As usual, someone pops up on Comics Beat and says that direct market comic shops are dropping the ball by not carrying quality kid's comics.
To which I responded in the comments:
I think what is happening here, is some of these titles aren’t considered kid’s comics by the customers, but kid’s books.
Based on previous lists by Brian, I have ordered Dork Diaries, Big Nate, and Adv. of Ook and Gluk.
I have yet to sell any of them.
I’m on a busy downtown tourist street, and about 20% of my sales are books (other than graphic novels.) I do sell Bone on a constant basis, along with Calvin and Hobbes and Tintin and so on.
I sell the hell out of The Hunger Games, Hugo Caberet, etc.
But not to comic customers — to people off the street.
I doubt many comic shops are willingly forgoing the profits they might get from carrying Kid’s Comics.
But would getting Kid’s Books actually work for them? It would help if they were offered through Diamond, but again I suspect they see books like Dragonbreath as kid’s books not kid’s comics, and that isn’t their business.
I’m going to go to Baker and Taylor and immediately order Dragonsbreath an hope to catch a customer or two, but I’m already set up to do that.
Another commenter says: "Comics is comics."
“Comics is comics.”
Well, no.
Not when they’re considered kid’s books.
People go to bookstores for books.
They go to comic stores for comics.
Branding matters.
I personally agree that comics is comics.
I agree that that kids (not so sure about parents) buy whatever appeals to them, whether it’s called a comic or a book.
But the perception of what they’re buying, how people shop, really matters. I can carry books that people don’t expect me to have, but I can’t expect them to sell as well as the book they expect me to have — and vice versa.
Work in a comic shop sometime, and you’ll be amazed how blind the customers are to anything else you carry, no matter how prominently you display it or point it out.
The book are out of context. They shouldn’t be, but that’s the way they are perceived.
I say this as someone who actually carries a lot of children’s books.
I sell them to book buyers. I can sell Bone and Tintin to book buyers and comic buyers, but I can’t sell Nate to comic buyers.
Another commenter asks: "...wouldn’t racking highly popular comic-type projects from the big book publishers be a pretty easy sell?"
If all I was carrying was comics and graphic novels, it think it would be a hard sell.
I carry a large selection of kid’s books and young adult, and I mix in as much graphic material as possible.
But I’m in a tourist zone and sell off the street pretty well.
The new survey from DC says that less than 2% of the buyers of the New 52 were under the age of 18.
You see the problem. At what point is a comic store beating a dead horse? You sell the clientele you got, not the clientele you wish you had.
I’m an exception because of the nature of my store, but even I wonder if it isn’t more a R % D effort, or good will.
Fortunately, I can sell Tintin and Archie and Asterix and Calvin and Hobbes, so I try hard to mix in all the rest.
For comics, oddly, they (parents) really want COMICS like they remember them to be, not as they currently exist.
DC and Marvel both have young readers versions of their super-heroes, but they don’t seem to like those either.
I don’t have the answers.
But I get a little tired of people saying that comics shops aren’t doing the job right when they don’t carry a huge section of kid’s comics. Most comic shop owners would love to sell more kid’s comics.
When you ask kids if they “like” comics the answer is almost universally yes. If you observe them going through the store, the answer is — but not enough to buy it. If the parents don’t buy, the kids usually won’t.
There is among parents, who are the real buyers, a real difference between “Kids” books and “comics”, even if you and I would find it hard to point out the differences.
What I’m saying is that there may not be an inherent difference between a well-illustrated kids books, or a wordy comic book, but there is a perceptual difference.
And that difference does matter when it comes to how much and to who they sell.
I think there are even visual clues — maybe not intentionally, but they’re there. Just like you take but a second to glance at the cover of a book and tell if it’s romance, S.F. or mystery.
Book publishers package differently enough that parents can immediately distinguish.
Call something a kid’s book, and they may buy. Call it a comic, and they may not.
It ain’t rational.
Personally, I wish we could get rid of the distinction between good kid’s books and comic books. I don’t see much difference, myself.
But I think we in the comic biz sometimes forget that there is still a huge bias against comics.
We’ve made enormous progress, but we’re only a little the way there. Like I said, I can sell books to people off the street, but I have hard time selling comics except to people who are already inclined to buy comics.
It’s 50/50 in my store, with not a whole lot of crossover.
Parents will buy Bone if I call it a young adult book and turn up their nose if I call it a comic.
I’m not saying it makes any sense. Sometimes a title will become what I call “culturally approved” and thus escape the everyday stigma of “comics,” but they are the exception, not the rule.
I’m a comic shop, but I sold more book copies of Twilight, than I did graphic novel versions of Twilight. I still have 15 out of the 20 copies I ordered.
Yet, apparently the graphic novels of Twilight sold in bookstores.
Explain that one to me.
At least adults are somewhat open to graphic novels like Walking Dead and Watchmen and Maus — like I said, “culturally approved.”
I can sell Asterix or Tintin to any parent who already knows what they are; I can’t sell Asterix and Tintin to any parent who doesn’t. Same books.
The ground has to be prepared, culturally, or it usually doesn’t happen. A “cold” sell is hard to make. Believe me, I try.
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