Bibliophile Tips: Starting a Manga Collection
Hello everyone! I’m back with another round of Bibliophile Tips! Today I’m sharing tips for starting a manga collection, but these tips can also be applied to any book collection. I hope you find these tips helpful!
1) Decide what is a must-have for your collection
Collecting manga (like most other books) is an expensive hobby. I think even though the number of titles is extremely overwhelming. Try starting out with a series you’ve enjoyed in the past or borrow the series through your local library to see what you’d like for your own shelves.
2) Determine your shelf space
Another good thing to consider is how many volumes it will take to complete the series. Is this an ongoing series? Does this series have spin-off books you enjoy? Is the manga incomplete? These are all factors to consider. There are also many ways to get manga digitally if you see a series you want, but don’t have the shelf space to buy it.
3) Go Book Shopping with a Budget
Manga/graphic novels are not cheap at all. Even some of the more inexpensive books can really add up over time. Set a good budget and try to shop at places where you can get the best bang for your buck if you are on a strict budget. Some bookstores have sales and some places specialize in carrying overstock manga at a bargain price. Sites like eBay and Mercari have lots of good finds too.
4) Create a manga tracker/chart
Once you start accumulating books, you’ll need something to keep track of what series you need to complete. Creating a digital chart is very handy and you can take it on the go when you shop in person. Don’t be like me and leave the list at home and then end up buying duplicates.
5) Enjoy your manga!
Enjoy reading all the series from the wonderful world of manga! There are so many stories to discover!
What are some of your book/manga collecting tips? Let me know in the comments.
If I had this advice when I was buying manga, I wouldn’t have so many incomplete series >_<
Same!! I wish I knew. I remember a lot of the series I started to collect years ago were dropped by the publisher and never completed.
I like your bookcart graphic: very cute! And this is all good advice too.
Thank you! I’m trying to share as much knowledge as I can for newbie collectors. I could have used this advice years ago.
Great tips! And determine shelf space is a good one for how much space just one manga series can take up sometimes.
That is something I wish I knew when I first started collecting. I have gotten better at utilizing shelf space.
Enjoyed the post. I don’t collect manga
Thank you! Hopefully, the tips were helpful to you even though you don’t collect manga.