What is Free Comic Book Day?
Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) is the first Saturday in May. It is a day when customers can go into participating comic book stores and libraries and get a FREE Comic! All they have to do is show up! Participating locations decide independently how many comics they will allow each customer to take. At our library you may have one comic per person (all ages).
How do I get comics to give away at my library?
At the St. Charles City-County Library District (SCCCLD) we have a relationship with a local comic book retailer, the Fantasy Shop. We purchase our comic books from them on a regular basis. So, we contacted them about buying our comics to give away. The Fantasy Shop places our order for FCBD comics from Diamond Comics Distributors. The cost of the comics to you is anywhere from $0.20 to $0.40 per comic--so you are buying the comics “at cost” without any mark up. The comics for FCBD are clearly labeled “Free Comic Book Day”
To find out what comic book stores in your area participate in Free Comic Book Day, go to www.freecomicbookday.com. There you will be able to search by location for participating stores.
Every year, we apply for a grant through the SCCCLD Friends of the Library to fund our Free Comic Book Day giveaway. The Friends have been very generous. For 2014 we were granted $700 and we bought 2,650 comics (13 different comics) to give away at our 12 branches. We gave out 2,561 comics!
What is the benefit for the library?
How can I promote Free Comic Book Day?
www.freecomicbookday.com
Diamond Comics Distributors handles the marketing for this international event. If you go to the website you will find all the information you need.
You will find downloads and videos you can use for your personal marketing on your website, facebook, blog or signage. Last year we applied for a separate grant from our Friends of the Library to make banners to hang inside our branches and yard signs to promote the event two weeks in advance outside the branch. I believe this helped to ramp up excitement for the event.
Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) is the first Saturday in May. It is a day when customers can go into participating comic book stores and libraries and get a FREE Comic! All they have to do is show up! Participating locations decide independently how many comics they will allow each customer to take. At our library you may have one comic per person (all ages).
How do I get comics to give away at my library?
At the St. Charles City-County Library District (SCCCLD) we have a relationship with a local comic book retailer, the Fantasy Shop. We purchase our comic books from them on a regular basis. So, we contacted them about buying our comics to give away. The Fantasy Shop places our order for FCBD comics from Diamond Comics Distributors. The cost of the comics to you is anywhere from $0.20 to $0.40 per comic--so you are buying the comics “at cost” without any mark up. The comics for FCBD are clearly labeled “Free Comic Book Day”
To find out what comic book stores in your area participate in Free Comic Book Day, go to www.freecomicbookday.com. There you will be able to search by location for participating stores.
Every year, we apply for a grant through the SCCCLD Friends of the Library to fund our Free Comic Book Day giveaway. The Friends have been very generous. For 2014 we were granted $700 and we bought 2,650 comics (13 different comics) to give away at our 12 branches. We gave out 2,561 comics!
What is the benefit for the library?
- Your patrons are having a fun day at the library!! We have families that look forward to this event every year! The whole family comes in and gets a free comic to treasure. We strive for customers to leave with a good feeling every time they walk into our buildings. A feeling that makes them want to come again and again.
- This is a great opportunity to promote your graphic novel and comics collections for all ages! Have displays nearby promoting these collections. Or make sure you mention “hey--did you know we have comic books and graphic novels? You can check them out any time you are in the library!”
- For reluctant readers graphic novels are an awesome way to get started reading! The art and word combo has been proven to help for those struggling with reading comprehension. This free comic might be the gateway to lifelong reading for some individual.
How can I promote Free Comic Book Day?
www.freecomicbookday.com
Diamond Comics Distributors handles the marketing for this international event. If you go to the website you will find all the information you need.
You will find downloads and videos you can use for your personal marketing on your website, facebook, blog or signage. Last year we applied for a separate grant from our Friends of the Library to make banners to hang inside our branches and yard signs to promote the event two weeks in advance outside the branch. I believe this helped to ramp up excitement for the event.
Make a day of it!
Free Comic Book Day does not have to just be about giving out comics. You can make it a day for special programming too. One year we also had a “Caring for Comics” program the same date. Or, you could tie in a superhero or anime movie marathon Or, maybe get your manga club to host a panel discussion that day. Anything to show the breadth of this exciting medium.
Comics & graphic novels exist for all tastes! Try to order a variety. Since all ages can come up and pick up any comic we stick to the teen and under comic options. But, there is usually still a variety of classics, manga, superheroes, and non-fiction available to choose.
We have bookmarks with recommended graphic novels for teens that can be handed out with the comic books, pointing the teens back to our collection and back to our website and all the resources available to them there.
This is an excellent opportunity to use volunteers at your library as well. Our teen volunteers run a table at the library entrance handing out the comics.
Did we notice a surge in our graphic novel circulation?
This is not something that I was able to confirm through our circulation statistics. This is an area that I think we could work on improving through further programming and displays at our branches. I would love for Free Comic Book Day to be a gateway into this medium for library users and a way to bridge understanding that libraries find the comic book format to be a valuable and important part of the collection. Our endorsement might help increase understanding that comics are valuable tools for reluctant readers and visual learners. Plus, they are fun to read and cover all genres, including sci fi, fantasy, romance, non-fiction, suspense, true crime, noir, humor, etc…
Charts of how our spending/participating has increased:
Days left til next FCBD:
As of October 9, 2014, there are 205 days left until the next Free Comic Book Day,
May 2, 2015.