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raffle prizes for manga readers--help!
Jan. 25th, 2009 01:56 amFriendslist! Help me brainstorm!
I am trying to think of some good prizes to raffle off in the Manga Library for AnimeBoston 2009, in May. I didn't do anything last year because I was trying to get a handle on my new job as Manga Librarian, and the year before that, our "raffle" consisted of little slips of paper stuck into random books that entitled the bearer to rifle through our horrible, horrible box of "free manga" which was multiple copies of middle-of-the-series random D-list shit that nobody wanted, especially the publishers who scraped it off their backlists and gave it to us in the first place. This was so very popular that we still had most of the same books last year, and I am telling you, fifteen-year-old congoers are generally not the most discriminating people when it comes to free manga.
This year, I'd like to actually come up with some prizes that don't suck.
Things worth noting:
--I would like them to be thematically related to manga and books, not just anime. Most of the con is already anime-related. We're across the hall from the dealer's room, so anime-themed keychains, cels, pencil boards, t-shirts, imported stuff, etc, are easily obtained, and in this context, not all that exciting.
--Our attendees skew young (L, did you know teenagers only read manga?).
--I do not have the time or money to deal with the hassle of importing things. I also don't actually have a budget. I can ask for some prize support, but otherwise will probably be writing to publishers and so on and begging politely.
--The con's theme this year is mystery, and we're going to have a corner set up in the library with Japanese mystery titles and manga (and possibly a snazzy leather chair. With, like, a pipe. I hope to god that this comes to pass); some kind of mystery-themed prize would be awesome. It's also the 80th anniversary of Tezuka's birth this year, and I'd like to have a table set up commemorating that, so again, a Tezuka-themed prize would also be cool.
Ideas so far:
1) Subscriptions to manga magazines like Shounen Jump and Shoujo Beat (we had a partial run of Shoujo Beat on loan a couple of years ago, and those babies circulated like wildfire amongst our youngsters), maybe also to Yen+?
2 Artbooks! Such as The Art of Naruto, The Art of Bleach, The Art of Hana-Kimi...VIZ is awash in these things. Of all the manga publisher websites I looked at, VIZ was by far the best for cool raffle-prize-style swag--they had lots of it and it was easy to find. Man, those guys really know how to market.
3) Other specialty type books, like Jason Thompson's Manga: The Complete Guide (this is a very useful reference book, by the way), or FAUST. Analytical or scholarly books about manga or Japanese culture that might have a reasonably wide appeal, if that's not an oxymoron.
4) Maybe some of the pricier stand-alone volumes of manga, such as the original Ghost in the Shell? Or special editions of volumes from continuing series? I'd love to get some of the limited edition hardcovers of Black Jack. I'd love 'em for me, too, but altruistically, I'd love to be able to raffle some off.
Do you guys have other ideas? Specific suggestions for any of the above possibilities? Please, feel free to pass this link around among your creative and clever friends!
~edit~
Y'all rock. These are great ideas! I love you so hard.
I am trying to think of some good prizes to raffle off in the Manga Library for AnimeBoston 2009, in May. I didn't do anything last year because I was trying to get a handle on my new job as Manga Librarian, and the year before that, our "raffle" consisted of little slips of paper stuck into random books that entitled the bearer to rifle through our horrible, horrible box of "free manga" which was multiple copies of middle-of-the-series random D-list shit that nobody wanted, especially the publishers who scraped it off their backlists and gave it to us in the first place. This was so very popular that we still had most of the same books last year, and I am telling you, fifteen-year-old congoers are generally not the most discriminating people when it comes to free manga.
This year, I'd like to actually come up with some prizes that don't suck.
Things worth noting:
--I would like them to be thematically related to manga and books, not just anime. Most of the con is already anime-related. We're across the hall from the dealer's room, so anime-themed keychains, cels, pencil boards, t-shirts, imported stuff, etc, are easily obtained, and in this context, not all that exciting.
--Our attendees skew young (L, did you know teenagers only read manga?).
--I do not have the time or money to deal with the hassle of importing things. I also don't actually have a budget. I can ask for some prize support, but otherwise will probably be writing to publishers and so on and begging politely.
--The con's theme this year is mystery, and we're going to have a corner set up in the library with Japanese mystery titles and manga (and possibly a snazzy leather chair. With, like, a pipe. I hope to god that this comes to pass); some kind of mystery-themed prize would be awesome. It's also the 80th anniversary of Tezuka's birth this year, and I'd like to have a table set up commemorating that, so again, a Tezuka-themed prize would also be cool.
Ideas so far:
1) Subscriptions to manga magazines like Shounen Jump and Shoujo Beat (we had a partial run of Shoujo Beat on loan a couple of years ago, and those babies circulated like wildfire amongst our youngsters), maybe also to Yen+?
2 Artbooks! Such as The Art of Naruto, The Art of Bleach, The Art of Hana-Kimi...VIZ is awash in these things. Of all the manga publisher websites I looked at, VIZ was by far the best for cool raffle-prize-style swag--they had lots of it and it was easy to find. Man, those guys really know how to market.
3) Other specialty type books, like Jason Thompson's Manga: The Complete Guide (this is a very useful reference book, by the way), or FAUST. Analytical or scholarly books about manga or Japanese culture that might have a reasonably wide appeal, if that's not an oxymoron.
4) Maybe some of the pricier stand-alone volumes of manga, such as the original Ghost in the Shell? Or special editions of volumes from continuing series? I'd love to get some of the limited edition hardcovers of Black Jack. I'd love 'em for me, too, but altruistically, I'd love to be able to raffle some off.
Do you guys have other ideas? Specific suggestions for any of the above possibilities? Please, feel free to pass this link around among your creative and clever friends!
~edit~
Y'all rock. These are great ideas! I love you so hard.