$3.99 for floppies on fancy paper, or $1.99 for floppies on newsprint?

[JasonTodd428]

Agreed.

We are talking about a store that is hanging on by a very frayed thread. The idea that it will be what creates a market for monthly singles falls apart once you take a moment to consider how many folks seem to actually be shopping there on a regular basis.

It also falls apart when you consider that there are several other options within the store that are more likely to keep their kid entertained for a longer period of time then a comic would. They might cost more but something that's going to keep little Johnny out of their hair for hours at time would likely be more appealing to parents.

Frankly I think Alterna is making a mistake there with lots of retailers going belly up. There used to be tons of Toys R Us stores in my area and now I can only think of two that are still open and neither of them are doing well.

[Trey Strain]

It also falls apart when you consider that there are several other options within the store that are more likely to keep their kid entertained for a longer period of time then a comic would. They might cost more but something that's going to keep little Johnny out of their hair for hours at time would likely be more appealing to parents.

Frankly I think Alterna is making a mistake there with lots of retailers going belly up. There used to be tons of Toys R Us stores in my area and now I can only think of two that are still open and neither of them are doing well.

I don;t see how getting stores to sell your comics is a mistake. If a store goes under, then it does. Meanwhile, you've sold some comics there and gained some new readers.

[Gaastra]

If you look at grocery stores today, you'll see magazines and tabloid papers by the registers, but those are weeklies.

And archie and now marvel digest comics!

[Bor]

And archie and now marvel digest comics!

Yeah and those atleast make some sense for stores like that.

[MajorHoy]

You can go ask Marvel to knock a dollar off their price and to keep printing their floppies on 50-pound paper.

Does Marvel use the exact same paper stock as DC? It feels a bit flimsier to me, and didn't they go to cover stock that was the same stock as their interior pages awhile back, too?

. . . And notice that while Marvel and DC were sitting on their hands, Alterna got deals to sell its comics at Barnes & Noble and Toys R Us. You couldn't sell comics at Toys R Us if you were charging $3.99 for them.

By the way, I posted this in the DC version of the thread:

Do you know why Marvel (and maybe DC now?) stopped selling individual issues of comic books at places like Barnes & Noble/ newsstand distribution here in much of the U.S.?
There wasn't enough $'s in it to make it worthwhile to them.
Comic book issues sold to places through newsstand distribution (vs. direct sales through Diamond) are returnable. So if the stores that get those issues can't/don't sell them, they can be returned to the publisher and the publisher doesn't get any $'s for those printed but unsold issues. And when I say "returned", the publisher doesn't get back the entire issue. It's just the cover that's sent back to show the copy was not sold. (It would be too expensive to send back the entire issue for every copy that didn't sell.)

I'm not sure anybody keeps track of how many copies of particular issues are sold through newsstand distribution, especially since unsold issues aren't always returned right away and I don't know how many companies handle newsstand distribution here in the U.S. The numbers we get for comic book shop "sales" from Diamond are based strictly on what the comic book shops order; there's no detailed breakdown on how many of those copies are then sold to actual readers by the stores.

(Can't remember if Trey ever responded to it . . . )

[DragonsChi]

For me it doesn't matter. I usually go for characters that I like regardless, with price not being the concern. From there if I hear that the story is good enough I'm going to get it one or the other. A few dollars here or there doesn't really phase me. If I'm ever in a place where I can no longer afford to do that I would just wait until those books go on sale. And they always go on sale eventually.

But thats just me.

[JasonTodd428]

I don;t see how getting stores to sell your comics is a mistake. If a store goes under, then it does. Meanwhile, you've sold some comics there and gained some new readers.

It could be a mistake if the store you are selling those comics at a store that looks to be on it's way out. If all of them close then where will they be selling those issues and will it be worth it for them to continue to even publish physical copies if one of the places they are selling them goes belly up? There are a lot of factors there.

[CaptCleghorn]

From the DC thread...

I want a free pony with every comic book I buy. If I started a poll, I bet everyone would also want a free pony with every comic book they buy.

[CaptCleghorn]

And archie and now marvel digest comics!

Which is still a very small fraction of comics that were once sold in those places.

[cranger]

From the DC thread...

Probably not, considering one of the biggest problems other than price is storage.

[numberthirty]

I don;t see how getting stores to sell your comics is a mistake. If a store goes under, then it does. Meanwhile, you've sold some comics there and gained some new readers.

Look at it like this...

If someone is making the argument that something is successful because it is getting copies into stores that don't usually sell comics but that chain of stores is going downhill, that's not a resounding success.

Even less so if said trend continues or the entire chain goes into bankruptcy.

[Trey Strain]

Look at it like this...

If someone is making the argument that something is successful because it is getting copies into stores that don't usually sell comics but that chain of stores is going downhill, that's not a resounding success.

Even less so if said trend continues or the entire chain goes into bankruptcy.

Selling comics at Barnes & Noble won't be a "resounding success" or a "mistake" either. Why does it have to be either one or the other? Selling comics is what you're in business to do. If you can sell anything at all at Barnes & Noble, then do it.

Alterna's publisher has got the right attitude. He's hustling.

No competent owner of a small business would say to himself, "I refuse to sell thousands of units to new customers through that distributor because they might go out of business."

A competent owner would go ahead and sell the units.

[kilderkin]

I know there are other alternatives, as well as arguments against the whether this is even possible, but I would say that, YES, I would prefer $1.99 for the newsprint rather than the $3.99 for current Marvel. This one is barely even worth considering (as compared to DC) since Marvel paper/ink just sucks right now and it not worth the $3.99 they charge (and, yes, I still pay.)

Could not agree more, marvel floppy paper and imo trades are very low quality compared to others in the industry, DC feels and looks much sharper to me in floppy and valiant trades are much better imo

I never buy marvel trades because they feel so poor for the price I find