Unshelved

Unshelved strip for Thursday, August 07, 2008

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Bill's life: Where do they get their ideas?

Theo: There's a giant war. Almost no one is left alive.
Rosie: Can we live underground? Like bunnies?

Posted by Bill on 8/6/2008 12:24:00 PM

Unshelved strip for Wednesday, August 06, 2008

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Unshelved strip for Tuesday, August 05, 2008

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Unshelved strip for Monday, August 04, 2008

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Sponsors: Tell Harlequin

Since I started making Unshelved I've met a lot of women who read a lot of romance novels, and if there's one thing they have in common, it's that they have opinions. If this describes you, you're the perfect candidate for this week's sponsor Tell Harlequin. It's a reader's panel where you'll be asked to render your opinion about book ideas, book covers, and, of course, books. It's free and easy. Just sign up and start opining!

Posted by Bill on 8/3/2008 8:10:00 PM

Sponsors: Diamond Bookshelf

Thanks to this week's sponsor, Diamond Bookshelf, a monthly newsletter from the #1 source of graphic novels, Diamond Book Distributors, to help teachers and librarians make sense of graphic novels. Sign up today!

Posted by Bill on 8/3/2008 3:12:00 PM

Unshelved strip for Sunday, August 03, 2008

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Gene's life: Writing this morning...

while listening exclusively to this, which makes me very happy.

Posted by Gene on 8/2/2008 6:13:00 AM

Unshelved strip for Saturday, August 02, 2008

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Unshelved News: Self Inspiration

The first person who ever asked me for a sketch at ComicCon was a fan who calls herself Hawk, back in 2003, long before I drew well enough to do a good job. Every year she asks for a new one, which gives me a chance to look at what I've done before. I came across a pretty funny drawing with pretty funny dialog, and decide to steal from myself by making it today's strip. Thanks for inspiring me, Hawk, or at least helping me inspire myself.

Posted by Bill on 8/1/2008 2:33:00 PM

Unshelved strip for Friday, August 01, 2008

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Unshelved News: Firing Squad

Marshall Public Library of Pocatello, ID has a new policy on overdues:

P.S. We have just a couple of these jackets left in our store.

Posted by Bill on 7/31/2008 12:06:00 PM

Unshelved News: Life Imitates Art (With Gum)

Remember this Unshelved sequence? Children's Librarian Darcel B. Jones of the Bayview/Anna E. Waden Library thought it was a great idea, and thus the ABC (Already Been Chewed) Mosaic kid's program was born. Check out the creativity of his kids:

Posted by Bill on 7/31/2008 11:32:00 AM

Unshelved strip for Thursday, July 31, 2008

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Store: Everything Old is New Again

New this week in the Unshelved Store, colors! We've taken some of our most popular designs and re-released them with attractive new colors:

What Happens in The Library Stays in the Library in Olive (men's) and Fresh Fatigue (women's)
What Happens in Storytime Stays in Storytime in Blue (men's) and Lilac (women's)
Read Irresponsibly in Black, now also in a women's fitted version
My Safeword is "Ow!" in a new Black women's fitted version
Will Work For Books in Heather (women's)
Reader's Advisory in a second color for women: Dark Blue

We debuted these last week at Comic Con, and they were snapped right up. If the old colors didn't work for you, have a look at these.

P.S. Yes, you still save $3 when you get any two shirts, and it's still free shipping over $40 to U.S. and Canada.

Posted by Bill on 7/30/2008 12:42:00 PM

Unshelved strip for Wednesday, July 30, 2008

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Unshelved News: Miami help wanted

Are you an Unshelved fan in the greater Miami area? We are contemplating exhibiting (and speaking) at the Miami Book Fair November 14-16, but to make it cost-effective we'll need a little support on the ground. Namely, we'd like to ship you a dozen or so boxes of Unshelved wares about a week before the show. And if you can drive them to the show for us sometime on the 13th, all the better (we'll bring a dolly and lots of manpower). You'll be paid in gratitude, the Unshelved merchandise of your choice, and a meal with us, the fabulous creators. Please drop me a line.

Posted by Bill on 7/29/2008 5:09:00 PM

Unshelved News: A Fine Whine About Reprinting Books

The most important thing we do every year is print a new collection. It creates a lot of excitement and a lot of sales, both online and at conferences. For many fans purchasing our newest book is the way they support Unshelved, their annual dues if you will, and we're very grateful for it. And, while it's very expensive to print several thousand books, that cost is largely offset by the initial sales, making that check mostly a joy to write.

Then, after a year or two, it's time to print more. That check is a lot harder to write. Because a reprint is not accompanied by a rush of new sales. Our backlist sales are a slow, steady trickle. It will literally be years before it pays for itself. Plus we have to store them someplace, and that costs money too. Gene and I spend weeks whining up a storm. And it's pretty darned ungrateful of us, because of course we're experiencing a classic Nice Problem To Have - we've sold out of a book and need to print more.

Anyway, we're deep in our biggest-ever reprint whine because, thanks to a variety of causes, we're reprinting not one, not two, but three of our books at once - a third printing of What Would Dewey Do?, and a second each for Library Mascot Cage Match and Book Club. It's the single largest printing bill we've ever had.

This is sounding increasingly like a prelude to begging you to buy our books. It's not - you guys have been great about that. I just know a lot of people read this blog as a sort of diary of a small business, and this is a fact of publishing life you don't hear much about. Until print-on-demand technology becomes cost-competitive, publishers simply need to invest money reprinting piles of books most of which they know won't sell for a while.

Now I'll write that check.

Posted by Bill on 7/29/2008 10:50:00 AM

Unshelved strip for Tuesday, July 29, 2008

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Sponsors: Diamond Bookshelf

This week Unshelved is made possible, in part, by Diamond Book Distributors. DBD is our distributor, so already you know they're a quality operation. But they also distribute a few smaller imprints you may have heard of, like Marvel, Image, Dark Horse... in short, they are responsible for getting graphic novels to many book stores and libraries. Diamond publishes a monthly newsletter called Diamond Bookshelf, featuring news and reviews that you can use to make sense of the onslaught of graphic novels and manga. Sign up today!

Posted by Bill on 7/28/2008 12:08:00 PM

Unshelved News: ComicCon 2008 in Sixty Seconds

Our most successful Comic Con ever. Closing in on ALA as our biggest show.
Didn't bring enough shirts. A nice, but frustrating, problem to have.
Too exhausted every night to do anything particularly social. But we did attend a rooftop party the last night, and enjoyed watching the fireworks.
Favorite book bought: Chainsawsuit by our friend Kris Straub. Kris draws Starslip Crisis, which is a solid strip, extremely well crafted. But CSS, a bunch of quick scrawls, made me laugh out loud while I sat in my booth, ignoring our customers. There's something to be said for the unfiltered approach.
Let's do it again next year, 'kay?

Posted by Bill on 7/28/2008 12:04:00 PM

Sponsors: Quiet Please

Our thanks to Da Capo Press, publisher of Quiet Please by Scott Douglas, for sponsoring last week's Unshelved. When I read it I thought it was the closest yet I'd seen to our comic strip in prose form. Let me know if you think so too.

Posted by Bill on 7/28/2008 11:57:00 AM

Unshelved strip for Monday, July 28, 2008

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