The 5-packs of The Blank Comic Books we were selling are now sold out. Going back to production for 5-packs is not practical, but we can make selling them in bulk work – if I can get preorders for a dozen cases. Each case will have 150 books, and will ship anywhere in Canada or the 48 contiguous US states for $100, prepaid by check.
We’re now just looking for commitments to buy. Once we get your commitment, then I will ask for your checks. We will not ship your product until your check arrives. Email commitments to questions@aboutcomics.com
This offer is not limited to comic retailers – art stores or educational institutions would be great, although due to preexisting agreements, we cannot sell to any store considered part of the “bookstore market”.
ABOUT THE BLANK COMIC BOOK
The Blank Comic Book is just what it sounds like – a blank staple-bound booklet with 24 pages of interior and a blank cover. They are used primarily as an art supply, whether its people using them to draw their own comics, use them as an interesting convention sketchbook, or whatever comes to their mind. (I’ve promoted them as novelty gifts and as handy for keeping info that you want to file in a longbox; I don’t know whether anyone’s used them that way.)
The interior paper is 50# abibook 80 – this isn’t an “art paper”, but an actual comic book paper (About Comics has used it for a number of recent publications) in the newsprint tradition – thicker than the papers most commonly used in comics these days and not glossy, and thus better able to handle a range of drawing tools.
This new batch of The Blank Comic Books would not use the same cover stock as the previous batch. Instead, we’ve spec’d Lynx opaque cover 100# stock, which is more cardstocky (providing a bit more protection of the interior) and more importantly not glossy and thus better able to take a range of art tools.
Please note that the individual comics will not have UPC codes nor any other markings. The case they are shipped in will not be designed as a retail case – it’s simply a shipping box.
HOW DO THESE THINGS SELL?
As best as I can tell, most of our ongoing orders for these have been coming from a small number of retailers. In some cases, the retailer has an active amateur creative community buying them. In other examples, the stores themselves are using them for events – when you have a pro talking to kids about how comics are made, if you give the kid The Blank Comic Book, you’ll find it doesn’t stay blank for long.
These folks were reordering 5 or 10 packs at a time when each The Blank Comic Book 5-Pack was $9.95, and they were paying the reorder penalty and shipping and such. 150 units may sound like a lot, but at $100 postpaid it’s a considerable per-unit savings.
SO HOW DO I GET IN ON THIS?
Email me that information at questions@aboutcomics.com – once we hit orders for a dozen cases (assuming we do), I’ll let you know where to send the check. The books should reach stores within a month after the threshold is reached.
