCS is all about having Ronin books on the shelf.. ESPECIALLY the ones I work on...

Then again, I run the store...

Jeffery

[Rich Leazer]

Well the store near work (the larger store) is a no go until at least summer. They are doing a revamp of their stock and down-sizing. He said to ask him again in the summer.

That leaves me the store near home. I will talk to him tomorrow at let you know.

[Noble Larimer]

Jeffery, post the store address, and I'll get you out a box of some of the ronin stuff ;)

[azluigi]

I spoke to my local comic shop owner who is really cool,he said he would be willing to stock as many title as he can.He is always trying to promote local/self publishers. So if you have a title out send him a email. Mike@samuraicomics.com

[Chris McCay]

Okay, just out of curiosity. Has anyone looked into distributing through Diamond? I know there is a submission style process, but I've had books that were published and solicited through them in the past. So I know that it can be done. :) I just let the publisher deal with all the contact stuff for it. I was contemplating looking into it, if I ever get an artist to sign on for my book that lasts longer that 3 days that is.

-Chris

[Rich Leazer]

To Genius J or anyone else who would like to, my LCS has said they would like to put our titles on their shelves.

If you would like me to take your copies in there, just drop me a note - weed135@yahoo.com.

But he did say only 5 to 10 copies per title.

[matthew_spatola]

I think this is a great idea; a kind of grassroots movement to pimp our books and get them out there to the public. My suggestion would be to set up a sort of contact list of the stores who agreed to do it; include the person to talk to, address, phone number or email, whatever...this way we all would have a sort of database of stores we could work with and it would be available to everyone and you would not have to scan pages and pages of postings.

[zimmy]

I think this is a great idea; a kind of grassroots movement to pimp our books and get them out there to the public. My suggestion would be to set up a sort of contact list of the stores who agreed to do it; include the person to talk to, address, phone number or email, whatever...this way we all would have a sort of database of stores we could work with and it would be available to everyone and you would not have to scan pages and pages of postings.

that's a great idea matt. first we should make sure that the stores are talking about carrying a bunch of ronin books, not just ones from the creators who walk in there. then, if nobody else wants to take the reins, you can all email me the contact info for each store and i'll put together a list for everyone.

i'm thinking we would need info like name of store, owner, phone number, email, how many books they are willing to carry...stuff like that.

[matthew_spatola]

So how is this coming along? Has anyone made contacts that other creators can use? Let's keep everyone up to date...

[alexlannin]

Hello all!
I carry a few Ronin titles in my store, and a few other titles that have been self published and printed by Comixpress. The only problem is that my store is small, so I don't carry necessarily a LOT of a title, and the discounts a publisher can offer are small, since they're printing in small quantities themselves.
I wouldn't worry at all about bar codes, having worked in comic retail as well as now owning my own shop, no store I've ever worked at or shopped at had the time to enter bar codes into a pos when receiving. There's no way they'd get their books out on Wednesday if they did.
Feel free to email or pm me about your books if you're interested in having a few of them in a small store in Oregon.

[John Schlim Jr]

Hello all!
I carry a few Ronin titles in my store, and a few other titles that have been self published and printed by Comixpress. The only problem is that my store is small, so I don't carry necessarily a LOT of a title, and the discounts a publisher can offer are small, since they're printing in small quantities themselves.
I wouldn't worry at all about bar codes, having worked in comic retail as well as now owning my own shop, no store I've ever worked at or shopped at had the time to enter bar codes into a pos when receiving. There's no way they'd get their books out on Wednesday if they did.
Feel free to email or pm me about your books if you're interested in having a few of them in a small store in Oregon.

Thank you very much for sharing that retailer insight!

[J. Andrew Clark]

I'm currently in talks with First Wave about printing and distribution. They have their own catalog for retailers (in competition with Diamond), so as soon as I'm listed in there I'll have a way for you to order the books easily.