Critical darlings that don't sell -- but should.

I was looking at the top ten graphic novel list on Slate and realizing that I have only 4 of them on my shelves.  Which I don't like.  I'd prefer to have all of them, or at least a majority.

But here's the thing:  I hate saying this, really really hate it, it's lame -- but it's true.

They don't sell.

It's frustrating.

Probably the consensus book of the year is Chris Ware's 'Building Stories.'

My lone copy is sitting there forlorn, I'm pretty sure that no one has even picked it up to look at it.  (I know this, because I have another, much smaller Ware book propped against it in such a way that I'd know if it was moved.)

I haven't sold any copies of the other 3 "best" books of the year, either.

I mean, I sell dozens of Walking Dead.  I consistently sell Fables or Y-the Last Man.  Dozens of other titles.

But not the "independent art" books.

Is it me?  Is it Bend?  Is it the entire country and the idea that these books sell is some kind of myth?

I suspect, it ain't me.  Most years, I've had 8 out of 10 of the top ranked books, and --  they don't sell for me.  Year after year after year.  They get shoved into the crowded bookshelves with the previous years "best" books.

The irony is, there are so many good independent books that I no longer have room for them all, any more than I have room for every good book ever written.

I suspect it's a combination of the other two:  They don't sell all that well in the world.  When they do, an expensive book like Building Stories is probably purchased by those who really want it online at a discount.

And I suspect that Bend simply isn't the audience, for whatever reason. Not urban enough, not collegy enough.  Something like that.

It's frustrating.

I've told Andy at the Bulletin that he's currently my one brave independent reader -- which makes sense, since he's an artist.  I usually have one buyer -- sometimes none, rarely I'll even have two.

The rest are "one-ups" buying one title, usually visitors.  If it wasn't for visitors, I wouldn't be able to have an independent section at all.

It's the equivenlent of "foreign films" or "indy" films.  Lots of support in the critical community, but not much support by the public.

Or the other example I use, is the old Hollywood idea of "prestige" films, that win all the awards but make no money at the box office.

And yet, aren't these type of boundary pushers exactly the point of art? 

I bemoan that people don't understand what's really happening in the art of graphics, so I can't very well ignore them just because they don't sell.

So I try to support them as best I can, without losing so much money it hurts us severely.

It's frustrating.