At least I didn’t have to rearrange the entire store.

§ July 22nd, 2020 § Filed under free comic book day § 4 Comments


So it dawned on me that I haven’t really said anything about Free Comic Book Day this year…or, rather, Free Comic Book Day Summer, where a few free books are being released to retailers every Wednesday over a period of several weeks.

In terms of cost, this does make things a little easier on me, in that 1) I had the opportunity to adjust orders downward, given that we weren’t going to have the usual huge single day event, and 2) I’m getting charged for these items per week, rather than in a lump sum or two after the end of the event.

One thing that’s a little harder to determine is…well, I always like to say “I’ve never lost money on Free Comic Book Day,” which would sometimes surprise people (and some comic book professionals, whom I hear are like people) given that I order piles and piles of the things and would hand them our willy-nilly to anyone who came in that day. In a single day event, it’s a lot easier to figure “well, I spent this much on FCBD, and I made this much on FCBD, and the second number is much higher than the first, therefore Step 3: Profit.”

I’m giving away several of the freebies this year, but because of the short time we had to get the word out, and given I got the FCBD display poster last week, and the window decal (all crunched up in a box, thanks Diamond) this week, it was harder to get the word out. Sure, I posted it all over my social media, but the average person who maybe just shows up for FCBD isn’t necessarily going to see that. But word is getting out, slowly and surely, and I suspect as the summer wears on more people will be dropping by to get their goodies. Since my expenditures are down this year for the event, I’m kind of “eyeballing” ( mean, best I can) the purchases from people who primarily came in for the free stuff (as opposed to regulars who pick up the free stuff along with what they usually buy) and…I think I’m doing okay in the ratio of money spent versus extra money earned.

I haven’t yet done a “special sale event” to coincide with this FBCD/Summer because that works best in the Big One Day Event Setting, when everybody shows up, excited about the free stuff, and more likely to open their wallets and coin purses to buy more items. Doing a big sale now would just cannibalize the regular day’s sales without the extra, extra traffic to make it worthwhile. However, I’m trying to work on something for later in the summer, once more people are aware FCBD is even happening in this altered form. We’ll see how it goes.

• • •

I’ll respond to your comments on the last post re: reprint series and the success thereof in short order. Also, I promise I’ll get back to talking about intercompany crossover comics. No, really. I haven’t forgotten.

4 Responses to “At least I didn’t have to rearrange the entire store.”

  • James says:

    The few times I have been to FCBD, I would usually buy a few more things than normal just to spur the sales a bit. Mostly, I just didn’t like waiting in line and dealing with the crowds in the shops. What, me, an introvert?

    One time, I think I was in Wisconsin for FCBD, and there was a guy out front in an uncomfortably tight and revealing Spider-man costume ‘entertaining’ people. Captive audience to say the least.

  • Chris V says:

    I never thought that comic stores actually ever made any money on FCBD.
    When I have ventured forth to pick up a free comic, usually the store I went to was so crowded, the owner would actually discourage people from shopping for back-issues.

    Usually, I’m not interested in any of the books anyway, but if there is an occasional Mike Mignola book (or something) coming out now, I just ask the owner to save it for me and would pick it up on Wednesday.

  • Brad Walker says:

    The only book I wanted to get last week was MLP Season 10. I got to my LCS and discovered they were only letting it go in exchange for a canned good for their food drive. Apparently they posted this info on their Facebook page, which I hadn’t checked. They didn’t even carry all the titles. (I got a can of Spaghettios from a nearby $ Tree.)

    Today I passed by a different shop and saw they had three tables’ full of FCBD titles, not just this year but three or four years past. Still limited to 3 to a customer.

  • Snark Shark says:

    “the window decal (all crunched up in a box, thanks Diamond)”

    They live to serve your comic-store needs! HAR.

    “and some comic book professionals, whom I hear are like people”

    except Jack Kirby- he was like a GOD!