Boston, MA Nov. 5th GOLDEN FREEBIES!!

[langur88]

Dave -

 

Don't the type of guests that say a Wizard show bring in translate to sales for certain types of dealers (like say, $1 books and "hot" books)?

 

I think there is a correlation between sales and guests, when those guests bring in readers who are also looking to pick up recent back issues.

 

I do not think guests help vintage dealers or high grade dealers... that's basically an audience that's going to show or not show without regard to who is signing...

 

 

Boston, like Philadelphia, has never been a great city to draw in big buyers -- so I think that different dealers have different perspectives as to how a show "performs".

 

1. They do to a certain extent. We have had 54 Boston shows and 53 Wizard ads.

Remember the law of diminishing returns. We used the ad budget a little differently for this one show. Thats all. The Wizard ads will return next show. Means nothing to vintage comic book buyers. They would not be caught dead with a Wizard.

2. There is a correlation between sales and guests but the hard core collector is what drives sales. He cares more about the books than who made them. He is spending his valuable con time to buy books. Not spending it getting them autographed.

3. Guests do not affect the sales for vintage or high grade dealers. Even if I had a vintage guest the affected attendees would be more apt to bring books to be signed from their own collection that they may have not added to for years. The vintage comic buyers are there for the books. Dealers generally only care about what part of the show affects them directly. The promoter has to keep the highest percentage of folks happy as possible whether they be attendees, guests or dealers. He has to take care of an elephant, not just an elephants tail.

4. Boston is limited There is very little population to the north and none to the east. If you live south you can always go to New York to the Big Apple or New York Comic-Con. The area population dictates the viability and budget of a show whether it is Boston or Portland. or even New York City.

 

Not how many ad dollars you throw at the wrong target.

[Foolkiller]

Dave -

 

Don't the type of guests that say a Wizard show bring in translate to sales for certain types of dealers (like say, $1 books and "hot" books)?

 

I think there is a correlation between sales and guests, when those guests bring in readers who are also looking to pick up recent back issues.

 

I do not think guests help vintage dealers or high grade dealers... that's basically an audience that's going to show or not show without regard to who is signing...

 

 

Boston, like Philadelphia, has never been a great city to draw in big buyers -- so I think that different dealers have different perspectives as to how a show "performs".

 

1. They do to a certain extent. We have had 54 Boston shows and 53 Wizard ads.

Remember the law of diminishing returns. We used the ad budget a little differently for this one show. Thats all. The Wizard ads will return next show. Means nothing to vintage comic book buyers. They would not be caught dead with a Wizard.

2. There is a correlation between sales and guests but the hard core collector is what drives sales. He cares more about the books than who made them. He is spending his valuable con time to buy books. Not spending it getting them autographed.

3. Guests do not affect the sales for vintage or high grade dealers. Even if I had a vintage guest the affected attendees would be more apt to bring books to be signed from their own collection that they may have not added to for years. The vintage comic buyers are there for the books. Dealers generally only care about what part of the show affects them directly. The promoter has to keep the highest percentage of folks happy as possible whether they be attendees, guests or dealers. He has to take care of an elephant, not just an elephants tail.

4. Boston is limited There is very little population to the north and none to the east. If you live south you can always go to New York to the Big Apple or New York Comic-Con. The area population dictates the viability and budget of a show whether it is Boston or Portland. or even New York City.

 

Not how many ad dollars you throw at the wrong target.

 

1) I basically only collect vintage and high grade. I also read Wizard. But I will concede that smaller shows like JP's in New Jersey and Derek Woywood in Philly have both occasionally stopped advertising in Wizard as a result of expense. I think both are back advertising again though.

 

2) I somewhat disagree with you here. Most of the people who go to see guests (of the younger set I've spoken with) also are VERY driven to get certain books, they're just not expensive. They're trying to get a stack of 50 books for the $50 or so. I think the hard core collector can be both people.

 

3) No disagreement. We both said the same thing.

 

4) I think it's population and also income and wealth. People around Philly here are not known for having a ton of high grade, high end collectors. Frankly, those that are high end collectors end up traveling anyway or I assume ordering online. At least in Boston there are some decent comic shops, here in Philly, it's almost completely barren. Though Fat Jack's has improved, I would think some real competition might be healthy for this market. There are other stores, but quite honestly, they do a poor job in servicing the market. And I think that lack of infusion of interest impacts how the local Philly show performs each month. Dealers like Al Stoltz don't want to do the show anymore, and soon I will be down to one dealer I have any interest in at that show. It sounds to me as if other local shows are heading in that direction.

[langur88]

 

I think the hard core collector can be both people.

 

 

I think it's population and also income and wealth.

 

They can be but I believe it to be a much smaller percentage than is perceived.

 

The higher the population access to a given show the higher the amount of potential disposable income there is to be spent.