PopSyndicate.com

I don't understand advance solicitations? I don't use them for anything I can think of so i fail to see how they're useful to a regular customer. Is there something wrong with me or is there something I'm missing.

I don’t think I’ll ever get used to advance solicitations, you know, when publishers release information about which comics are going to be arriving to shops for a specific month. It’s January and I should be seeing full solicitations for the month of March soon. This is very good to know if I had to place an order two months in advance, but I don’t place an order two months in advance. I’m a customer who knows what is coming to my local shop during the current month and in most cases the current week. If you tell me something is coming out in two months, I’m going to forget about it until the month arrives. Then what is the purpose of two month solicitations in regards to a customer?

I’ve never worked at a comic shop nor, do I know how to run one I’ll admit that right up front. Through interactions with people who have worked in different shops, I’ve come to know that two month solicitations are how far in advance a shop can place an order for their comics. Staff at a shop have to figure out, two months in advance, how many issues, statues, trade paper backs, and other items they want to sell in their shop. Not only do they have to fill pull-lists they have to fill shelves for customers who don’t have pull lists. I don’t know how they do it, but they do.

If comic shops fill out their orders two months in advance that means that customers can fill out their requests two months in advance as well. I do have a pull list and that helps the shop with two-month advance orders, but I don’t consult the two-month solicitations when creating my pull-list. If I don’t consult the two month solicitation for my pull-list, then do other a regular customers consult it? Do regular customers need advance notice for upcoming books? I find myself looking at the full solicitations for the current month, looking specifically for something that I might have missed during a quick pass from two months prior. Unfortunately, I rarely find anything new to add to my pull list when looking over the list.

I don’t know if I’m an oddity in the comic world because of this. Am I missing something about two-month solicitations? Yet, advance notice makes more sense if I think about how most comics are printed monthly. If your comic is arriving on a monthly basis, then two months is more than enough time for a reader to jump on board without having to miss the change. Still the reason I don’t pay much attention to solicitations is because I rarely have a reason to change my core pull list. Once something is added to my pull list I disregard the solicitations. 

I thought they were the oddity of comics, but now solicitations seem to make some sense. When the full solicitations for March arrive, I’ll take a look through them. If I find something new I’ll keep my eyes open at the shop for it. I just hope I can remember to look for it two months down the line.