Thinking about ordering graphic novels for your library?

The Beguiling is happy to help you put together an extensive, informative, appropriate and fun graphic novel section for your school library or public library! Read on to find out more.

Contents:
About Us and Accolades
Product Knowledge and Diversity
Content Concerns
How to Order
Billing & Discounts

About The Beguiling

The Beguiling has been in business since 1987. Since opening, our broad knowledge base and considerable diversity of comics and graphics novels have garnered us a large clientele and a solid reputation. As a result, librarians across Canada dealing both in reference and circulating materials have sought out our services for public libraries and every grade level of school libraries, including universities. To match the recent dramatic growth of interest in graphic novels, The Beguiling continues to stock, evaluate and database all incoming titles in order to maintain lists of suitable and recommended comics for readers of any age, taste or language.

Accolades

In 1993, the Eisner Spirit of Retailing Award was created and The Beguiling was honoured right away for excellence in comics retailing. Since then, our service, selection and resources have grown steadily and we remain among the best in the world. We have been named as one of the best stores in North America by The Comics Journal and one of the five best stores in the world by Drawn and Quarterly, a renowned publisher of graphic novels based in Montreal.

At any given time, our 2 floors and 1500+ square feet are stocked with well over 10,000 distinct books, collected editions and graphic novels.

Product Knowledge and Diversity

The Beguiling’s product knowledge in unmatched. We have incorporated manga into our stock from the earliest days of its translation. We now boast the most comprehensive selection of Japanese comics in Canada, including French translations and books in the original Japanese. As avid readers of all forms of comics, we have a tendency to appreciate the works of more artistic and esoteric creators, allowing us to provide year-round many of the titles which are considered obscure, rare or entirely unfamiliar to other retailers. However, none of this comes at the expense the more popular segments of the comics market. We carry the full Marvel Comics and DC Comics superhero lines, as well as licensed franchises from Star Wars to Pokemon to Buffy. We carry an unrivaled selection of comic strip reprints as well as educational and informational texts on or about the comic strip medium.

Our prominence and longevity in the market has led to our developing unique relationships with a number of premier publishers, enabling us to stay aware of publishing plans and schedules. Familiarity with our product extends beyond content to publishing methods and the quality of printing and binding. Working with us, librarians can stay informed of poorly made editions, unable to withstand the handling popular titles receive in the public library system.

Our lists and recommendations tend to focus on trade paperback editions, although we keep all available hardcover and deluxe format editions in stock as well. Due to the length of time we’ve been in business and our openness to all aspects of the comics market, we have become an excellent source of out of print books, so please don’t hesitate to inquire about a title other retailers may describe as impossible to find.

Content Concerns

The Beguiling retail and library staff is comprised of people who have made a career out of comics. We have in-depth knowledge of specific content and are happy to impart our expertise and enthusiasm to you. We enjoy reading comics and reading about comics and collectively share a knowledge base broader and deeper than any other retailer in the country.

While selecting titles for your library, we will strive to ensure that content is appropriate, entertaining and informative for its intended audience and that it conforms to the content guidelines of your library mandate. We appreciate that for many librarians, illustrated stories for older teens and adults is new and somewhat unfamiliar territory. We have been happily guiding librarians through this process for many years and enjoy working to build their fluency in the comics market over the long term. We also appreciate that standards vary widely within even a single school board and we are committed to finding you the best books amongst what has been deemed suitable.

How to Order

We have compiled many lists of recommendations to help illustrate for new clients the range of what is available in the comics and graphic novel market. We are easily reached via email at libraries@beguiling.com and would be happy to make one for you. Simply include the name of the library and a few key factors like target age groups, whether it is a public or private library, etc. We often help libraries begin their graphic novel collection with specific goals requested by the librarians. These include a strategy to attract a young male audience that typically avoids reading, or perhaps broadening the literature available for French immersion programs. Manga written for young girls is also tremendously popular and we frequently have libraries beginning their collections with a focus on this material. Beginning a collection is something we have done many times, but we still find it helpful to start with a list of the comics and graphic novels already present in your library. The more we know about the specific needs and niches of your collection, the better we can introduce you to this exciting form of literature and visual art.

For more on how to contact The Beguiling, please visit: About The Beguling

Our Web Store

Although we maintain a retail web store, it lists only a small percentage of our stock. It prominently features items we are not prone to recommend for libraries, nor does it contain many of our best library selections. For these reasons we strongly recommend contacting our library services specialists directly to ensure you get personally tailored service and appropriate recommendations.

Invoicing and Billing

We are able to customize our invoicing and billing to fit your needs. In addition to purchase orders, we accept Visa and Mastercard. No order is too large or too small.

Discounts

Our base discount for libraries is 20%. Other discount arrangements are negotiable based on ARPs and regular ordering arrangements. We are constantly revising our base prices to be at list or lower before your discount. We also constantly negotiate with publishers for special deals on individual titles.

Librarians also receive a 20% discount on all in-print books while shopping at The Beguiling.

In conclusion...

We hope that you’ll consider shopping at The Beguiling for all of your comic book, graphic novel and manga needs. We think you’ll find that the knowledge and experience of our purchasing agents, along with our competitive discounts and customer service will make us a convenient, helpful and affordable retailer.

Thank you,

Beguiling Library Services
libraries@beguiling.com