Comic Store Startup, help with data

[merctraders]

hello all. I am working on a business plan to start up a comic book store in my area. I am having a few issues finding data on comic book sales annually, monthly and annually. Do you know if Diamond will release that information or where I can find such information? Google searches have yeilded little thus far. Thanks!

[Kid Omega]

hello all. I am working on a business plan to start up a comic book store in my area. I am having a few issues finding data on comic book sales annually, monthly and annually. Do you know if Diamond will release that information or where I can find such information? Google searches have yeilded little thus far. Thanks!
That info is pretty readliy available each month, as are the Bookscan numbers.

I would forewarn you- it is next to meaningless in a broader sense... each market can be wildly different from the next.

[merctraders]

That info is pretty readliy available each month, as are the Bookscan numbers.

I would forewarn you- it is next to meaningless in a broader sense... each market can be wildly different from the next.

Data that is largely pointless and meaningless is the meat and potatos of a business plan. You really want to wow them with crazy numbers for the industry. The banks love numbers they don't care if they are meaningless...

[Kid Omega]

Data that is largely pointless and meaningless is the meat and potatos of a business plan. You really want to wow them with crazy numbers for the industry. The banks love numbers they don't care if they are meaningless...

Okay.

good luck I guess.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Data that is largely pointless and meaningless is the meat and potatos of a business plan. You really want to wow them with crazy numbers for the industry. The banks love numbers they don't care if they are meaningless...


I think ya may wanna listen to Kid Omega. He runs a pretty successful bookstore in NYC. I mean we may differ on advertising techniques...( him all classy , me with a sex sells , lets get crazy as hell !) but the guy has done it.

[Iangould]

hello all. I am working on a business plan to start up a comic book store in my area. I am having a few issues finding data on comic book sales annually, monthly and annually. Do you know if Diamond will release that information or where I can find such information? Google searches have yeilded little thus far. Thanks!

Diamond doesn't release actual sales figures just market share data.

Based on the Diamond data and information from some publishers on actual
sales, ICV2 releases estimates of actual sales which are, apparently, pretty accurate (within say, 5%).

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/1850.html

As for busienss plans - if you're developing them to get funding sure you can bullshit but if you're using them for actually, you know, planning for a business you're going to put your own money into, they should be as accurate as possible.

[merctraders]

Diamond doesn't release actual sales figures just market share data.

Based on the Diamond data and information from some publishers on actual
sales, ICV2 releases estimates of actual sales which are, apparently, pretty accurate (within say, 5%).

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/1850.html

As for busienss plans - if you're developing them to get funding sure you can bullshit but if you're using them for actually, you know, planning for a business you're going to put your own money into, they should be as accurate as possible.

Thanks for the link that is pretty much what I am looking for. The numbers are just what I need to justify it to the bank for now. It is hard to get local numbers as there is no store in the area. I live in a resort, summer and winter, town of about 50,000 with the closet comic book shop being 45 minutes away, with good traffic. So I am really looking for national numbers and population numbers for now. Thanks for the help!

[Iangould]

Thanks for the link that is pretty much what I am looking for. The numbers are just what I need to justify it to the bank for now. It is hard to get local numbers as there is no store in the area. I live in a resort, summer and winter, town of about 50,000 with the closet comic book shop being 45 minutes away, with good traffic. So I am really looking for national numbers and population numbers for now. Thanks for the help!

If you're serious about this contact Mel Thompson at comtrack.net.

For a fee he can give you data on sales patterns at other stores based on detailed demographic surveys and predict likely sales for a store in your locality.

[jaguarshark]

If you're serious about this contact Mel Thompson at comtrack.net.

For a fee he can give you data on sales patterns at other stores based on detailed demographic surveys and predict likely sales for a store in your locality.
Incidentally, Ian, speaking of demographics and localities, what do you think it is about South-East Queensland that enables so many comic shops to stay in business? I mean, maybe I'm overstating the facts, but it seems like we have more comic shops per capita than most places.

We also have the most movie screens per capita in the southern hemisphere, so I guess we just love 'disposable' entertainment here in general. I feel like there has to be some other sort of link there, I just can't put my finger on it.

[Iangould]

I'm really not sure what it is.

High incomes and a relatively young and sophisticated population, thansk mostly to immigration from the south, probably ccoutn for a lot of it.

But Brisabne, much as other Australians may not like to bleieve it, has laways had a big countercultural element - we were one of the main centres worldwide of punk rock and have one of the largest Goth scenes in the world. Supanova, which is mainly animation and fantasy cinema oriented these days, draws almost as many people in Brisbane as in Sydney, which has three tiems the population.

My ersonal theory is that government and maisntream society as so conservative and repressive here that they spark a big reaction.

[jaguarshark]

I'm really not sure what it is.

High incomes and a relatively young and sophisticated population, thansk mostly to immigration from the south, probably ccoutn for a lot of it.

But Brisabne, much as other Australians may not like to bleieve it, has laways had a big countercultural element - we were one of the main centres worldwide of punk rock and have one of the largest Goth scenes in the world. Supanova, which is mainly animation and fantasy cinema oriented these days, draws almost as many people in Brisbane as in Sydney, which has three tiems the population.

My ersonal theory is that government and maisntream society as so conservative and repressive here that they spark a big reaction.
That's the best explanation I've heard for it so far. There does seem to be a big 'counter-cultural' movement here, so I guess there needs to be a strongly conservative culture to bring that out.
I just find it very interesting, because I suppose conventional wisdom would assume that you'd need a leftist, cultural-and-arts-friendly government to create the sort of culture you see in Brisbane, whereas it seems that in reality, the opposite is true.
Of course, there's probably just as many- if not more- examples in SEQueensland of the sort of things you'd traditionally expect from a conservative state, but all in all, I'd say Brisbane is pretty 'geek'-friendly.

[Iangould]

I just find it very interesting, because I suppose conventional wisdom would assume that you'd need a leftist, cultural-and-arts-friendly government to create the sort of culture you see in Brisbane, whereas it seems that in reality, the opposite is true.


Well remember too that while the state government has typically been in right-hand hands (until the last decade or so) local government has traditionally been Labor-controlled - and BCC has a bigger budget than Tasmania or the ACT.

[jaguarshark]

Well remember too that while the state government has typically been in right-hand hands (until the last decade or so) local overnment has traditionally been Labour.
Yeah; it's like a strange kind of fusion of the two ideologies has helped to create Brisbane's interesting culture.

Even with a Labour government in place, there's still a somewhat conservative feel to our government, which seems to have made the National and Liberal parties somewhat redundant. Well, that and their general incompetence.

I must say, though, that I just got done researching and writing a corporate piece about Ipswich and it seems that there's a lot of progressive stuff going on; so the Government is definitely doing a lot right.

[merctraders]

Man I love how things turn around in posts lol!

Thanks for the advice so far.