Data B.R.O.S. Inc.

This week's Data B.R.O.S. shines the spotlight on Shannon Live of Bat City Comics Professionals who has an amazing program to encourage kids to read.We talk about Shannon's secret origin, discuss the origins of Bat City Comics Professionals, their move from Austin, Texas to Bradenton, Florida, and the amazing thing that is BAM! Books Are Magic.Shannon is passionate about both sequential storytelling AND getting kids to read, and she's got an amazing amount of stats, studys, and citations about the benefits of getting kids to read comics. Some might say she's got a TED talk worth of info...in fact, she delivered a TEDx talk in Bradenton in 2023!We think you'll really enjoy this awesome chat with Shannon Live.Bat City Comics ProfessionalsBAM - Books Are MagicYour voice as a superpower | Shannon Live | TEDxBradenton---Thanks to our sponsor Murphy's Apple Juice, It's the shape, not the taste, but it's also the taste, which is pretty dang good.Thank you for listening to the latest issue of Data B.R.O.S. please like, rate and subscribe to the DataB.R.O.S. on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.Visit Brian and Manage Comics at @managecomics on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, as well as at managecomics.comVisit Jeff, Django and Comic Shop Assistant at @comicshopassistant on Facebook or Instagram or visit their website at comicshopassistant.comYou can also visit The Comics Place in Bellingham Washington on their website, or visit them on Facebook and Instagram, or listen to their podcast - The Comics Place Presents on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

This week we’re going to talk about the impacts of Inflation on the comics industry. We’ll look at rising prices and the pressures of inflation, rising rents, labor costs, and everything else in between and how “Holding the line at $2.99” is a total fantasy that simply doesn’t match up with economic realities.We’ll talk about the challenges of the industry, and the strategies for surviving in an industry where cover prices are under pressure to remain low despite rising costs.This week and every week try to break our topics down into three segments:Data Broification: The underlying data that supports our subjectIndustry Yammer: How the comics industry supports, or presents challenges with our subject matterShop Talk: The practical ins and outs of the subject and how we deal with the topic in a retail environment.---Thanks to our sponsor Murphy's Apple Juice, It's the shape, not the taste, but it's also the taste, which is pretty dang good.Thank you for listening to the latest issue of Data B.R.O.S. please like, rate and subscribe to the DataB.R.O.S. on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.Visit Brian and Manage Comics at @managecomics on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, as well as at managecomics.comVisit Jeff, Django and Comic Shop Assistant at @comicshopassistant on Facebook or Instagram or visit their website at comicshopassistant.comYou can also visit The Comics Place in Bellingham Washington on their website, or visit them on Facebook and Instagram, or listen to their podcast - The Comics Place Presents on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

In this very special episode of the Data B.R.O.S. we dive into the Murphy's Apple Juice drama, what exactly is going on at Murphy's Apple juice? When you look back on all 10 episodes thus far, it is an interesting story of an organization that may be experiencing growing pains.We'll be back with a regular episode next week, but in the meantime please enjoy this special episode of Data B.R.O.S.. Inc.EDIT: As this issue was being given a final polish, Brian got an unexpected text message from a 209 area code (209 is Modesto California...the home base of Murphy's), it just said "Play this coward.", and had the final clip you'll hear at the end of this episode.---Thanks to our sponsor Murphy's Apple Juice, It's the shape, not the taste, but it's also the taste, which is pretty dang good.Thank you for listening to the latest issue of Data B.R.O.S. please like, rate and subscribe to the DataB.R.O.S. on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.Visit Brian and Manage Comics at @managecomics on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, as well as at managecomics.comVisit Jeff, Django and Comic Shop Assistant at @comicshopassistant on Facebook or Instagram or visit their website at comicshopassistant.comYou can also visit The Comics Place in Bellingham Washington on their website, or visit them on Facebook and Instagram, or listen to their podcast - The Comics Place Presents on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

This week we dive into the recent X-Office announcements, and the X-Men relaunch that was made at SXSW recently, and how that affects comic shops, what could be done to make announcements like that actionable, and how to improve overall overdering.We also talk about marketing concepts like earned vs paid media, calls to action, and closing loops.We'll also dive deep into "Auto-Subs" (from Comic Shop Assistant), or "Cloning Subscriptions" (with Manage Comics), and how stores will subscribe people to this line-wide relaunch.We'll also talk about line-wide burnout, how readersPlus, we previously touched on “Line Wide Burnout”, and I would love to give an anecdotal story on when I fell off the Krakoa stuff (and how I was a lapsed X-Fan who likely won’t come back to this new relaunch because it’s already too much at 3 titles).---Thanks to our sponsor Murphy's Apple Juice, It's the shape, not the taste, but it's also the taste, which is pretty dang good.Thank you for listening to the latest issue of Data B.R.O.S. please like, rate and subscribe to the DataB.R.O.S. on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.Visit Brian and Manage Comics at @managecomics on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, as well as at managecomics.comVisit Jeff, Django and Comic Shop Assistant at @comicshopassistant on Facebook or Instagram or visit their website at comicshopassistant.comYou can also visit The Comics Place in Bellingham Washington on their website, or visit them on Facebook and Instagram, or listen to their podcast - The Comics Place Presents on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

SECRET NO MORE!!! The Origin of the ComicsPRO Metadata Working Group is revealed!!!Before there was a COMET, there was the ComicsPRO Metadata Working Group, who had worked together informally for a year before meeting for the first time face-to-face in Pittsburgh in the winter of 2023. These brave men and women set out to redefine data for the comics direct market in a way that hadn't been attempted in more than two decades.This is their secret origin, their individual stories, and the tale of the team coming together for the first time and setting out on a path that would result in the COMET Data Standard, and ongoing work to reshape how data works for the comics industry.Thanks to our sponsor Murphy's Apple Juice, it's not the taste, it's the shape, but it's also the taste...which is pretty danged good.Thank you for listening to the latest issue of Data B.R.O.S. please like, rate and subscribe to the DataB.R.O.S. on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.---Thanks to our sponsor Murphy's Apple Juice, It's the shape, not the taste, but it's also the taste, which is pretty dang good.Thank you for listening to the latest issue of Data B.R.O.S. please like, rate and subscribe to the DataB.R.O.S. on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.Visit Brian and Manage Comics at @managecomics on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, as well as at managecomics.comVisit Jeff, Django and Comic Shop Assistant at @comicshopassistant on Facebook or Instagram or visit their website at comicshopassistant.comYou can also visit The Comics Place in Bellingham Washington on their website, or visit them on Facebook and Instagram, or listen to their podcast - The Comics Place Presents on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

LOOK INTO THE FUTURE AND GASP IN DELIGHT!!!In this issue, we discuss the unpredictability of comics deliveries, and how the store being physically closed affects deliveries, how data comes into a system, what we’re looking forward to in 2024, and finally some talk about autosubbing (not a Transformer).We want to hear YOUR thoughts on the DataB.R.O.S.? We would love to hear from you, send us an email, or a voice mail to podcast@databrosinc.com and we’ll feature you in an upcoming issue!Data Bro-IficationHow products get into the databases for Comic Shop Assistant and Manage ComicsWhat kind of data hygiene needs to happenWhat options there are in the future.We’ll also hear the latest in the ongoing story of Murphy’s Apple Juice.Industry YammerWhat looks exciting in 2024?How will things like The Ultimate Universe and the Energon Universe fare in 2024?Who are the upcoming hot creators who we may be sleeping on right now?Continuing talk about speculators as part of a healthy ecosystemShop TalkWhat’s an AutoSub? Is it a Transfomer?What’s a Clone? Is it related to Peter Parker?How are AutoSubs and Clones helping shops manage their subscriptions?---Thanks to our sponsor Murphy's Apple Juice, It's the shape, not the taste, but it's also the taste, which is pretty dang good.Thank you for listening to the latest issue of Data B.R.O.S. please like, rate and subscribe to the DataB.R.O.S. on Spotify, Apple Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.Visit Brian and Manage Comics at @managecomics on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, as well as at managecomics.comVisit Jeff and Django at Comic Shop Assistant at @comicshopassistant on Facebook or Instagram or visit their website at comicshopassistant.comYou can also visit The Comics Place in Bellingham Washington on their website, or visit them on Facebook and Instagram, or listen to their podcast - The Comics Place Presents on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

IT CAME FROM…VOLUME 1, ISSUE 3!DataB.R.O.S. has hit the “Terrible Threes”, and in this all chromium covered issue, we feature our FIRST TWO viewer emails, and so much more awesomeness.YOU should tell us how we’re doing, send us an email, or a voice mail to podcast@databrosinc.com and we’ll feature you in an upcoming issue!In this episode the Data B.R.O.S. continue to talk comics, data, and the business of comics.Data Bro-IficationThe top 5 most sold trade paperbacks and hardcovers of 2023Industry YammerBook series codesWhy having series codes is important for the book tradeWhat happens when series codes get shared with comics unexpectedlyShop TalkHow The Comics Place has changed up their shop to help customers discover new books easier.Follow the #databros hashtag on Instagram

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1!It's a fabulous "First Issue Collector's Item" complete with the requisite 106 variant covers (including a special embossed cover with smell-o-vision with authentic "Data B.R.O.S. scratch and sniff area).WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! Write to us at podcast@databrosinc.comIn this episode you'll be introduced to the B.R.O.S. and listen in as they talk about Comic Book Retail, Comic Book Data, and some other silliness.Data Bro-Ification:Top 5 most subscribed comics of 2023 according to Manage ComicsAD BREAK:Murphy's Apple Juice (Data B.R.O.S. title sponsor).Django Reads an actual late night text message from Brian.Industry Yammer:Customer Loyalty, and how blindly loyal comic book customers can be, and how it can actually hide some big problems within the comics industry overall, or within an individual shop's business.Shop TalkHow the Comics Place is combatting the January retail blahs with a Customer Appreciation Month