A new year brings new beginnings and New Year resolutions.  Resolutions are meant to improve our lives with a fresh start. I have learned many tricks that hobbyists use to improve their collections, and I want to share these with our readers. Here are a few resolutions advice for comic collectors should make this new year that can save you money!!!

1.  Take Inventory of Your Life

Comic book investors and collectors are hoarders.  The only limiting factors to the size of a collection are financial and spatial.  If left to our own resources, we would buy every book we see and keep them.  Now is the time to review your collections and ask the one question that scares comic book collectors...do I really need this book?  You should determine the reason for owning the book.  This answer will differ among collectors and investors.

Collectors

Collectors should conduct an inventory to determine what gaps exist in their collections.  Many collectors find books that they forgot they purchased.  Now may be the right time to get rid of those lower-grade books if you have a higher-grade duplicate. Collectors should also take this time to re-evaluate space constraints versus the targets of their collection.  Use the GoCollect data to determine if now is the right time to move books that are not the focus of your collection.

Many collectors free up space and money by refining the target of their collections.  GoCollect data shows you what is moving now so you can sell at the right time to take advantage of the market.  Another benefit is is that the data also reveals trends that are just now appearing.  Review the top 100s, but in each era to see what books are NOT hot so that you can take advantage of the market.  Remember that as a collector you are more concerned about buying low and if certain key books are dropping, now may be the time to buy.

Investors

You are here to make money, unlike collectors.  The question you should ask is if the books you are holding onto are for short or long-term investments.  Review the sales data on the GoCollect site to determine what books are producing a good Return on Investment (ROI).  A short-term book that is failing in the sales data is only taking up space and costing you money.  This book is dead weight.  Knowing when to fold 'em is probably more important to flipper than knowing when to hold 'em.

Long-term books should be evaluated to determine if you should sell the book now, if the data reveals that the FMV may drop in the short term.  Many people have sold books at a peak and then repurchased higher grade books for the same or less money during the dip.  You should look for these books and think about culling them to make room for new books or to free up some storage space.  Every square foot in your house or at a storage unit costs you money.  Now is the time to review the numbers in your own game of comic book survivor.

2.  Re-think Your Storage

Slabbed Mounts

I have seen many pictures of how collectors and investors store and display their books and it makes me cringe.  Now is the time to re-assess your choices.  Collectors hang CGC books on walls like a big game hunter displays their conquests.  The problem is, these displays may be harming your books.  If this is you, ask yourself if you determined if sun, heat, or humidity has impacted these books?

We know that UV rays, heat, and water can destroy comics so now is the time to review if putting your Hulk #181 near the window that gets the most sunlight and on an exterior wall prone to temperature changes is the best place for this book.

Review your mounted prizes and determine if they are in the same condition as when you hung them.  Even if a book is graded a 9.8, it will not have value if sun damage makes the book look bad.

Long Boxes or Caskets?

Other collectors choose to store their books in long boxes in their basements.  The problem with this method is after a time these books can be damaged by insects and rodents.  In addition, the weight of the boxes on top can crush the bottom boxes.

Books that you may have deemed inconsequential years ago may now be worth something.  I know of someone who found a Naomi #1, Eternals #1, and Ultimate Fallout #4 on the bottom of their box pile because they had not inventoried nor moved their boxes for years.  These books were considered to be of low value at the time he placed them on the bottom.  Now, these books have some value and one stress crease can cost you some serious dollars.

A Few Inches Matters

Reviewing your storage methods may save you too in the long run.  One burst pipe could wipe out every book on the bottom of your pile.  Remember, long boxes have EVERY book touching the bottom of the box.  Instead of losing a few books to water damage, every book in the box would be lost if water gets on the floor.

Mold and mildew are the enemies of collectors and investors.  Elevating your boxes even slightly off the ground could be the difference between losing most of your books and thousands of dollars. Take this time to review potential problems and see how you can protect your books.

3.  Insurance

Insuring your comic books is a smart move.  Museums insure paintings and valuables, and yet how many people fail to get insurance on their books? This past year, many people purchased books that have seen an explosion in their FMV.  These gains will be lost if the books are destroyed in a fire or flood.  You can try to ask your insurance agent to cover these books, but they may ask you if you also want them to cover your lost Monet and Picasso that was also destroyed in a fire or flood.

Start to evaluate if insurance is the right thing for your collection.  Collections evolve over time and so does the hobbyist.  A young collector in the 1980s who bought Copper and Bronze Age books may not have had the resources or books that made insurance necessary.  That very same collector may now be looking at a collection worth several hundred thousand dollars that may rival the value of their house.

Times change and so should your views on protecting your collection.  Better to get insurance one day too early rather than one day too late.

4.  Study Now...Buy Later

If you are reading this article you are on the path to success.  Most people do not plan to fail, they fail to plan.  If you really want to plan then you must study the data.  The GoCollect team does all that studying for you and all you have to do is copy their work.   Every month I study the hot 100 lists for each era.  I do not want to find books that are in the top 10 or 25 because they are on EVERYONE"S radar.  You want to find books that are not being targeted but have some potential. Now is the time to refine your methodology by using the search tools on this site to see targets that others miss.

Young Avengers #1 is the target for many MCU fans, but do you see the market percolating farther down the lists for Marvel horror characters?  Certain books have appeared on these lists that have a common theme.  It is important to study the numbers on the books you want to add, but it is more important to evaluate the books you want to liquidate from your collections.

Watch for books that are dropping and ask yourself if now is the time to drop those books from your inventory.  Tools have to be modified and this site lets you look at different aspects of the market.  The time of only looking at the Overstreet Price Guide published once a year is gone.  One reported sale can be very significant.  Resolve to improve your research techniques to allow you to receive the best comic book market intel possible.

5.  Review Where You Received Your Information

More than Guessing

The internet is full of comic book sites with the latest "hot" news and rumors.  Now is the time to hold them accountable for their recommendations.  I hate/love the fact that when I have to write an article about recommendations I am forced by my editor to back it up with numbers.  If I have no factual sales numbers as the basis for my decision, I am then forced to validate my recommendations with my reasoning before the article hits the site.

Other sites can write about books they think will be hot, but what are they using as reasoning for their choices? Time is money.  Your time is limited and you can afford to waste your valuable time reading about the next "hot" book from someone who is making guesses. Review the writer's work to see what they were thinking when they made their selection.

Grade the Author's Analysis

A simple recommendation can influence a comic book market.  Reviewing the author and their recommendations is now very important. I recommended Strange Tales #179 as a book people may want to purchase sooner rather than later in a previous article.  I told my editor that I had this book as a target for our readers because almost every member of the Infinity Watch had been introduced already in the MCU. Iron Man #54 was also supposed to be on my lists, but this book seemed to already have seen a spike in value while Strange Tales #179 had not.  I really believed then that Pip the Troll would come to the MCU because of his ties to the Guardians of the Galaxy, Thanos, and the Silver Surfer.   My editor determined that the numbers were good and my research was valid.

All the GoCollect writers are forced to jump through the same hoops our sadistic editor forces us to jump through before our articles see print. You would not get physical fitness advice from a chain-smoking guy who works out in a van down by the river, so why would you follow the advice of a comic book site that produces articles without providing sound evidence or hypotheses to back up their recommendations.

Conclusion

The New Year is the time for re-inventing yourself.  This should also apply to how you manage your comic books.  A few well-placed habits you can implement will put you on the path to success.

I have provided a few habits, but I want to hear now from our readers.  What comic book tricks do you do every January to put yourself on the path to success for the new year?  I would love to hear from our readers about steps you take that I have not covered or how you would improve those mentioned above to make us even more successful.  I want to keep these resolutions because I already blew my diet resolution...AND THAT WAS ON JANUARY 1ST!!!!!

What advice do you have for comic book collectors and investors? Share below!

*Any perceived investment advice contained within this blog is that of the freelance author and does not reflect recommendations from GoCollect