I’ve started a new Yahoo Group called MangaTrade. As the name suggests, the group is intended to provide a forum for people to exchange manga they own and don’t want for manga they don’t own and do want.
I’ve tried to keep the mechanics as simple as possible:
- Join.
- Post a list of the manga you have to trade and want to receive in return, in the form of a message and a listing in the Files section.
- Search through messages and the lists of other members to try and find a match.
- Contact that person and try and set up an exchange.
I guess you could call it a corollary to my More Money for Manga mantra, though it would probably have to be called More Manga for Less Money. I hope it works out and that it’s a convenient place for people to clear some space on their shelves, sample new titles with less expense, and complete runs of series they enjoy.
In preparation, I spent part of this long weekend organizing my manga collection. It involved a trip to Target, new shelves, power tools, and various brushes with injury that all of those activities invite. (To the shopper who walked off with my cart while I was hauling a bulky shelving kit down the aisle, Happy Damned New Year to you. I’m glad you didn’t have to tote those marked-down seasonal guest bathroom hand towels around without wheels.)
While that kind of housekeeping is never fun, it did make me realize that I have a lot of manga titles that I really enjoy and that I plan to reread over the years. It also made me take a hard look at some books that I liked but probably won’t pick up again (except maybe the next time I organize my collection) and some books that just aren’t to my taste. And with so much manga available and new titles coming out every month, I’m sure there are lots of people in the same position. Hence, the group.
There are some people I’d like to thank for helping me put this together:
To Russ Lee at Sequential Swap: Thanks for the great advice and for not minding that I’ve shamelessly appropriated your idea to meet my own ends.
To David Taylor at Love Manga: Thanks for the suggestions and encouragement. (His theory that this is all a complicated effort to rid myself of the first volume of Tenjho Tenge is only partly true. It’s not like I can donate it to the library, though.)
To Johanna Draper Carlson of Comics Worth Reading: Thanks for the suggestions, encouragement, and for agreeing to help moderate.
To my legion of Bad Idea Bears: Thanks for the beta testing and helping work through some of the bugs.
So, that’s the drill. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.