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I'm opening up a brick and mortar this year and want some advice!!
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725 posts in this topic

Prints can be profitable if you can get them for nothing and they take up very little space.  Just might have to sit on them for while....I had a few on ebay that I never thought would never sell but eventually did (Michael Turner prints); I was about to just toss 'em. 

I think they would probably do well at a local store, get a bunch of them framed and put them on the wall.  They won't even take space away from your buckling shelving units, haha.

Edited by spreads
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Here is the signed gullacy print I got for $1, maybe when I clean up my comic room I will put it up. It is currently sitting on a shelf on display in my office, but we are moving and not allowed to bring much personal stuff, so it is going back home:

 

 

Also Available:

LIMITED EDITION PAUL GULACY ART PRINT

LIMITED PAUL GULACY ART PRINT!

      Batman, 007, The Terminator, Master of Kung Fu, Star Wars, Sabre and Catwoman: Building his reputation on these mega- properties Paul Gulacy has proven one of the most highly regarded comic book illustrators of the last 30 years!
Limited edition of 250 signed prints
and 250 unsigned prints.

ReadButton.jpg

Signed-$40.00
Unsigned-$20.00
Each plus $6.00 S&H (US), $15.00 S&H (World)

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16 hours ago, the blob said:

Ok, if you're flipping them for $70 then so be it. I guess its a market i don't understand.

Again, just look at the completed auctions on eBay for comic prints. I have been collecting comic prints for over 15 years and just 4-5 years back if you were to do a completed auction search on eBay, you would have gotten 1/10th the number of completed print auctions compared to what your seeing today. The comic print market has absolutely exploded in popularity as the price of high quality digital printers has come down in price. 

7 hours ago, spreads said:

Prints can be profitable if you can get them for nothing and they take up very little space.  Just might have to sit on them for while....I had a few on ebay that I never thought would never sell but eventually did (Michael Turner prints); I was about to just toss 'em. 

I think they would probably do well at a local store, get a bunch of them framed and put them on the wall.  They won't even take space away from your buckling shelving units, haha.

Unfortuately, the Aspen print market (including Michael Turner prints) has absolutely imploded due to the sheer level of greed that Aspen displayed. They released a MASSIVE amount of reprints when they ran out of new Turner prints to produce and people found out the DC/Marvel prints that were being sold as limited editions for over 10 years were in fact open editions. In roughly 1 year the entire market lost 60-70% of its value. Before Aspen pulled that cr*p, most signed Turner prints would EASILY sell for $200-$300 and most would sell within just a few days of being listed. Today, its hard to give them away. The Aspen print market is really an exception at this point and should not be viewed as an example of the kind of sales and price levels you see with the rest of the comic print market. 

Edited by OrangeCrush
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59 minutes ago, OrangeCrush said:

Again, just look at the completed auctions on eBay for comic prints. I have been collecting comic prints for over 15 years and just 4-5 years back if you were to do a completed auction search on eBay, you would have gotten 1/10th the number of completed print auctions compared to what your seeing today. The comic print market has absolutely exploded in popularity as the price of high quality digital printers has come down in price. 

Unfortuately, the Aspen print market (including Michael Turner prints) has absolutely imploded due to the sheer level of greed that Aspen displayed. They released a MASSIVE amount of reprints when they ran out of new Turner prints to produce and people found out the DC/Marvel prints that were being sold as limited editions for over 10 years were in fact open editions. In roughly 1 year the entire market lost 60-70% of its value. Before Aspen pulled that cr*p, most signed Turner prints would EASILY sell for $200-$300 and most would sell within just a few days of being listed. Today, its hard to give them away. The Aspen print market is really an exception at this point and should not be viewed as an example of the kind of sales and price levels you see with the rest of the comic print market. 

I wonder if this is more of an on line thing than brick and mortar thing? like i said, i don't see them selling at my shops, although they certainly sell statues. mid-town comics has big space and while i am sure they sell prints, i just don't feel like they have much on display or are pushing them. And certainly, $70 prints? Are those going to sell in a shop in the middle of Long Island suburbia where he's already having trouble making it even a 50% comic shop? (not that there isn't lots of money in long island, although after folks get done paying local property and income taxes...)

Sorry for hijacking the thread, although whether to carry this stuff (and invest in it) is a legit topic for discussion. Wow, those sideshow prints go for a lot of money!  And that Stanley whatever guy, they are lovely (and come framed, which is nice), but are limited and signed for those big bucks. Personally, at that $500-$800 range there is still some nice OA out there. I know, it's usually not in color, but then there's stuff like this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Joseph-Linsner-DAWN-ORIGINAL-ART-Mixed-Media-Masterpiece-Published-JML-w-Dragon-/122740855483?hash=item1c93ecd2bb%3Ag%3AWLIAAOSwzx9Z1rgz&nma=true&si=MWCRhdvf4M7KTm6zum%2BQIQzvOBc%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Edited by the blob
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4 hours ago, the blob said:

I wonder if this is more of an on line thing than brick and mortar thing? like i said, i don't see them selling at my shops, although they certainly sell statues. mid-town comics has big space and while i am sure they sell prints, i just don't feel like they have much on display or are pushing them. And certainly, $70 prints? Are those going to sell in a shop in the middle of Long Island suburbia where he's already having trouble making it even a 50% comic shop? (not that there isn't lots of money in long island, although after folks get done paying local property and income taxes...)

Sorry for hijacking the thread, although whether to carry this stuff (and invest in it) is a legit topic for discussion. Wow, those sideshow prints go for a lot of money!  And that Stanley whatever guy, they are lovely (and come framed, which is nice), but are limited and signed for those big bucks. Personally, at that $500-$800 range there is still some nice OA out there. I know, it's usually not in color, but then there's stuff like this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Joseph-Linsner-DAWN-ORIGINAL-ART-Mixed-Media-Masterpiece-Published-JML-w-Dragon-/122740855483?hash=item1c93ecd2bb%3Ag%3AWLIAAOSwzx9Z1rgz&nma=true&si=MWCRhdvf4M7KTm6zum%2BQIQzvOBc%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

I think this largely has to due with the fact that most comic shops just haven't carried quality prints up to this point. I don't think many people associate quality comic prints with comic stores. I know the comic shops by me, and the comic shops I visited over the last 30+ years, only sold cheap rolled up posters from Marvel & DC if they carried any type of artwork at all and many didn't even carry those. And I think that largely has to do with the fact that up until the last 5-6 or so years, comic prints were really MUCH more of a niche market. Aspen was really the first comic company to seriously start producing comic prints on a regular basis and even tho they have been doing it for well over 10+ years now, most of their prints were limited to 50-100. So even tho they were producing a significant number of prints on a regular basis, they were still really just aimed at a VERY small segment of the comic collecting population. Top Cow produced a few prints here and there, as did some of the other companies and artists, but overall it amounted to a very small amount of prints overall on a regular basis. Again, it really wasn't until the last 5-6 years that comic prints really started to grow into a significant industry of their own.

So your absolutely right, it really has been much more of an online thing up to this point, but that doesnt mean it has to stay an online thing. There are a LOT more comic print collectors out there than ever before and as someone else already brought up, one of the best aspects to art prints is that they take up very little space overall. In a single art print box that you can buy from companies like Light Impressions, you could easily store 75-100 raw prints, depending on the thickness of the paper. And all one would really have to do in order sell prints is do exactly what Aspen has done all these years at comic con's. You just put a couple of portfolio's out on the sales floor that people can freely look through and if they decide they want to buy a print, you simply pull that print out of the print boxes you have them stored in. The prints in the portfolio stay where they are. Their basically just floor copies until your down to the last print. And the amount of space those portfolio's would take up, especially if stored vertically, would be so negligible that it would literally be completely inconsequential. And you could go a step further and get some framed using inexpensive frames and hang them on the walls. Even if the framed prints don't sell right away, they would wind up making the store look VASTLY superior so its a win win either way. I know I would certainly enjoy looking at quality framed comic prints over blank walls or walls that just have cheap promotional material posted on them that is sent to them by various comic companies, which is usually what I see posted on the walls in most of the comic shops I have visited over the years.

And its important to note that its not just the popularity of comic prints that has increased markedly. You also have the overall quality of the prints themselves that have improved. In order to get a print of the quality of Sideshow's Premium Art prints 10 years ago, you would have had to pay at least $300-$400 for an 18x24 print, likely more. And the prints one is able to buy at Zazzle during their big Black Friday sale would have easily cost at least $50-$60 each. Its really that increase in quality, along with the significant drop in price of digital giclee printers that really set in motion this massive increase in popularity we have seen with the comic print market. Basically things have been changing for some time now in the comic print world and at least IMO, the next logical step is comic shops trying to get a piece of that pie as that pie has now grown into a significant amount of money each year. If any of the comic shops by me started to carry various art prints, I would absolutely make it a point to stop in from time to time to see what they had. Most major Comic Con's now bring at least 50+ new prints to market. I know if I owned a comic shop, I would without question be going after a piece of that comic print pie.

And yeah, Sideshow's prints can go for a lot of money. The Aspen Market used to be the same way. Such a shame Aspen got greedy and destroyed their entire print business. And yeah, many of the prints are limited editions, but there are plenty of open edition prints being made as well. I would estimate that roughly 20% of the comic prints being made today are open edition prints. Jamie Tyndall, Stanley Lau, J. Scott Campbell, and the list goes on and on. IMO, most of the people who buy comic prints are most interested in the artwork itself. Sure, its great if you can get it signed or its already signed, but it wouldn't be a deal breaker for most if it wasn't. IMO, if someone really loves a piece of comic art, they will buy the print wether its limited edition, open edition, or signed or unsigned. Just how much they will spend, now that does depend on wether its limited and signed, but wether or not people will actually buy it, not IMO. Thats how Aspen was able to continue on with thier Michael Turner prints for many years after Michael Turner's death. They were still signed by Peter Steigerwald, but nobody really cared if he signed it or not. I hate to say that, but its 100% true. People kept buying those prints even without Turner's signature because they loved his artwork, not because they were still being signed by Peter Steigerwald. And that's why MANY people continued to buy Sideshow's prints even even after learning the signatures were fake.

Edited by OrangeCrush
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On 2/20/2018 at 10:18 PM, FlyingDonut said:

I think you have to give a subscriber discount. 10% off for those subscriptions, because those books are guaranteed sales. I would also always slide in the 1:10 variant into your subscriber's pull list because they will 99% of the time just buy it. Also make "recommendations" into your pull list of like books and see if your subscriber picks those up. Offer free bags and boards to subscribers. Little things that cost you nothing that will make your customers come back. Give your subscribers first crack on any variants. etc etc etc

I do all of this exactly as you have written...subscribers get a bag and board for their pulls as well as any new books they buy when they come in, and 10% off their books.  They get first crack at the variants at cover price (I never order the 25 needed to get the expensive variants, but once in a while the 1:10 and I don't mark those up IF a subscriber wants one.  I rotate that around for customers who subscribe to the same book so not one person is getting all the variants.  And on a seperate note, I sold all my ASM 796's (all 8 lol) at cover price to pull list customers and regulars.

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I'm not going to "quote" any of the threads relating to "prints" as there were a lot with good information.  I do actually sell prints.  I purchase prints from artist JaCo Tartaruga  http://jacotartaruga.storenvy.com/as well as a local artist from the neighborhood, Laura Sweeney https://laurasweeneyart.com/

I sell the unframed prints at $20 each and framed prints (they are all 11x17) for $29.95.  I have 4 prints from Laura Sweeney and over 30 different prints from JaCo.  I display them above the back issue comics, with 2 full rows dedicated to the prints (about 15-20).  I started off with 8-10 different prints from JaCo and they sold very well,  some sold out in fact, I re-ordered, and the same thing.  Last order I placed was for 100 prints (I also have 100 frames as I was able to get them at Michael's during one of their 50% off frames sales.  People like the fact that they were original and when the Holiday season came around I had a bunch of people come in and say "My husband, brother, son, wife, girlfriend likes "x character" but I don't know what to get them??  The prints were a great sell...not too expensive and 99.99% chance they don't have them.  Some weeks 1 sell 0/1 and some weeks I sell 10+...just over 50% profit margin so not too bad AND I get to support local up and coming artists!

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On an unrelated side note, the guy I have helping me out so I don't work open to close 7 days  has the flu this last week and a half, so I worked about 85-90 hours this week (15 on both Friday and Saturday), so sorry I didn't update on last Wednesday I had planned.  I am doing some small re-modeling this week in order to make room for more back issues...this is all in my plan to get my comic situation fully completed before Free Comic Book day.  I have my brother-in-law and another new kid who's "working off" some comics helping me out getting things organized and priced up.

I'm also meeting with my accountant tomorrow night.  I will update with everything I did wrong lol and whatever issues come up that I wan't prepared for so that others that may read this in the future don't suffer the same pitfalls.  I may even include one or 2 things I accidentally did right lol !!

I'll try to update Wednesday evening, with this weeks slow sales report :( as well as a few nice copper collections that came in :) 

On another unrelated side note, the landlord came in today and asked me if I wanted another location as he likes that I keep the place clean, pay my rent early, and don't bother him with petty repairs (I just take care of it).  I told him I'm not quite ready yet and that I want to take a salary first before I go and open another place lol 

Thanks again for all who comment, participate, give advice both positive and "constructive"...it's too late to take the advice "don't do it" but I do understand it if I was only opening a comic shop, with no secondary item to support it.  Keep it coming!!  Thanks!

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2 hours ago, Genesis Comics said:

I do all of this exactly as you have written...subscribers get a bag and board for their pulls as well as any new books they buy when they come in, and 10% off their books.  They get first crack at the variants at cover price (I never order the 25 needed to get the expensive variants, but once in a while the 1:10 and I don't mark those up IF a subscriber wants one.  I rotate that around for customers who subscribe to the same book so not one person is getting all the variants.  And on a seperate note, I sold all my ASM 796's (all 8 lol) at cover price to pull list customers and regulars.

You need to do the math and see what your selling point is for the 1:25/1:30/1:50 variants are - you may be able to essentially get extra books that you can give away for nothing.

My old comic store owner did this and made total bank - at a certain point, ordering a thousand copies of something to get the 1:1000 variant is bottom line cheaper for you than ordering 250 of them because you can sell all the incremental variants all the way up. Plug the math in and see where you are before you discount that option. I know a couple of store owners who ordered enough of the Batman books to get the Jim Lee sketch variant that way - it was pure money. Of course they have 4,000 copies of an unsellable book in their warehouse, but what can you do.

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Speaking of prints....and just a suggestion....you might want to see about selling some from Stuart Sayger.

I'm not really impressed by many people in general, but this artist certainly did.  I met him at a small local con several years ago.  I'm not really into original art, but when I saw his hanging up in his booth, it made me stop.  There weren't many people at the show, so I can't imagine it was very lucrative for him, but you couldn't tell by his attitude.  The guy was super friendly and willing to engage with anyone that wanted to chat.  And his art was just incredible and instantly became a favorite of mine.

Here's a link to the gallery on his website.

And here's a link to his shop on his website where he sells some prints, original art, sketch covers, etc. (you can see more of his superhero prints on eBay).

Edited by Domo Arigato
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1 hour ago, FlyingDonut said:

You need to do the math and see what your selling point is for the 1:25/1:30/1:50 variants are - you may be able to essentially get extra books that you can give away for nothing.

My old comic store owner did this and made total bank - at a certain point, ordering a thousand copies of something to get the 1:1000 variant is bottom line cheaper for you than ordering 250 of them because you can sell all the incremental variants all the way up. Plug the math in and see where you are before you discount that option. I know a couple of store owners who ordered enough of the Batman books to get the Jim Lee sketch variant that way - it was pure money. Of course they have 4,000 copies of an unsellable book in their warehouse, but what can you do.

Did it matter what condition the book was in?  When I was working at my local LCS, the variants weren't always in top shape, and a lot of damage wasn't returnable.  I'd be terrified of sinking that much money into one book I couldn't inspect.

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9 hours ago, thirdgreenham said:

I liked the effort put into your post, but I hate prints. 

 

rantrant 

Much appreciated and I respect your opinion as I understand that not every comic collector has an interest in prints. The artwork itself has always been one of the main aspects to why I love comics as much as I do. I enjoy the stories as well, but its really the artwork more than anything that has kept me interested in comics for all these years. I just absolutely love comic related artwork and at least for me, comics just can't compete with a nice quality art print when it comes to really enjoying various comic related artwork as their just vasty larger in size, which allows me to enjoy the artwork to a much greater extent. I love comic related art books and sketch books as well, but even those just can't compare to a really nice 13x19 or 18x24 print, especially if you get artwork matted & framed and display it on a wall.

I do all of my own matting and framing and one of the best aspects of that, beyond saving a crapload of money and ensuring that a particular print is archivally matted/framed, is it allows to me easily switch out the matted prints that are being displayed in the various frames that I own. I currently have 4 print boxes full of matted comic artwork (both original artwork and prints), over 10 boxes of matted photography prints (mostly my own photography work), and 3 boxes of misc matted prints (mostly wildlife lithographs by artists like Robert Bateman). I can switch out a matted print in one of my frames in just a couple of minutes and like 2-3 times a year I wind up switching out roughly 95% of all the framed artwork being displayed in my home. Its great as it keeps the artwork that is displayed on my walls fresh and exciting and it really changes the overall look of the rooms. Basically, it just keeps your home fresh and exciting in regards to the various artwork being displayed on the walls. Of course, archivally matting prints in high quality matte board gets expensive so I only matte my absolute favorite pieces of artwork. The vast majority of the prints and original artwork I collect wind up in portfolio's or print file cabinets, but that ok as I really love just kicking back on my couch and browsing through many of my portfolio's. Its just like enjoying an art book, just with much larger pictures.

Here are a couple pictures of one of my 18x24 Prat Start 4 portfolio's. Their great portfolio's as their real leather and their padded, which makes them really comfortable to browse through. As much as I love comics or art books, they just can't compare to kicking back and browsing through one of these that is full of artwork you really enjoy. As I alway say, to each their own. If we all had the same opinions, the world would definitely be a very boring place. 

5a9519d4ca650_IMG_6753copy.thumb.jpg.3d5f1038a6871fef34279d5930262906.jpg

5a95148b0657c_IMG_6765copy.JPG.11105c7cee0a2ea0859314110c3861e8.JPG

5a9514651433a_IMG_6760copy.thumb.jpg.58ece1fbac7a92881343246b03fe6bef.jpgUntitled.jpg.49815d15ac85456e019dcc73f6da19e2.jpg

By the way, in regards to the yearly Zazzle sale I mentioned, they also offer an oversized 8.5x11 greeting card that only winds up being around $2.00 apiece during the sale. The quality is top notch and they are on a nice thick card stock. Their great for displaying smaller pieces of artwork in various places. Since their cards they can stand on their own or you can display them on something metal with some quality magnets. I even display some of the horizontal cards on some of my book shelves as I just slide the back of the card under the books so the books wind up keeping them in place. You could even get small 8.5x11 frames and just frame them like they were prints. Here are a couple of examples including one of my cats, a couple Gotham City Sirens covers and Artgerm's Oz cover. 

Anna.thumb.jpg.4d5809f6731c0e3231a441ed9953833f.jpgDorthy.thumb.jpg.065e68e74b02ad8838f2a355ae800543.jpgSirens.thumb.jpg.7e9b9fef0ccfff04419b653575af9020.jpg5a951e1f46106_PoisonIvy.thumb.jpg.3829d9dd3affd545ab28057934730c0d.jpg

 

9 hours ago, FlyingDonut said:

You need to do the math and see what your selling point is for the 1:25/1:30/1:50 variants are - you may be able to essentially get extra books that you can give away for nothing.

My old comic store owner did this and made total bank - at a certain point, ordering a thousand copies of something to get the 1:1000 variant is bottom line cheaper for you than ordering 250 of them because you can sell all the incremental variants all the way up. Plug the math in and see where you are before you discount that option. I know a couple of store owners who ordered enough of the Batman books to get the Jim Lee sketch variant that way - it was pure money. Of course they have 4,000 copies of an unsellable book in their warehouse, but what can you do.

I was actually going to mention the same thing. I know there are a couple of sellers on eBay that basically sell a LOT of newer comics for just $1.00 each and that has to be so they can get some of the rarer variants. They are basically just breaking even on many of the regular issues so they can get many of the rarer variants and given the prices that many of the rarer variants can have, it seems like a solid business plan. 

 

11 hours ago, Genesis Comics said:

I'm not going to "quote" any of the threads relating to "prints" as there were a lot with good information.  I do actually sell prints.  I purchase prints from artist JaCo Tartaruga  http://jacotartaruga.storenvy.com/as well as a local artist from the neighborhood, Laura Sweeney https://laurasweeneyart.com/

I sell the unframed prints at $20 each and framed prints (they are all 11x17) for $29.95.  I have 4 prints from Laura Sweeney and over 30 different prints from JaCo.  I display them above the back issue comics, with 2 full rows dedicated to the prints (about 15-20).  I started off with 8-10 different prints from JaCo and they sold very well,  some sold out in fact, I re-ordered, and the same thing.  Last order I placed was for 100 prints (I also have 100 frames as I was able to get them at Michael's during one of their 50% off frames sales.  People like the fact that they were original and when the Holiday season came around I had a bunch of people come in and say "My husband, brother, son, wife, girlfriend likes "x character" but I don't know what to get them??  The prints were a great sell...not too expensive and 99.99% chance they don't have them.  Some weeks 1 sell 0/1 and some weeks I sell 10+...just over 50% profit margin so not too bad AND I get to support local up and coming artists!

Well, its nice to see your selling some prints and original art. Not many comic stores do and that's a shame as it really can be a great source of additional revenue, especially given how popular prints have become the last few years and they really shouldn't take up a lot of storage space. For the artists and various companies making and selling prints...well, in regards to return on investment they are easily one of the biggest money makers out there right now. Sideshow is likely only making around a 20-25% profit at best on their statues, but with their Premium Art Prints they are likely making around 85-90% profit. Thier charging $90 for most prints and those prints only cost around $5 a pop to make. And thier making a killing on framed prints as well as the polystyrene frames Sideshow is using are super cheap especially when bought in bulk and they are charging $250 for most framed pieces. And they have an automated matte cutter so the amount of time being spent on framing the print is really negligible. 

Being that your not an artist or company making the prints, they are going to be more expensive thus you won't see as big of a return, but you can still make decent money on prints. Thats why I mentioned that Zazzle sale as that is a rare opportunity to buy a lot of quality Marvel and DC prints for an amount that should give you decent profits if your able to sell them. 

Edited by OrangeCrush
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Just for giggles, here's a quick back of the envelope for DKIII 1

Order 5,500 copies, get 50% off cover, so your outlay is $17,8500

Get these variants:

1 1:5000. Sell for $5,000 (at least). Assume sold for $5,000
5 1:1000. Sell for $800-$1,000. Assume sold for $4,500
11 1:500. Sell for $150-$300. Assume sold for $2,500
22 1:250. Sell for $100-$200. Assume sold $3,000
55 1:100. Sell for $50-$100. Assume 50% sold for $2,000
110 1:50. Sell for $25-$50. Assume 40% sold for $1,300 
220 1:25. Sell for $15-$25. Assume 30% sold for $1,000
550 1:10. Sell for $10. Assume 50% sold for $2,750

That's a total of $22,050 before you've sold any of the "regular" books.

That leaves you with
27 1:100 variants
66 1:50 variants
154 1:25 variants
275 1:10 variant
and 4,526 copies cover priced at $6.49

by my math - and this is completely back of the envelope so could easily be checked - you make your money back on the variants before you sell anything. Anything else is gravy.

 

Edited by FlyingDonut
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58 minutes ago, FlyingDonut said:

Just for giggles, here's a quick back of the envelope for DKIII 1

Order 5,500 copies, get 50% off cover, so your outlay is $17,8500

Get these variants:

1 1:5000. Sell for $5,000 (at least). Assume sold for $5,000
5 1:1000. Sell for $800-$1,000. Assume sold for $4,500
11 1:500. Sell for $150-$300. Assume sold for $2,500
22 1:250. Sell for $100-$200. Assume sold $3,000
55 1:100. Sell for $50-$100. Assume 50% sold for $2,000
110 1:50. Sell for $25-$50. Assume 40% sold for $1,300 
220 1:25. Sell for $15-$25. Assume 30% sold for $1,000
550 1:10. Sell for $10. Assume 50% sold for $2,750

That's a total of $22,050 before you've sold any of the "regular" books.

That leaves you with
27 1:100 variants
66 1:50 variants
154 1:25 variants
275 1:10 variant
and 4,526 copies cover priced at $6.49

by my math - and this is completely back of the envelope so could easily be checked - you make your money back on the variants before you sell anything. Anything else is gravy.

 

I like this math.  And it makes sense.  And have a big-ish BATMAN sale about two-three months later where you can blow out the rest of the unsold comics, and or do other promotions with your extra comics (free DK regular with every ten comics you buy, etc).  Donate your last 1,000 regular copy comics (assuming you don't sell out) to charity for a tax deduction.  Because its a special 'Batman' sale, your regular customers won't know ahead of time to just wait around for the sale, and will still buy as they normally would.

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3 minutes ago, revat said:

I like this math.  And it makes sense.  And have a big-ish BATMAN sale about two-three months later where you can blow out the rest of the unsold comics, and or do other promotions with your extra comics (free DK regular with every ten comics you buy, etc).  Donate your last 1,000 regular copy comics (assuming you don't sell out) to charity for a tax deduction.  Because its a special 'Batman' sale, your regular customers won't know ahead of time to just wait around for the sale, and will still buy as they normally would.

You could also give your best customers a copy of the 1:100 variant instead of the regular one. There's all sorts of things to do. 

It does point out, however, that the market is not sustainable, because the print runs for the book will be extraordinarily inflated in order to get the variants.

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54 minutes ago, FlyingDonut said:

You could also give your best customers a copy of the 1:100 variant instead of the regular one. There's all sorts of things to do. 

It does point out, however, that the market is not sustainable, because the print runs for the book will be extraordinarily inflated in order to get the variants.

yes, you have to pick and choose your spots, and know your market, but that generally applies to any business.  But you're right, it gives you a decent chance to spice things up for your customers, especially your best ones. 

 

I see this from time to time with one of our local stores and they have all these side shelves and boxes full of the related overstock (from super variants), and you know like 5 years later, I don't understand why they don't just blow them out at 25 cents each just to get rid of them, or sell them by the box.  Just to make space it'd be worth it I think.  Note that this is actual store front space, not backroom or storage space.  Its insane!  Most disorganized store in our area, but treats his subscribers real good, and there's a lot of hidden gems you can pick up after they get popular because of the disorganization if you don't mind digging and lower grades.

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3 hours ago, FlyingDonut said:

Just for giggles, here's a quick back of the envelope for DKIII 1

Order 5,500 copies, get 50% off cover, so your outlay is $17,8500

Get these variants:

1 1:5000. Sell for $5,000 (at least). Assume sold for $5,000
5 1:1000. Sell for $800-$1,000. Assume sold for $4,500
11 1:500. Sell for $150-$300. Assume sold for $2,500
22 1:250. Sell for $100-$200. Assume sold $3,000
55 1:100. Sell for $50-$100. Assume 50% sold for $2,000
110 1:50. Sell for $25-$50. Assume 40% sold for $1,300 
220 1:25. Sell for $15-$25. Assume 30% sold for $1,000
550 1:10. Sell for $10. Assume 50% sold for $2,750

That's a total of $22,050 before you've sold any of the "regular" books.

That leaves you with
27 1:100 variants
66 1:50 variants
154 1:25 variants
275 1:10 variant
and 4,526 copies cover priced at $6.49

by my math - and this is completely back of the envelope so could easily be checked - you make your money back on the variants before you sell anything. Anything else is gravy.

 

Assuming your math  works, why not  go big?  Order 25,000 copies.

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1 hour ago, revat said:

yes, you have to pick and choose your spots, and know your market, but that generally applies to any business.  But you're right, it gives you a decent chance to spice things up for your customers, especially your best ones. 

 

I see this from time to time with one of our local stores and they have all these side shelves and boxes full of the related overstock (from super variants), and you know like 5 years later, I don't understand why they don't just blow them out at 25 cents each just to get rid of them, or sell them by the box.  Just to make space it'd be worth it I think.  Note that this is actual store front space, not backroom or storage space.  Its insane!  Most disorganized store in our area, but treats his subscribers real good, and there's a lot of hidden gems you can pick up after they get popular because of the disorganization if you don't mind digging and lower grades.

Give them away for Free Comic Book Day. Make paper airplanes out of them. Anything - because they have no cost associated with them anymore.

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