Ilan Strasser of Fat Moose Comics in Whippany, New Jersey responds to Robert Scott's comments on manga sales (see 'Robert Scott of Comickaze on Manga'):

I am going to just take a moment to respond to three things Robert Scott bought up in his rebuttal to my last Talk Back entry.  In general, I agree with many of his points, but I do feel the need to clarify some things.

First, I definitely know the value of the trade paperback market and I have one of the largest selections of trade paperbacks in my part of the state.  Not only do I carry a wide inventory (a huge selection of many different titles) that includes manga, but also a very deep one (in that I keep at least 2 copies in stock of most major trades at all times).  I hate selling a trade and then having to wait a few days to get another in stock!

Secondly, I was not directly comparing manga, which is obviously read, to Magic and other collectibles.  I was simply making the point that whatever the product, too much of it too often leads to declining sales when consumers face too many choices and a wallet that cannot expand quite fast enough to keep up with a never-ending parade of new releases.

Lastly, I agree that talking up the product and having dedicated staff to do so is tremendously important.  We used to do just that all the time, and we did it with families and individuals both.  However, that becomes impossible to do when the folks who used to come to your store for a certain product line stop.

We used to get lots of them for manga and as Robert said, they bought three or four or more books at a time.  Now, they no longer come -- our only manga sales are from three people who also reserve other mainstream comics with us.  Where did these folks go?  They went to all the stores I mentioned before -- I know because I keep running into them at these stores.

When did they go?  They started when those other stores began bolstering their manga lines, adding more and more titles each month.  Those who have spoken to me tell me they switched because their parents felt the other stores had stuff to offer them I didn't (regular books, coffee, music and movies).  It was more time-effective for the parents to take their kids to a store they felt they could shop in too.

I am a comic store, not a CD store, movie store, or cafe.  Our local people decided that our ten years of expertise and knowledge counted for nothing when the big boys moved in.  It was not because of failures on the part of my staff or myself that our manga customers left -- they just decided it would be better for them to get the books elsewhere -- and past a certain point, you can't fight that anymore.