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Programmatic

March 27, 2007 by

In the wake of last week’s announcement of a new strategic plan for the Borders Group, that entity has revamped its Rewards program, effective April 12.

The most significant change seems to be the end of Personal Shopping Days and Holiday Savings Rewards in favor of “Borders Bucks”:

“For every $150 spent on Qualifying Purchases at Borders, Borders Express, or Waldenbooks in a calendar year, you’ll receive $5 in Borders Bucks. Borders Bucks are issued the first week of the month following the month in which they are earned, and are valid until the end of the month issued. Plus, any amount you spend on Qualifying Purchases in a calendar year that exceeds $150 rolls over until you reach your next cumulative total of $150. There is no limit to how many Borders Bucks you can earn.”

I wonder if that modification is a concession to the smaller number of retail outlets, with close to half of the Waldenbooks outlets slated for closure. The Bucks system does seem less complicated than the Personal Shopping Days, and the promised revamp of on-line shopping might make obtaining them easier. Still, you don’t have any more of a window to use the Bucks than you did with the Personal Shopping Days, and with fewer outlets within a users range because of the closures, maybe the level of outlay on discounts and rewards will stay the same, even though the perceived level of complication in earning them is lower.

But it’s the earn-but-maybe-don’t-use nature of the program that probably keeps it free. Since you continually get a discount via the Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million discount programs, it makes economic sense that users have to make an initial expenditure. Both probably hope that savings reaped by users will generally be equal to or less than the income of memberships purchased.

Filed under: Bookstores, On-line shopping 14 Comments

Selection

March 10, 2007 by

There’s a lively round of compare-and-contrast going on over at MagaBlog over manga selections at Borders and Barnes & Noble outlets.

In the interest of science (and because I had a personal shopping day and didn’t feel like hauling myself up to Pittsburgh to go to the closest available Borders), I hit the Waldenbooks in the mall. While I prefer the shopping experience at the local Barnes & Noble (because it doesn’t induce claustrophobia and force me to go to the mall), I have to say that Waldenbooks has a much better manga selection.

It doesn’t have as many actual books, but it has more titles from a larger number of publishers. It positively stomps Barnes & Noble in terms of boys’ love and yaoi titles, carrying virtually everything Blu publishes and a fair amount from Kitty Media. It had more CMX and Dark Horse books than B&N and a competitive selection of stuff from Ice Kunion and Netcomics. And it had a copy of Red String, which I grabbed immediately because I’m curious about it and keep forgetting to tack it on to Amazon orders.

As far as other kids of graphic novels go, it’s pretty dire at Waldenbooks. I’m sure my memory is indulging in exaggeration, but all I remember seeing is a thin shelf of Marvel Ultimate titles.

Filed under: Bookstores 8 Comments

Weekend update

March 4, 2007 by

Barnes & Noble was mobbed yesterday, which I found strangely reassuring. I don’t like wading through crowds to get to the cash register, but I do like to see people buying books, and they were buying lots of them. There were no children sprawled on the floor in the manga section; they were all clustered over in the game guides.

And those new collections of the Love & Rockets stories were there, and they are indeed quite handsome and a crazy value at $14.95. I went with Heartbreak Soup to start. I thought about getting both, but To Terra… beckoned.

We watched For Your Consideration yesterday. I always like Christopher Guest’s movies, and this one was no exception, but I’m glad we waited for it to come out on DVD instead of seeing it in a movie theatre. It just didn’t seem up to the standard of the others. The only really uproarious parts came from Jane Lynch playing, as near as I could figure, the reanimated corpse of Mary Hart. She was awesome.

And I’ve really got to break the habit of finding an author I really like and obsessively reading everything they’ve written to date. I should pace myself, or I’ll quickly run out of Nevada Barr novels to read. But they’re grisly mysteries set in national parks with a surly but likable woman of a certain age as protagonist! How can I resist? Ill Wind has the unfortunate side effect of making me want to be in the Southwest a whole lot.

Filed under: Bookstores, Movies, Mysteries 3 Comments

Good reads

January 2, 2007 by

At MangaBlog, Brigid interviews Kurt Hassler, former most powerful person in manga and current co-exec of Hachette’s upcoming Yen Press line of graphic novels. I like the guiding principle that Yen Press seems to have adopted:

“When we’re dealing with original stuff, maybe we’re developing more of a flavor of our own, but we have a variety of people who are working on the imprint. We want to give everyone a voice. We’re not ruling anything out. The rule is if it’s a good book, we are going to publish it.”

At Comics212.net, Chris Butcher notes that 2006 offered a merry little Christmas for graphic novel retailers:

“Anyway, from my vantage point this was the year that comics may have actually entered the mainstream, at least as far as gift-giving is concerned. It’s been gratifying for me because I’ve really wanted it, but it made for a particularly positive ending to a year during which I invested a lot of myself into the medium.”

And at The Comics Reporter, Tom Spurgeon asks readers to look forward to what they want from 2007.

Filed under: Awards and lists, Bookstores, Linkblogging, Yen Press Leave a Comment

BAMmage

December 17, 2006 by

The local Books-A-Million is having a buy-two-get-one-free sale on Dark Horse and DC trades, including the Absolute editions from DC. I’m guessing it’s chain-wide (there were official-looking stickers and everything), so you could save a nice chunk of change if you had some of those books on your shopping list.

Filed under: Bookstores, Dark Horse, DC 1 Comment

Truth, justice, etc.

December 12, 2006 by

Mely relates an irritating instance of customer service and the depressing issues that swirl around such encounters with surgical precision:

“The thing is—I know the people who most need to hear this probably aren’t going to listen anyway, but I was trained early in childhood to argue with brick walls—the thing is, when someone insults my taste or my intelligence or my entertainment, when someone dismisses something I like as commercial or trashy or dumb or unworthy of attention, when someone announces that my interest in manga is only important as a stepping stone to the holy grails of alt comics or the pockets of DC and Marvel—strangely, this does not make me rethink my tastes.”

There’s fabulous stuff in the comments as well.

Lyle wonders if Chuck Dixon is the right writer for a Midnighter series, given the character’s sexual orientation and what one might charitably call the creator’s ambivalence towards it. Loren at One Diverse Comic Book Nation and Johanna at Comics Worth Reading weigh in as well.

And at Yet Another Comics Blog, Dave Carter is sponsoring his annual Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Fund Drive.

Filed under: Bookstores, DC Leave a Comment

Thankless jobs

November 8, 2006 by

Publishers Weekly has released its list of Best Graphic Novels of the Year, and Heidi MacDonald links to Amazon’s choices. I love this time of year, as it provides so many rich opportunities to nitpick.

In fairness, it’s impossible to say “That choice is empirically wrong,” or “I can’t believe they excluded (fill in name of excellent choice here),” because so many books come from so many sources that the level of subjectivity is automatically high. And the best thing about these lists is how they function as a springboard for discussion and maybe alert readers to books they haven’t read yet.

On the discussion front, Tom Spurgeon offers some initial impressions of the PW roster, and Johanna Draper Carlson goes through the list in more detail. Both note the fact that 2006 isn’t quite over yet, and that only one translated manga title (Tokyopop’s Dragon Head) made the PW cut. Two licensed properties made Amazon’s list: Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s Abandon the Old in Tokyo (Drawn and Quarterly) and Hiroaki Samura’s Ohikkoshi (Dark Horse).

I think Dragon Head is an interesting choice. It was front and center in the negative reaction to Tokyopop’s on-line exclusives initiative, and it’s a critical darling that seems to enjoy retailer support. I like it a lot, though I don’t even know if it would top my list of post-apocalyptic manga. (Viz’s Drifting Classroom and Dark Horse’s Eden are currently vying for the top spot in that niche.)

But again, it’s subjective. When I contemplate the possibility of putting together my own list of the year’s best, I’m gripped with a combination of weariness and anxiety. There are so many books I’ve liked this year for so many different reasons that I would be hard-pressed to develop a single set of criteria for the year’s best.

Is Scott Chantler’s Northwest Passage (Oni Press) as good as J.P. Stassen’s Deogratias (First Second)? If forced, could I pick among :01’s Deogratias, Gene Yang’s American Born Chinese, and Joann Sfar’s Klezmer if I wanted to share the wealth and limit myself to one book per publisher? Do the collections of Castle Waiting (Fantagraphics), Ode to Kirihito (Vertical), or Get a Life (Drawn and Quarterly) count, just because they’re new to me? Are the ways I enjoyed Polly and the Pirates (Oni) comparable to the ways I appreciated Japan as Viewed by 17 Creators (Fanfare/Ponent Mon)? Do I really want to go so far as to develop a unified critical theory when I know perfectly well I’ll violate it at the first opportunity?

So I’m grateful to the people who will actually commit to a set list of the year’s best, because, if nothing else, they provide plenty of food for thought and grist for blogging.

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The other thing that particularly caught my attention in this week’s PWCW was just how hard it is to find someone who’ll come out and criticize Kurt Hassler without the benefit of anonymity. If MangaBlog’s Brigid was troubled by the anonymous sniping in ICv2’s report, her reaction will probably be magnified by the bevy of veiled critics quoted in PW’s.

That’s not to say that I’m encouraging criticism or praise for Hassler. It’s just curious to me that the power of the position he’s left still has people taking the Deep Throat route when they assess his performance.

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Updated to add: David Taylor settles into his new MangaCast digs and takes a thorough look at all of the manga-related content in the latest PWCW.

Filed under: Awards and lists, Bookstores, Media Leave a Comment

Monday morning quarterbacking

November 6, 2006 by

Commentary on Kurt Hassler’s departure from Borders for Hachette Book Group’s new graphic novel imprint, Yen Press. ICv2 picks up the story, noting the varying reactions Hassler’s Borders stint inspired. Diamond Book Distributor’s Kuo-Yu Liang offers this perspective:

“People say he only supports manga, but actually he pushed everything from Marvel to Top Shelf to Bone. People complain he was a hardline gatekeeper and would only bring in books that would sell. Well, yeah, isn’t that the fiscal responsibility of a buyer for a $4 billion 1,000+ store chain?”

At The Beat, Heidi MacDonald, one of the advocates of the “hardline gatekeeper” characterization of Hassler, confirms the difference of opinion on what the impact of Hassler’s departure will be.

At MangaCast, Ed Chavez chimes in, taking a look at the evolution of manga offerings in bookstores during Hassler’s tenure and what his departure might mean for readers:

“Could this lead to the potential, long-awaited, second-phase of growth in book stores? Could we see a change for shelving according to age or genre? Will we finally see something done with light novel placement? Could we see a real push from bookstores for a better rating system? So many questions really. This could go either way too, because Hassler’s decisions were not always the most accommodating for pubs or readers.”

At Guns, Guys and Yaoi, Tina Anderson points to some interesting discussion at Kethylia’s LiveJournal, which features input from a Tokyopop editor:

“I don’t think anyone will be able to replicate the explosive early days of TP. VIZ has their own thing going now, and they’re frighteningly good at what they do, even if I don’t personally agree with some of it, but any new company that thinks it’s going to make it to being even 2nd in the industry is sorely mistaken. Sticking with a niche is the way to go in my mind. Hopefully the bookstores will continue to appreciate those niche readers, too. That’s my only fear.”

I think I share that fear. “Hardline gatekeeper” or no, my experience shopping at various book chains led me to conclude that whoever was responsible for Borders manga selection was collecting a wider and more interesting range of books than either Barnes & Noble or Books-A-Million. I’ve found books from a larger number of publishers at Borders than elsewhere, and I appreciate that. (For example, Borders is pretty much the only place I’ve ever found titles from Fanfare/Ponent Mon on the shelf.)

Updated to add: Dirk Deppey offers commentary and points to this entry from David Doub at Manga Punk. I’m particularly interested in Doub’s argument that more localized responsibility for graphic novel buying might result in some benefits for publishers and readers:

“Personally I don’t like how the buying pattern of entire chain is decided by one person. I feel that regional or local mangers would naturally have a better feel for what does or doesn’t sell well in their area. Also it would be easier to work with smaller publishers to make local Borders feel more special and unique because they would have product that no one else has.”

And there’s an excellent comment that suggests the best way to educate your local bookstore is to let them know what you want:

“Perhaps the way to get the stores to change is to encouraged readers to go to their local store and request them to order comics they dont carry. If enough people do that, the higher up’s may get the message to have a more diverse selection and not favor certain publishers?”

Updated again because Simon Jones makes so much sense:

“Of course, the seemingly opposing images of Hassler as a heroic champion for manga or the evil gatekeeper to the book market are not exclusive. In fact they’re probably one and the same; the line between iron-handed rigidness and disciplined decision-making is paper-thin, after all.”

Updated yet again: Tom Spurgeon looks more at where Hassler is going than where he’s been at The Comics Reporter:

“Anyway, the Yen Press line seems set up with the leeway to publish whatever’s popular, and one thing you can say about Hassler and Johnson is that within those parameters neither man seems to have ever displayed a bias against anything that will serve the bottom line. A clear editorial point of view or lack of one guarantees nothing in terms of the final result, but there’s a thin line between art and art product, and it’s becoming thinner in comics all the time.”

Filed under: Bookstores, ICv2, Media, Yen Press 2 Comments

Comics as lavender-scented air

November 2, 2006 by

Ack! Where did the goalposts go?! While it seems like bookstores are the Promised Land for graphic novel publishers, prose houses and imprints are increasingly finding that Borders and Barnes & Noble are so last year, at least according to this fascinating piece in the New York Times (free registration required).

The new retailers of choice, it seems, are places like Anthropologie, Restoration Hardware, and Starbucks:

“With book sales sagging — down 2.6 percent as of August over the same period last year, according to the Association of American Publishers — publishers are pushing their books into butcher shops, carwashes, cookware stores, cheese shops, even chi-chi clothing boutiques where high-end literary titles are used to amplify the elegant lifestyle they are attempting to project.”

A lot of familiar names crop up in the course of the article, many with graphic novel imprints or partnerships with graphic novel publishers. Simon & Schuster, which handles distribution for Viz, has been making the most of the new trend:

“In the last four years Simon & Schuster’s special market sales, as they are called, have grown by 50 percent, surpassing total sales to independent bookstores, said Jack Romanos, the publishing house’s president and chief executive.”

And some chains are taking the initiative to fold books into their shopping experience:

“Martin & Osa, a new clothing retailer aimed at 25-to-40-year-olds, stocks dozens of titles in its four stores and is planning to add more, including a ‘reading list’ of graphic novels [emphasis mine], fiction and nonfiction for customers. ‘We try to offer them things that aren’t mainstream, more unusual, more unique,’ said Arnie Cohen, the chief marketing officer.”

Is it the next big thing for graphic novel publishers? I have no idea, but it seems like an idea with potential. Viz just announced a special deal with Hot Topic for Bleach merchandise, so why not actually put copies of the manga in the store?

Filed under: Bookstores, Media, Sales, Viz Leave a Comment

Regional specialties

October 31, 2006 by

The Mature Graphic Novel section has not yet reached north-central West Virginia. I swung by Books-A-Million last night to see. It did look like there were fewer Juné and Blu titles than usual, so maybe they’ve been sorted out and it’s in the works. (The manager, who’s an acquaintance, wasn’t on hand to ask.)

One thing did strike me as I was browsing. It’s too bad Viz didn’t put out a Bleach box set in time for the holidays, like Tokyopop did with Kingdom Hearts. A conveniently bundled, nicely packaged chunk of the early volumes might entice the curious.

*

I’m kind of baffled by the ComicList for the week. The list itself says the only Del Rey offering for the week is the second volume of Basilisk. Jog seems to think that the fourth volume of Love Roma is arriving. The e-mailer from the local comic shop suggests that the seventh volume of Genshiken will arrive. Should I focus on the happiness of new Genshiken, or wallow in the bitterness of delayed Love Roma gratification?

There does seem to be general consensus that this week will see the arrival of the second volumes of Off*Beat and The Dreaming and the fourteenth of The Kindaichi Case Files from Tokyopop. Okay, so maybe it would be nice if these suspenseful stories had dropped the day before Halloween instead of the day after. But it’s close enough.

Not to be outdone in the second volume category, Seven Seas releases the sophomore installment of Inverloch, a web-to-print fantasy story from Sarah Ellerton. I liked the first a lot.

It seems like it’s been weeks since a new volume of a post-apocalyptic survival manga showed up. Dark Horse leaps into the breach with the fifth volume of Eden: It’s an Endless World! For more science fiction, you could always check out June from Netcomics.

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There seems to be a mad flurry of manga reviews of late, and MangaBlog’s Brigid has been staying on top of them.

*

So I’m glancing at the Taiyosha Top Ten over at MangaCast, and I can’t help but notice that Nodame Cantabile has really parked itself there. Volume 16 debuted at number one, with a special taking eighth place the same week. And it’s still in the top 10.

No particular point to that observation, aside from the fact that I like the book and its success makes me happy.

Filed under: Blu, Bookstores, ComicList, Dark Horse, Del Rey, Juné, Sales, Seven Seas, Tokyopop, Viz 6 Comments
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