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Manga...give me more....:9
Many thanks to the two additional people who participated in my poll!! *hugs for you both* And thanks as well to the person who wanted to participate but could not, since he does not have an LJ account. I'm glad he wanted to try! ^^V So for one last plea, if you haven't stopped by to take my poll yet, please do so! Here 'tis.
And since everyone wanted to hear more funny IRL stories (which I seem to tag as "randomness") here's another one for you. Though it probably qualifies as "amusing" rather than funny. Unless you consider funny as in "weird". Anyway...allow me to describe the way I shop for manga.
At the moment, I am in the middle of reading 25 different manga titles, not including those which I letter and the ones I buy in Japanese. O_o Most of these titles are still being published, either with their English release here, or even with their continuing release in Japan. So if I begin reading sometime after their English publication began, not only do I have to play catch-up, but then I have to wait for the newest volumes to come out as well.
I visit the bookstore about once every 1.5 months. It would be more often, except my hometown doesn't have any real bookstores (completely bizarre...but that's its own future story), which means I have a minimum of an hour-long round trip driving to the Big City and back home again. So when I do manage to find the time and energy to raid the bookstores, I tend to buy a lot. I spend an average of $45 at each store, and I try to hit at least two a trip. To aid me in my quest for manga I have...*drumroll* the manga list!! A complete alphabetical listing of my collection (Japanese volumes too), the mangaka, what volumes I already own, and an added listing at the bottom of new series to try.I'm a professional.
It's rare for me to buy more than two volumes of the same series at one store. Since I am in the middle of so many different titles, I try to stock up on 4 or 5 new volumes of a series before I read it, starting from the beginning each session. As a result, I'll read each series about once every 8 or 9 months. Buy a new volume here, buy two volumes there, until I have a nice-sized chunk of new stuff for my marathon. B/c when I finally do read a series, I'm reading a LOT of it at once, I tend to avoid that title for a couple of months afterward. Once I have some distance again, I'll resume my piecemeal volume purchases to prepare for another marathon half a year or so later. ^^ Of course, the exception to this rule is when I have caught up with the volumes and must wait for new ones to be released. When this happens. I usually reread the series with each new book--provided the series isn't too long!
I have learned one or two tricks in regards to my manga buying sessions. First up, you never know if a store will have the specific volume you need, so I try to go to the smaller-selection stores first, and finish with the huge one. (In my case, Borders. Though Waldenbooks gives it a run for the money.) I have also learned that the brick-and-mortar stores can't be counted on to have the less-popular titles, particularly later volumes. For this reason, I also order manga on-line. And when I do, I try to restrain myself to manga it's difficult or rare to find in IRL stores. Titles like Ghost Hunt, PhD, Linling-Po, PSME, Saikano, etc. If I do happen to see one of these harder to find titles in a store when I need it, I will snap it up! But usually my brick and mortar purchases end up being the uber-popular titles you'll find everywhere: Naruto, Bleach, FuruBa, etc etc etc. My third trick is store-specific in regards to Waldenbooks. That chain occasionally has lovely sales along the lines of "buy three get one free!" but said sales are completely unpredictable. Even the store employees don't know when they'll hit! So I call up the local Waldenbooks branch and ask what kind of sales they're having. ^^V
Now, sometimes the desire to read a series is very strong, so I'll buy more than two volumes of the same title at once. And sometimes I'll buy books out of order if the store doesn't have the one I actually need, in the hopes the next place will. And sometimes I'm so eager for a new volume that I will pounce upon it the moment it's released and read it immediately--maybe going back to the previous volume for a short review first. (This is how Idevour read Kaze Hikaru. I have to wait for August for vol 6...*sniffle*)
As a fun conclusion, b/c of my job, I can write all these books off on my taxes as professional publications. And it's true! *laughter* XD
So what brought on this particular topic?? I'm planning my next internet manga order, trimming down titles to a reasonable total amount, and giving in to temptation by buying those two Death Note volumes (5 and 6) I can't seem to find in stores.And as a popular title, Death Note should be all over the place. Then I realized take my manga shopping much too seriously. Thus, this post. :B
I visit the bookstore about once every 1.5 months. It would be more often, except my hometown doesn't have any real bookstores (completely bizarre...but that's its own future story), which means I have a minimum of an hour-long round trip driving to the Big City and back home again. So when I do manage to find the time and energy to raid the bookstores, I tend to buy a lot. I spend an average of $45 at each store, and I try to hit at least two a trip. To aid me in my quest for manga I have...*drumroll* the manga list!! A complete alphabetical listing of my collection (Japanese volumes too), the mangaka, what volumes I already own, and an added listing at the bottom of new series to try.
I have learned one or two tricks in regards to my manga buying sessions. First up, you never know if a store will have the specific volume you need, so I try to go to the smaller-selection stores first, and finish with the huge one. (In my case, Borders. Though Waldenbooks gives it a run for the money.) I have also learned that the brick-and-mortar stores can't be counted on to have the less-popular titles, particularly later volumes. For this reason, I also order manga on-line. And when I do, I try to restrain myself to manga it's difficult or rare to find in IRL stores. Titles like Ghost Hunt, PhD, Linling-Po, PSME, Saikano, etc. If I do happen to see one of these harder to find titles in a store when I need it, I will snap it up! But usually my brick and mortar purchases end up being the uber-popular titles you'll find everywhere: Naruto, Bleach, FuruBa, etc etc etc. My third trick is store-specific in regards to Waldenbooks. That chain occasionally has lovely sales along the lines of "buy three get one free!" but said sales are completely unpredictable. Even the store employees don't know when they'll hit! So I call up the local Waldenbooks branch and ask what kind of sales they're having. ^^V
Now, sometimes the desire to read a series is very strong, so I'll buy more than two volumes of the same title at once. And sometimes I'll buy books out of order if the store doesn't have the one I actually need, in the hopes the next place will. And sometimes I'm so eager for a new volume that I will pounce upon it the moment it's released and read it immediately--maybe going back to the previous volume for a short review first. (This is how I
As a fun conclusion, b/c of my job, I can write all these books off on my taxes as professional publications. And it's true! *laughter* XD
So what brought on this particular topic?? I'm planning my next internet manga order, trimming down titles to a reasonable total amount, and giving in to temptation by buying those two Death Note volumes (5 and 6) I can't seem to find in stores.