TILTING @ WINDMILLS: THE ORDER OF THINGS

[MattBrady]

By Brian Hibbs

[#122 – June 2004 – “The Order of Things”]

One thing I realized after reading some of the talk-backs to Patrick Neighly’s most recent Paper Curtain is that an awful lot of the data and reality that I take for granted is actually obscure and arcane to most of you.

There are things comic retailers take for granted – basic informational and procedural tasks – that are just mysterious and esoteric to everyone else. In some ways it is like watching my 8-month old son, Benjamin, try to crawl. Everyone knows how to crawl, right? And there’s not really any thought given to trying to explain how it is done because that’s just unconscious knowledge, right?

Except Ben doesn’t exactly crawl like any other child I’ve personally seen – he doesn’t use his legs, and, instead, he kinda drags himself along by his arms like a wounded soldier on the battlefield looking for a medic. He hauls ass too, doing it that way – way faster than any of us might move in such a manner. He’s found something that works for him, and does it with all of his gusto. When we talk to our pediatrician about Ben not doing something the way (or within the same time frame) the baby books describe, he always gets this smile and says “Everybody finds a way that works for themselves, and moves at their own pace.”

I use that as a metaphor, not just because with an infant in the house it’s hard to avoid baby-on-the-brain (though it is – I see babies everywhere I go now... how did I tune them out before?), but because while the broad strokes of ordering comic books in the Direct Market are roughly the same for any individual participant, the specifics are different depending on the store.

So, as you read the rest of this column, please keep bearing in mind that this is how I do things, not the way others do them. Nor even (necessarily) the best way to do things. But this is what works for me after 15 years of running Comix Experience. Still, with any luck you’ll begin to see at least the broad shape of how ordering comics works.

Click here for the column.

[morty5]

huh, interesting

[Raphe Cheli]

When I worked at a comic shop, I was in charge of doing inventory. It was set up to find the same data as in Hibbs' shop, but instead of having a sheet for each title, we had a sheet (or sheets) for each week. Then, after an 8-week cycle, we plugged the information into a computer. It certainly seems less cumbersome, although it gets you the same results.

Even with all that data, though, ordering new titles (as Hibbs says) is totally hit or miss. 90% of the ordering process is easy -- you sold 31, 30, 29, and 32 copies of a title the last 4 months, you'll probably order 31 or 32 copies of the next issue. Even many new titles you can probably guess pretty accurately -- you usually sell 50 copies of the first issue of a Batman mini-series? Order 50 of the latest #1. It's when you get things like the "Call of Duty" mini-series or "Monolith" that you have problems -- where are your numbers going to come from? Are any of these creators name enough to bing a following? If so, how much? Is the lack of a super-hero presence going to hurt sales a little or a lot? How good are they at getting reorders if you do sell out? And etc, etc, etc.

In the case of the store that I worked at, when something new came up, we would each write down a number; the amount ordered was usually the average of all the guesses.

[algertman]

you order 20 of that title, get a big magic marker, tag the letter "X" on them, jack the price up a dollar, and watch them babies sell like hot cakes

[AlexLothos]

Wow. I knew the job was hard, but I've never seen as much detail put into the retailer's ordering process before. That's a whole lot of hard work!

Thanks for the article.

[SRBuell]

"(there are several publishers I simply won’t order rack copies from because I find their policies anti-retailer)"


Wondering if an example can be provided of this; no need to name names, but what policies specifically are you referring to? Just curious!

[notmertz]

Great article. I had no idea (or not much of an idea).

[Brian Hibbs]

Originally posted by SRBuell
"(there are several publishers I simply won’t order rack copies from because I find their policies anti-retailer)"


Wondering if an example can be provided of this; no need to name names, but what policies specifically are you referring to? Just curious!

Sure, Publishers that produce adults-only material, whom don't support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund

Publishers that produce 4 or more titles that ship them all in one week.

That's just two examples off the top of my head

-B

[FullSanction]

Question about keeping track of the number sold:

How do you keep track of what is sold, week to week? I know you can do a shelf-count but what about the books that go to subscribers? Do you mark those off as sold the first week?

Thanks,
Jose

[gredenko]

sounds like you could use some regression analysis, or that the comic industry in general could. that's a lot of data in search of a computer!

[PhillipVargas]

This was a very insightful article. There is a tremendous amount of work involved in ordering a consistent and profitable stream of books and merchandise each and every week.

[Brian Hibbs]

Originally posted by FullSanction
Question about keeping track of the number sold:

How do you keep track of what is sold, week to week? I know you can do a shelf-count but what about the books that go to subscribers? Do you mark those off as sold the first week?

Yup.

If you keep good sub control (credit cards on file, regular phone calls to slow show ups, etc.) then you generally get very few defaults on product.

If we do know that a sub has cancelled or put back a book, I'll mark it as a "negative reorder" on the sheet, but this is exceedingly rare.

-B

[Brian Hibbs]

Originally posted by gredenko
sounds like you could use some regression analysis, or that the comic industry in general could. that's a lot of data in search of a computer!

*shrugs*

Some people swear by computerized Point-of-sale systems, but paper's always been reliable and steady for me. After 15 years the system is smooth enough that I can write an order as fast (if not faster) than someone with a computerized system -- plus I can do it in any room, or on the bus, and I'm not in trouble if we lose electricity!

-B

[Daredevil_blind]

Great , great article. I read it at just the right time too. I am in the process of opening up a comic shop and i was wowed by this. Not the process or formula (although still good info) but by the insight of the thought process that goes behind it. I totally agree that successful ordering truly is an art form.

[PopCultureComix]

Frankly, I don't see why anybody gives a rat's ass about reading info. on running a comic shop on this site. Might as well run an article on how to manage an office, or cook as rump roast. I don't think many people on here gave a damn about how many comics to order and what if you screw it up, blah, blah, blah. THIS is not the place to do this. If Brian wants to write a column on the 'How To'sof a comic store, he ought to put in in a trade mag for the benefit of those who care, and not here to brag about how much he knows!!!!

[Daredevil_blind]

Originally posted by PopCultureComix
Frankly, I don't see why anybody gives a rat's ass about reading info. on running a comic shop on this site. Might as well run an article on how to manage an office, or cook as rump roast. I don't think many people on here gave a damn about how many comics to order and what if you screw it up, blah, blah, blah. THIS is not the place to do this. If Brian wants to write a

This is a column on COMIC news. It pertains to all things comic. Learning and understanding our industry has great appeal to many fans. If you don't like the topic of the article ......don't read it.

I don't like the New X-Men title, so i don't read it. Just because you don't like doesn't mean it has no place here.

[SRBuell]

As a fledgling publisher, the retailer is my customer. It's interesting to me, and worthwhile for my business, to know and understand how the retailers operate, and how they run their business. Just my two cents.

[Posco]

As a comic collector I am interested in the background of my hobby and that includes information about how the business works. Also information like this helps to understand why certain books are selling better and why other series are getting cancelled.

It is also nice to know that at least some retailers know how to use basic business methods. Sometimes I´m really surprised by posts from retailers who just seem to be hobbyists and not use any business sense at all. (For the record: Personally I think the best comic shop owner is both a business (wo)men and a comic fan.)


Christian

[PopCultureComix]

We stopped using 'cycle sheets 8 yrs ago'. Guess some stores still use them today, but with the advances in computer programs today it's like using a rectal thermometer to take your temperature. It's a bit outdated and a pain in the ass.

[newarrior]

Ordering is the one thing I both love and hate each month. It's a lot of work going through just about every book on the shelf, but it helps keeping inventory down good. Another great article from the retailer's POV, but I do have to disagree with something:

And thanks to the relative “collapse” of the individual store’s back issue market (TPs and eBay serve most of the same function back issue bins used to), once you take those copies off your shelf, they’re effectively garbage.

In the last few years, we've had record back issue sales. Just today, we sold over $600 in Punisher and Hellboy back issues to one guy, with very few issues over cover price. Our back issue sales aren't what our TPB sales are, but it's damn close.

Maybe it's just because so few stores carry back issues these days that we do good with them, I don't know. I couldn't imagine not carrying back issues.

[GeorgeG]

what if your computer crashes or gets a bug? at least you'll have a hard copy for backup.

[Moonbeam]

Wow ... my eyes are bugging out from all the great information in this column. Thanks from a comics fan for an interesting read, Brian.

[enrico]

very interesting ... especially for a lot of us small press artists...

E



http://enricocasarosa.com
http://haiku5-7-5.com

[KhamanV]

I hug my store's computerized POS database.

I hug it a lot.

Sheets like that make my eyes bleed. And I'm already half blind. Good info, though.

[gren99]

Originally posted by GeorgeG
what if your computer crashes or gets a bug? at least you'll have a hard copy for backup.

ok, what if you have a fire and your hardcopies burn up? or any other act beyond your control?

computer data is very easy to manipulate on a macrolevel -- f.e. just burn it onto a rewriteable CD/DVD at any given interval you like. then the data becomes very transportable -- whereas, i really don't think lugging crates of dead trees is goona be terribly efficent for most folks.

that said, such things really come down to individuals. if you've got a good/great paper-based method of tracking data, why change it? 'just because' really isn't a good enough reason, because i can all but gurantee you, based on past observation in other fields, the step away from paper to bits and bytes is often traumatic for a lot of people and winds up taking as much as a year before people begin to approach the ease of productivity they had before.

the reasons for going from a paper based indexing system to any type of computer format usually winds up being an issue of neccessity of consolidation. if. f.e. you have several stores spread over one locality and you shop for them collectivly, doing paper-based indexing can be very, very cumbersome. granted, this is is based on industires whose product cycles are usually no longer than a week, whereas comic stores (usually) have 1 month between iterations, but my guess is it's not terribly dissimilar.

again, there are benefits and drawbacks for both systems -- paper is usually much easier to grasp and manage indivdually, but it's also a massive storage drain and is a bit inflexible in terms of consolidating data across several locations.

computer entry is more compact, more flexible on larger scales and generally speaking will allow far more open-ended growth if your store(s) grow over the long term. but it's also harder to learn and master, takes a while to getting used to (now more than ever -- especially if you move past the simple home apps like access or excel) and lest i forget, the cost at startup is usually a bit daunting -- though i don't doubt that the TCO and ROI in the end ought to benefit a computer based system.

bottom line: the retailer has to be happy with that they use, first and foremost.

i've seen both the mostly- pen-and-paer method and the computer method practiced on me, and i'll say this much (as someone who makes his living in deploying computer sales and inventory solutions): i never ONCE did NOT get what i ordered in the pen and paper based stores.

whereas i got shorted so many times at the computer based stores, i finally kind of gave up on the local stores and went with a mail-order solution (DCBS, to be percise).

go figure.