WAITING
FOR TOMMY: RETURN TO SPECULATION
By
Richard Johnston
The Eight Signs Of Speculation:
1. Never
speculate on something that was hot when it was ordered. Unless
any of the below apply. If it was that hot, there will have
been enough orders.
2. Separate
elements of demand don't just combine, they multiply exponentially.
Jim Lee on a book is semi-hot. But hey, Divine Right never
did the business. Batman is semi-hot, but he's been down in
the sales charts too long. There was untapped potential in
both. Together, they're not just hot, they're at the top of
the sales chart. Lather, rinse, repeat with Kevin Smith on
Daredevil and Green Arrow, while his Clerks comics sales remain
low.
3. Restricted
markets equals money. Sell licensed titles to foreigners when
the distributors aren't distributing. See: Transformers, See:
Elseworlds Eighty Page Giant. I paid for a honeymoon with
the latter.
4. eBay
is your god. Respect eBay. Do not break its rules. Apart from
the spamming one, you've got to do that, just be obsequious
in your requests when asking permission to send people a link
to your items. You will need eBay to sell your comics on.
shops will only give you 40%, if that, of their on sale price.
Make sure that Positive Feedback rating remains high.
5. Never
spend more than you can afford to lose. You're a gambler,
remember. And those comic book dealers are worse than the
mob. Never run up a tab, or you'll discover why Bob's Comics
Dungeon is so named.
6. Niche
markets can surprise you, especially when they aren't being
tapped right now. The nostalgia boom grabbed large amounts
of this market, but even the likes of Formerly Known As The
Justice League found a readership that much of the industry
forgot existed. Hell, if The Outsiders can go up in price,
anything can!
7. Take
advantage of the dead cat bounce. When something falls in
price so much, it can do nothing but go up a little. Quarter
bins are a great way for comic shops to keep comics that may
one day be worth loads, nice and safe. And when you spot a
creator or character suddenly getting respect, make sure you
dive in first. It's very difficult to lose money buying comics
that cheap. Possible, but difficult.
8. Multi-media
crossovers. For a split second when a property comes out as
a film, and people are aware that it's comic based, there'll
be a feeding frenzy. It will not last long, get in, get out.
Right,
so what looks good right now?
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