Thanks for this Colleen. My books are too outside the realm of comicbook shops and I've been trying to target bookstores and other shops but it's an uphill battle to gain traction. However what you've posted gives me a glimpse into how I should readjust my marketing.
In our struggle to finish our graphic novel, the audience/reader for our work has always been at the back of our minds.
Then, the world changed.
With a new political reality threatening to smother facts, science and alternative points of view, the last few days have been challenging. After years of work, we seriously considered giving up.
Our sci-fi adventure GN touches on the Climate Crisis, LGBTQ issues and women's contributions to science in the past and the future.
The new political reality made everything seem a thousand pounds heavier. However, it also told us that's precisely why we must continue.
Just this morning, we asked ourselves, "But how?"
Your article offers a trail of breadcrumbs for us to follow through an increasingly dangerous forest.
Your words offer real encouragement and new paths to explore.
This last week has definitely changed the atmosphere for getting stories in front of audiences - but I think it has also emphasized the importance of storytelling in general. Stories speak to emotions about issues, and it is the emotional response that inspires readers to new possibilities.
So, YES, your stories are more needed than ever before. Good luck in your endeavors.
There was a kerfuffle in gaming circles recently when it was reported that, according to Bookscan, the new edition of the Dungeons & Dragons rulebook only sold 3,000 copies in the first week of release. The usual suspects tried to read deep significance into that number, until it was pointed out that Bookscan doesn't record sales at local game stores, nor purchases direct from the publisher, nor digital sales. All of which are pretty major chunks of the market for an RPG book.
All anyone has to do is walk into a Barnes & Noble and look at its Manga and Graphic Novel sections to see that their hypothesis about trades (of work by certain creators) not selling is wrong. Those sections are packed with product.
I worked in Brussels for 9 months, shops specialising in graphic novels were EVERYWHERE, and almost everything was done in hardback. Great print quality, about 15 euros a time, and ever subject covered. Not just men in tights, serious history, high fantasy, all sorts of things. It was taken completely seriously.
And the walls of the city buildings frequently have pictures from these books, as giant public art , (and not just TinTin). There's a brilliant comic book museum, everything from the humorous to the deadly serious.
If you get the chance and want to see what can be done when people really love this stuff, visit.
2 of my 3 teenagers are nerds like I am (the other one is a popular jock, because middle kids are built different), and many of their friends haven’t held a floppy comic book. They read the graphic novels from school and the local library and such. Makes me glad - the next generation of nerds is great!
The comicbook store and bookstore retail systems and audiences are quite distinct. I wish this was more talked about. So thank you for bringing this up, Colleen.
Tired of mind-blowing editorial insights such as, "History doesn't sell", I left the comics biz behind in 2000. I've been in the book trade ever since. Sadly, by now I'm finding it just about as fucked up, cowardly and shortsighted as the comics ever were. Still, IF you can get in, and get published, AND have a hit, the stats are just so much more impressive.
Thanks for this Colleen. My books are too outside the realm of comicbook shops and I've been trying to target bookstores and other shops but it's an uphill battle to gain traction. However what you've posted gives me a glimpse into how I should readjust my marketing.
This is excellent information.
In our struggle to finish our graphic novel, the audience/reader for our work has always been at the back of our minds.
Then, the world changed.
With a new political reality threatening to smother facts, science and alternative points of view, the last few days have been challenging. After years of work, we seriously considered giving up.
Our sci-fi adventure GN touches on the Climate Crisis, LGBTQ issues and women's contributions to science in the past and the future.
The new political reality made everything seem a thousand pounds heavier. However, it also told us that's precisely why we must continue.
Just this morning, we asked ourselves, "But how?"
Your article offers a trail of breadcrumbs for us to follow through an increasingly dangerous forest.
Your words offer real encouragement and new paths to explore.
Thank you.
Wonderful! So glad to read that!
This last week has definitely changed the atmosphere for getting stories in front of audiences - but I think it has also emphasized the importance of storytelling in general. Stories speak to emotions about issues, and it is the emotional response that inspires readers to new possibilities.
So, YES, your stories are more needed than ever before. Good luck in your endeavors.
There was a kerfuffle in gaming circles recently when it was reported that, according to Bookscan, the new edition of the Dungeons & Dragons rulebook only sold 3,000 copies in the first week of release. The usual suspects tried to read deep significance into that number, until it was pointed out that Bookscan doesn't record sales at local game stores, nor purchases direct from the publisher, nor digital sales. All of which are pretty major chunks of the market for an RPG book.
All anyone has to do is walk into a Barnes & Noble and look at its Manga and Graphic Novel sections to see that their hypothesis about trades (of work by certain creators) not selling is wrong. Those sections are packed with product.
I worked in Brussels for 9 months, shops specialising in graphic novels were EVERYWHERE, and almost everything was done in hardback. Great print quality, about 15 euros a time, and ever subject covered. Not just men in tights, serious history, high fantasy, all sorts of things. It was taken completely seriously.
And the walls of the city buildings frequently have pictures from these books, as giant public art , (and not just TinTin). There's a brilliant comic book museum, everything from the humorous to the deadly serious.
If you get the chance and want to see what can be done when people really love this stuff, visit.
I’ve been in many places in Europe, thank you!
2 of my 3 teenagers are nerds like I am (the other one is a popular jock, because middle kids are built different), and many of their friends haven’t held a floppy comic book. They read the graphic novels from school and the local library and such. Makes me glad - the next generation of nerds is great!
The comicbook store and bookstore retail systems and audiences are quite distinct. I wish this was more talked about. So thank you for bringing this up, Colleen.
Tired of mind-blowing editorial insights such as, "History doesn't sell", I left the comics biz behind in 2000. I've been in the book trade ever since. Sadly, by now I'm finding it just about as fucked up, cowardly and shortsighted as the comics ever were. Still, IF you can get in, and get published, AND have a hit, the stats are just so much more impressive.