The Graphic Novel Archive Blog

I’m glad to announce a new online speciality shop added to the GNA’s comparison shopper mix - InStockTrades!

I’ve been trying to add these guys to the shopper for a while now, as I’ve always been incredibly impressed with their customer service.  So writing this announcement has been something I’ve been looking forward to for a long, long time.  Great service, great pricing, great shipment packaging, and free shipping for orders over fifty bucks.

If you haven’t already, give InStockTrades a try.

Jeff

Some would say it had to happen eventually. The GNA’s blog has moved to the WordPress platform.

It wasn’t an easy choice. And it wasn’t entirely an easy transfer. But it’s finished, and with WP’s handy browser integrated plugins and a more stable backend dbase, should make for easier blogging ahead.

Expect a nice theme or some major integration to be applied in the future - this default skin is ugh.

Between life in general and the Dark Knight movie (wow), I spent some quality time adding Ebay “Buy It Now” and Half.com listings to the comparison shopper routine. Yet another means of tracking down those hard to find, out of print books.

Also uploaded the latest Community Editor tool - the Edition Title editor. Log in to your MyGNA account, click “Edit Edition Title” in your MyGNA sidebar, and voila, Internet magic will allow you to update an edition’s title and save it to the GNA’s graphic novel database. This garners points and points can garner prizes. If you haven’t already checked into it, give this a read.

More to come.

Besides catching up on solicitations and adding Alibris results to the comparison shopping routine, I’ve been working on a new MyGNA editor for the web site.

If you’d like to make changes to a graphic novel profile’s Edition Detail (the handy sidebar indicating such data as an edition’s publisher, scope, format, etc), click the “Edit Edition Detail” link in your MyGNA sidebar when viewing a profile.

Make your changes, click Submit, and rest easy knowing you’ve saved yet another graphic novel edition from incorrectedness.

Remember, edits earn points, and points earn ya a chance to win monthly prizes.

Not a MyGNA registered visitor? Why not!?! Besides earning your community editor badge, MyGNA let’s you track your collection, build a wish list, and watch prices for graphic novel bargains.

Best sign up now before you forget. It’s free.

…that make the difference.

Yeah, I don’t blog everyday. And I’m not adding books everyday. But by Mary, I’m working on code dang near everyday. So it’s time to brag about the latest round of updates.

Identification Info
When reading a graphic novel’s profile, you’ll notice a new link in the Edition Detail: “Click for ID info.” Click, and you’re presented a pop-up listing the edition’s unique identifiers, which may include an ISBN, ISBN-13, EAN, and/or Diamond Previews code.

Diamond Preview codes?
Yep, that’s right - Diamond Preview codes. About 75% of all books in the archive have this identifier, which should go a long way if you’re looking to order an edition via your LCS (local comic shop). Give ‘em the code and you’ll be making their job much easier.

Amazon review links
Noticed an oddity with Amazon and their data feed. While the feed may report an unreleased edition as having reviews available, they’re not actually displayed on Amazon’s website. So I’ve pulled all Amazon review links for unreleased editions.

Blog categories
I’ve consolidated the GNA’s blog categories to fall more in line with the remainder of the web site.

MyGNA shortcut links
If you’re skimming through some search/browse summary results, I’ve added some handy links for registered visitors. You can now add an edition to your collection or wish list immediately from the summary. And if the edition is already in your collection or wish list, it’ll be flagged as such.

Comparison shopping
I always found myself turning “Show Coupons/Special Offers” and “Assume Cover Price” on with the checkboxes, so I’ve turned ‘em on permanent-like. Also fixed the Abebook links (they moved to a new affiliate system).

Minutia
Various formatting tweaks throughout, a bug fix or two. Currently working out the logic for a couple new community editor tools. Stay tuned!

That is all.

When the Graphic Novel Archive launched way back in October ‘06, I blogged about how - with such a ginormous project - I wouldn’t make a huge dent in creating a comprehensive graphic novel index all by my little ‘ol self. After all, there are lots of graphic novels out there. Lots.

So shortly after the site went online, I implemented the first element of what was planned to be a complete community backend for the site, allowing anyone to participate in helping build the Graphic Novel Archive.

But shortly after, I had to kill it.

Read on for the reason why. (more…)

Went out and celebrated last night.

(Of course, with my wild, playboy lifestyle, my celebration consisted of the Hulk movie and a trip to Burger King.)

Why the night on the town? Yesterday afternoon, with adding the latest round of DC Comics solicitations, the Graphic Novel Archive reached a new milestone.

Over 10,000 graphic novels, indexed and archived.

The latest shipping lists and updates are online.

Shipping This Week
Shipping Next Week
Shipping updates
Solicitation Updates

The latest shipping lists and updates are online.

Shipping This Week
Shipping Next Week
Shipping updates
Solicitation Updates

…graphic novel editions indexed and cataloged here at the Graphic Novel Archive.

I feel a milestone coming on.