Crunching the Numbers: Round Robin Discussion

Scott Robins: As for comics publisher needing to the step up to the plate to make their books available for review and be bought by libraries – from talking to a number of people this has been an upward battle. Sometimes I feel that some publishers aren’t fully committed to publishing children’s material mainly because the bread and butter of their business comes from the 20-40 year-old set. And this brings a whole other set of issues with appropriateness of content, designing material for kids that they’ll actually respond to and just general appeal to that audience – a lot of times it just misses the mark entirely. And if it’s not the issue of full commitment, a lot of times it’s just a lack of resources and knowledge in how the book industry works.

Eva Volin: The article that appeared in the Washington Post mentioned how Diamond Comics has had to figure out the book market in order to get its product into libraries and bookstores.  I think libraries are also going to have to figure out how to do business with non-traditional publishers and/or distribution channels if they want to provide the books the patrons are looking for.  Some libraries are on top of this.  Others are still waiting for Baker and Taylor (or Ingram or BWI or…) to magically provide whatever it is. 

RB: I thought this was interesting too.  I didn’t expect Goosebumps or Redwall to be that high up there — and again, that may be a reflection of what librarians are buying rather than what is automatically popular with kids.  Kids may just be taking out anything that’s on the shelf more or less equally, but because more libaries are buying Goosebumps or Redwall, they’re accumulating more circs.

EV: Ha!  I also remember that James wasn’t terribly thrilled that I was buying his entire stack of Marvel Adventures, Teen Titans Go!, and Justice League digests.  Because most of them are out of print and we both acknowleged how popular they are.  But while he could only sell them once, I can sell them over and over, brining in new readers every day (or every three weeks, anyway), who may just drag their moms to the bookstore to buy more copies of their favorite series.  Or they would buy more copies of their favorite series if they’d stay in print.

EV: I had the same experience on the Eisner committee.  Only one other judge had heard of Babymouse and the two of us spend quite a bit of time explaining that, when it comes to comics, the Diamond bestseller list isn’t the only list to be looking at anymore.  It had just never occurred to them to look anywhere else for comics information.  Robin’s right, though.  I also don’t think it’s willful blindness.  It’s more of a learning curve thing.  There are plenty of librarians who would never think to look on a bestseller list for comics info, let alone consider Diamond as a source.

EK: Bone. *sniff* my hardcovers are falling apart one by one.  Even the ones with low circ.  And it is interesting that comic fans haven’t heard of Babymouse.  She is the best!

SR: Most of the titles on the kids list hit that more recreational read category (self contained superhero stories [not continuity-based] and media-related, whether book or tv/cartoon) and not the literary-type or longer story graphic novels. I think the introduction of graphic novels to these next couple of generations is going to be similar to the development of comics starting in the 1950’s. Comics were a form of escapist, purely recreational entertainment that was disposable but fans read TONS of it. So kids these days are coming into their library wanting to read comics…and they’re going to seek out and grab the first title they recognize so of course they’re going to go for the Spider-Man material or Batman because of The Dark Knight movie or Artemis Fowl because they’re fans of the book. Eventually this material is going to run dry and hopefully lead readers to something more sophisticated or meatier. Problem is there’s very little of this kind of material being published right now with probably the exception of Bone – and Bone had an inherent audience of fans from the past decade who passed it on to kids to read. There just isn’t a critical mass yet for this kind of (I hate to use this word but), more literary work.

RB: They’re just so disappointing to me — art-wise, dialog-wise.  Have you guys seen No Girls Allowed from Kids Can Press?  That’s what I actually want to see — it was snappy, with fun art, and it taught you a bit of history, enough to inspire you to go out and find out more about these ladies.  So again, I think this actually shows what Children’s librarians are buying, at least in my network, rather than what would, in an ideal world, be circulating.

1. Totally Spies by Various Creators
2. Palette of 12 Secret Colors by Nari Kusakawa
3. Scooby Doo by Various Creators
4. Time Guardian by Tamao Ichinose and Daimuro Kishi
5. Ultra Maniac by Wataru Yoshizumi
6. Nancy Drew, Girl Detective by Stefan Petrucha
7. Beet the Vandel Buster by Koji Inada
8. Lost Warrior created by Erin Hunter, written by Dan Jolley