Love,
Chip!

Some stores might not use some categories, as there might not be enough titles to justify the time and expense. Since stores receive so much DC and Marvel product, Superheroes is quite sparse, containing Invincible and a few other titles. Reference books tend to get shelved in with the generic graphic novels, again because there aren’t many titles. (How-To Draw books tend to be shelved in Art Technique.) General Graphic Novels and Comics Lit… fine line. Depends on the content and the author.

At my former store, Marvel gets one shelf, sometimes more. DC has about three to four shelves. Why the difference? The only Marvel backlist which sells are the Essential volumes, Civil War (waning) and Marvels. DC? Showcase and almost every Vertigo series (Sandman, Tranmetropolitan, Preacher, Doom Patrol, Ex Machina, DMZ, Swamp Thing…) Currently, there is a plastic waterfall fixture in the DC/Marvel bay featuring the Showcase titles and a few new releases.

And you know what? The public doesn’t care if Warner or Paramount or Miramax makes a Batman movie. All they care about is the quality. Most readers don’t care who publishes Stephen King, so long as he wrote the book! Same goes for graphic novels. Readers know what Batman looks like. When they walk by a display of The Killing Joke, All-Star Batman, and The Dark Knight Returns, they’ll recognize Batman. And, YES, DC sold A LOT of Batman graphic novels this summer! (During that first week, when Watchmen sold out, there were three Batman titles in the BN.com Top 100. Not the top 100 graphic novels; the top 100 BOOKS.)

Yeah, Minx merchandising was problematic, as the Young Adult category exists in an awkward place. The smart teens are already reading Rolling Stone and Watchmen and Love and Rockets. The teens who read for enjoyment are over by the manga, reading Fruit Baskets and Ranma 1/2 and Yu-Gi-Oh. Stuff for younger readers ends up in the juvenile section. Many libraries have Teen Centers (check out the Donnelly Branch by MOMA!) which act as a gathering place, but I don’t see many GNs being cataloged as YA. Instead, the GN collection gets displayed near the teen books. Heck… even Dark Horse had trouble with their Harlequin manga, and that was shelved in Romance! Wait ten years, and there might be enough diversity to justify GN subcategories in Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, and Fiction. Then, something like Minx may succeed. Hell… First Second is succeeding, and most of their line is geared towards young and teen readers. (American Born Chinese won the Printz Award for excellence in young adult literature! Yet it’s shelved in Graphic Novels.) My advice? Teens will enjoy anything. Don’t bother marketing it as “teen”. Some want to read books for older readers. (A Catcher in the Rye is probably the most successful teen novel.) Word of mouth will sell the book.