If I had my druthers, I'd not let any one product line be more than 30% of my gross sales. I'd much prefer, if I can't reach that lofty goal, that no one product line be more than 50% of sales.

Of course, sales are sales, and it's not like I'm going to force them down in order to reach some hypothetical level.

At the peak of sports cards, they reached 85% of my sales. Much, much too high, in hindsight. Fortunately, comics were also increasing at the time, and when sports cards started their relentless decline, I was able to scramble and start to replace the sales with other product. I remember the day when a very smart businessman told me I was wasting all that space and time and money on comics when it was sports cards that was bringing in the money. I'm very glad I ignored that advice.

I did take out games and books, at the time, and I never really ventured into manga and anime and toys until it was clear that sports cards were never coming back.

I'm now, if anything, a diversification junkie. The more, the merrier. I'm trying to cap my product lines at eight, which is all I can handle. I've reached my limit for space, time, energy. My psychic space is full -- my brain will explode.

But what if another product came along that I thought I could sell like crazy?

My current list:

1.) Comics, both new and back.
2.) Anime dvd's. (I've been thinking about venturing into cult dvd's, or possibly used dvd's.)
3. Collector cards, which includes both non-sport cards (which used to be a legitimate line all by itself) and sports cards. (singles, packs, supplies, and a focus on full boxes.)
4. Card games. I give this line its own button on my register, separate from games. This includes games like Magic, Pokemon, Pirates, D&D minatures, Star Wars minatures, etc.
5. Games. This includes role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, Rifts, Star Wars, as well as board games like Apples to Apples, and Zombies. Also dice. Lots and lots of dice.
6. Books. Used and new, though I keep track of them separately.
7. Toys. This includes statues.
8. Graphic novels. Always a guestion of whether Calvin and Hobbes and Me Write Book, by Bigfoot, should be entered under books or graphic novels. So that boundary is pretty muddy right now.

I also rarely remove a product line completely, even when it starts to underperform. It is so much more difficult to bring a product line back from zero than it is to keep it alive, if comotose in the store. My theory, which I think has been born out over the years, is that every product has its future day.

Games are a great current example. I've probably sold 3 times the number of rpg books this month than I averaged last year. Of course, you might say, Gambit Games is gone. But as far as I know, Gambit wasn't selling alot of rpg's. So suddenly, my game sales are exploding.

I've had a tendency over the years to take the funds from whatever line is overperforming, and diverting a portion of the money toward propping up a line that is underperforming.

The current store seems to be proving that thesis out.

I once envisioned a store with three legs; comics, cards, and one other. (The way I heard it explained is that a stool with three legs is much more stable than a stool with one leg, or two.)

I never could find that third leg. So I started bringing in lines of product that, added together, performed the same function. And then more product lines.

I'd thought I'd reached my limit with 6 product lines. But bringing in new books and games has proven out my thesis even more; sales seem to be stable, and when one product slacks off, another seems to step forward.

What brought about all this musing is the announcement that Diamond Distributers -- these are the people who have an 80% monopoly on comics and graphic novels, -- increased their sales into bookstores by 40% last year, and expect to increase by 40% next year. Almost all that growth was into the mass market stores.

Now, I know that there is a line of thought that exposure in the mass market would be good for us, by creating new customers. I don't buy it. Sorry. That just hasn't been my experience. I could get a pretty good argument out of most people over this subject, but 27 years experience has taught me that the mass market is ALWAYS bad for business.

Right now, comics and graphic novels represent 55% of my sales. Higher than I'd like. Of that, graphic novels represent about 40%. So, overall, graphic novels are about 22.5% of sales. They have a good margin, so they probably represent 27.5% of my profits.

So the hit to my earnings is manageable.

I'm just all the more convinced that DIVERSIFICATION is the key to success.