Post by G on Mar 2, 2010 17:35:03 GMT -5
I have found for me the secret to getting my significant other to be okay with my hobby is to somehow get them to see the benefits of it. I mean lets face it, once you've got about 25 boxes of comics, you're taking up major real estate on the home front.
Typically your woman is going to want to get your comics out of the way where she cant see them. I've had women say "I HATE your comics and I want them someplace I don't have to deal with them!!!" Like maybe in an attic or a garage. Those are the places that run through their minds when they see your books.
Well, you may or may not have this situation in your life, but I have personally been in situations where my comics were the enemy. What do you do when the comics are enemy #1? Well with a little work and luck, you can try and get your woman into it.
I must say.....This is not an easy task!!! I've been lucky enough to have a few women in my life get into it to a degree. To various points. Those positive points were....
1) They bought me comics. (They make great gifts!)
2) One helped me buy a collection (more on that soon).
3) My wife now has books I don't. This means if we ever decide to do a sale, we have a more rounded collection together because our collections are compliments and not duplicates of each other.
I find there is 2 methods to try and approach the situation with.
One is the angle of money (every woman's best friend). With this angle you try and pick a book that you know is worth something and either point it out at stores or conventions or even better, you sell it on ebay and fill her in on it as it sells. Women kind of light up when they see some cash come from that so called junk sitting in your room. It may take a few sales to really key them in on it, so you might have to sacrifice some of your better comics to get them seeing the cash coming in. But typically you knock a couple hundred dollars out in sales in just a few weeks and they start seeing your stash as a pile of cash and then it becomes something that they are willing to set aside some precious room in the house for and keep in the best most profitable shape possible.
If possible, get your woman to flip a book. Find a low priced hidden gem and convince them to spend the money on it. This only works with books you know are priced low and you can get rid of fast. As soon as they buy it, immediately throw it up on ebay or find another way to flip it quick for profit. Once the bids come in, have them watch. Hopefully if you do it right, you make it happen and give them the proceeds. If you can turn $5 into $20 and let them have the cash, it seems to talk to them like no Overstreet or comic store price can. Pretty soon, they might wonder what else can they flip?
I had one former girlfriend go in with me on a collection we found in a Trading Post newspaper. When I did conventions, we had books from the deal with little stickers on it. When those books sold, she got half the money. Pretty soon she was wanting to look for more. Those can be good times.
The other method is to get them to like the books themselves. This is a much harder method because typically girls do not like super heroes and stuff. The thing that is great about comics is there is always a subject somewhere that appeals to them. You've just got to find it. Funny cute animals from their past childhoods are usually good spots to try and get women into. I got my Wife into it by showing her Disney comics like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. I even help her along by picking books up for her from time to time. I even made it a Valentine's gift before (real old books like Silver Age or older). Get them into the numbering system of comics. Talk about keys or high dollar issues and hard to find or buy books. Pretty soon, my wife was going to shows with me and then coming back to me in the middle of the show and saying "I seen some of those books over there, what numbers did you say I need to look for?". Learn those numbers, get them to find it. Make it a challenge. The rest takes care of itself.
Before long, my wife was looking to expand. She started moving into hero comics. It usually starts with the women appeal of heroes and moves on from there. Books like She-Hulk and Spider-Woman ,Shi are good starting points. My wife nearly has complete collections of all 3. Somehow, later my wife took a liking to the Defenders. The numbering game came into play here. We were always on the look out for good cheap copies of #10. I would tell her that every time she looks through boxes of Defenders, take notice of how many have #9 and #11 but not #10. Sure enough, she was discovering just that fact. Every time we bought a #10 for cheap it was like a victory. Before long she was buying multiple issues of the other numbers at a time. Not long after that, she was making lists of issues she still needed and it was safely in her pocket book finding its way out during the next visits to stores or shows. The last few numbers missing even had her search ebay. In no time flat my wife bought every issue of Defenders. All 152 issues and all Giant Sized and Annuals. I was actually amazed and even a bit jealous.
My wife now has 7 full boxes of comics and actually owns more than a few books I wouldn't mind having. Better yet, they mean something to her and she doesn't give me a hard time about them. Anytime I sell, she's happy I made some money.
The point is, the comics go from being the enemy to the friend if you fill them in on the benefits. Im sure someone reading will come and say "I don't need to do that" or "Whatever I say goes".
Yeah, yeah...that's cool. All Im saying is if you're having a hard time convincing your soulmate not to throw your books into places you're not prepared to deal with, you may want to try an approach that brings them on board too! If you can get your woman involved, you're making your own life better in every aspect of comic collecting!
Typically your woman is going to want to get your comics out of the way where she cant see them. I've had women say "I HATE your comics and I want them someplace I don't have to deal with them!!!" Like maybe in an attic or a garage. Those are the places that run through their minds when they see your books.
Well, you may or may not have this situation in your life, but I have personally been in situations where my comics were the enemy. What do you do when the comics are enemy #1? Well with a little work and luck, you can try and get your woman into it.
I must say.....This is not an easy task!!! I've been lucky enough to have a few women in my life get into it to a degree. To various points. Those positive points were....
1) They bought me comics. (They make great gifts!)
2) One helped me buy a collection (more on that soon).
3) My wife now has books I don't. This means if we ever decide to do a sale, we have a more rounded collection together because our collections are compliments and not duplicates of each other.
I find there is 2 methods to try and approach the situation with.
One is the angle of money (every woman's best friend). With this angle you try and pick a book that you know is worth something and either point it out at stores or conventions or even better, you sell it on ebay and fill her in on it as it sells. Women kind of light up when they see some cash come from that so called junk sitting in your room. It may take a few sales to really key them in on it, so you might have to sacrifice some of your better comics to get them seeing the cash coming in. But typically you knock a couple hundred dollars out in sales in just a few weeks and they start seeing your stash as a pile of cash and then it becomes something that they are willing to set aside some precious room in the house for and keep in the best most profitable shape possible.
If possible, get your woman to flip a book. Find a low priced hidden gem and convince them to spend the money on it. This only works with books you know are priced low and you can get rid of fast. As soon as they buy it, immediately throw it up on ebay or find another way to flip it quick for profit. Once the bids come in, have them watch. Hopefully if you do it right, you make it happen and give them the proceeds. If you can turn $5 into $20 and let them have the cash, it seems to talk to them like no Overstreet or comic store price can. Pretty soon, they might wonder what else can they flip?
I had one former girlfriend go in with me on a collection we found in a Trading Post newspaper. When I did conventions, we had books from the deal with little stickers on it. When those books sold, she got half the money. Pretty soon she was wanting to look for more. Those can be good times.
The other method is to get them to like the books themselves. This is a much harder method because typically girls do not like super heroes and stuff. The thing that is great about comics is there is always a subject somewhere that appeals to them. You've just got to find it. Funny cute animals from their past childhoods are usually good spots to try and get women into. I got my Wife into it by showing her Disney comics like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. I even help her along by picking books up for her from time to time. I even made it a Valentine's gift before (real old books like Silver Age or older). Get them into the numbering system of comics. Talk about keys or high dollar issues and hard to find or buy books. Pretty soon, my wife was going to shows with me and then coming back to me in the middle of the show and saying "I seen some of those books over there, what numbers did you say I need to look for?". Learn those numbers, get them to find it. Make it a challenge. The rest takes care of itself.
Before long, my wife was looking to expand. She started moving into hero comics. It usually starts with the women appeal of heroes and moves on from there. Books like She-Hulk and Spider-Woman ,Shi are good starting points. My wife nearly has complete collections of all 3. Somehow, later my wife took a liking to the Defenders. The numbering game came into play here. We were always on the look out for good cheap copies of #10. I would tell her that every time she looks through boxes of Defenders, take notice of how many have #9 and #11 but not #10. Sure enough, she was discovering just that fact. Every time we bought a #10 for cheap it was like a victory. Before long she was buying multiple issues of the other numbers at a time. Not long after that, she was making lists of issues she still needed and it was safely in her pocket book finding its way out during the next visits to stores or shows. The last few numbers missing even had her search ebay. In no time flat my wife bought every issue of Defenders. All 152 issues and all Giant Sized and Annuals. I was actually amazed and even a bit jealous.
My wife now has 7 full boxes of comics and actually owns more than a few books I wouldn't mind having. Better yet, they mean something to her and she doesn't give me a hard time about them. Anytime I sell, she's happy I made some money.
The point is, the comics go from being the enemy to the friend if you fill them in on the benefits. Im sure someone reading will come and say "I don't need to do that" or "Whatever I say goes".
Yeah, yeah...that's cool. All Im saying is if you're having a hard time convincing your soulmate not to throw your books into places you're not prepared to deal with, you may want to try an approach that brings them on board too! If you can get your woman involved, you're making your own life better in every aspect of comic collecting!
) Finally, you have to explain your taping method. I like to use one piece of tape in the middle and I want the bag to be stretched tight. 
