Forum - View topicHow Do You Keep Your Collection Under Control?
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Jamee
 Posts: 79 Location: North Carolina |
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As every manga collector knows, keeping your books from taking over your entire space can be a full time job. How do you keep your collection under control? My methods are:
1. I only allow myself to collect 21 current series at a time. I can have more completed series, but only 21 series where the books are still coming out. (The number was picked because it is my lucky number.) 2. I only buy from what I call the Big Three: Viz, Tokyopop, and Del Rey. I do this to avoid the heartbreak of getting attached to a series only to have the company go under or just stop publishing the book (think Yotsuba). 3. I only buy books that are the same size. By this I mean they are all the standard Fruits Basket size. This makes them much easier to shelve. I know that I'm probably missing out on some good odd size books by doing this but there's enough good stuff in the standard sizes that I don't mind. 4. I buy Shojo Beat each month, but when the latest Nana gn comes out, I get rid of the magazines I no longer need. (This is kind of hard because the magazines so nice  ). I also buy Anime Insider and occasionally Newtype USA but I get rid of those once I have the new one, or, in the case of Newtype, once I've read it a few times.
Those are my strategies. Please tell me some of yours! |
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GoodLuckSaturday
 Posts: 567 Location: Indiana |
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My collection isn't very under control. My current series, which I don't place a limit on, are now beyond my shelf space (should be looking a little better when Kenshin is finished), and my completed/dropped series are just a mess off out of the way for now. I rarely look at publisher when I check out manga. The little guys need support to, so I'll support them if I see something worth looking at. If they cancel a series, it's a bummer, but at least I enjoyed what I read of it (still want more Aria...). Azumanga Daioh is the only series I have with a different from average size (and my Japanese One Piece, although they're in a different place), but I don't concern myself with book size. It helps for uniform, but oh well. It's not something that comes up too often anyway. Regarding anthology magazines, I keep Shonen Jump until One Piece, Hikaru no Go, and Naruto come out, and I stopped reading Shojo Beat (not worth $7 a month for NANA). I only keep Jump with color spreads for aforementioned series or series I like they preview with color spreads. Really, aside from current series, I'm not very organized right now, but I hope to have that taken care of before all too much longer. |
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Dranxis
 Posts: 591 Location: Ohtori Academy |
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I put all my completed series on a different shelf in my library while I keep my ongoing-series in my room. Usually I try to keep it to less than 15 series at one time, and try to make as many of them series that are finished in Japan or even better in America. I stack my larger size books and use the stacks as bookends, and also have half a shelf for artbooks. Just to see at a glance which series I need to catch up on, I order them from most volumes to least volumes. Also, I keep track of my collection numerically by cataloguing it in Microsoft Excel. It's kinda pointless since my collection isn't monstrous or anything, but it's nice to see how far I am from finishing them all.
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Hoenheim
 Posts: 44 Location: Santa Barbara, California |
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I dont have too many series in my manga collection that I'm still collecting, mainly the first or first few volumes of different series. I'm pretty much just buying Monster and Death Note and Berserk occasionaly (the price is anoying) but I'm trying to get into new serieses, which will probably require more control. For my layout, I have a mini bookshelf with all my manga on the shelves and my issues of shonen jump stacked on top of it.
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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I also limit how many series I collect at a time, currently there are nine titles that I am getting, though some are being collected more than others (my current priority is Paradise Kiss). Other than that, I really don't do much, because I don't mind having a huge collection of manga to match my huge collection of other books. If I need more room, I get another bookshelf.
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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Usually when I move then I'll get rid of some of my collection. Or when I don't read it anymore and neither do my siblings.
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molloaggie
 Posts: 578 Location: Texas |
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I control stuff by getting rid of it. I just donate series and books to the library. You can see how many people have read your books on the website. Kare Kano #1 has been read by over 40 people.
Ahh, the joy of sharing my passion with other people!
Even with donating books, I still have too much. And donating them doesn't really save me any money. At least I have a good excuse to tell my husband! My sister had to take her bookshelves and turn them outwards just like a real library because she didn't have any more room. Then she took the backs off them and double shelved the books. Even then, there were still book piled everywhere and under the bed. (Helping her move last weekend killed my back.)
I bet your local library would love them. Just talk to the person in charge of the youth/young adult category. |
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Kouji
 Posts: 978 |
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I only buy about four or five series at a time, depending on whenever Walden's has their buy four, get one free deal on paperback books. I used to buy lots of anything and everything, but nowadays I mainly stick to buying manga series that are either drastically different from their anime counterparts or if they're only available in manga format or if I don't have access to the uncut version of the anime adaptation. I mostly keep all my manga in dresser drawers I no longer use for anything else or in a box underneath my bed. I need to keep my manga more organized but as long as I can still find it and I'm not running out of space, I don't care much about being organized since I'm not a very organized person to begin with.
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Wolverine Princess
 Posts: 1100 |
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I go to Jellies once a year and drop off all the stuff I bought on a whim that turned out to be crap that I'm embarrassed to be seen with.
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bennyb
 Posts: 477 |
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I collect series and if they are complete and have little to no-value to me as re-reads (ex. Battle Royale) I sell em and hopefully get back at least 40% of what I paid.
I also check to see what my library has before I got out and buy; this kept me from having to buy DBZ, Card Captor Sakura, Whistle!, SJ (until I cracked), etc. |
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Wolverine Princess
Posts: 1100 |
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I use the library a lot too, and if you look really hard they have a lot more obscure stuff than that. I usually have to order them in from the State library, since the one closest to me doesn't have a very good selection, but I've found stuff as underrated as A Perfect Day for Love Letters and Crayon Shinchan. They have a lot obscure out-of-print stuff, and get the potential hot sellers like Chibi Vampire as soon as they come out, too. I reserve thirty books at a time, and every time I go to the library there's always something new to pick up. |
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Arkard
 Posts: 677 Location: Poland |
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Well I am studying in a different town so I mastered a new strategy:
1/3 of my collection I keep in my family house, locked up and hidden so NO ONE beside me can have acces to it. The locked up manga consists of mostly completed series like Dragon Ball, Video Girl Ai, OMG (which has been on hiatus in Poland for some time now) and X/1999. All classics and I love them, but in the war for shelf space they had to be left behind. Though I will probably relocate them here soon enough. 1/3 stays with me here, in my dorm room. There are series I just couldnt bear to part with and on going series I am buying loyaly every month. Series like GTO, Lone Wolf and Cub, Vagabond, Eden, Battle Angel Alita (daddy would never leave it behind) etc. I guard them with my life. And the last 1/3 never stays with me. They are in what I call a permament cycle. It means I borrow tem out to several people and they take care of it for me. Some have had them for over a year now, but I always liek to check up on my sweeties. This was the only way to keep my collection udner control. I like to think of it as shifted parenting. They are still mine, and I can get them back anytime I want. They are mostly Japanese manga, but also some Korean titles, few one shots, and shoujo. Not to mention the insane amount of manga I have on DVDs, and please dont even start this, cause I have tons of unlicensed stuff there and currently own about 300 volumes of real manga, so I do let the mangaka make some money. |
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Wakaiba
 Posts: 62 |
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I'm trying not to overflow into yet another bookshelf. Currently the manga-management system for me has been finding hiding places for my manga so I don't have to hurt myself shoving it in already crammed bookshelves.
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TranceLimit174
 Posts: 964 |
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What?! Yotsuba& got the plug? I haven't heard about this. Finances have been a little tight lately so I haven't had the opportunity to browse my local manga sections. Yotsuba& is a great manga and it'd be a shame if this series is unable to continue. |
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red stranger
 Posts: 184 |
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