I've been trying to figure out how many of the graphic novel, "300", to carry. Finally saw the trailer, and Wow, I guess they're going for the exact same look as the original Frank Miller art. The blue screen process is the same as they used on "Sin City", also by Frank Miller.

I'd been ordering a couple of extra copies with each order over the last few months, and had built my inventory all the way to 12 copies. Even the best graphic novels I have, I'll usually only carry 1 or 2 copies, and then immediately reorder. But we had an interesting new development happen when the movie "Sin City" came out.

A little history. Graphic novels are pretty new. Back in the late 1980's, there were probably only a dozen or so books that were worth carrying. There developed an independent market, much like independent films, but I had very little luck selling them. I was stuck selling super-hero comics; which is one of the reasons I diversified into selling sports cards and toys and games, etc. I would bring in highly praised indy's like Cerebus and Strangers in Paradise and proceed to sell......none.

Even when I did carry an indy, I'd sell the one or two copies and stop. I was under the misapprehension that I was unlikely to sell more than that --- I had probably sold to the only two people in this small town who would want it.

Slowly but surely I began to realize that some of the books, especially the Vertigo titles like "Sandman" or "Preacher," were selling over and over again. These were titles that I may have only sold 10 copies of the comic, and yet I was selling 10, then 20, then 30 of the more expensive book and on and on. Strange. Other titles, that you'd have thought every single interested person in the world would have already bought, such as "Watchmen" or "Return of the Dark Knight" kept on selling. And it finally sunk in into my thick head that these weren't collected comics, they were books -- classic books, at that.

I started to carry the full lines of the best selling books. Months would go by without selling a single copy of a series, and then suddenly I'd start selling one a day. Once you got someone to try that first "Preacher", you had them hooked for all nine novels. But I was still having trouble selling the indy's.

I started talking to Scot, the owner of More Fun comics in Ashland. Now Ashland has an even smaller pop. than Bend, but a 4 year college, is on I-5, and has the Shakespeare Festival. Still, if he was having luck selling Fantagraphics and Alternative Press, maybe I was missing something.

I started to assemble an inventory, until years later, I've gotten to about 6000 volumes of books in stock. They account for almost half of my 'graphic' sales. The big sellers like "Y-The Last Man", "Fables," "Preacher" account for most of that, but I sell a significant number of superhero collections, and enough -- just enough -- of the independent, literary graphic novels to carry them.

When the "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" movie came out, DC Comics offered us a chance to order as many copies on consignment as we wanted. I thought I was being over the top by ordering 20. Well, I blew through the first 20, and then had to reorder another 20 at regular discounts, and so on. Same thing happened with "V for Vendetta" except I ordered 30, and then had to reorder. Unfortunately, I ordered 20 each of four different books on consignment for Superman, and had to return almost all of them.

When the "Sin City" movie came out, I stocked up to probably 6 copies of all 7 books. Because it was from Dark Horse Comics and not DC, we weren't able to get a consignment deal. Just before the movie came out, I realized that I was down to 4 or 5 copies and tried to restock.

Now, I'd carried "Sin City" books for years; it is one of my favorite series, I thought I had a pretty good handle on what I needed, especially since I'd never had trouble getting copies.

I call my wholesaler, and they're gone. Every.....single.....one....of... them.
B&N and Borders had scooped them up. On a returnable basis, there was absolutely no reason for them to not get them all. Meanwhile, since I was actually BUYING mine, I had to be at least a little careful.

Which brings me to the "300." I'm down to 3 copies, and the movies coming in a month or so. It's a Dark Horse Comic, so unless they learned their lesson (Surely it is preferable to actually SELL the damn books than risk massive returns?!?), I may run out of books again.

And yet, with the recent flop of all the Superman books, I also need to be careful. The price point is a bit of a problem; a hardcover book for 30.00, but in my opinion warrented by the gorgeous art. The book needs to be wide, and contained in a hardcover. Looking inside, there isn't a lot of dense dialogue; but again, there it is appropriate to the story. Thicker isn't always better.

I'm going to try to get 20 copies in the next two or three weeks, and if the movie stinks, I'll still probably be able to sell them off over the next year or so. If the movie is as good as I think it will be, I may sell all the copies in a few days.

Rule of thumb; if a product is a hit, you can't order to many. If the product is a flop, you can't order too little. Whach ya gonna do?