Originally I thought it was great seeing that so many people were interested in manga at the bookstore... it was a real sign that manga had come of its own in my country! I was very proud as an avid manga reader.

But as time passed I realized that most of the people were reading through the books for free, with no intention of paying of ever paying for them. I really got to thinking that some of these kids have no respect for the authors effort... it takes a lot of effort to produce these works, often with limited to no reasonably livable profit... and yet so many enjoy it for free... I got to thinking, geez many of these people are taking the author's work for granted And I'm talking about the one's who sit down and read through all the volumes for a series in the store, not the ones who browse for a second to see if it's interesting and put it back...

I really started to get annoyed when I found that many of the books were being misplaced out of order (making it hard to find for what I'm looking for), and sometimes the books were bent, ripped, or even had gum and grease on the pages... it was almost disrespectful, and kinda saddening. What do you all think? Should there be common rules of courtesy enforced for how people shop for their manga?

What do you think of people reading manga at the bookstore...good for them.
Reading through the books for free...good for them.

I buy my mangas from Borders Bookstore, so I'll use that place for my opinion reference. The situation might differ from one country's bookstore to another.

As far as I know, the mangas that are lined up on the shelves are shrink wrapped. That means you can't read it without having to tear apart the plastic wrapping and getting into trouble with the bookstore staffs. Of course, for each title, there is one ( and only one) browsing copy for selected volumes. So you'd have to wait your turn to read the browsing copy if someone is already in the middle of reading it. And the bookstore never puts up browsing copies for newly released volumes.

Browsing copies are usually for people to get a feel of the manga and decide whether it suits their tastes or not. As they don't get to read every single volumes released (you'd get browsing copies for maybe let's say only volume 1 and maybe a few others), I don't really mind too much if I see people squatting/sitting on the floor with browsing copies in hand. If they wanted to follow the title in its entirety, they'd have to pay for the other volumes which do not have browsing copies anyway.

In most bookstores, there's a "No free reading" policy enforced. But this is mostly enforced in the magazine section. Mangas are wrapped up and not allowed to be unwrapped without getting the staffs' assistance, so free reading of manga is not really a problem here.

Now the price is raising, is much more expensive than early, it's harder to own a whole manga serie, so i love to read them in bookstore without buying, or paying for renting them.
my dream is own a big bookstore, a really big one, it will full of manga and anime, and children have to pay a little big amout of money for months, then they can read manga in my bookstore anytime they want and any anime they want to watch.
if they want to buy, i will make a deal then later they can pick at my store.

I don't like it when what I buy has already been read through. I want a product that is bran-spankin' new, has never been opened. I expect that for something I'm paying for at MSRP. If people want to read manga and not buy it, go to a library. Many libraries are carrying manga now.

On to the other side of reading in the bookstore, these people more often than not are sitting in front of the shelves. Many of them have very rude behavior, they will not move out of your way and sometimes ignore you entirely. "Oh, I'll just lean this way. She'll get what she needs and go away." No, I want you to GTFO so I can see everything the store has to offer.

Hmm...I visit both Borders and Barnes and Nobles sometimes and I've read at both places without being asked to leave. I know I can read manga online, but I prefer reading a book that I can hold and take my time with. I do buy manga occasionally, but I can't afford to buy all the books that I want to follow through with. But it does irk me very much when the books are all messed up, I mean come one, you're not paying to read a book, at least clean up after yourself.

I have always been wondering...are the mangas at your local store shrink wrapped? Mine is.

As for people sitting along the aisle and being an obstruction, it is indeed irritating when you have to lean your body just to see what the racks have to offer. The worse thing for them to do is sitting down with the rack as back support and legs spread out across the aisle. Squatting isn't too bad since the aisle at Borders are sufficiently wide enough to not get obstructed except when the title that you are looking for is right behind their backs.

Sometimes when I'm feeling irritated and someone is sitting in the way, I'll just walk past with my head looking "busy" at the other titles and "accidentally" kick them.

I have always wanted to go a bit more extreme as in backing away from the shelves and "accidentally" step on their foot/fingers. But then, the thought of having to deal with the bothersome aftermath is a put off.

Dias

Sometimes when I'm feeling irritated and someone is sitting in the way, I'll just walk past with my head looking "busy" at the other titles and "accidentally" kick them.

LOL! This is so cool!
Well, this Borders Bookstore got a very neat system to avoid "free reading". I don't think I've seen any kind of system in the local bookstores here, so there are those annoying people that abuse of their rights to check the books. Perhaps I'll start using your technique Dias! ^^

Well since manga isnt a huge thing in germany so we have no mangas in bookstores well at last i never seen some there some store wich have some but well they are to small to read threre and besides if i want to read a book/manga i buy it through the internet because the most things you will never find in the stores.
Well people who just visit a bookstore just to read the book and then leave are really annoying they stand there just reading blocking they way and go, i understand that some people are to picky to buy them but in that case they should just save up the money because to own a book is muchmore fun then to ead it in a store where its to noisy

RedZeshin

Originally I thought it was great seeing that so many people were interested in manga at the bookstore... it was a real sign that manga had come of its own in my country! I was very proud as an avid manga reader.

But as time passed I realized that most of the people were reading through the books for free, with no intention of paying of ever paying for them. I really got to thinking that some of these kids have no respect for the authors effort... it takes a lot of effort to produce these works, often with limited to no reasonably livable profit... and yet so many enjoy it for free... I got to thinking, geez many of these people are taking the author's work for granted And I'm talking about the one's who sit down and read through all the volumes for a series in the store, not the ones who browse for a second to see if it's interesting and put it back...

I really started to get annoyed when I found that many of the books were being misplaced out of order (making it hard to find for what I'm looking for), and sometimes the books were bent, ripped, or even had gum and grease on the pages... it was almost disrespectful, and kinda saddening. What do you all think? Should there be common rules of courtesy enforced for how people shop for their manga?

This tend to happen In my city too, which is probably why I make it a big thing to pick up at least one volume. Though in truth the authors in japan are making money by a yearly contract, so no matter how much we buy he stills get payed a set amount. A sad thing that japan works like America in the literature department. Instead of giving a percentage. Also they are judge by popularity in Japan polls if they get to keep there job.
Though it doesn't mean we shouldn't pick up legal volumes from the store, but it really gives you less incentive to do so. Yet most people don't know so is just there hate for paying in full for manga.There really isn't any real excuse to not buy manga price wise though. On ebay I can find 3 volumes of naruto for 45 cents plus 2$ shipping. In truth all of this is just fueled by peoples laziness.

I donno.
since all the mangas in the bookstore in malaysia's sarawak are not interesting enough.
just full woth naruto and bleach.
so boring.
>>i'm not their fan

In General, Buy Before You Read

I also cannot afford to buy a lot of manga so i primarily read it online. Check out used book stores too - sometimes they put manga with American comic books, or in a weird spot in the store, so not a lot of people have picked through it. I got a lot of Peach Girl that way. I have to admit though, for the past 3 months, i have read the Honey and Clover section of Shojo Beat for free in the store

innes812

I donno. since all the mangas in the bookstore in malaysia's sarawak are not interesting enough. just full woth naruto and bleach. so boring.
>>i'm not their fan

Same with me. Anyway, I thinking that people reading manga at the bookstore because they want to see whether the manga they read are worthy to buy or not. I have done the same thing like them in the past, but I much prefer reading manga by downloading it from the website. At least, nobody bother to watch me reading the manga at bookstore especially the shopkeeper. XD

I think it's okay for someone to read a manga in the bookstore.

I mean ... sure I could just go online, but as Fawna said, I'd like to take time and sit down with the book in hand.

One of the things I dislike the most is when I'm in Barnes and Nobles, the manga's aren't wrapped in plastic or anything, so anyone can go pick up the manga and read it, fine. But then people start sitting in the aisles and having their back on the shelf, like a wall or a back supporter as Dias said. I really just want to go up to them and say, "THERE ARE CHAIRS HERE FOR A REASON." lolool it's a fantastic idea to "accidently" kick them Dias.

Also, sometimes I see younger children reading manga, and what they do is they bend the pages on the seem of the bind. All they're doing is ruining the book, but I guess there's nothing I can do about that since they're so small. *sigh*

Get outa the way! Come on, stop using the isle as theyre personal lounge!